‘Outer Banks’ Is a Perfect Show: Fight Me

When the first reviews for Outer Banks Season 3 came in, they all said roughly the same thing. This season is ridiculous. It’s melodramatic and superficial. Teen shows shouldn’t be this dramatic. Respectfully, I disagree. Outer Banks is exactly what I want from a teen drama; plot holes, boat fights, fake dead dads and all.

At any given turn, Outer Banks has always been dedicated to making the most insane choice imaginable. John B (Chase Stokes) has been cornered by his girlfriend’s murderous dad (Charles Esten) on a yacht? He’ll escape on a jet ski. All of the Pogues have been separated? Not a problem, they’ll just converge on a random street in Charleston and start a chase scene. No, of course none of them knew the others were in this city, miles away from home. The academically focused Pope (Jonathan Daviss) wants to go back to school? Put him in eighth grade. Sure, he was up for a college scholarship last season, but for at least a couple of episodes there are consequences to constantly missing class, dammit. Outer Banks plays by its own rules, and more often than not those rules defy logic.

That’s exactly what I want. Leave it to adult-focused dramas and prestige TV to make sense. When I turn on a teen drama, I want to yell. I either want to be audibly gasping at my TV because a character has done something so astronomically stupid or weird that I have to verbally respond; or I want to scream “KISS” at my favorite ship. That’s it. That’s the purpose of these shows. Expecting anything more is as ridiculous as a group of teenagers actually finding El Dorado.

The joy of Outer Banks is that it knows exactly what it is: a teen fantasy. When the Pogues were stranded on a deserted island for a month, Outer Banks didn’t waste time explaining what they ate or how they protected themselves from the sun. It called the island Poguelandia and treated it like a monthlong vacation away from parents. John B and JJ’s (Rudy Pankow) stupidest plans almost always work. And when they don’t, an alternative solution is only seconds away. Betrayals only stick for a couple of episodes. Broken laws don’t really matter. Enemies will have a plot-altering change of heart only to go back to being the slimy dirtbag they were earlier in the season. Gunshot wounds can be walked off after a devastating “will they die?” sequence, and at the end of the day, everyone has the boyfriend or girlfriend you want them to have. It’s like reading fan fiction, but it’s a show.

And now this ragtag crew is supposed to find Blackbeard’s treasure? Incredible. No notes.

As ridiculous as Outer Banks gleefully is, there’s an honesty to it. Being a teenager is one of the most stressful periods of people’s lives. The emotions are big, and the stakes feel huge, and that’s what ridiculous teen dramas capture. They raise the stakes to be as massive as puberty makes life feel. Sneaking back into your house after a party isn’t the same as narrowly avoiding a bullet to the head, but the rush of triumph kind of feels the same.

Life can be hard. So why not enjoy a bunch of perfectly styled kids saying “P4L” without a single trace of irony? Outer Banks is one of the good parts of life. Relax and embrace the chaos.