‘Outer Banks’ refresher: A recap of Seasons 1 & 2 before diving into Season 3

Ready to have “a good time, all the time” — for the third time?

Netflix’s hit drama series “Outer Banks” is back for its third season on Feb. 23.

By the time the season premieres, it will have been almost 19 months since Season 2 debuted in July 2021, and almost three years since the series first premiered in April 2020. With all of that time in between, you might have — understandably — forgotten what happened in Seasons 1 and 2.

Sure, you could rewatch the previous seasons between before the third season premieres, but if you don’t want to do that or don’t have enough time, don’t worry. We’re here to get you up-to-speed on all of the Pogues’ adventures.

Here’s your crash course to Netflix’s “Outer Banks,” with key points from each of the series’ first two seasons.

Warning: Major spoilers for “Outer Banks” Seasons 1 and 2 ahead. Seriously, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

What happened in Season 1 of ‘Outer Banks’?

▪ Welcome to the Outer Banks — Let’s start with some scene-setting. As the show’s name suggests, “Outer Banks” takes place mostly on a fictional version of the North Carolina coast. Main character John B introduces the Outer Banks early on in the pilot episode, referring to it as “Paradise on Earth.” The characters — who, as John B says in a voiceover, are on a summer mission to “have a good time, all the time” — spend lots of time on the water, surfing, boating and fishing.

While the fictional Outer Banks isn’t a perfect geographical match to the real-life OBX, names of North Carolina coastal towns and communities are sprinkled throughout the show’s dialogue.

Series creator Jonas Pate told The News & Observer that the show was inspired by his and his brother’s experiences growing up in North Carolina and visiting the coast, and that the geography of both North and South Carolina “gets thrown in a blender and tossed around” to create a “mythical Carolina coast.”

▪ Pogues vs. Kooks — “Outer Banks” is about a lot of things, including class differences. Two main groups exist on the show’s fictional Outer Banks setting: the Pogues, or the working-class locals who live on “the Cut,” and the Kooks, the rich, upper-class people who live on Figure Eight Island — a nod to the real-life Figure Eight that exists near Wrightsville Beach. Most of the show’s main characters — teens John B, Pope, JJ and Kiara — consider themselves to be Pogues, while born-Kook Sarah Cameron becomes more of a Pogue as she begins a star-crossed romance with John B. The groups’ differences, between both teens and adults, exist as a primary source of conflict throughout the series.

▪ The gold — Most of the Season 1 plot revolves around a treasure hunt for a massive amount of gold — $400 million, to be exact — thought to be on-board the Royal Merchant, a ship that wrecked off the OBX coast hundreds of years ago. John B’s father, Big John, has been missing for nine months, having disappeared while looking for the Merchant. John B and the other Pogues soon begin their own hunt for the Merchant as they find clues appeared to have been left for John B by his dad.

As the season goes on, it’s revealed that the gold belonged to Denmark Tanny, an enslaved man who was onboard the Merchant but survived its wreck and went on to own Tannyhill, the former plantation where the Cameron family now lives.

The Pogues find the gold this season — it’s under the Crain House, where a creepy old woman lives — but Ward Cameron, Sarah’s power- and money-hungry Kook dad, beats the group to retrieving it after overhearing John B and Sarah discuss its location.

▪ Murder by gaff hook — Throughout Season 1, several people turn up dead on the Outer Banks, with apparent fatal wounds from a gaff hook used for fishing. A little more than midway through the season, we learn it’s likely Ward who did the killing, as he attempts to do the same to John B while the pair is out at sea. John B escapes, but not before he realizes that Ward also played a role in Big John’s disappearance months before.

▪ Who killed Sheriff Peterkin? — Ward retrieves the gold, then makes plans to fly it by private plane to the Bahamas. Drama and conflict ensue at the airport runway, as John B tries to stop the plane from taking off using “the Twinkie,” his Volkswagen van. The local sheriff arrives not long after, telling Ward he’s being arrested for killing Big John. But as Sheriff Peterkin draws her gun, she’s shot by Ward’s son, Rafe — but after John B flees the scene, Ward calls the cops and says John B killed Peterkin.

▪ Surviving a tropical storm — Season 1 ends with a massive manhunt on the Outer Banks for John B, now wanted for murder, which coincides with tropical storm hitting the area. John B and Sarah manage to escape the island using a boat owned by JJ’s abusive father, heading straight into the storm. The boat is seen capsizing, but John B and Sarah somehow manage to survive, then get rescued by a cargo ship headed to the Bahamas — where the gold has been flown by Ward’s pilot.

What happened in Season 2 of ‘Outer Banks’?

▪ Hello, Bahamas — Season 2 opens with plenty of action, as John B and Sarah arrive in the Bahamas as fugitives and are captured by the crew on the cargo ship that originally brought them to the island country. Sarah and John B convince the crew to help them intercept the gold, which is being moved by Ward and Rafe from its location at the Camerons’ Bahamian home. But the plan doesn’t come without risks, and Sarah is shot by Rafe.

▪ Pogues, together again — Back on the OBX, Pope receives a letter from C. Limbrey, who says she has evidence that can exonerate John B, who is still wanted for the murder of Peterkin. The still-OBX-based Pogues — Pope, Kiara and JJ — head to Charleston to meet her, resulting with a chance encounter and meet-up with John B and Sarah, who have arrived back on the mainland after narrowly escaping danger and death in the Bahamas. The group heads back to the Outer Banks, where John B is (wrongly) arrested for the murder of the sheriff.

▪ RIP Ward Cameron — In the midst of the Pogues’ treasure hunting, now-Sheriff Shoupe and a State Bureau of Investigations agent find evidence that Rafe and Ward, not John B, were responsible for Peterkin’s death. The SBI moves into Tannyhill to arrest Ward, but Ward seemingly dies by suicide as he blows up the boat he’s hiding out on.

▪ The Cross of Santo Domingo — The Pogues’ meeting with Limbrey begins the introduction to Season 2’s key plot point: the search for a new treasure, the Cross of Santo Domingo, a priceless heirloom that, like the Season 1 gold, belonged to Denmark Tanny — who is revealed to be one of Pope’s ancestors. Through a series of clues deciphered through historical artifacts, the Pogues find the cross, but end up losing it to Rafe and Limbrey.

▪ The Coastal Venture — The Camerons make plans to ship the cross to another country via the Coastal Venture, a large cargo ship. Rose, Ward’s wife and Sarah’s stepmom, drugs Sarah to get her on the ship. The Pogues observe from a distance, then sneak onto the boat as stowaways to rescue Sarah and take back the cross. On board, it’s revealed that Ward is, in fact, alive, having faked his own death. The Pogues orchestrate an almost-successful plan to win back the cross before jumping overboard and taking a lifeboat to a deserted island they deem “Poguelandia.” Rafe, with the help of the ship’s crew, ends up with the cross.

▪ Big John, back from the dead — Ward Cameron isn’t the only OBX dad who can rise from the dead. Season 2 ends on a major cliffhanger, as it’s revealed that Big John is actually alive and living in Barbados. He’s visited by Limbrey, who is looking for the shroud supposedly located in the Cross of Santo Domingo. Big John says he’ll help Limbrey find it, but says she must “help my son.”

How to watch ‘Outer Banks’ on Netflix

“Outer Banks” is available for streaming on Netflix.

Season 3 premieres on Feb. 23, with all episodes becoming available on the platform that day. Seasons 1 and 2 are also available.

If you’re not subscribed to Netflix, you can learn more about subscription plan options at netflix.com/signup.