🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐

Listen up, Pogues! Grab your surfboard and best pair of waterproof running shoes because it’s time to take a trip back to Kildare Island. (Try not to get ambushed by any Kooks.)

The first season of Outer Banks, which follows teens on a treasure hunt across a storm-battered North Carolina barrier island, is jam-packed with action, thrills, romance and twists. Over the course of 10 episodes, John B (Chase Stokes) and his local crew, the Pogues, go on an epic adventure to solve the mystery of his father’s disappearance and hunt down the mythical lost treasure of the Royal Merchant, a sunken ship. 

Not surprisingly, not everything goes according to plan for our amphibious heroes. Read on for a quick refresher, covering all of the drama from the show’s first season. (There are more spoilers ahead than keggers in the boneyard, so consider yourself warned.)

 

Chase Stokes as John B in Season 1 of Outer Banks.

Who’s this John B and what’s his deal? 
When the show opens, we’re immediately introduced to John B, a working-class resident of Kildare Island whose father has been missing for nine months. He’s currently living alone in a rundown house he calls “The Chateau,” since his uncle/official legal guardian is off building houses in Mississippi. Unfortunately for John B, the local department of child protective services is onto him and a caseworker makes a plan to stop by the next day — demanding to either speak with his uncle in person or send John B off to foster care on the mainland. Luckily, the caseworker appointment is canceled when a giant hurricane hits the island.

Wait — back up. What exactly are the Outer Banks?
The Outer Banks, or OBX as it’s sometimes referred to, is a string of barrier islands in North Carolina. It’s a pretty unique place. Thanks to a helpful explainer at the beginning of the season, we learn that Kildare, the island on the show, is roughly separated into two sections: the Figure Eight where the Kooks (AKA wealthy inhabitants) live, and the Cut where the Pogues (or working-class islanders) reside. As John B puts it, it’s “two tribes, one island.”

We already know that John B is a Pogue. Do we meet any others?
Do we ever. Among John B’s tight-knit crew of friends who proudly call themselves Pogues, is JJ (Rudy Pankow), his best-friend since third grade, an excellent surfer with a reckless temperament who comes from a long line of islanders. Then there’s Pope (Jonathan Daviss), the brilliant son of a legendary local character named Heyward, who’s hoping to secure a college scholarship to study forensic pathology. Last but not least, Kiara (Madison Bailey) is a secret Kook (her dad owns a famous island restaurant called the Wreck) who’s passionate about environmental conservation.

(L-R) Rudy Pankow as JJ Maybank, Madison Bailey as Kiara Carrera, Chase Stokes as John B and Jonathan Daviss as Pope Heyward in Season 1 of Outer Banks.

Got it, those are the Pogues. Any Kooks we need to know about?
You bet your seersucker suit there is. The main Kooks in Season 1 are the members of the Cameron family. Ward Cameron (Charles Esten), married to real estate agent Rose (Caroline Arapoglou), is the island’s most prominent businessman and owns a house called Tannyhill Plantation. He has three kids: Rafe Cameron (Drew Starkey), a troubled drug dealer with a short fuse; Sarah Cameron (Madelyn Cline), the island’s “Kook princess” and girlfriend to fellow Kook Topper (Austin North) and his youngest, Wheezie Cameron (Julia Antonelli).

Oh, I’m sorry, did you say the island gets hit by a giant hurricane?
It sure does — the weather event pretty much sets Season 1’s story in motion. During the hurricane, John B sees a boat being tossed in the waves. The next day, with the power out across the island, the Pogues dive down to the sunken wreck and discover a key to a room at a local motel. When they head to the motel, they find a safe full of money and a gun. Even though the local sheriff, Peterkin (Adina Porter), warns John B to stay away from the sunken boat, the Pogues return the next day with some “borrowed” scuba gear and recover a package. They’re chased from the scene by some thugs with guns, flee back to the shore and discover that the package contains a compass that was once owned by John B’s missing father.

What’s so significant about the compass?
It turns out that the compass is a treasured family heirloom, and — more important — it has a secret compartment. John B opens it and sees the word Redfield scratched into the side in his dad’s handwriting. After the mysterious thugs from earlier show up at John B’s house and steal his dad’s research on the Royal Merchant, a 19th-century sunken ship, the Pogues head to Redfield Lighthouse to try and find some more clues. Unfortunately, it’s a dead-end, and the lighthouse keeper calls the cops. After John B is chased by the thugs again, and accidentally gets electrocuted by a live wire, he agrees to hand over the compass to Sheriff Peterkin. About to give up, he discovers that his great-great-grandmother’s maiden name was Redfield and heads to her grave, where he finds a package addressed to him from his dad.

What’s in the package?
Glad you asked. Inside the package is more information on the Royal Merchant shipwreck, including a ship manifest and coordinates that mark where it can be found. Islanders have been trying to find the Royal Merchant for years because it’s rumored that the wreck contains a cache of gold bars worth $400 million. The Pogues take a boat out to the coordinates and use a “borrowed” drone to find the Royal Merchant. The bad news? There’s no gold to be found in the wreck. John B is about to call it quits, but then Sarah helps him escape the agents sent to take him to foster care and they return to her family home, Tannyhill Plantation. While there, John B learns that a mysterious formerly enslaved person named Denmark Tanny survived the Royal Merchant sinking and built the house. It turns out, his dad’s big discovery wasn’t the location of the wreck, it was the ship’s full manifest which included the names of other enslaved persons onboard. Twist! Denmark Tanny survived the wreck and took the gold with him. John B convinces Sarah to go with him to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to search the archives for any letters written by Denmark Tanny.

Chase Stokes as John B (L) and Madelyn Cline as Sarah Cameron (R) in Season 1 of Outer Banks.

Do they find anything?
Indeed they do. In fact, they find two exciting things: a promising letter from Denmark Tanny and… love. That’s right, after their wild mainland adventure, Sarah decides she’s going to break up with her boyfriend, Topper, so she can be with John B instead. Returning to the island with Tanny’s letter, John B seeks out a translation. The letter’s translation directs them to a well under a spooky house not far from Tannyhill where the Pogues finally discover the gold! 

Wait — they find the gold? So it’s a happy ending?
Not quite! Sarah’s dad, Ward Cameron, overhears John B and Sarah talking about finding the gold and asks John B to go out fishing with him the next day. On the boat, John B discovers that it was Ward who killed his father. His dad discovered the Royal Merchant gold with Ward’s help, but wanted to give him only 20 percent and not the 50 he wanted. So, Ward killed him. John B’s dad lived just long enough to carve the clue Redfield in the compass that would eventually lead John B in the right direction. After attacking John B on the fishing boat, Ward steals all of the gold from the well and loads it on his private plane, which flies off to the Bahamas.

So Ward and the gold are in the Bahamas at the end of the season?
Well, the gold is. John B manages to stop Ward from leaving on the plane and Sheriff Peterkin arrives on the scene to arrest Ward for the murder of John B’s father. Unfortunately, Ward’s drug-addled son Rafe is hiding nearby and shoots Sheriff Peterkin, killing her. Sarah witnesses all of this, but that doesn’t stop Ward and Rafe from framing John B for Sheriff Peterkin’s murder and convincing the local police to start an island-wide manhunt for John B.

Madelyn Cline as Sarah Cameron (L) and Chase Stokes as John B (R) in Season 1 of Outer Banks.

Wow. So how does Outer Banks Season 1 end?
The Pogues help John B and Sarah escape in a boat. The couple plans to sail down to Mexico. Unfortunately, this happens to be the moment that the power is finally restored to the island and their boat’s location is revealed to law enforcement officers on shore. After a high-speed chase, the two steer their boat into a tropical storm and capsize. The Pogues mourn the couple, believing them to be dead, but — surprise! — they actually survive the storm. The next day, John B and Sarah are rescued by a barge heading to the Bahamas — AKA exactly where the gold treasure is now located. Cue Season 2!

Outer Banks Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream now. 

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