Warning: The following content includes “Outer Banks” season three spoilers.

Released during the height of the pandemic, Netflix’s “Outer Banks” immediately became a trending show. However, as the series progressed, the quality of the plot has decreased, particularly within season three. 

“Outer Banks” follows a group of young working-class teens on the hunt for a treasure that turns out to be bigger than they could have imagined. 

Season three picks up immediately where season two left off. The pogues are stranded on a desert island while Ward and Rafe Cameron get away with the gold and cross of Santo Domingo. 

The season is off to a good start but quickly derails. 

One of the most significant issues with this season is “Big John” (played by Charles Halford), John B’s missing father. 

Season one was fueled by John B trying to finish what his father started, the hunt for the royal merchant gold. Season two ended with the reveal that Big John is actually alive. 

Big John’s death was the very foundation of the plot itself, if he wasn’t presumed dead then much of season one wouldn’t have ever occurred. The same thing happened in season two when Ward Cameron was believed to have died in an explosion, then later that same season the audience learns it was fake. 

During the season three finale, both Ward Cameron and Big John actually die, but their death doesn’t affect the audience in the way the writers intended because they have already seen them die before. 

A show where characters are believed to be dead and then keep coming back ruins the integrity.

Next, is Carlos Singh (Andy McQueen), the “big bad” of season three. Singh basically came out of nowhere and has no ties to the previous seasons. What the writers should have done was focus more on Carla Limbrey (Elizabeth Mitchell), and make her the main villain of the season. 

Limbrey had already established herself in the world of the pogues and made it known that she too was on the hunt for her own treasure. Season three simply brushed her aside and her character was never developed. 

The final episode of season three is the most problematic. For over two seasons, the pogues have been hunting for treasure together, enduring all kinds of trials, yet the writers chose to keep them apart for the finale. 

The 79-minute season finale shows John B and Sarah Cameron finding the city of gold, El Dorado, without the rest of the pogues. 

If that wasn’t bad enough there is also a random time jump, 18 months into the future. The time jump takes the audience to a recognition ceremony where the pogues are given credit for finding El Dorado. Suddenly, Kiara’s parents are so proud of her, when earlier in the season they made it known that they hate her friends and shipped her off to an insane boarding school. 

Additionally, a strange man approaches the pogues showing them a manuscript written by Captain Edward Teach, Blackbeard. 

The hunt for Blackbeard’s ship would make for an interesting storyline, but it is too rushed. Season three jumped too quickly into the next adventure without fully concluding the previous one. 

“Outer Banks” has never been mistaken for academy-award winning, but fans deserve better than a rushed ending and a season that didn’t live up to expectations.