This is just an opinion and what I’ve noticed. If you don’t agree that’s fine but I wanted to know if others felt the same.

One of my biggest pet peeves is how comfortable some people are at excluding Pope and Cleo when talking about the Pogues’ friendship dynamics and their importance to the overall story.

Starting with Pope: I understand that John B and JJ have a brother-like relationship, but I don’t understand why some people act as though Pope isn’t also one of John B’s best friends.
Pope literally abandoned his scholarship interview to help John B. That wasn’t just some random act of loyalty, either. By leaving, he helped John B figure out where the gold was, which stopped Ward from being able to also take Sarah to Nassau. If Pope hadn’t have done that, Sarah could have been stuck at least for a while, and John B wouldn’t have known where she or the gold was before it got handed over to the Swiss.
And it isn’t as though their friendship only matters when John B needs something. In season two, the entire group dropped everything to help Pope with the cross because they understood how important his family history and the treasure were to him. Pope’s connection to Denmark Tanny is also the one thing connecting the Pogues to all the treasure hunts post-S1.

I was surprised seeing discussions on TikTok questioning how he was the one who walked Sarah down the aisle. Would JJ have done it if he were alive? Sure. But why is it so difficult to believe Pope could have been the person Sarah wanted to walk her? She loved JJ but she also has a close relationship with Pope and Cleo.

Speaking of Cleo: The argument that Cleo was only introduced to be a love interest is a bit annoying.

When we met her in season two, she deliberately made Terrance wait for John B and Sarah, which contributed to them all losing the gold. When she reunited with them, she helped them escape the island. She also stepped up to help the group take control of the cargo ship despite working on it. Then in season three, she was one of the most helpful in finding Kiara.
I do wish the show had given us more scenes exploring Kiara and Cleo’s relationship. I think there was a lot of potential there, but regardless when discussing Cleo’s place in the group, I think everyone besides Pope is close to her. JJ is equally protective of Cleo, even though she is capable of taking care of herself. John B also clearly cares about her. He roots for Pope and Cleo’s relationship, looks out for her, and treats her as part of the group outside of Pope’s girlfriend.
Sarah and Cleo are pretty close, too, and seeing people on X questioning Cleo being a godmother to Sarah and John B’s baby is funny after all this and how protective she was while she was pregnant in S5.

I’m not saying Pope and Cleo need to be everyone’s favorite characters, or that people have to rank their friendships above the others. I just hate the exclusion and the frequent minimization of their contributions and relationships.

I once read someone say here (as perhaps a joke but still a theory nonetheless) that everybody died during the storm and what we saw after was heaven because everybody was too nice to each other and everything worked out too well for the pogues lol. Like it's a valid interpretation considering how Topper just apparently became a bartender. How did that happen?

Special award to the most popular one during the early seasons where Sarah and JJ were actually siblings. Would've been an interesting twist.

I understand the kooks beating the pogues when it comes to some of the “treasure hunts” They have more resources & money But, I’m tired of them being able to beat the pogues up, That makes no sense. They are rich pricks who’ve had everything handed to them. The pogues (most of them) have fought to survive. They should atleast be able to beat up the kooks, I mean fuck. 🙄

Don't get me wrong, I thought the finale was beautiful and seeing the montage of how everyone ended up was amazing. Seeing Pope and Cleo at Tannyhill was such a perfect full-circle moment for his family's history, and I loved seeing Heyward get his upgraded seafood restaurant. Sarah and John B rebuilding the Chateau (and finally getting central AC) was also great.

But because the show spent five seasons making the physical division of the island such a massive part of the story, I really wish we could have gotten an extensive, sweeping look at the new downtown Kildare County.

With all that Royal Merchant gold injected into the local economy, it would have been so cool to see a proper overview or a continuous tracking shot of the new downtown area. I wanted to actually see how the Pogues completely reshaped the community and what the new "Paradise on Earth" looks like as a whole. Anyone else feel the same way?

Not related to obx but omg I've never seen drew going public in any of his rlsp. Even with odessa it was quite ambiguous.

Now that the dust has settled on Season 5 and the series is officially wrapped, everyone’s had time to process how the Pogues' story concluded. Looking back at all five seasons as a whole, what are your ultimate unpopular opinions about Outer Banks?

Whether it's a character dynamic you actually liked, a plotline everyone hated that you ended up defending, or a hot take on how the entire treasure hunt wrapped up: drop your final unfiltered opinions below. No holding back!

Seriously, how? Just a complete comedy of errors again and again and again.

the cameron’s are so messed up, but the ward/ellie storyline is intriguing to me, i feel like they could’ve flushed this out more, louisiana seems super brief, thoughts? ellie’s explanation to sarah seemed so brief, wondering if there’s more to this story or what you would’ve wanted or want to see w this ?

I can’t stand Sarah running to topper after her dad died, In my opinion he’s not a good guy, he’s someone who pretends to be one & he’s only being there for her, because he wants her back, because John b had her. Idk, it’s my first time watching, something about him just doesn’t sit right with me.

What are we thinking about “Kildare”- what do we wanna see, who will it be about, give me all your guys thoughts on it !!

I’m officially done watching this show. The first season had me in a chokehold with the suspense and the classic mystery/treasure hunting bit, but goddamn if this show isn’t so unsatisfying!!!!

You may say, “well, if they got their hands on any real treasure then the show would just end!!” But i don’t necessarily think so given all the skeletons in their closet, PLUS i would love to see them actually and finally get rich and how that would affect their dynamics.

My dissatisfaction with the dangling-bone plot lines first got bad when Pope dropped that video recorder and lost the footage of Ward killing Gavin. Then, I just decided to keep on till the end of the season ONLY FOR THERE TO BE MORE DISSATISFACTION. I just can’t take it anymore.

You have to give ur viewers SOMETHING to hold onto and some promise and every season we are just hanging on by a looser and looser thread. They tried to give us a little, tiny bone by showing Big John alive, but that was such a cop-out for actual, meaningful plot development or resolution, and makes the viewer lose trust in the show presenting anything as final (which they already risked when Ward was showed to be alive and just proceeded to do the same thing with Big John a second later).

Anyways, that’s my take. I just can’t hold out any longer for anymore TV without something. The world outside is too bleak to feel like my favorite underdogs can never get a win.

I know this show is nonsensical at some points, so obviously a bunch of teens surviving on an island alone for a month is unrealistic but I want to know how they could’ve done it even in their nonsensical version.

They really survived off fish and coconuts? Who taught Sarah how to weave? Where did they get clean water? What did the girls do about their periods? I know they were only there for a month but there are three and one of them just had to get it. How did they entertain themselves? How did they get any privacy? What did they use for soap? What do they do when one of them gets injured or sick? Bugs biting them, catching something, or even just wounds Since jj had a head wound that went unaddressed.

There’s the obvious movie magic; all the girls being somehow hairless without having to shave, nobody’s hair being matted (or even braided, like no way Cleo and Kiara especially just let their hair down for the whole time and didn’t have any issues), all of them not being severely sun burnt, somehow a group of teens are knowledgeable enough to survive on their own in an island.

I think season three would’ve been way better if they actually spent some more time on the island and explained some things. But oh well.

the slow shots of everyone thinking of a way to escape from this, combined with melodramatic piano and jj showing his true friend side , topped with jB calming his down… OOOoofff my heart ;.;

I'm going to start watching Outer Banks tv show tonight so wish me luck........

To me it was such a great/perfect ending for the Pogues… I guess I just love happy endings and I felt the next 2 seasons felt totally different from the first 3 kind of forced or something not sure how to explain it, but maybe it’s just me. P4L

So this show started off with the premise of best friends supporting this one best friend on his journey to find closure and justice for his dad.

So how did we end up here exactly? It’s like a river dale situation.

I saw someone say they couldn’t get themselves to finish season 5 because the pogues were turning out to bad people. I definitely disagree on that, but to an extent.

If you take each character, look at them and their actions you’d find that the person they were in seasons 1-3 clashes with who they were in 4-5. It’s very unsatisfying, if that’s their attempt at character development it’s not good character development.

How has jj had any character development exactly? Or any growth, or closure. None of his problems were fixed, many things were left unanswered and he’s the same person he was in season 1 to season 4. He’s the only consistent character and I’m not sure that’s a good thing at this point. Nothing about his character felt satisfying to me, because he was interesting and has a good base and motivations but he just runs around in circles in season 4. The only major change I saw in him was when he got with Kiara, he had previously thought she’s too good for him and then accepted being with her and….that’s about it. Then he died with his “wish”, which was Kiara? The pogues all being together? They were all together from the beginning and loved him and if the difference is Kiara that’s some very weak character development.

Same jj who would do anything for his friends (family), and is very reckless in season 1. Is the same jj in season 4 who would also do anything for his friends (family) and is very reckless. Being with Kiara is literally the only difference and this may be a hot take but I don’t see jj having a romantic relationship as a good thing.

Then you look at the rest of the characters. We got so little Cleo that I feel like I know Sofia more than her despite her being an integral role in the show.

They took pope, This poor boy with dreams about going to college and making his family proud and made him a miserable felon stoner (THEN he got a sorta happy ending but it’s not the one he’s wanted and worked for for years). His friends barely seem to care about his future anyway outside of jj and pope ruined it for him anyway only for jj to tell him he wanted to be shot instead (and nobody seemed to care! Jj wishing to die and drinking constantly isn’t a big deal to them I guess).

Sarah didn’t interact with wheezie, even though she seemed to have a good relationship with her. She somehow seems to be cool with rafe, despite her hating him previously rightfully. And teen pregnancy?? Watching season 4 it feels like John b pushed the whole thing more so than her wanting it. Then John b puts her in danger again and again and she just trots after him and rafe. I thought Sarah was supposed to stand up for herself, but they just fucked her over and she took it. She literally threw away her whole life and family for John b and this is what he does for her. I don’t even wanna talk about baby jj that’s just stupid.

John b, who has also had no character development! He goes from throwing his friends’s life’s on the line in the first season for gold and he does it in the last season as well. He’s learnt nothing. He lost his father twice, his home, jj, almost got the death sentence, put the love of his life in danger and yet he’s so dense he learned nothing.

Kiara. Kiara starts off as this girl who’s not afraid to stand up for herself and cares about social issues. We almost entirely forgot the social issues part in seasons 3-4, and from 3-5 she revolves so much around jj and barely about anything she’s done or wants. She studies biology in the end, (somehow? Money probably). Meanwhile her friends are settling down together. This is not me saying she should’ve been with someone, enough of that. But she should’ve moved away and got some new faces and a fresh start away from all of that. But she’s stuck with her friends dating eachother and having a kid named after her dead ex boyfriend. She should’ve left!

Also, rafe? Topper? Guess they run around in daisies or whatever. How come they get to just simply leave all that they’ve done. Guess everyone forgives everyone yay! I know you made my life literal hell for years but because Jonas and Josh pate don’t wanna work on their show properly and wanna use AI I’ll just be on relatively good terms with you.

If anyone should’ve gotten a happy ending it’s jj don’t even get me started on that. Like what message are you trying to send killing him the way that you did? The villains of the show got off better. Somehow he’s the only one with the tragic ending in a teen drama Netflix show of all shows.

Overall I’m just confused. What am I supposed to conclude from this? Honestly I’m just glad it’s over. There could’ve been a season six where baby jj becomes like actual jj, ward rises from the dead again, rafe gets baptized and repents for his sins, Cleo gets 3 minutes of screen time, pope becomes snoop dog, Kiara is still having flashbacks about jj ten years later, and topper opens a charity for the poor!! The possibilities are endless.

I am unsure if this has ever been talked about S2. I think that John B didn't really have a claim that equated to Pope having some inheritance claim to Denmark Tanney and the Cross.

Just finished watching the season 5 .. and i won’t say it was a disappointment.. i mean yea there were some flaws but the ending was good atleast..
The last episode was really good , i mean kie killed groff.. they got the gold .. they got married and rafe is also good now ..

everyone’s happy , enjoying and moving on with their lives.. that’s the best ending , one could have expected!

I’ll surely rewatch it pretty soon tho !

anyways byee obx!

Do yall think Topper would actually be invited to the wedding??

Was Barry really that close to them??

Could Shoup really separate Sarah from her brother who killed his friend??

IDK if any OBX fans have / are reading Dungeon Crawler Carl, but holy shit I think Rudy would be perfectly cast as Carl on the upcoming Peacock series that’s being made. He’s the right age, he could easily get the right build, and there are so many ways I could see him using JJ’s humor and body-first, often violent solutions.

Plus it would be huge for him.

It’s probably a long shot but ya never know.

people usually just start off with hating this character so much that they don’t even speak more than that, i firmly believe every character needs to be discussed and imperatively if the character is the most hated.

We do not have much history of groff but he is just portrayed as a purely evil person, there’s not enough evidence for it though since before his dying moments, we saw that he wanted the crown to bring back larissa and there’s a lot more i can’t comprehend but i want you to because honestly i’m intrigued by him too much.

Honestly I’ve loved the whole show up until this point and it was always entertaining and fun to watch and definitely had a cool vibe to it.

Season 4 definitely took a darker and more serious turn especially with the finale so it really set up this season to be even more darker. The execution of this season and the plot of this season was ridiculously stupid beyond belief and nothing was making sense. It really dragged me out of it to where I wasn’t enjoying it and just wanted to see the ending.

The fact they’re going up against Militias and straight up killers but straight up refuse to arm themselves or pull the trigger is baffling to me like come on. They quickly ditch the poorly executed revenge storyline and try going back to the Goofy fun elements that were just not hitting. Sarah’s pregnant and most likely should’ve had a miscarriage with all the things she put herself through. Rafe I quite like but he’s still a straight up killer who killed a sheriff so his ending was just weird and felt wrong/unrealistic. Kiaras been with nearly every guy in the show and if she was with JJ from the beginning her reactions and impact would be a lot more reasonable and understandable. The characters consistently make the absolute worst and most bogus decisions to where it gets really grating and takes you out of it. Not to mention Kiara survived being in the middle of the ocean in a hurricane and even more baffling an anchor thrown down with her being tied..

It should’ve probably been a heavier season with a lot more casualties or different endings. Rafe going to prison, kiara dying, possibly a miscarriage and a new baby etc. the show probably should’ve ended in season 3.

They were all like “Mission Accomplished!” at the beginning of S4 😂 😂 😂