In Outer Banks season 1, we were made privy to the lives of people living on the island, the class discrimination that existed there, the sort of enmity that the underprivileged class of society, who referred to themselves as Pogues, bore against the wealthy called the Kooks. From undertaking lethal missions to facing various conflicts in their personal lives, our protagonists went through a lot over the course of 3 seasons. So, let’s do a quick recap of the major events that took place in the first 3 seasons and the various nitty-gritties that you need to know before you start binge-watching season 4.
Spoiler Alert
How did Sarah and John B escape from the Outer Banks?
John B believed that his father Big John had died while on his quest to find the royal merchant treasure. John B’s strength lay in his friends (JJ, Pope, Kiara, and Cleo), who supported him unconditionally and didn’t leave his side even in the worst of times. John B fell in love with a girl named Sarah, and it was an unlikely union as the latter was a Kook, and nobody expected her to fall for a guy like John B, but Sarah, over a period of time, realized that she was more of a Pogue than a Kook. Sara’s ex-boyfriend Topper Thornton, who was also Kook, was heartbroken, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to do anything about the situation. The Pogues found Big John’s compass, and that’s when they realized that John B’s old man had left clues for him that would lead them to the Royal Merchant treasure. But before John B and his friends could find the gold, Ward Cameron, Sarah’s father, got to know about it, and he decided to take it all for himself. Ward overheard a conversation between Sarah and John B, and that’s how he realized that the Pogues were up to something. At the end of Season 1, in an epic showdown, Ward and John B came face to face with each other. Things got out of hand when Sheriff Peterkin came on the scene, and Rafe, Sarah’s drug addict older brother, arrived at the scene unexpectedly and killed the Sheriff. Sarah and John B had to escape from there to save their lives, and Rafe was able to take advantage of their absence and pin the blame for Peterkin’s death on John B. Sarah and John B knew that Ward had transported the gold to the Bahamas, and they decided to go there, but unfortunately, their boat got hit by a storm. Sara and John were presumed dead, but in reality, they had defied the odds and gotten rescued by a cargo ship.
Was Big John still alive?
Carla Limbrey, who we are introduced to in Season 2, was one of the many people Ward had deceived. Carla belonged to Herman Limbrey’s family, who was a sailor of the royal merchant. She contacted Pope as she knew that he was a direct descendant of Denmark Tanny, and she was looking for a key that she believed was in the latter’s family. That key led to another treasure called the Cross of Santo Domingo, and Carla believed that it had a holy relic inside it that could cure her terminal illness. Unfortunately, Carla could not find the cross or the relic. Once again, the Cameron family got the better of her, and Rafe managed to get the cross. Ward played a masterstroke in season 2 when he confessed to having killed Big John, Sheriff Peterkin, and Gavin in order to clear his son of all charges. Ward recorded a video and sent it to the authorities, but before the police officers could take any action, he faked his own death. Sarah also believed that she had lost her father, but later, we came to know that he had deceived everyone so that he could live happily with his family. John B and his friends tried to stop Ward, but they failed to do so and were forced to jump from the ship to save their lives. Fortunately enough, they all survived and washed ashore at a remote island they called Poguelandia.
There were many revelations made in season 2, but the biggest of them all was that Big John was alive. It was Ward who’d tried to kill him, but somehow, the latter had managed to escape and go to Barbados. Big John made a deal with Carla, where he promised to help her find the treasure if, in return, she helped him reunite with his son John B.
How did John B find Big John?
John B was in Poguelandia with his friends, and though deep down they all knew the reality that they couldn’t spend the rest of their lives there, it didn’t stop them from entertaining the thought for a brief moment. A man named Jimmy Portis came to their rescue and offered to take them to Barbados. The Pogues realized that Portis was hiding his real intentions, and they assumed that he worked for Ward. However, their speculation was wrong since Ward had no role to play in the scheme of things; it was a man named Carlos Singh. Carlos was neither interested in the Cross of Santo Domingo nor the Royal Merchant gold. He was looking for something bigger, and he had gotten obsessed with the idea of finding it. Carlos believed that the mythical city of El Dorado actually existed in real life and that there were deposits of gold hidden there. The moment the Pogues landed on the island, Carlos sent his men to capture them. Carlos believed that since they found the Cross of Santo Domingo, they had access to Denmark Tanny’s diary. Rafe had come to make a deal with Carlos, as he was looking for a prospective buyer for the cross that he had in his possession. But he came to know that it was a trap. Carlos captured Kiara and Rafe and told them that if they wanted to stay alive, they needed to give him the diary. Rafe and Kiara teamed up and escaped from Carlos’ facility. Kiara ditched Rafe, pushing him off his boat, and then sailed off to find her friends. The plan was to go back to Outer Banks, but just when the Pogues were about to leave, John B heard a church bell ring at some distance. His heart told him that it was his father who was ringing it. Back in the day, Big John rang the bell in a specific pattern in order to tell his boy to come back home. John B followed his gut, and in season 3, he finally found him.
John B and his father went back to their home, and that’s when he got to know that he, too, like Carlos, was trying to find the fabled Golden City. Just before leaving Barbados, Big John went to his friend’s antique shop, and he took a relic from there, which he believed was the key to finding the mythical city. Big John believed that it was some kind of signpost that could lead them to the treasure. But still, Big John needed to find a way to decipher the glyphs, which he knew wasn’t going to be an easy task.
Why did Rafe want to kill his father?
Rafe wanted to prove his worth to his father from the first season itself; moreover, he believed that he could handle the business on his own. Ward, after whatever had happened with him and his family back in the day, wanted to make a fresh start. He didn’t want to take any sort of risk, and he told Rafe to do the same. The cross of Santo Domingo was in the Cameron house, and Rafe wanted to find a prospective buyer. All that Rafe could see was the money he would make from the deal. Rafe, without telling his father, went back to the Outer Banks and made gold ingots by melting the cross. Ward was livid, and he couldn’t imagine that his son had done something so foolish. There came a time in season 3 when Rafe made up his mind to kill his father. Firstly, he hired his co-accomplice, Barry, who helped him melt down the cross to kill his father. Later, Rafe had a change of heart, and his conscience came in the way. Rafe was going through inner turmoil, and though he hated the fact that his father came in between him and his ambition, he wasn’t ready to take his life.
Rafe, at the end of season 3, saved his father’s life and made sure that the Pogues weren’t able to hurt him. Meanwhile, Ward had arranged an airplane for Sarah, who was supposed to leave town together with John B and the others to search for El Dorado. John B and the Pogues weren’t happy about it, but they had no other option, as time was of the essence, and Topper had already pressed charges against John B. In season 3 Sarah and John B fought with each other and the former did something reckless that she later repented. Sarah hooked up with Topper, and John B was extremely disheartened when he found out about it. John B couldn’t stop himself and he ended up assaulting Topper at a party organized by Kiara’s parents. Topper was adamant to press charges but Sarah managed to convince him to not do so. Sarah lied to Topper and told him that John B needed to go and save his father, and if he didn’t press charges and let him go then she would stay with him. Topper agreed to Sarah though his mother told him that he was committing a huge blunder by doing so. Topper was livid when he found out that he had been lied to and Sarah had no intentions of staying back with him. Topper couldn’t resist his impulses and he went and burned John B’s house down even when he saw that everybody was inside. Luckily nobody was hurt, and John B and his friends were able to escape just in time. It would be interesting to see if Topper does something to create obstacles in John B’s way in season 4 or if he accepts his reality and moves ahead on his life.
How Did Big John Die?
In Outer Banks season 3, we saw that after Big John was able to find the other half of the artifact that he believed to be the key to El Dorado, he was once again taken hostage by Carlos Singh. Meanwhile, at the end of season 3, episode 7, Pope and Cleo also found out about a woman named Claire Tanny, who was the daughter of Denmark Tanny. Pope found a letter written by Denmark Tanny to his daughter that had symbols on it. Pope knew that the letter was a key that could help them locate El Dorado. John B, Sarah, Cleo, Pope, and Ward reached Venezuela to search for Big John. They had to leave JJ behind as he went to look for Kiara, who’d been sent to rehab by her parents, against her wishes. JJ made a deal with a smuggler named Mike, and after making Kiara escape from rehab, he, too, reached Venezuela to help his friends out. John B was able to get his father released from Carlos’ facility, but the old man wasn’t happy that Sarah and Ward were accompanying them on their quest. Ward had literally tried to kill Big John, and he had every right not to trust the man. At the end of season 3, we realized that Big John’s speculation was right, and Ward had snitched on them and informed Carlos about their whereabouts. Carlos caught hold of Big John and others, but the Pogues somehow were able to escape. In that moment of chaos, Sarah literally risked her life to save Big John and John B, and that’s how Big John realized that she was not the backstabber he expected her to be. Big John, Sarah, and John B were finally able to find the cave that led to the Golden City. Big John was gravely injured, so he decided to stay outside, and he asked his son and Sarah to go and find El Dorado for him.
After passing through a series of caves, Sarah and John B found the treasure. They were awestruck looking at the sight, and John B couldn’t help but imagine how his father would have felt if he had seen the place. John B and Sarah come out of the cave, and once again Carlos Singh gets hold of them. But Big John threatened Carlos that he would blow up the cave if he didn’t let his family leave unharmed. Before Carlos could do anything, Big John took out a dynamite stick and threw it towards the cave. While John B, Sarah and Big John ran out of the cave, Carlos went to put out the dynamite stick. But before he could do so, the dynamite exploded and Carlos lost his life there. As if Carlos hadn’t caused enough of a nuisance, his men arrived and stopped Big John and the entire team from leaving. That’s when Ward sacrificed himself to save his daughter’s life. Ward pounced on the man, and both of them fell off the cliff. Ward succumbed to his injuries, and he proved to Sarah that he wasn’t lying when he told her that he loved her more than anything in the world. Big John, too, had been gravely injured during the shootout, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to survive for long. At the end of Outer Banks Season 3, Big John succumbed to his injuries, though in his last moment, he was a satisfied man as he knew that he had accomplished his life aim of finding the Golden City of El Dorado.
What’s next for The Pogues?
The Pogues came back to the Outer Banks, where they were felicitated by the authorities for solving a 500-year-old mystery. 18 months had passed since their deadly mission to El Dorado, and their lives had been completely revamped during that time. Pope was all set to continue with his studies; JJ had bought a charter boat, something that he always wanted to do; and John B and Sarah were the proud owners of a surf shop, looking to spend their lives together. Just when the Pogues thought that there wouldn’t be any adventure henceforth, an old man approached them during the felicitation ceremony. He told them that he was really impressed by what they had been able to achieve, and that’s why he wanted to take their help to solve a mystery. He gave them an old manuscript and asked them to take a look at it and see if they could decipher what was written in it. The old man believed that the manuscript could lead him to Edward Teach aka Blackbeard’s treasure. The moment the Pogues heard the name of Blackbeard, their eyes gleamed. So I believe that in season 4, John B and his friends will once again go on a mission to find the hidden treasure, and it would be interesting to see the kind of conflicts come their way this time around.
