There’s a moment in the first part of Outer Banks Season four, which is one of the most blatantly absurd of the Netflix drama series – and for a series in which a bunch of shaggy-haired, slightly idiotic teenagers have managed to locate the gold-filled, mythical city of El Dorado, that’s saying something . The confusing moment involves a heated turf war involving – see notes – newly hatched baby turtles, and it’s a level of absurdity that’s in the same tradition as cult-wacky teen soaps The OK And A tree hill. (Okay, no, it’s not nearly as stupid as Marissa Cooper shooting Imogen Heap in slow motion or a golden retriever eating Dan Scott’s heart transplant, but what is it really?)

And we definitely mean that as a compliment – after a convoluted third season that made the mistake of taking its convoluted mythologies far too seriously, it seems like co-creators Josh Pate, Jonas Pate and Shannon Burke have the course set Youth Corrected In the drama’s fourth season, the show’s usual fast-paced escapades are served up with cheeky self-awareness and a complete disregard for reason. Don’t confuse this with Outer Banks Despite being a great TV show – from the bland cinematography to the less than robust script, especially due to the young female characters – it’s still quite a mess. But at least it’s a good time again.

The first five episodes of the season – yes, like that Emily in Paris, Bridgerton, And Stranger Things, OBX The fourth season will be released in two parts, the first on Thursday, October 10th, and the second half will follow about a month later on Thursday, November 7th. It also fixes a major mistake from season three by mostly keeping John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah Cameron (Madelyn Cline) and the rest of her Pogue friends in one place: the series’ titular setting, the offshore islands, the surrounds the coast of North Carolina. (Although previews for the second half of season four show the treasure-hunting teens in more exotic locations.)

Keeping the kids in their hometown means spending more time stoking local tensions—with motorcycle races, rezoning plans, and, yes, little turtles—and letting the Pogues, well, be Pogues. While they’re eventually tasked with tracking down the long-lost treasures of the infamous English pirate Blackbeard, JJ (Rudy Pankow), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss) and the crew spend much of the first part of the season dealing with far more relatable topics like neighborhood bullies, young businesses, and family grief. The balance between accessibility and adventure feels much more fitting Outer Banks‘ first season as the wild jungle trekking chaos of the third part of the series.

Not that the new Eps are entirely lacking in firearms fun – this season the Pogues continue to attract the attention of both the local police and a new band of villains, the latter of which is also hunting the priceless amulets and blue crowns of Blackbeards Bounty. And close encounters with both groups certainly give the series its heartbreaking core, but there are also compelling things in the everyday conflicts, like the class struggle romance between Pogue-raised Sofia (Fiona Paloma, made a series regular here). season) and Kook-born Rafe (Drew Starkey, who has been outshining his young OBX colleagues for seasons now and venturing into acclaimed arthouse fare like that of Luca Guadagnino Strange feel like it’s expected, like it’s deserved).



And while the split-season model has frustrated fans accustomed to the jumble of a full season’s worth of episodes, the delayed release schedule provides a welcome reprieve from all of the Pogues’ endless shenanigans. There’s a reason these melodramatic moments from the teen soaps of yesteryear are still so alive – we were allowed to dwell on these character reveals and shocking deaths without the intrusion of an immediate “Next episode begins in…” banner and cliffhanger devalued. Provided it is a product of the streaming ageOuter Banks will never be able to fully replicate the weekly excitement of its soap predecessors, but the two-part release comes closest to that sensation.

Considering how much is put into each installment of the show, it’s hard to fully judge how things will ultimately turn out Outer Banks fourth season overall. Although part one is significantly less busy than previous installments in the series, there are still kidnappings, marriage proposals, stabbings and a corpse being spun around on a skateboard. (“Come on, how long were we really going to stay out of trouble?” John B narrates an early episode with a wink.) However, if things stay the way they are now, Outer Banks Maybe it just found its way again.

Outer Banks Season four, part one Premieres October 10th on Netflix