Teen Drama, Outer Banks, Reveals Hidden Meanings in Action and Adventure
Schuyler Kropp, Staff Writer
The show Outer Banks is a teen drama, action-adventure, mystery thriller show on Netflix. It is run by Jonas Pate, Josh Pate, and Shannon Burke. It debuted in 2020 and is planning to premier its last season in mid-summer of 2026. Outer Banks currently has four seasons that are mixed with a lot of intense action-packed scenes and treasure hunting. In this article I will be analyzing the hidden meanings to be found in Outer Banks.
In the first season you are introduced to the main characters of the show: John B, Kiara, Pope, JJ, and Sarah; they all live on Kildare Island. The character John B is obsessed with his parentage and is passionate about finding lost treasures like his father. Pope is a history and book nerd who has family grudges against Carla Limbrey, an enemy of his. Kie, at the beginning of the show, is the only girl in their group, and has very rocky relationships with her parents, as they don’t approve of her friends. Kie’s parents, who are Kooks, the wealthy, elite residents living on the north side of the island, wanted a better life for her. Instead, Kie rebelled and lived life as a pogue, the working-class protagonists hailing from the "Cut" side of Kildare Island. JJ is the silly sidekick to John B who have been best friends since the third grade. Sarah, another girl who joins the group later on, is just like Kie who also turns into a pogue. They all bond due to the lack of support from their own families causing them to become friends and create their own family as a group. This show explores the symbolism and true meanings of freedom, treasures, family, and wealth.
Family is an important part of everyone's life as it determines who you grow up to be. John B has never interacted with his mom since being three years old. A popular fan theory does suggest that Carla Limbrey, another central character, might be his biological mother. However, during the show, John B and Sarah turn out to be expecting a child, showing that even without a mother figure in your life, you can still show love to your own child. JJ, who knows his parentage, gets betrayed by his biological father Chandler Groff after learning about how he mistreated his mother, Larissa Genrette. He mistreated her in search for the Blue Crown which is considered “the ultimate treasure.” JJ then puts his life on the line like his mother did for him and tries to keep Groff from taking the blue crown from him and his friends. The hidden meaning of the Crown is to be seen in a better point of view, as in superior to others.
Love, another important symbol in Outer Banks, means quality time and sacrifice for JJ. JJ’s love is shown mostly in spending quality time with his friends and sacrificing himself for them. This sacrifice is shown through lying to the sheriff on his friends behalf and going to jail instead of Pope. The strong connection between him and his friends is shown by John B asking JJ to become the godfather of their upcoming child. His final sacrifice is for the love of his friends, especially his best friend John B. It is highlighted by the fight for the Blue Crown. After his death, John B and his friends, Kie, Pope, Sarah, and Cleo want revenge on the people who killed JJ, their best friend. This demonstrates their love-filled family.
Freedom is a big part of identity to Denmark Tanny, the ancestor of Pope, who had bought slaves their freedom. Sadly, he ended up getting lynched by the Limbrey’s due to a false accusation of treason. Denmark Tanny and Pope are very similar as Pope only found out about their connection when his grandmother had told him. This leads to Pope finding out about the cross that Denmark was searching for and had hid it in his church to pay for the freedom of the slaves. Pope later speaks to Carla Limbrey about the Cross of Santo Domingo, a gold cross which is an important symbol of freedom. However, Pope realizes what Denmark Tanny’s real treasure was, which was his wife, who he had buried at the foot of an oak tree.
Travel is also a strong symbol of freedom, and is shown quite a bit in the show, especially through the boat they use to travel to various islands. When John B and Sarah were hiding from the police after being accused of killing the sheriff, they took the boat and travelled far away under false names. Another part of travel in the show is when Kie helps JJ transport his adoptive dad, Luke Maybank, to leave for a long period of time. This departure is a symbol of freedom through the movement of travel.
As referenced in character analysis earlier, there are two groups of people featured in the show. The Kooks and the Porgues. The Kooks are wealthy, and the Pogues are poor. The Kooks have a lot of money due to inheritance and connections with the right people. The Pogues have no money, due to poor resources and lack of connections. Rafe Cameron is an example of a Kook and he is known to be very greedy. The show shows him melting the Cross of Santo Domingo to collect the gold embedded in it to keep for himself, despite his already wealthy origins. To steal the gold in the first place, he betrays his partner in crime, Carla Limbrey. This proves that the Kooks have a lot of money, but are constantly searching for more.Money is very important in the show as the Cameron’s are rich and the Heyward’s are poor. The disparity in money in the show controls a lot of the plot and causes many fights between the two groups.
Overall, Outer Banks is a great show that has a lot of plot twists and turns. The series shows the characters developing as they start to gain their freedom from the wealth of the treasures. The theme of family becomes more present as the characters are able to create their own family that’s loving and not abusive. I asked a viewer of the show his overall opinions of Outer Banks and they said they enjoyed “the feeling of the idea of clans and gangs that are rebellious.” This highlights how much action takes place in Outer Banks. He also brings up a point saying the main symbolism of the story is “how society works as there are two kinds of people in this world. People who have to work for their living. And the wealthy people that can do whatever they want”. This highlights that in Outer Banks there are various lifestyles that make up the different characters, showing their origins and developing their stories.