Everything You Need To Remember Before Outer Banks Season 5

No OBX fan will need help remembering that Outer Banks Season 4 ended with JJ’s tragic demise.

It’s seared permanently into our brains. I’ll get over it one day, but today will not be that day.

JJ Maybank, the Pogues’ most fearless, unpredictable, hilarious, and fiercely loyal member, was tragically killed by Chandler Groff in the Outer Banks Season 4 finale — leaving fans reeling and speculating how the show would continue without him.

Outer Banks Season 5, the final season of this beloved sun-drenched, manic teen drama, teases one last treasure hunt.

John B., Sarah, Pope, Kiara, Cleo, and the hot, psychotic Pogue-by-association Rafe are off to recover Blackbeard’s Blue Crown — which, like all the other artifacts they’ve uncovered over the years, is rumored to have some special powers.

The powers in question? It can bring back the dead.

I wonder what they want that for! 

Premiering on August 20 on Netflix, Outer Banks Season 5 will soon provide answers to some of its most burning questions:

Will the Pogues avenge JJ’s death? Will they recover and rebuild their home on The Cut?

Will the show veer into magical realism and actually resurrect JJ?

Before we dive back into the madness and mayhem of the Pogues’ final adventure, here’s a refresher on the key things to remember. 

The Pogues Are Hunting Blackbeard’s Blue Crown

At the end of Outer Banks Season 3, the Pogues were approached by Wes Genrette, a rich man who hired them to recover an amulet that belonged to the infamous pirate Blackbeard.

Blackbeard supposedly gave the amulet to his wife, Elizabeth, who Wes’s ancestor, Francis Genrette, killed.

Wes is convinced he’s being haunted by Elizabeth’s ghost, and enlists the help of the Pogues to track down the amulet, believing that returning it will break the curse.

But once the Pogues recover the amulet, they discover it holds the key to finding an even greater treasure: Blackbeard’s legendary “Blue Crown,” said to grant the wearer invincibility. (And apparently, it contains secret resurrection powers as well).

Cue their tumultuous treasure hunt, which ultimately takes the crew to Morocco for its chaotic finale.

JJ’s Biological Dad is Villain Chandler Groff

As Outer Banks Season 4 revealed, JJ Maybanks has quite the complicated family history.

JJ’s biological mother is Larissa, Wes Genrette’s daughter. Larissa was (tragically) married to our creepy, filicidal antagonist, Chandler Groff.

Everyone believed Larissa died in a boating accident, drowning with her infant son. This was all an elaborate cover-up to hide the fact that the baby survived, and that baby, of course, is JJ.

Luke Maybank, the man JJ grew up believing was his father, eventually comes out of hiding to confess to JJ that he’s not his biological father.

We learn that Luke worked for the Genrette family in his youth and harbored a secret longing for Larissa.

One day, Groff brought his baby to Luke to watch, killed Larissa, faked her death as a drowning, then paid Luke off to keep the baby a secret so he could claim the family inheritance.

Brutal.

JJ’s predominant arc in Outer Banks Season 5 is processing the discovery that his mother’s “abandonment” was all a lie. He struggles deeply with the fact that, technically, he is a Kook by blood after all.

Remember the Lupine Corsairs?

Groff wasn’t the only antagonist in Outer Banks Season 4; throughout the Pogues’ many (mis)adventures, they battled a mercenary crew of violent treasure hunters, who were simultaneously searching for Blackbeard’s crown.

This mercenary group of criminals is led by Dalia, AKA the show’s resident Olivia Coleman lookalike, and her scary enforcer, Lightner.

In Outer Banks Season 4 Episode 4, Lightner kidnaps Cleo to pressure the Pogues into giving him the amulet, killing her father figure, Terrance, in the process.

The Lupine Corsairs race the Pogues to the treasure, where they collide in Morocco. Pope eventually shoots and kills Lightner, an act John B. couldn’t bring himself to follow through on earlier in the season, fearing it would confirm he was too much like his father.

Groff Is Part of This Mercenary Crew… And Is the One to Kill JJ

As it turns out, Groff is also sort of, kind of a part of the Lupine Corsairs, and he manipulates the Pogues to hunt the Blue Crown for him.

Once upon a time, Groff was arrested in Morocco and escaped with the help of the mercenaries. He eventually stole Blackbeard’s captain’s log from them, using it to recruit the Pogues to find the Blue Crown.

Throughout the season, he manipulates his new relationship with JJ to suit his own ends. And in a double-crossing twist, Groff teams back up with the Lupine Corsairs in Morocco, only to betray them once again.

The Pogues, Rafe, Groff, and the mercenaries all race through Agapenta to find the crown.

JJ finds it first, climbing an ancient sculpture and pulling the crown from its hidden vault. But when Kiara runs into Groff and he threatens to kill her, JJ hands it over to save her life.

Despite finally retrieving the crown, Groff brutally stabs JJ, killing his own son anyway.

Sarah Is Pregnant

In case the stakes weren’t already high enough for our globe-trotting, fugitive band of treasure-hunting teens, the Pogues now have to contend with the fact that they will soon welcome their first baby into the mix.

After John B. discovered Sarah’s surprise pregnancy, they attempted to get married. Legally, this time — even on The Cut, sweaty cut-up strips of bandana don’t cut it in the court of law.

But after JJ wreaked havoc across town, shutting down the local businesses, their plans were derailed. 

John B. is doubly committed to finding the crown, believing it will give him the resources to provide his family the safe home they need.

And Sarah is nothing if not — well — unreasonably resilient. 

I’m curious how Outer Banks Season 5 will explore the tensions of their adventure and keeping her and her baby safe, considering the season ended with her almost drowning in a whirlpool, dodging literal bullets, and eating one solitary apple on the streets of Morocco to keep her alive. 

Rafe Is Now The Pogues’ Reluctant Ally

As the adage says, “The enemies of my enemies are my friends.”

Rafe, longtime sexy antagonist to the Pogues, will start Outer Banks Season 5 as a tenuous ally to our crew of Pogues.

During Outer Banks Season 4, Rafe’s relationship with Sofia — another Pogue from the Cut — inspires him to patch things up with Sarah.

But Rafe soon discovers that Groff paid Sofia to manipulate him into a fraudulent real estate deal, which swindled him out of $400,000.

Rafe cuts a deal with Shoupe and offers the Pogues a ride to Morocco on one condition: together, they track down Groff and bring him back to the Outer Banks. The Pogues will be exonerated from their legal troubles, and Rafe will get his money back.

Rafe ultimately teams up with the Pogues against Groff in Agapenta, finally reconciling with Sarah after three seasons of intense conflict.

At the end of the season, Rafe floats the idea of hunting down Groff for revenge, and the collective anger over JJ’s death seems to be enough to encourage everyone to continue working toward their common goal. 

For all the fans who have longed to see Rafe get a redemption arc, the hope is high.

Outer Banks Season 5 should bring viewers the chance to see new dynamics between Rafe and the rest of the cast, as he works with, not against, our favorite characters.

So what do you think, OBX Fanatics? Are you excited for the final season?

What are you most looking forward to in the Pogues’ final adventure? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments!

Stream Outer Banks’ final season on August 20 on Netflix.