'Outer Banks' Season 3: 18-month time jump sets up storyline for next season
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Series often surprise the fans with an unexpected twist or dramatic reveal, and Netflix's treasure-hunting series 'Outer Banks' has recently released its third season, and the finale of the third season, surprised the audience with an unexpected time jump. While some shows have effectively used time jumps as a tool to tell the future of the characters in a series finale like the show 'Parks and Recreation', shows like 'Riverdale' have massively failed with their infamous seven-year time jump, making the characters of the series unrecognizable to the audience. And now, 'Outer Banks' has made the 18-month time jump, setting up the storyline for the upcoming season.
'Outer Banks' stars Chase Stokes as John B Routledge, Madelyn Cline as Sarah Cameron, Madison Bailey as Kiara Carrera, J.D. as Pope Heyward, Rudy Pankow as JJ Maybank, Drew Starkey as Rafe Cameron, Charles Esten as Ward Cameron, Austin North as Topper Thornton, Carlacia Grant as Cleo, Charles Halford as Big John, and Andy McQueen as Carlos Singh. 'Outer Banks' has already been renewed for a fourth season, and let us take a look at what the time jump in the season 3 finale was all about.
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A quick recap of the season 3 finale
Season 3 of 'Outer Banks' had one of the most elaborate storylines of treasure hunting, with the Pogues now in search of the famous El Dorado, the city of gold. This season had chasing, betraying, gathering clues, gun fights, chases, several unexpected twists, and exactly everything the series is known for. And the feature-length finale did not hold back in giving out some shocking surprises, like the deaths of Ward and Big John. However, the season has managed to produce some more surprises by making an 18-month time jump and hinting at the next season's mystery, which ties to Edward Teach, who is better known as the famous Blackbeard.
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The unexpected time jump
Though the time jump is unexpected, skipping forward 18 months seems rational given the progress of the story. This is the perfect time gap for the remaining Pogues to mourn their losses and take the next step in their lives. So far, several characters are shown in their next phase of life. John B and Sarah own a killer surf shop together, JJ now owns a charter boat, Kiara is now on her mission to save turtles and Pope is now attending school. This has given the characters another layer of depth and has prepared them for their next adventure, which would be slightly different than they would usually take.
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The much-needed time-jump
If the fourth season were to take place right after the third season, we were able to see the Pogues, in their mourning stage, with both Sarah and John B losing their dads and the gang's exhausting El Dorado mission. So instead of rushing from one exhausting big adventure to another, the Pogues now had some actual time to breathe it out and recharge. And on the other hand, the actors playing the part are growing up, making the time jump a much-needed one. This time jump gives out yet another advantage of the Pogues now being far more mature and skilled than they were on their first-ever adventure.
In conclusion, 'Outer Banks' has made the right call in skipping some of the screen-time-consuming elements and jumping right into the next adventure, where the group would really set out to sea in order to find the next legend, Blackbeard, the pirate.
The first three seasons of 'Outer Banks' are currently available to stream on Netflix.