The long-awaited third season of Netflix’s hit show The Outer Banks came out on February 23, 2023. In the explosive ending of season two, the Pogues were stranded on a deserted island and John B’s father, who was presumed dead, was revealed to be alive and is pictured with a previously introduced character, Carla Limbrey. A lot happened in the season 2 finale, but a lot was also left unclear, perfectly posing the show for its third season, which turned out to be the biggest treasure hunt yet.
Warning: Major Spoilers ahead for Season 3!
Episode 1: Poguelandia
The first episode begins with the six Pogues stranded on “Poguelandia.” While the exact amount of time that the group has been stuck is unclear, the show alludes to the group being there for around a month. As excited as they are to have their own island altogether, they also are just as excited to leave. At the beginning of the episode, it is revealed that Sarah may have a form of PTSD as she looks into the ocean waves. Her fear of her father paralyzes her and makes her see his boat even when it isn’t there. As the episode continues, a plane flies overhead off the island and Pope rushes over to light their signal fire in hopes of catching the pilot’s eye. Fortunately for the group, the plane sees them and flies down to the island.
The crew is picked up by a man named Jimmy Portis. During the ride, Sarah expresses a concern that her father may have sent Jimmy to get the group. When they realize that Jimmy may not be who he says he is, the group fights back in order to protect themselves; however, this causes the plane to crash offshore. Kiara saves Jimmy from the plane crash, but this leads to her capture since she isn’t able to run away like the rest of the Pogues.
Meanwhile, Rafe has been arranging a sale of the Cross of Santo Domingo which he had stolen from the group in the previous season. A French man named Michel Arnaud told Rafe that he had a buyer for the cross, and they arranged a meeting.
Kiara is taken to a house where she is convinced Ward (Sarah’s father and the antagonist of the past two seasons) was waiting; however, when she arrived she realized just how wrong she was. As she is forced into her “cell,” she finds Rafe is there as well. Together, Rafe and Kiara meet the newest character: Carlos Singh. Carlos wants their help to find the Denmark Tanny diary (which he believes the Pogues have) so that he can find the treasure of El Dorado.
Episode 2: The Bells
In the second episode of the series, the Pogues take Jimmy as a hostage with the hopes of him revealing more information. Simultaneously, Singh is trying to convince Kiara and Rafe become his accomplices, working with him to retrieve the diary from the Pogues. In order to escape, Kiara and Rafe work together, something they did not want to do. After breaking out, Kiara and Rafe make it to Rafe’s boat and are surprisingly able to escape. Rafe lets her know that he will take her with him but that he isn’t going to wait for the rest of their group. Kiara however is unwilling to leave the Pogues behind. Thus, she swiftly knocks Rafe off his own boat, stealing it for herself. She then texts the rest of the group the message “P4L”, which verifies her identity. The group is then able to reunite.
As the episode develops, we realize that Big John (John B’s dad) is on the same island. Big John attempts to call John B to the church, where he is hiding, by ringing the church bells. While this may seem odd, this wasn’t totally out of the blue; this was how Big John called John B home when he was younger. As the rest of the Pogues reunite with Kiara, John B leaves to see if the ringing is truly his father. However, as John B leaves, the Pogues are forced to flee from the island, leaving him behind. In one of the most long-awaited reunions in the show, John B and Big John see each other for the first time in years.
Episode 3: Fathers and Sons
After the heartfelt reunion between John B and Big John, they devise a plan with Carla Limbrey in order to get off the island. But before they can leave, Big John has an errand to run: he hopes to grab an artifact that will help them to find El Dorado. This mission, however, was risky, and Singh showed up right as they got the artifact. The two barely escaped capture. At the same time, the rest of the Pogues are on their way back to the Outer Banks.
In the meantime, Rafe found his way back to Guadalupe where the remaining Camerons spend their free time. He finds Ward Cameron awake and ready to make demands. He wants Rafe to return to Outer Banks to sell the family business and the old home, Tanneyhill.
Cutting back to the Pogues, Big John and John B thankfully made it home safely, and after awakening from a nightmare, John B realizes that his father has disappeared.
Episode 4: The Diary
John B awakens in a panic, but he soon realizes that his dad only left to get the Twinkie (their car) since it contained a copy of the diary Singh is looking for. However, over the course of time, with the windows left down, the diary was ruined by water. In order to get the original copy, John B visits his former history teacher Mr. Sunn. However, when John B and Big John arrive, they are surprised to find a group of smugglers also looking for the diary. After a long chase to get the diary back, Big John kills both of the smugglers and throws their bodies to sea.
The rest of the Pogues go home and are reunited with their families, but when JJ goes home, he finds that his house has been foreclosed by the bank.
Sarah returns to her home to gather some clothing, when she hears Rafe speaking with Ward on the phone and realizes that they are shipping the cross to a museum. This is great news because this means the Pogues have a chance of getting the cross back from the Camerons. Sarah rushes to tell the Pogues not realizing that Rafe and Barry had devised a plan to steal the cross themselves.
Episode 5: Heists
This episode is all about heists. Two different subgroups of the Pogues head out to achieve their missions. The first group is the Johns, the beloved father-son duo, John B and Big John. The second group consists of the rest of the Pogues.
The Johns are on a mission to find the other half of the artifact (which we later learn is called a gnomon). After a failed search of a church, they make their way into a storage facility that contained the other gnomon. However, on their way out they realize that Limbrey had stolen the Twinkie (their car). In order to get the car back, they make their way to Limbrey’s house where she confronts Big John for not retrieving her the cloth to heal her from her sickness which prevents her from walking. Lying, he says he has it, and he gives her a cloth. She believes him and then walks on her own legs that night without the crutches, believing she is healed. Thus, she lets them go with the Twinkie.
Meanwhile, the remaining Pogues realize they don’t have the truck necessary for such a grand heist so they enlist Topper (Sarah’s ex-boyfriend) and use his truck. They plan to steal the cross back from Rafe and Ward by taking it off the train they are shipping it in, and luckily, they manage to get the cross off the train and are able to evade the police. Unfortunately for the Pogues, due to the scramble, the cross falls out of the truck and, surprisingly, they discover that the cross was never in the box to begin with. Rafe and Barry had gotten away with it after all. Rafe then disobeys his father and melts the precious cross. And once again, like always, the Pogues lose the gold.
Episode 6: The Dark Forest
At the beginning of the episode, the Pogues reunite once again, but John B is held back by his father who doesn’t want him to share any information with the group about the Gnomon of Solana. Furthermore, Big John tells John B to stay away from Sarah. He doesn’t trust her since she is a Cameron, a family that has only double-crossed him.
John B and Big Jon then decide to visit an archeologist, Professor Sowell, in order to translate the glyphs. He tells them that he can help; however, before he can do anything, one of Singh’s men shoots him dead. Eerily, his last word was “Neville”. Singh’s men then take Big John hostage and attempt to kill John B, who narrowly escapes.
Meanwhile, since John B pushed Sarah away after his dad’s concerns, Sarah meets up with Topper who takes her to a Kook party. She ends up kissing Topper, while still with John B. In the meantime, Pope is working to return to school; however, due to the amount of time he missed, he is put in low-level classes. Seeing this as an insult, he walks away from school entirely.
Having arrived home, JJ goes to get his job back, and although he fails to secure his position, he overhears Rafe and Barry talking about the cross and that they melted it. Over the phone, Rafe and Ward discuss the loss of the cross, and impulsively, Ward decides that he needs to come home. Rafe reminds him that the world believes he is dead, and thus, if he comes back he could be arrested. Despite this, Ward returns.
Episode 7: Happy Anniversary
Now that JJ is filled in, John B and JJ go to find Neville. They are able to find his houseboat and track him down. Although Singh’s men show up to shoot him, JJ and John B successfully are able to get him out in time.
In the meantime, Sarah receives a message from her younger sister, Wheezie, who she hasn’t seen in a long time, and she goes to find her. However, instead of finding her younger sister, Sarah finds her father, Ward. He effectively lured her in, and once there, he gave her a key to their condo and a credit card as an attempt to win her back over to his side. Although Sarah decided not to turn him in, she makes it clear that she wants nothing to do with him especially after he suffocated her on the boat.
Later, John B and JJ make their way over to Kiara’s parents’ anniversary where Sarah, Kiara, and Topper are. Sarah reveals to John B that she kissed Topper, leading John B to beat up Topper, rendering him unconscious. John B then flees.
Cleo and Pope, away from the mess that just unfolded, found a letter to Denmark Tanny’s daughter, Clarice Tanny, from Denmark. They discover she was raised by the Limbrey’s and that Denmark left her with the key to translate the Gnomon.
Episode 8: Tapping the Rudder
After being knocked out by John B, Topper intends to press charges against him; however, Sarah goes over to his house and asks him not to so that John B can save his father. Topper says that if Sarah truly cares for him she will testify against John B and do what is right. Sarah agrees and shows up later that day at the police station. However, when she gets there, she explains to Topper exactly what is going on with John B and his dad and asks Topper to wait one day so that John B can get off the island to save his father first. She then tells him that she will get back together with him if he does as she asks. In response, Topper awkwardly reveals that he still loves her.
Meanwhile, JJ and John B are trying to find a way off the island. Seeing as they are broke and don’t have passports, flying out commercially was not an option. JJ decides to make a deal with a drug smuggler, promising that he and John B will deliver the drugs as long as they get a ride to South America in return. However, the police show up as the two attempt to deliver the drugs, causing them to run away and leave the drugs behind. John B is arrested by Deputy Shoupe, who had earlier put a tracker on the Twinkie, as they attempt to get away from the van.
Sarah later meets John B outside the police station and fills him in on the plan to get him to South America as everyone is waiting at the Chateau (John B’s house). She had essentially arranged for them to use her father’s plane. After a long day, Sarah and John B get back together which unbeknownst to them Topper had seen. Angered at this, Topper sets the house aflame with all of the Pogues inside.
Meanwhile, Ward tells Rafe that he is cutting him off and that Rose is taking over the family business. Rafe threatens to tell the police that Ward is alive; however, Ward said that he would tell the police that Rafe was the one who actually shot Peterkin. Rafe then pulls a gun on Ward in an attempt to shoot him, but he can’t bring himself to pull the trigger. Angered by his inability, Rafe leaves and devises a plan with Barry on carrying out the murder of his father.
Episode 9: Welcome to Kitty Hawk
After the Chateau is lit on fire, the Pogues, fortunately, all make it out alive, but the Chateau is burned to the ground. Everyone, while distraught, realizes they don’t have time to sit on this, and they go to check in with their parents about leaving (once again). After some convincing, Pope’s parents allow him to leave as they trust him and the rest of the Pogues. Kiara’s parents; however, decide to send her to a behavioral camp called Kitty Hawk.
Everyone meets at the airstrip but when Kiara doesn’t show up, JJ goes to find her. After discovering that she was taken to Kitty Hawk, JJ races off to save her. He is able to save her from the camp, and together, they go to meet up with the drug smuggler (the same one who JJ and John B drove the van for). JJ told the drug smuggler that he would give the amount of money that the drugs were (in gold) for a ride to South America.
At the same time, Rafe changes his mind about his desire to kill his father, but he soon realizes that the plan has already been set in motion by Barry. Rafe manages to make it in time to stop the hitman from killing his father but someone sees the scramble and recognizes Ward. This means people other than the Camerons and the Pogues know he is alive. Due to this, Rafe rushes Ward to the airstrip in order to get him out of Outer Banks. Before much debate can happen by the Pogues, they all hear sirens. Without a doubt, the Police would arrest Ward for the murder of Peterkin as well as John B for the fight with Topper. With the police arriving, they take off, leaving JJ and Kiara behind.
Episode 10: Secret of the Gnomon
The longest episode of the season, Secret of the Gnomon, has all the plot twists and heartbreaking moments that the audience has been waiting for. It all starts with the group of Pogues on the plane making their plan on their way to Venezuela. After landing, John B and Sarah get Big John out with the use of fireworks, and then Cleo and Pope use the decoding sheet they found to translate the gnomon. Simultaneously, JJ and Kiara land with Barracuda Mike (the drug smuggler) and after a close encounter with Singh’s men, the trio runs into the rest of the group.
Now reunited, they are off, seeking a tour guide who will grant them passage. However, when they arrive at the tour guide’s location, they realize that Ward has paid him already and that he is trying to get in on their plans in order to protect Sarah.
As John B, Sarah, Ward, and Big John arrive, Ward tells them he is going to stay behind and send up a red flare if Singh arrives; however, as the group leaves, Ward sends a text message with their location to an unknown recipient. Meanwhile, the Johns and Sarah arrive at a dig site where there are four columns to mark the cardinal directions and the gnomon fits in the center. When the moon hits the gnomon the message from the translator reads, “Brave traveler, if you have wisdom, I’ll reveal the wealth of the earth.” Then one more pattern discussing the way to El Dorado stated, “I am nothing but everything. No tongue but always speaking.” Singh then shows up with Ward and the agreement between the two is revealed: Ward traded their location for Sarah’s safety. In a fast-paced series of events, Singh points a gun at John B to get more information from Big John. Big John stayed silent, risking John B’s life. In the scramble to keep Sarah safe, Ward shoots one of Singh’s men. He then begs for Sarah to come with him for her own safety, but she refuses. Somehow, the group manages to get away with no fatalities; however, we later find out that Big John was shot.
While the Pouges continue making their way to find El Dorado, Sarah hears a noise that leads them to the cave. John B and Sarah make their way through with a flashlight (that dies quickly) and waterproof flares. The two end up finding El Dorado and scoop as much gold as possible into their bag. They then return to Big John and reveal what they found. However, when they return they find Singh in the cave. He threatens to shoot John B, and Big John threatens to throw dynamite into the cave if he does. To create a distraction, allowing them to escape, Big John throws the dynamite and everyone gets out except for Singh who raced after it and was blown up along with the cave and El Dorado itself.
As the group leaves, Ward shows up, insisting that they won’t be happy and that he doesn’t want Big John to have a happy life. At this moment, the rest of the Pogues show up and encircle him. Right after, one of Singh’s men shows up and tries to shoot Sarah, but before he can Ward jumps in front and takes multiple bullets to the chest, tackling the man, causing them to fall to their deaths. But wait! Right as the Pogues think it is over, Big John dies as they reach the dock, succumbing to his bullet wound.
Eighteen months later, the Pogues are being celebrated for finding El Dorado. They seem to be happily living out their lives when they are approached by a mysterious man who wants help finding Blackbeard’s treasure using one of his manuscripts. This lays the groundwork for Season 4!
My Opinion:
I really enjoyed this season of Outer Banks! It was nice to finally see the Pogues win for once and gain recognition for what they found. I think this season wraps up the different storylines of the gold, the cross, and El Dorado nicely and I am excited to see where they take the next season with Blackbeard’s treasure!
Questions & Theories:
I read through some theories and questions for season four so here are some of the most prevalent ones:
- Is JJ related to Blackbeard?
- After finding out that Pope is related to Denmark Tanny, it is not hard to assume that Blackbeard and JJ could be related and this is a major theory that I saw throughout the articles.
- Will John B’s mom and Sarah’s mom make an appearance?
- Now that both of their fathers passed in the last episode, are their mothers going to make some appearance? One theory I saw is that Carla Limbrey is one of their moms. Could it be true?
- Sarah will kill Topper
- Topper is tired of being taken advantage of. Will Sarah kill him in order to save herself or John B? Will Topper put himself in a spot that she will be able to? If Topper tries to get revenge on John B how will it end? In season three, they showed Sarah being willing to shoot her father so it could signify her willingness to shoot Topper in season four.
- Did John B evade the charges from Topper?
- This was a plotline that was left out, did Topper not press the charges or did he drop them? Maybe John B bought his way out with the new treasure.
- How did the group prove that they found El Dorado when they blew it up?
- A major question is what happened in the time jump of eighteen months. It went from the group having a little bit of gold to being on national television for finding the treasure. So, how did they prove their findings?
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