Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 2 “Blackbeard” cements many things. For one, capitalism is the real enemy of this show. It’s what’s stopped our Pogues time and time again and made it impossible for them to end up in a better place in life sooner. This episode also cements the fact that JJ and Kiara are not temporary. They’re the kind of great love that stands the test of time and the bends. And finally, even though I hate Rafe to the moon and back, that predator realtor lady needs to beat it. No creeps that give us the ick allowed.
So without further ado let’s dive into Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 2 “Blackbeard.”
MORE: Here’s our review of Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 1! And our review of Outer Banks Season 3, Episode 3!
JJ and Kiara Go Deep Sea Diving
Watching JJ and Kiara prepare to go deep sea diving made me pause while watching Outer Banks season 4 episode 2. I remember these kids from the first episode at the very beginning of this journey in 2020. And it’s shocking to see them now, swimming into Blackbeard’s ship looking for a relic of something he gave his wife that could end a family curse. It goes to show how far they’ve come in their treasure hunting journey. But particularly for JJ and Kiara, it goes to show how they are deciding to face this world together. Or for them, Blackbeard’s ship and mysterious strangers that they encounter at the bottom of the ocean that almost ended their lives.
I do think that it’s a bit ridiculous that they’re treating scuba diving like it’s a walk in the park, pre-dive. I’ve watched enough horror stories about what happens with the smallest mistakes when it comes to scuba diving. But if there’s anything I know about Outer Banks, it’s that I have to let things go and just assume that our children have gotten better at it since the first time they did it in season 1. That disbelief aside, these two were very much right or die for each other, even at the bottom of the ocean. And yes, our Pogues are family and they choose each other continuously. But there is something special about JJ, who has never had an intimate romantic bond on the show, having this special connection with Kiara. And for Kiara, she knows that JJ will have her back so she never has to go back to her parents. There’s ease in that trust, something they’ve both been looking for and found with each other.
Later on when JJ and Kiara have the bends and are in that hyperbaric chamber, the couple have what I feel is one of the most important moments of their relationship so far. Not only does it clue in that they have gone way past kissing, solidifying that they’re comfortable in many aspects of the relationship, but we also see them have this quiet moment where they verbalize what we’ve seen. We’ve seen them be ride or die for each other as friends, family, and more. But it’s something different to have them talk about facing the universe together. Because for me, saying it out loud makes it real and gives it life. There’s even something more special about JJ saying that they’re winning. Having just done a season 1 rewatch, the JJ of that season was scattered and shattered inside. There is a quiet confidence in him now that matches Kiara’s presence. And it’s grounded in love; romantic and that of a long-standing friendship.
MORE: Did this season deliver any of the things we wanted from Outer Banks Season 4?
I Still Hate You, Rafe
I don’t hate easily, I love a good redemption arc, and I like me a villain or two. But there is something continuously twisted, malicious, and so easy to hate about Drew Starkey’s Rafe. Four seasons in, and I hate him as much as I did in the very first season of this show. He continuously chooses to think of himself as the hero of the story when he has beaten people up for practically nothing, killed without provocation, and almost drowned his sister. There are no good qualities that could lead to a redemption for Rafe. And in a twisted way, that makes me like his character overall on Outer Banks. The writers and Starkey know what kind of young man he is and they’re not looking to save him or make you feel sorry for him.
The Rafe of Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 2 “Blackbeard” has settled back into his life like nothing’s happened over the past couple years. He’s desperately trying to emulate his father, and then becomes absolutely unhinged when they speak of his dad and the crimes that Rafe actually committed. That moment when he yelled at a random party goer was a testament to Starkey’s acting. But it also showed how Rafe hasn’t changed. It doesn’t matter that he got a girlfriend, who we barely remember and don’t know her name. He hasn’t changed as a person at his core. If anything, he’s gotten better at hiding how unhinged he is, just like his dearly departed dad. Ward knew how to hide the twisted nature lurking beneath the surface. And Rafe has finally started implementing that into his regular everyday persona, making his dad’s journey and Rafe’s come full circle on Outer Banks.
Nevertheless, Rafe doesn’t deserve to be preyed upon by that real estate lady. The show playfully calls her a cougar of the OBX. But if the roles were reversed and a sleazy man was buttering up a young and mentally ill woman, people would be singing a different tune. That woman is a predator who is clearly using her allure and sexuality to reel him in. It isn’t simply about the deal and what money she can make. There was, dare I say, tension between them. And it started on her side of things. Rafe is a presumptuous and twisted young man who thinks he’s in control. Wrap that up in toxic masculinity and this perpetuating notion that men can’t be victimized, and he’s going to go for this lady and thinking there’s nothing wrong with it. But she’s the adult here and her perving around is giving the ick.
MORE: How were the special effects for Outer Banks Season 3 done? We’ve got answers!
Consequences for JJ
I love JJ. Even when he’s used the one collective brain cell that the Pogues have to cause utter disaster that they have to fix throughout season 4. But like we mentioned in our Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 1 review, he needs consequences. And we saw a taste of that in this episode with him giving up his bike. Money doesn’t matter to JJ but that bike did. That was his freedom from his dad and giving it up hurt. Now, my hope against hope is that it acts as a lesson for him where he realizes that it’s time to grow up. Even more so, I hope the bike serves as a reminder that despite all the hijinks that they’re on, he’s no longer in survival mode in the same manner he was when he was living with his father. That time is over.
Overall, I do think that the biggest enemy of Outer Banks is capitalism. That’s why the Pogues are on the brink of losing their home to scummy landowners, why they agreed to help this random old dude from a curse, and why the predator realtor is so adamant about making a deal with Rafe. Keeping all of that in mind, I also think that this problem of capitalism for the Pogues is made worse by the fact that no one stops JJ. Admittedly in this episode they tried a little bit. They tried to reel him in. But he made the big decisions on if they were going to face this challenge and the Pogues let him. They were kind of pushed into a corner. I can admit that. But JJ made decisions about the money in the first episode of season 4 and he made this big decision for them in “Blackbeard” as well.
Losing his bike was a tiny bit of “actions have consequences.” But there’s a feeling from this episode, especially after the old man zoomed in on a photo of JJ, that there is pain coming for this character. Not just the pain of being separated from his friends, almost losing Kiara when she got separated from them with Rafe, or his dad and all that mess. Like any other TV show, Outer Banks uses what they have to guide the narrative in specific directions to deliver a story worth watching. JJ has learned one lesson on consequences in season 4 and I feel like he’s going to be tested again, but in a manner that shakes his entire existence. Not his world. His absolute existence down to his very core. And it’s a result of the multiple years of development that we’ve had with this character.
It’s time for JJ to evolve into something new outside of survival mode. I just fear that it’s going to be as painful for him as it’s going to be for us because of how much we love him and the Pogues who love him and have as much to lose as he does.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 2 ‘Blackbeard’? Share with us in the comments below!
Outer Banks season 4 is now available to stream on Netflix.
Need more? Read our other reviews below:
- Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 1 Review: ‘The Enduro’
- Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 2 Review: ‘Blackbeard’
- Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 3: ‘The Lupine Corsairs’
- Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 4 Review: ‘The Swell’
- Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 5 Review: ‘Albatross’
- Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 6 Review: ‘The Town Council’
- Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 7 Review: ‘Mothers and Fathers’
- Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 8 Review: ‘Family Plot’
- Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 9 Review: ‘The Storm’
- Outer Banks Season 4, Episode 10 Review: ‘The Blue Crown’
