Outer Banks: Pogues and Kooks explained

A Prevailing Netflix Theme External Banks it’s class warfare between the Pogues and the Kooks, which are the locals’ nicknames for the working class and wealthy citizens, respectively. The dynamic between the Kooks and the Pogues is vital to the plot and characters of External Banks. The Netflix teen series follows the lives of John B and his friends in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, who get into a world of trouble while searching for lost treasure. The island’s class warfare, especially between the Cameron family and John B, complicates the Pogues’ quest for the Royal Merchant’s gold in Season 1, which continues as the stakes rise in External Banks 2nd season.

In the world of External BanksThe characters belong to one of two groups: the Pogues or the Kooks. As John B describes it, residents of the Outer Banks have two jobs (Pogues) or two houses (Kooks). John B and his friends belong to the Netflix show’s Pogue side of the island, and their run-ins with the already wealthy Kooks constantly get in the way of their quest for gold in Season 1 and, later, the Cross of Santo Domingo in External Banks season 2. The conflict between External Banks‘Pogues and the Kooks goes beyond competing for gold – there’s a long history between the two factions.

Outer Banks: Who are the Pogues

The Pogues make up the working class in the OBX

A Pogue is a nickname for those from the working class of External Banks‘ series that derives from pogie fish, which are the lowest members of the fish food chain. External Banks‘Pogues and the Kooks hate each other, which is partly rooted in their depictions of America’s wealth disparities and the prejudices of the rich about the poor. External Banks demonstrates this in several ways, such as Kooks jumping Pogues and Pogues sinking Kooks’ ships.

However, as External Banks season two proves with John B and the Camerons, the Pogues are always the ones who face the consequences, while the Kooks typically get away with it. The hatred between External Banks‘Kooks and Pogues was around long before John B and Sarah, as season 2 reveals that Kiara’s mother was a Kook queen who ran with the “bad boy“Pogue in high school.

John B

John B was raised by a single father for most of his life. It’s not entirely clear how they keep a roof over their heads, as Big John spends most of his time looking for treasure and searching for lost gold. John B, however, always idolized his father, until his father left him to search for treasure and got him into trouble. He spends months denying that his father died at sea and is eventually proven right. John B thinks finding the gold alone will turn his Pogue fortune around.

Pope

Of the group of teenagers who have adopted the nickname Pogues, Pope is the one who uses his brain the most to give him an edge at the start of the show. He keeps his head down and studies hard, trying to help keep his closest friends out of trouble. Pope is the voice of reason for them, and that’s probably because he’s spent his life as part of a family that’s always working for Kooks. He knows how serious the consequences can be if the line between Pogues and Kooks is crossed.

J.J.

JJ is created as Pogue by Luke Maybank. As season four reveals, however, he was born Kook, and JJ Maybank is not his birth name. This causes something of an identity crisis for him, but it doesn’t change the fact that he was raised in a family of smugglers and thieves. The Maybanks might be the Outer Banks’ most Pogue family. They are known by authorities to frequently end up behind bars. JJ repeatedly turns to “cousins” in the first two seasons to help his friends out of this kind of trouble.

Cleo

Much of Cleo’s past is still a mystery. Introduced in season two when John B and Sarah end up eloping in the Bahamas, she is not an original resident of the Outer Banks. When the entire group returns to South Carolina in Season 3, however, she goes with them. She says she has no family to go back to, and after helping John B and Sarah, she burned some of her bridges in her previous job. She is welcomed by Pope’s family to stay with them and becomes a Pogue herself.

Sofia

Sofia is a new Pogue introduced in the fourth season. She is not a member of the show’s main friend group. Instead, she is introduced as Rafe Cameron’s new girlfriend, who he connected with during the break between seasons 3 and 4. Sofia comes from a working-class Latin American family. Her family doesn’t like Rafe because they see the disparity between the two, even if they don’t see how he treats her. Privately, Sofia is the reason Rafe tries to improve his life, but in front of other Kooks, he treats her like Pogue’s girlfriend.

For the most part, these two separate groups remain on their own sides of the island. Pogues have the cut. The problem happens when, especially among teenagers, the Pogues and the Kooks try to use the same space. This is seen in season 4 when Sarah, John B, Kie and JJ try to have a fun day at the beach, but the day is ruined by a group of Kooks who want to occupy the same stretch of sand. It ends with threats and sea turtles being run over by a particularly bloodthirsty Kook.

Outer Banks: who are the crazies

The Kooks represent the richest in the OBX

On the other side of the island are External Banks‘Kooks – the ones with beautiful clothes and beautiful houses in Figure Eightthat you don’t need to lift a finger. In surfer jargon, Kook refers to someone who doesn’t understand the surfing lifestyle, and the term has been adopted for someone who doesn’t have to do any dirty work because of their wealth.

Pogues typically work for Kooks, such as Pope’s father being known for providing anything for everyone on the island or John B initially working on Ward Cameron’s boat. Although she dates Pogue boys, Kiara is technically a Kook due to her parents’ wealth, along with Topper and Sarah’s families. Kooks despise External Banks’ Pogues, so when John B falls in love with the Queen of the Kooks, Sarah Cameron, the relationship becomes a Romeo and Juliet situation, star-crossed lovers.

A Kook and a Pogue dating in External Banks it disrupts the entire social structure of the island, which makes John B and Sarah’s relationship extremely controversial.

Allah

Ward is Kook’s main antagonist in the first season of the series. He did, however, grow up as a Pogue and made his way to Kook, as Sarah and Rafe initially like to remind people. This is why John B initially doesn’t see the bad in him. Ward’s greed, however, trumps everything in his life. He uses his wealth and connections to hire people who can’t say no to him and to use these people to find treasure for him. The only thing that seems to make him think is his love for his family, although even that is pushed aside when he repeatedly puts Sarah in danger.

Chandler

Chandler Groff is introduced in the 4th season of the series. Before their introduction, the Groff family didn’t receive many mentions among the Kooks. It’s clear he comes from an old family, as Luke Maybank is quick to point him out as JJ’s biological father when JJ confronts him about his mother. Chandler has something sinister in his past as he allowed everyone to believe his son died with his wife and paid Luke to keep baby JJ away from his grandfather.

Rafe

Rafe is the Kook the audience spends the most time with. He is Prince Kook. The son of Sarah’s older sister Ward, Rafe desperately wants to make a name for himself and live up to Cameron’s legacy. He tries to protect his father’s secrets by shooting Sheriff Peterkin and blaming John B in the first season. He also tries to kill his own sister when he feels he betrayed his family. Rafe simply can’t move beyond his own sense of entitlement and his father’s shadow long enough to be himself.

Topper

In the first season, Topper is Sarah Cameron’s boyfriend and Rafe’s close friend. He was also revealed to have powerful local government connections in his family. He appears to be a decent Kook when he doesn’t hand over John B while he’s on the run and when he helps Sarah several times. However, like many of the Kooks in the series, he has a strong sense of entitlement – which extends to Sarah. He becomes more violent as he becomes more jealous of her relationship with John B and her friendship with the Pogues.

Ruthie

Just as Rafe’s new girlfriend is introduced in season 4, Topper’s is also introduced. With a new woman in his life, it may seem like he’s completely over Sarah, but it’s more like he’s found someone who is even more violent and overbearing than he is. Not much is revealed about Ruthie other than that she’s crazy, but she goes to all the big parties with Topper. She is also the one who incites him and decides to run over hatching sea turtles when Kiara, Sarah, JJ and John B are trying to help them get to the water.

Which characters cross social boundaries

Some characters are born crazy, but choose the life of Pogue

Some characters in Outer Banks are born into the wealth and privileges of Kook life, but when they are exposed to the island’s economic disparities, they can no longer turn a blind eye to them. When this happens, the Kooks choose the Pogue life. While there are undoubtedly some good Kooks and bad Pogues in OBX, the series shows that the opposite is true much of the time for these particular characters. While Pogues may be seen as financially irresponsible and likely to end up in prison, most of them are just trying to stay afloat.

It’s mentioned that Kiara’s mother ran off with a Pogue when she was a teenager, but the two characters who come to the fore when it comes to living a wealthy life and deciding to be Pogues are Kiara and Sarah.

Kiara

Kiara’s parents own a restaurant in the Outer Banks. They want their daughter to live the Kook lifestyle and stay out of trouble. Unfortunately, they pass this on to her, giving her ultimatums and getting her kidnapped to attend a camp for troubled teens. Kiara hates the hypocrisy of the rich. She wants to make a difference in the world and thinks she could actually do more as a Pogue with people who understand her than with those who seek to control her every move.

Sara

Sarah is Princess Kook when the series begins. She and Kiara were best friends for a while before Kiara turned her back on the Pogues. Only when Sarah and John B become interested in each other do the two reconnect. Sarah tries to maintain her connection with her family at first while becoming friends with the Pogues. When she realizes that her father is responsible for most of the difficulties in their lives, she fully embraces Pogue’s life. There’s no turning back for Sarah when, like Kiara, she realizes that maintaining her Kook lifestyle means embracing hypocrisy.

No matter what adventure or treasure is presented in External BanksIt’s clear that economic disparity will be a big part of the show until the end.