The Prestige TV Podcast - 'Outer Banks' | TV Concierge

Episode Date: April 29, 2020

'Outer Banks,' a sex- and crime-filled series on Netflix about a group of teens in North Carolina's Outer Banks, is your next binge watch. Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Liz Kelly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to TV concierge, daily podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network, where Ringer staffers are going to help you navigate the crowded TV landscape. My name is Mallory Rubin, and today I have the absolute honor, dare I say privilege, of being joined by Tea Time host. and surfing enthusiast Liz Kelly. Wow, I am on such a high right now. Off the top. Oh, Liz.

We are here to talk about one thing and one thing only. And that is the newish, recently released, binge-tastic Netflix show Outer Banks. The Jonas and Josh Pate and Shannon Burke show starring Chase Stokes, Madeline Klein, Charles Esten, numerous cans of beer, a lot of sand and beach grime, raging hormones, some wonderful ocean property, and a lot of other newcomers. It is 10 episodes of absolute addictive madness. And I want you to sell everybody.

on why Outer Banks is the perfect binge for this quarantine moment. Give us the pitch. Okay. At a high level, Outer Banks is following a group of local teens who are like part of the working class are called the Pogs. That's right. And they're on a search for John B., who's played by Chase Stokes, his missing father, which basically leads them on a treasure hunt.

But that's not the cell, obviously. The cell is that there's romance, there's class rokes, rivalry, there's beach and sunshine and everything that we can experience currently. It has the great outdoors. It has adventures and thrills. And while we are confined to our couches, this is the perfect escape. There's men in flip flops and bathing suits and shirtless. Like everything we can't have within this TV show. It's a perfect quarantine binge watch. Incredible sales pitch. If I hadn't already watched every second of Outer Banks and hadn't done so within the first couple days of it airing, I would be sold, Liz, and I hope everybody else is too after hearing this.

I think that part of the appeal, part of the central proposition, at least for me, was that there was going to be this element of like popcorn viewing candy. This is going to be fun. Plenty of times in the last few days and weeks, I've wanted something to feel intellectually stimulating, to feel emotionally stirring, to feel emotionally stirring. the outer banks experience made me feel like I was watching a TV show, which not to be overly reductive, but I found really enjoyable and pleasant even at the moments. And in some ways, weirdly and counterintuitively, particularly at the moments where the show reduces down to a level of heightened absurdity that is almost hard to convey. And we should say we're not going to get into late season, like, end game spoilers. We're going to talk a bit more specifically

about some of the specifics, some of the characters, and some aspects of the premise, without giving away the whole game. But there are so many moments as you're watching where you say, I got to tell you, that did not make sense. Right. I think that hinges... But it's not alienating. No, I think it hinges on the fact that these people have no worries. And I think during this time where everyone is just concerned all the time, it made me realize one of my first things off the top that I texted you was like, I simply wasted my youth. The people in this TV show, the pogs, the people who barely put on shoes in the morning, they just go out on their boat every day, don't know what's coming next. And throughout the show, like you said, it just gets heightened

each episode, the danger, the thrill, the fun. It feels like this is exactly what you need because these people don't have a care in the world besides the fact that they're on this treasure hunt, that's all they want. But every episode, their lives are more and more at stake. They have so many felonies under their belt without, that never comes to fruition. But the amount of crimes that are committed, there's just, there's no care in the world. I wasted my youth worrying. I have to say the fact that you're simultaneously presenting this as carefree viewing and by saying you wasted your youth clearly indicating that it was a surprising,

existential experience for you. It was pretty compelling. You know, the felony thing, the rap sheet that all of these kids are acquiring, and it is a really charming cast. We can talk about the cast more in a second. Again, that's the one of the many ways in which the suspension of disbelief comes in. Like you mentioned the treasure hunt, the hunt for the gold, the pursuit of the royal merchant. Now this is like simultaneously a way to tap into actual real world history, the lure of a shipwreck on a coastal town, how that unites or divides certain aspects of the community, all of that stuff I like a lot. It also very often is about horny teenagers trying to fuck each other in buildings that are collapsing around them. And there's a character named Rafe.

We won't give away all of Rafe's incredible arc. But one of my main questions exiting the season is, how is Rafe standing when his bloodstream is like 98% cocaine? Yeah, I didn't expect to really care or follow him through the show. And he becomes a pretty central figure, especially at the end, last half. Yeah, all these people are unhinged, right? Like, you have, let's talk about the cast. So you got John B., unhinged, Pogue, just looking for his dad, looking for $400 million. But almost as unhinged as Sarah, who,

comes from the cooks, the other side of town, the rich, the old money, you know, been there for a long time, big plantation houses, whatever, she's also unhinged because she launches herself, dies headfirst into so much crime and fear and danger when she's lived her whole life being on the other side. It's like you have to suspend your disbelief on all these people that they would even do the things that they do. Absolutely. I found a lot of the secondary characters like JJ and Pope really compelling. That's where a lot of the personality comes into play. That's kind of a quintessential storytelling thing. You're more likely if you're reading Harry Potter, for example, to be really, really won over by Fred and George or

even Ron than by Harry, totally independent of your actual emotional investment in where the story goes. So I love the way that they developed a lot of the comedic relief and do actually find ways. I mean, I sincerely don't want to state the overall impact of this experience. But I do like the way that they make you invest in Pope's scholarship, for example, and what that would actually mean for him and his family and how that could change his life. There's an interesting kind of you could either describe it as a harmony, attempted harmony rather, or an active dissonance, because on the one hand, the Pogue Kuk class divide that you outlined, is definitionally a reductive binary. And typically, I'm like a little bit allergic to that stuff in storytelling.

I like a little more nuance. But because they are so unapologetic about it on the show, it works as a framework. And then when the characters come together and try to bridge those divides, either out of blatant self-interest or because they've had some level of at least the Outer Banks equivalent of enlightenment, it's pretty charming. Yeah, exactly. And they inject things to distract you the entire time, like high-speed boat chases, buildings on fire, scuba diving, gone wrong. It's like they... Tons of guns. Yeah, they keep in certain.

Lots of cocaine, motorcycles, what have you, car hijacking. So they inject a lot of really fun action movie stuff to get you to keep watching, honestly, and it works. Did you have, like, any pet peeves about the way the characters were behaving or the things they were doing? I kept, I found myself continuing to scream at the screen, take a fucking shower. Yeah. Like, there's so many moments where the kids are just curled up and twined with each other in bed. and they haven't bathed for multiple days and in one case, I won't spoil the specifics, specifics, caked in blood.

That is not their own. That's important to know. Wash your hands. Come on. I don't know if those are raging hormones, but I had a hard time. Like, these people are even the best friends. I guess this is what you do. You fight with your family worse than you fight just acquaintances.

But like, the raging hormones at these people that cause them to kiss each child. other, like, the fighting, they slap each other. There's a lot of rough and tumble scenes that it's like, that part's really weird. Isn't it? And then, you know, giving nothing away, it's just you'd never know who to trust, who's good, who's bad, a lot of twists and turns. So that's definitely a hook for you guys to watch. But it's just the hormones that are pumping through the main character's bodies that cause them to act so recklessly, again, I was envious. I was. I'm past that point now and I don't want to be. I admire and respect you.

I definitely found myself realizing that I was an old washed person watching this because I think a few years earlier in my life, I would have responded similarly to you and just found myself yearning for my youth in this time of almost reckless, albeit well-intentioned discovery and exploration. And for most of the 10 hours, I was just looking at Ward thinking, what an incredible beard and what a handsome middle-aged man. I don't know. I was like, oh, this is where I am in my life now, and that's fine. I can accept that. You mentioned that off the top, and I did not notice him one single time. He was just ancillary to me. Oh, my God. We are focusing on different people.

Let's just say that. Apparently, apparently. We should say that the way that this show has been described often in the press is as, like, Dawson's Creek meets the Goonies. I had been thinking of it as like the OC meets the men. raunchy Nancy Drew. Yes. But it definitely is that sort of hybrid. Yeah, there's just as much like digging for gold and being muddy and scraping and blowing

things up as there is like two teens' faces just mere inches apart like on the verge of kissing will they won't they. There's a lot of that. It's a good balance, I'd say. It is. And of course, it's scenic. We should note that despite being called Outer Banks, it is not filmed. in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, by the way.

That's where I got married. Outer Banks, North Carolina. I love the Outer Banks. I went to school in North Carolina. This is perfect for me and you. This is great. Lovers of North Carolina. Oh, that's what's just,

Outer Banks is one of my favorite places in the world. They were planning on filming this in Wilmington, North Carolina. Ended up filming it in Charleston, which I think is fairly obvious as you're watching it, that it's in South Carolina. This is because you can check out plenty of interviews about this. The creators have spoken about this openly. Netflix made the decision not to film,

in North Carolina back when they were making the show because of the bathroom bill in the state. That's why production went to South Carolina. So obviously a little bit of a different visual palette and aesthetic than if it had actually been filmed in the town in which it is named, figured that was worth mentioning. I think that some of the geography and the way that the fictional geography of the show works is pretty fascinating. And we can very quickly talk about that before we wrap because it's named after a real place. There's an effort to connect it to other real places.

at one point, Sarah and John B. take a ferry to Chapel Hill. I was hoping you would mention that. Is a real place. I mean, we have a responsibility to mention that. Chapel Hill is a real place. It is also multiple hours inland. The idea of taking a ferry there is so hysterical that, again, I think it's emblematic of the entire Outer Banks' experience here,

which is that it swings so far to an extreme that you only only, almost stop being mad about it or asking yourself why they did it or how it could work that way. And you just say, this is the world that they've built. This is the world that their characters aren't happening. Correct. I know North Carolina intimately went to school there for four years. I did not notice the ferry to Chapel Hill. I was like, yeah, they could. I had, I like, could even wrap my head. That was so, you know, down on the list of things I was worried about. So even as we get to the end of, like, our cell, even if you think you know what happens, you don't. You know, like even if you think that you kind of have an understanding of the show, there's so much that gets discovered and unturned that will not spoil for you that makes it worth watching, I'd say.

Wow, Liz, you have such a shining smile on your face right now. This is incredible. I love the show. I did. I didn't want to, but I did. You're yearning for the freedom of youth, and it sounds like out of things gave it to you. You're as happy as a pog out there in the open sea. sailing into the sunshine and hopefully not the eye of the storm. No spoilers. No spoilers.

For Liz Kelly, I'm Mallory Rubin. This has been TV concierge guiding you through not only the storm, streaming landscape.