Back to the Banks: Staffer reviews third season of Netflix’s top show of the week, Outer Banks

Treasure, heist, murder, beach paradise and a group of young adventure-seeking teens that call themselves the “Pogues” is really all you can ask for in a binge-worthy TV show. The thrilling Netflix original, “Outer Banks” released its third season on Feb. 23, and it’s already Netflix’s number one show of the week. After two years of biting my fingernails while we waited to see how the pogues would deal with being left on a deserted island, I wasn’t disappointed.

The beginning of the first episode is set on an island which the teens’ nickname “Poguelandia” where the group was left in the previous season after escaping the villain’s ship that held the stolen Cross of Santo Domingo. I love the picturesque survival style of the island and the fitting grunge outfits.

But I wish the show would’ve focused more on the Pogues’ everyday life on the island with more time there or at least a few flashbacks. The characters reminisce on their stranded days for the rest of the show, but the island scene itself is barely over ten minutes and feels like a rushed copout for the directors to get straight to the action in the script. Little do they know, us superfans could watch JJ and Kie fish for an hour and still be entertained.

Then the Pogues are “saved” from the island by a friendly pilot who ends up being not-so friendly — a trope we’ve seen Outer Banks writers use episode after episode in previous seasons. The plot couldn’t have been less predictable.

Each episode ends in an over-the-top cliffhanger in typical suspenseful Outer Banks fashion, which helped keep me interested in the next episodes. Like when two rivals are locked in a room together at the end of Episode 2. By this point, I expect these cliffhangers — but I still can’t help but fall into the director’s trap.

And it wouldn’t be Outer Banks without the characters continuously getting separated from each other, having to fend for themselves and then somehow find their way back together — normally at the exact same time and place. That pretty much sums up Season 3, which is packed with noticeably unrealistic miraculous reunions.

It was even more outlandish than season two. Parents letting their kids go on another treasure hunt after losing them for months? Really? Or John B and his dad figuring out how to cross the Mediterranean Sea without gas on an old boat? Life in the Outer Banks works out too often for the characters. 

While the unrealistic events in the plot were painful to watch, I did love the abundance of action. Their hunt took away from the beachy lifestyle full of best friends and relaxing sunny days I had hoped for, but it gave a good wrap up to the long battle for the treasure.

Plus directors were thankfully still able to work in character development scenes and rom-com moments — what made us teens addicted since season one. I couldn’t help but love the cringy romance between JJ and Kie and watching them argue over how they “could never be together.”

The switch from crazy action to engaging character interactions kept the episodes entertaining and easy to binge. 

The most notable character addition is Big John, John B’s dad, who left me feeling uneasy. Though many appreciate his appearance, I felt like he was stealing screen time from more entertaining characters like Kie and JJ that was instead used to highlight his grumpy, treasure-hungry persona.

Overall, season three had me binging for hours and I’ve already added season four — which has been officially confirmed by Netflix — to my list.