Vibe Check: Why Am I Not Hype for Outer Banks’ Final Season?

Outer Banks finally dropped the trailer and premiere date for the final season.

And lowkey, the best part about it was a prison cell shot of the Pogues Redux that looks like they’re about to drop the most fire hip-hop album in ages.

Fitting, since we’re still pouring one out for JJ. I’m not still fuming sobbing about that, by the way. Nope.

It feels like the Pogues have hit their all-time low, and that’s saying something, given that all they’ve ever known since we’ve followed them has been the bottom.

Their rock bottom is never the bottom; there’s always a trapdoor, no escape route, and it’s endless as the ocean.

The Pogues could probably take on Lucifer himself in hell, and they still wouldn’t have hit their worst, no?

So we’re kicking off the final season under the bleakest of circumstances, with the Pogues essentially having no home to really go back to.

I’m pretty certain most of them are wanted for something or another; the entire town would have their heads on pikes when they get back.

The Blue Crown is gone, they’ve collected more enemies around the globe than Thanos did Infinity Stones, and we’re down one Pogue and up one hot psychopath.

The reality of what they face is already exhausting, and you can see it on everyone’s faces, never mind that they’re grieving the very heart of the Pogues.

But there’s no real time to grieve, and that’s one of many reasons why cutting a life short for shock value in the final moments of a penultimate season leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

It means we’ll have an entire season of the Pogues too deep in the thick of it to ever get to properly grieve or process anything. They’re running on adrenaline-and they force us to do the same.

There’s a claustrophobic quality in that, which is a bit narratively exhausting. We don’t actually get much time to mourn a poor orphan whose body their frenemy had to bury in the sands of a Moroccan desert.

It makes sense that we catch a glimpse of these children of the ocean, honoring their late friend at sea with a photo send-off à la Animal Kingdom.

And it’s still a kick in the teeth that someone with a lifestyle like JJ’s, who had the odds against him in a way that felt so visceral and real, ends so tragically.

And only the Pogues will remember and honor him.

But this sets up a final season of revenge. Frankly, from the teaser we got, it doesn’t really seem like most of them are even up for that. In many ways, I can’t blame them. They’ve had one hell of a stretch of non-stop action and life-threatening antics.

They rolled the dice on a Choose Your Own Adventure one good time, and it’s whooped their collective asses since then.

The final season has so much ground to cover, and much of it hinges on avenging JJ, which means we’ll likely have Kiara taking center stage on this endeavor, and even as someone who shipped the pairing, it feels like more than Kiara can chew.

Kiara leading the charge on trying to take down Groff doesn’t assure the emotional punch that it likely should. But that’s probably because, for something this grand, JJ would typically be leading the charge.

John B feels so weary and muted during the teaser, and it’s kind of difficult to get hype when it seems like even their ringleader is “over it” and for good reason, he’s an expectant father.

Although with all the explosions, running, arrests, jetsetting, and more, without proper showers, food, or just a damn moment, I can’t even process a pregnant Sarah staying that way.

The teaser attempts to give us all the things we know to be quintessentially Outer Banks — we have action, explosions, quick teases of familiar faces (was that Barry with a shotgun?).

Clearly, they’re trying to course correct Cleo’s random lack of badassery last season with that shot of her blowing up the Twinkie.

That’s the moment that strikes me the most, not because it’s devastating to see a staple like John B’s trusty Twinkie going up in flames, but because I thought I would feel something seeing that.

It signals the end of this series, this journey, and Pogue’s life as we know it.

But that’s quietly more depressing than all of last season, which found the Pogues feeling more distant than ever, rewrites of important dynamics, like the brotherhood between all the guys, and sidelining of characters.

It feels like a move designed to MAKE us feel something, spark a tug of nostalgia that the show itself stopped earning a while ago.

The teaser trailer gives us a taste of what’s supposed to be familiar about Outer Banks, but there’s a disconnect, and it all feels strangely hollow.

All flash, high production, and bang but no heart.

And if it already feels like the trailer alone is coasting on our desire to see it through and our love for what Outer Banks was, more than what it is now, then maybe that’s why I can’t shake the skepticism about what the final season will deliver.

Skepticism over whether the final season can even deliver.

I’m not feeling the final season hype right now as much as I am a completionist. P4L is feeling more like an obligation than a rallying call.

Right now, I’m not passing the vibe check, but after watching the trailer, I’m curious if you are!

Outer Banks’ fifth and final season will stream in its entirety on Netflix on August 20.

TV Fanatic is searching for passionate contributors to share their voices across various article types. Think you have what it takes to be a TV Fanatic? Click here for more information and next steps.