Review: Outer Banks Season 4 Part 1

By: Ariana Foreman

December 4, 2024

   On October 10th, the fourth season of the popular show Outer Banks was released. The teasers caused lots of excitement for fans. It followed the main character, John B, and his large group friends (all called the “Pogues”) who do work for the rich.

   This new season followed our protagonists after they found gold in El Dorado, a fictional cave of gold in Venezuela, and came back to the outer banks. They went to turn in the gold in exchange for money, and they earned 1.1 million dollars for a couple pieces of gold. Then, one of the group members immediately went to go buy a house, to find out that it was not worth the price it was listed for. This event made me nervous at first, but it was understandable.

   The price of the house was super high for the condition it was in, and it was a bit obvious from the beginning that the money they earned wasn’t going to last very long. Outer banks is a teen drama-based show, so every now and then the characters will have a couple of troubles, such as one of the group members, JJ, spending the group funds for his personal benefit, when the group had a very large debt to pay off. This left them with no money to pay it off.

   The Pogues received attention for their discovery of El Dorado, and this led them to be invited to a mansion by a pirate named Wes Genrette to help him investigate a man named “Blackbeard.” He told the group to go retrieve an item from one of Blackbeard’s last ships, and Wes offered them 50k in return. So, of course, they agreed since they needed the money.

   What I believe is strange here is that they were so quick to go to this house and accept money they do not know he has. For all they know he is sending them to get lost. Especially since the Pogues have already gone through lots of trials and tribulations in the seasons before, due to group members making irrational decisions causing harm to the group. Though, the group eventually does find the item they were sent out for, and comes back to find Wes, very dead. What makes this worse, more than them retrieving the item for nothing, is the fact that the police believe it was them who did it.

   The Pogues are questioned individually about Wes’ death, all, of course, denying they had anything to do with it. Since this show seems to never have any smooth or nice endings to certain events like these, it made me believe that the police were going to detain one of the group members anyway.

   This led to a long investigation as to how Wes Genrette was killed. The group tells the police that the death of Wes had something to do with the item that they retrieved, saying that it was cursed. The police didn’t buy it, which made complete sense to me.

   These strange events led to the Pogues going through fights and conflicts between other groups in their area. This caused many deaths, and multiple kidnappings of group members within groups.

   This marks the end of Part 1 of season four of Outer Banks. Lots of drama and mystery occurred in only 5 episodes. I personally enjoy the beach-y costumes and vibe of the whole show since I really enjoy tropical settings. I noticed in certain emotional scenes; the lighting would gradually change from warm orange to more of a cooler-toned color.

   I did find the start of this season spontaneous and a little confusing, but I believe as more episodes come out it will make more sense. I do not personally enjoy how the episodes end off in cliffhangers, but suspense and mystery can create an enjoyable story.