The newest season of Netflix’s hit TV series “Outer Banks” left me not wanting to stick around for part two.
While the show brought a much needed summer feel to the chilly Illinois fall, the plot seemed to take many crazy turns, resulting in multiple side stories that were all unfinished.
The show had the normal returners of John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), JJ (Rudy Pankow) and Cleo (Carlacia Grant) as the group of pogues who are once again looking for treasure.
Director Jonas Pate had a new series regular of Rafe’s (Drew Starkey) girlfriend Sofia (Fiona Palomo). While this added more empathy to Rafe’s character it felt like Pate just wanted all the main characters to be in a couple and Rafe was the only one who did not so he created Sofia. The addition of Sofia felt like an afterthought and a way to push yet another side story that didn’t connect to the main plot at all.
In past seasons, all the side stories were connected through the treasure that the pogues were looking for. This season is the complete opposite. For example, the treasure hunting does not even take place on Kildare Island, the island which the show has normally centered around in past seasons.
Every time a new problem emerged it was left unsolved and another problem popped up. These small plots seemed to have the goal of pushing the narrative that the pogues have a difficult life, even though their bad luck seemed to come to a close at the end of season three with the finding of the gold.
In addition, the plot reuses old ideas that have worked in past seasons. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work this time. These old plot ideas do not make sense for this season at all. This resulted in me feeling lost and frustrated. I was left wondering even though it worked in past seasons, why did it not work this time?
Like past seasons, the pogues didn’t go to the police for a problem when they definitely needed to. While in the past going to the police might not have worked, it most definitely would have in this season.
While this isn’t the full season, with part two being released on Nov. 7, “Outer Banks” ends on a major cliffhanger that leaves a lot of holes in the plot. While it did work for dramatic effect, it caused me to feel confused and that too much happened at once.
The split of the season made it seem like the plot was rushed to allow the show to end on a major cliffhanger in order to keep viewers tuned in for part two.
However, for me this is the opposite, I don’t want to keep watching. While yes the show is a drama series, at some point there’s too much fake drama that there’s no more plot and I feel that “Outer Banks” has reached this point.
While I’ve always looked forward to cozying up and watching “Outer Banks,” for me this year, the lack of plot development and the over-dramatized elements ruined the show for me.
My rating is a 5 out of 10.
