Outer Banks, Netflix’s newest teen drama, features ten episodes jam-packed with adventure, action, mystery, and romance. It primarily focuses on a group of teenagers who refer to themselves as “Pogues” and their search for gold in an ancient shipwreck. The group includes narrator John B, lovable troublemaker JJ, rich girl Kie, and brainiac Pope. Their main rivals are the “Kooks”, the rich teens that look down upon the Pogues’ lack of wealth. Two of the most notable members of the Kooks are “Kook princess” Sarah Cameron and her snobby ex-boyfriend Topper. This adventure is also intertwined with several romances across the show, most notably between John B and Sarah. It features a combination of classic film tropes and some of Hollywood’s newest rising stars. Additionally, it’s an extremely aesthetically pleasing show. The fashion is impeccable, the backdrop is beautiful, and the cast is insanely attractive (looking at you, Rudy Pankow).
All of these components helped make Outer Banks an instant hit. Within weeks, teens everywhere were quoting some of the show’s most iconic lines, shopping online to match their favorite character’s style, and telling everyone they know about how much they wanted to live “the Pogue life.” It transformed from being a brand new and mostly unknown show to an overnight sensation. With critics comparing the drama to teen classics and fan favorites, like Gossip Girl and The O.C., it’s no surprise that teens were instantly inclined to watch and join Outer Banks’ large and still growing fan base. It’s not just the characters and plotlines that made this the most popular show on Netflix, but also the circumstances surrounding its release.
With the current state of the world, Outer Banks is the perfect escape for teenagers across the globe. It portrays a fantasy of the perfect, carefree summer. John B, one of the beloved main characters, declares this in the first few minutes of the series: “We do whatever we want, whenever we want.” The teens always have something (and someone) fun and exciting to do, and they don’t let the high stakes of their adventures ever stop them from having a good time.
When the show first premiered, it brought a sense of excitement for what the upcoming summer could look like. Then reality hit. Having the perfect summer is, unfortunately, a bit harder in the midst of a global pandemic. We soon realized that this was not going to be a summer of doing whatever we want, whenever we want. Instead, it was a summer of safety precautions and staying at home. While watching, viewers are hit with a sense of envy and nostalgia for what could have been. It’s the summer we wanted, but not the one we got. So instead of solving mysteries while dating a Hollywood heartthrob, viewers are left romanticizing the Pogue life and counting down the days until Outer Banks season two. Hopefully, next year will be the year we bring our version of Outer Banks, 2020’s show of the summer, to life.