Outer Banks Reveals One of the Pogues’ True Identities in Season 4 Finale — Read Recap
One of Outer Banks’ central teens is not the person we thought he was.
The Season 4, Part 1 finale contains one whopper of a revelation: JJ’s deadbeat father, Luke, isn’t his real dad. (Phew, AMIRITE?) JJ’s first sign that something is up comes when Genrette’s handyman, Demp, arrives with an envelope addressed to “Master JJ Maybank” that he was instructed to give the teen “in case something happened.” Given that Genrette is now dead, that something indeed seems to have come to pass. JJ reads the missive, writes a hasty note about having to run an errand, leaves it on Twinkie’s windshield and then runs to his boat.
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JJ checks in with one of Luke’s pals, lying that he has something of his dad’s to sell and asking the guy to have Luke get in touch with him. It’s bait, and Luke takes it… only when he calls, a dog barking in the background clues JJ in that his dad is hiding out nearby. When they come face-to-face, JJ shows his dad the letter and asks him to explain what the references to “albatross” and “do not tarry” mean. Because Luke is a giant piece of trash, he lies and says he doesn’t know… but when the cops arrive — remember, he’s on the lam — he offers to tell JJ everything if he’ll just get him out of there via the boat.
Once they’ve slipped the authorities, Luke takes JJ to the top of the lighthouse to let him know that the Albatross was the name of the boat on which Larissa Genrette died. “I guess the old man figured it out,” he says. “I’m not your blood father, J… I’m not your father. Not by blood, anyway.” (“Or by any measure that Child Protective Services would count,” I mutter.)
But he’s not done. “The person you thought was your mother,” Luke continues, “she was just my girlfriend. Your real mom? Larissa Genrette.” As a stymied JJ tries to absorb all of this world-shaking information, he wonders aloud who his biological father is. “Isn’t it obvious?” Luke replies.
And just in case it isn’t, the episode then cuts to a scene of Chandler Groff, Genrette’s creepy son-in-law, arm-in-arm with Hollis, the cougar who’s swindling Rafe.
What are the rest of the Pogues up to while all of this is going on? They dispose of Terrence’s body — Cleo eulogizes her former partner before they bury him at sea — then they head to Charleston, following directions from the amulet. They eventually realize that the blue crown might be in a crypt underneath a church, so after some truly insane choices (they cut up the floor in the sanctuary, for instance), Pope and Sarah wind up going down into the crypt to find the coffin in which the artifact might be hidden.
While John B. is outside keeping watch, he sees Lightner and the British woman there. The adults make their way into the crypt via an aboveground grave they unlock using the amulet, causing Sarah and Pope to scurry into hiding places while mice crawl on them. Lightner and his boss grab a scroll from a coffin and then get outta there, locking the aboveground grave on their way out. And as it starts raining outside, Pope and Sarah realize that the way they came in is now locked, too… and the water is quickly rising in the catacombs where they’re stuck. Pope realizes that the barnacles on the walls go all the way up to the ceiling, indicating that “this place is going to fill up,” he says with horror.
And that’s where we’re going to leave those treasure-hunting teens until Part 2 drops on Thursday, Nov. 7. Until then, grade the midseason finale via the poll below, then hit the comments with all of your thoughts — including your predictions for the second half of Season 4.
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