Ever since the first release of season one of Netflix’s original show Outer Banks (OBX), the show has had teens all across the world in a choke-hold. OBX featured a group of teens living on “the wrong side of town” who were on a mission to find a life-changing treasure that would define the rest of their lives and finally retire their Pogue, or impoverished life to join the wealthy Kooks’ side of town. Along the way, however, they faced many challenges when they realized they weren’t the only ones after this treasure.

The show’s action-packed adventure mixed with teen romance kept viewers on their toes and avid for another season. When the second season of the show was released, it didn’t disappoint. Fans were once again left wanting more and on February 23rd of 2023, the release of the third season had fans binging each episode on the edge of their seats. Whether or not the highly anticipated new season was worth the wait, however, is still unclear.

Season three of OBX was simultaneously different and remarkably similar to the show’s previous seasons. Typically, new seasons of the show are released in the summer, as the show’s perfect scenery and summery soundtrack made it a fan-proclaimed summer show. Much like the previous seasons, the soundtrack was immaculate, with each song played perfectly coordinating with each scene. The actual substance of the show, however, felt rather familiar as no drastic changes were made to the show’s plot or characters.

While the show maintained its familiar plot line and suspenseful, action-packed theme of young teens determined to find treasure while navigating their way through familial and romantic relationships, the introduction of new characters brought a refreshing new spin to the story line. As always, the stakes were raised as the risk and reward for their treasure hunt increased significantly from the last season, though the plot was a little too complicated to follow at some points. Without watching any recaps of previous seasons, I couldn’t remember some of the older characters or the recurring plot lines from seasons one and two and some scenes that referenced events from past seasons were hard to follow.

At some points, the show also felt very formulaic, as if the same thing would happen every episode. New information would be discovered at the end of each episode, prompting the teens to hold out hope for finding the treasure, eventually setting out on a risky adventure to get closer to finding the gold, though there would always be a conflict between characters right when they were closest to danger, prompting the characters to get distracted in their own drama and eventually lose sight of the treasure, losing hope once again. By the end of each episode, they’d be down about missing their opportunity to seek out the treasure after a close encounter with one of their foes, threatening to give up trying. At this point, they’d mysteriously come across another piece of information that would once again encourage them to continue treasure hunting.

Though the episodes were rather repetitive, I still enjoyed the aesthetics and characters of the show and thought that the aesthetics contributed nicely to the summer-y feel that the show exudes. Not only is the setting beautiful, but the cast’s incredible acting and realistic dialogue make the show more entertaining. While the teens may not look 16 and 17, their dialogue and relationship story lines are relatively realistic.

The main story line between characters John B. and Sarah Cameron, however, was somewhat lacking this season. It would’ve been nice to see more of their plotline, especially since the majority of the previous seasons focused on their relationships more than that of the other characters. Despite this, the new relationships between other characters in the show, specifically JJ and Kiera and Pope and Cleo, were entertaining and a fresh new addition to the show. Though more John B. and Sarah Cameron content would’ve been continuous with the show’s previous pattern, these relationships were a nice change to the usual plot.

As expected, the end of the season was a cliff-hanger, though the show’s renewal for another season guarantees viewers many more episodes of treasure hunting adventures with a side of beautiful scenery and new relationships. Whether or not season 4 will be the last season remains a question, though I think the formulaic essence of the show means that it’s bound to get too repetitive and redundant at some point. While I enjoyed this season, I don’t prefer it to the first and second season. The first season was my favorite since the plot was new and the characters were just being introduced, making the watch much more exciting and suspenseful. I do, however, feel like seasons two and three were on the same level, as the characters were pretty predictable by this time and the plot twists that arrived were expected after becoming familiar with the show.

All in all, I’d rate season three a 7.5/10, only because I felt that the episodes were at times repetitive and some of the plotlines were too difficult to follow. It wasn’t perfect, but the incredible acting and amazing soundtrack paired with beautiful scenery served as a nice escape from the gloomy mid-winter weather. While I’d recommend this new season to others, I suggest watching a recap video of previous seasons prior to viewing the third season for a refresher of all the previous story lines.