'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAMDAwMDAwQEBAQFBQUFBQcHBgYHBwsICQgJCAsRCwwLCwwLEQ8SDw4PEg8bFRMTFRsfGhkaHyYiIiYwLTA+PlQBAwMDAwMDBAQEBAUFBQUFBwcGBgcHCwgJCAkICxELDAsLDAsRDxIPDg8SDxsVExMVGx8aGRofJiIiJjAtMD4+VP/AABEIAAcACgMBIgACEQEDEQH/xABgAAEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQcQAAEEAgIDAQAAAAAAAAAAAAIBAwQRAAUGEgcTFSIBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYRAAMAAgMBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECAwAEEiEiYf/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8AryeYyXdJqZOz5ns5TRyldhi5HFGwNr8q4ogPYjBVsbWsyjZ+fuSxtlMZ+htz9Uh0O4sx+pdSq0s7rGMaC7wajT8lypb71hSmnC09dKKHVFfiCB16z//Z'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The immensely fun and illogical Outer Banks returned with a new season on February 23, 2023, bringing back the Pogues and Kooks amid a coastal North Carolina class rivalry. Despite being well on its way to losing most of its charm and any sense of logic, the new ten-episode season is still undeniably fun in many ways.
Outer Banks was always good at understanding what it wanted, but in this case, with a mighty inconsistent story where anything is possible, the third season seems to have quite substantially lost its way. This is especially worrying considering that this became one of the rarer Netflix shows to receive a fourth season renewal ahead of the premiere of the third one.
Outer Banks season 3 may have upped the unpleasant parts or at least made them more visible. It is also more daring, committed, and crazy in its treatment of characters and storylines, something that at least guilty-pleasures viewers will appreciate.
Outer Banks season 3 review: Bizarre with a capital 'B'
Outer Banks season 3 has everything extravagant. What started as a sensible story with flashes of consequential bizarreness has transformed into a full-blown, logically-flawed, adventure-driven ride that is hard to call disappointing at a glance.
It stems from the fact that the end of Season 2, no matter how exciting it felt at the time, did leave the characters in an absurd position. Season 3 picks up several weeks after the events of Season 2, where John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), JJ (Rudy Pankow), and newbie Cleo (Carlacia Grant) are stranded on the Carebian island after the showdown of the season 2 finale.
Although there are brief moments of steady story development, the group is quickly thrust into the absurd chase for the lost city of El Dorado, a cliché in this genre. A new villain enters the scene, but it is much less potent than before. Andy McQueen's Carlos Singh sounds perfect on paper but is hardly any match for the villains of the past. Both the portrayal and the character graph drag down this villain to make it one of the worst characters in the history of Outer Banks.
The return of John B's dad, Big John Routledge (Charles Halford), is a more solid plot point that also benefits from character development. But again, all of this is quite useless as the series starts to almost blackout towards the halfway mark.
After the sixth episode, Outer Banks season 3 looks more lost than ever. One of the worst decisions that the creators made in the second half of the third season was to try and make sense of the story. This is a terrible choice with disastrous consequences. It ultimately results in the third season being the least impressive season thus far.
But the plus points are probably enough to hook in the established fan base as the new season offers more drama, adventure, action, and simply more of everything. But this season is not good enough to persuade anyone looking for anything logical or intelligent. The fourth season may take it above this or degrade it much further.
All ten episodes of Outer Banks season 3 are now streaming on Netflix.
