Sunburn, salt water and a rumor about sunken gold that nobody's parents need to hear about. Outer Banks landed on Netflix in April 2020 and plants itself on a North Carolina barrier island where the summer money and the year-round paychecks live on opposite sides of the same water.

Chase Stokes plays John B, the teenager at the center of the hunt, with Madelyn Cline, Madison Bailey, Jonathan Daviss, Rudy Pankow and Carlacia Grant as the friends who go along with him. A second group of island teenagers wants the same lost fortune, and that rivalry is the engine Josh Pate, Jonas Pate and Shannon Burke built the show on. It runs like an adventure serial with a teen drama's cast: boats, dives, a mystery that gives up one piece per episode, and constant arguing about who has any right to the prize.

Money does real work in the writing. The class split puts a grudge under the treasure hunt, so every dive and every shouting match carries more heat than a straight adventure would. The whole thing is shot for sunlight, cut fast, and cheerfully pulpy about danger. If you loved [[work:the-goonies-1985]] as a kid and want the sweatier, older, more romantic version of that afternoon, you will settle in fast.