Review: 'Outer Banks' Season 4 First Half Attempts Get to Back to Roots

The treasure hunting Netflix Original Series 'Outer Banks' tries to get back to it's roots after an outlandish third season.

The cast of Outer Banks. / Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

The first half of the newest season of Netflix Original Series 'Outer Banks' released earlier in October and delivered a return to the vibes that made people fall in love in the first place.

Back at the height of COVID in 2020, this Goonies-inspired show dropped on Netflix and people were instantly hooked. It took the normal teen coming-of-age melodramatic show and added treasure hunting to the mix.

It allowed people to get a taste of the outdoors at a time when they were kept inside. Then, they started making more seasons. Things got bigger and bigger, starting off with simply leaving the country to escape being framed and then culminating last season with the discovery of El Dorado.

Some believed that it started to lose the charm that made people fall in love with it. It's clear that the showrunners knew this when mapping out Season 4 and starting to contain things a bit more again. While it can still get goofy, things are more focused on the titular Outer Banks area.

It was an interesting batch of episodes that ultimately ended up being frustrating. The good was so satisfying to watch that the bad ended up being even more annoying to sit through.

Minor Spoilers Ahead

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The season started off with the beloved group of Pogues instantly shedding the $1.1 million that the group got last season. It was a seemingly low number to get in the first place after finding the lost city of gold, but it's understandable that you can't really make this show with the main characters being outwardly rich.

In rushed fashion they have J.J. burn through almost all of the money in various frustrating ways. He gets into a stupid bidding war for his old house and then loses the rest in a bike race that he placed a large bet on.

They decide to open up a bait-and-tackle shop to at least make the most out of their situation, which makes that the new home base.

That is what starts the crew off on the main journey of this season, trying to find Blackbeard's treasure.

A lot of the time being back with the Pogues vs. Kooks drama is fun, but the introduction of Topper's new comically-evil girlfriend is by far the worst part of the season.

Overall, it's a fun watch, but seems to be reliant on the second half as not much really happened.

It's worth taking the time if you're someone that was a fan of previous seasons. It doesn't reach the same heights as the first season, but is a step up from Season 3.

Score: 3.5/5

The second batch of surely over-dramatic fun will drop on Netflix on November 7, 2024.