howdy howdy howdy ya'll

so last year for s3 i did a book just like this and i thought i'd just bring it back because i have a lot to say and only one person (kensie) to talk w/ it about so....yeah!! i'd also love to see y'alls opinions/thoughts so feel free to comment on anything i have to say (but just remember this is MY opinion so you're not obliged to have any of the same thoughts)

IF you haven't finished obx4pt1 PLEASE do so before reading this. as someone who got spoiled, i'd hate to be the reason why you don't get the big reveals this season. finish the season and THEN come back :)

okay you hoes better be gone

anywho!

so for starters the pates are fucking cunts for doing this two part bs. like wdym i just have to wait???? i just wanna say i'm such a hater FUCK stranger things for making it normal to take 578383 years to finish a season and then put it into two parts.

in all reality, this season is definitely different! it's interesting to almost have a fresh slate? in like the sense that we know this won't connect back to tanny, the cross, etc-this is a completely new blackbeard plot. the pogues are growing up and so is the show??? honestly wonder that if we DO get a s5, will it continue with blackbeard or will it be an entire new plot again?

but i did not hate it! it still has yet to truly grow on me, but i think i like it a little better than s3 so far-it'll be another month before i can really say anything but i'm an ADVID hater of obx3 so i'm sure it'll be higher. however, it has yet to top s1 or s2., but i don't think obx will ever be as good as it was, as hard as they try.

regardless, the vibes this season were pretty good! i really enjoyed the similarities and callbacks to s1 with lines/vibes in general. i am SO SO SO thankful that the pogues weren't all split up like they were in s3 and that we really got some group bonding (forever and always fuck s3 for messing up my favorite people like that).

this show was built on people loving the pogues for their friendship and i'm glad the pates realized people liked their show better when the group was together

i really hate how the first episode was written tho. maybe it's just because of how annoying it is going to be to write as a fanfic writer, but truly i hated how 99% of the episode was the past. like okay we got the 18 month later scene at the end of s3, but now we're just gonna go back and yap about what happened in those 18 months anyways? i kinda forgot we were in the past for a while honestly. i'm not a fan of it personally idk

watching the pogues interact with the charter shop was really fun. i loved getting to see them build it from scratch and truly just figure out how to be normal. however i DO NOT understand how these kids live with each other like i get you guys are family but where is personal space!!! where is alone time!!!

not having the cameron's as the villain was really hard to get used too honestly. like i'm waiting for ward to just pop out because it's so odd knowing him (and rafe) aren't going to be looming anymore. ward was a good villain, and in the worst way possible i'll miss him tbh

speaking of non-existent cameron's WHERE WAS MY GIRL LOUISA CAMERON. WHERE WAS WHEEZIE. #justiceforwheezie2024. also where where where WHERE was my man barry??? the show is not as funny without him??? i need him and rafe back NOW???

however so glad big john is finally finally finally gone. y'all don't know how peaceful it was watching the season without that man on my screen.

the beach scene??? WHAT THE FUCK????? there is no way ruthie just ran over those fucking turtles and then was like "oh em gee topper, we can sue jj for saying he's going to kill us". ruthie looks like she belongs in a mental institution GENUINELY. how did topper decide she was the one bc she's not it.

the underwater fight scene was interesting. i could NOT see who was hitting who but jj & kie getting the bends made me laugh even though they were dying (also WHY were they getting freaky in a fucking tank HELLO???). there is no way jj got that mf amulet when he was dying like that's just called plot convenience

the fact that all these night scenes are just day filming with a blue filter also makes me cackle because it's SO obvious??? like compare the s4 night scenes with the train scene in s3 and it's so bad.

the enduro GOD i wanted to rip my hair out. literally i had to skip past where jj fell off his bike bc sometimes i just can't watch characters fail so hard. WHY DID HE BLAME JOHN B LIKE BUDDY YOU WERE COOKED.

a lot of people don't know why the pogues didn't just get the rest of the gold or like why the gold was ONLY a million etc. for starters, they only took the back-pack and while it is REAL gold i'm not surprised that it's only that much. honestly, i think them not going back was just for plot convenience AND for the sake of them being done with treasure. they wanted to make their own money, do their own things. but again it's really just a matter of plot convenience truly. (KatrinaEllie hope that helps???)

i really don't get how rafe & topper are just chill now too. like um i wouldn't want to be with rafe cameron if he tried to drown his sister aka the girl i liked but ig you do you.

also this mike carrera lookalike villain guy is pissing me off. go away please sir???

is hollis robinson NOT hollis crane (aka the woman who babysat jj who was daughter of the batshit crane lady)???? you cannot tell me there are two hollis' running around in the obx universe, the pates are smarter than that.

terrance coming back was fun! but i'm over them bringing back characters just to kill them (big john we're looking at you). felt REAL bad for cleo tho. ALSO HELP THERE IS NO WAY THEY JUST HID THE BODY FROM SHOUPE LIKE THAT.

the dialogue in this season was wild because why was john b using the word "capping". this also goes for jj's "pookie" shirt because that is just insane. other lines i find wild are "biological clock? i'm only 19", "where the living and the dead collide, john b will provide" and "ai has come a long way" LIKE HELP WHAT IS THIS

the whole blackbeard plot was different. i legit have no opinion on the genrettes other than that old man was a mood for telling his son in law that he was busy when he was zooming in on jj.

and don't worry i'm going to discuss e5.

character wise i really want to talk about 2 characters in particular

first, rafe! (asked for by Starkeysbebe!)

wow this season was very different for him. it was SO SO SO odd to see a soft rafe, a caring rafe. for the last three seasons all we've gotten was mean rafe, angry rafe, attacking rafe but truly we get to see the boy behind all of ward's disregard and anger.

and NO this is not me defending him. i'm not one of those rafe simps. but now that ward is gone there's no one holding him back from changing. he IS changing for the better as it's so wild to see that and trust that it's genuine.

honestly sad there wasn't much interaction with him and the pogues other than the beach scene and the convo with kiara. there was some bts earlier in the year of the cast in morocco with drew, SO i'm hoping that something will go down there? whether it be between him and the whole group, a team up, or just him actually talking to sarah.

i'm honestly so curious on where their sibling dynamic is going to go.

low-key confused on what even happened at the end of s3 with him though because clearly nothing happened when shoupe talked to him. he's just living it up like the past three seasons NEVER happened. but whatever.

i wasn't a fan of sofia when she was announced for s3 because truly there was no chance or point of rafe having a good love interest or one at all. HOWEVER my girl was truly a favorite to me this season. she is the defition of "i can fix him (no really i can)". she's actually changing him for the better and it's sweet to see how soft he is with her compared to the boy we saw drowning sarah in s2 or attacking pope & jj in s1. i'm excited to see where they go in the next few episodes and seasons.

personally i don't think they totally threw away his storyline? while they did disregard everything to focus on his shift to a good person, and almost sideline him for the first 5 eps, I trust that the pates know what they're doing. rafe is the most complex character in this show and i really hope they dig deeper and don't just say "he's changed" and leave everything where it is. but ig we'll see next month??

next is OBVIOUSLY jj (

OH MY GOD WHY DID THEY DO HIM LIKE THIS

look i love jj as much as the next girl but THERE IS NO WAY HE USED UP THE GOLD LIKE THAT AND MADE IT EVERYONE ELSES PROBLEM. like i know that's who jj is as a character but god there is no way that he bet a million on that fucking house. AND THEN bet the rest of a race like i'm abt to crash out

s3-s4 jj <<<<<< s1-s2 jj. i'm stating it now. idk what they're doing to his character sometimes but it ain't always it.

the reveal is just wow

i'm gonna say that by like e2 i was already predicting that larissa was going to be his mother. logically, it just made sense with how hard they were pushing her, as well as the whole "mother drowned, baby did too" clipping. but it was still a very just WOW scene to watch because WHAT THE FUCK.

jj's character is so heavily built on being a pogue, and a lot of him is also built on being the opposite than luke. i can just tell he is NOT going to be okay in s4pt2 and is about to be going through it.

ALSO WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE ABUSE WAS FOR NOTHING. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN THAT LUKE ISN'T HIS DAD AND JUST BEAT HIM. WHAT DO YOU MEAN HIS "MOM" WAS JUST LUKE'S GF. US JJ WRITERS ARE SCREWED FOR MAKING HIM HAVE SOFT MEMORIES OF THAT WOMAN WHEN SHE WAS JUST LUKE'S GF AND NOT EVEN HIS REAL MOM.

i hope luke maybank dies :D

also catch me dead calling jj "jackson". THAT MAN IS JESSE JAMES.

no but truly i'm curious on how this reveal is going to play into the rest of the season, as well as jj's overall character continuing on. this is totally a game changer.

going with this, i also wanna touch on the whole "is jj dying" topic

this plot line would be a good way to kill off jj, given the whole blackbeard curse thingy that keeps killing off the bloodline. at first, it was more so just a little rumor but now that the season has added this plot, it does make sense. he's cursed just like his mother and genrette and the pogues spend the second half of the season figuring out everything for his sake. it makes sense.

and of course rudy's post today about it being an honor playing jj did not help. but imo that was a present tense because at the moment he is not playing jj. he's playing romeo, but he has played jj. i don't think he meant it in a 'that's it' way as much as everyone else does, especially since it was just in a collection of big thank you's (he also said 'to have done r&j' even tho he is current doing it).

it's been so sweet to see rudy be himself this season in interviews and i doubt he's going anywhere soon, given jj is a fan favorite. but if he does, they have the plot line to do so in a decent manner.

and as much as it would be sad to see rudy go i really think people need to stop treating it like it's a really crazy bonkers event. he's growing up, the whole cast is, and as much as jj makes up obx, rudy has a WHOLE career ahead of him that we should respect and let him do even if it means having to watch him part.

but no i don't think jj is going anywhere :) (KatrinaEllie)

otherwise, characters were really good to me this season! unlike s3 which messed up EVERYONE, s4 did them so much better. getting to see sarah so happy and glowing was amazing and it was fun to see cleo really fitting in with the pogues and her little side kidnapping plot was different (she was serving getting abducted in that messy bun and jersey). john b was his usual self (i really hope they add on to the trauma he has over his dad with the whole not being able to shoot scene) and pope was being the most reasonable and smartest person AS ALWAYS (why no one listens to him is past me). topper was just topper so no thoughts there.

sofia grew on me SO much! in s3 she truly wasn't much of a character but she became a favorite of mine these past few episodes. she's really shifting rafe for the better (took "i can fix him (no really i can)" a little too far). i'm really interested on if she'll tell rafe about how hollis bribed her and i'm glad she had a true role

also kiara not annoying me this season????what??? no but in all reality i'm actually loving her this season, which is very different from what i would have told you last year. idk what it is but madison bailey is doing something right this season.

the duos we got were also SO fun this season like YES????

last season was VERY VERY VERY couple this couple that. it's honestly something i hated because AGAIN the first two seasons are heavily built on friendship so it was like we were losing a major chunk of what made the show work.

i was kinda scared going into s4 that it would be really couple based just because of how the entire friend group is just one big couple (honestly something i don't like. i miss when it was just jarah).

BUT they proved me wrong and we got some good duos! pope & sarah really made me happy in the finale, i need more of jj & cleo (LIKE RUDE BOY HELLO????) and i honestly miss s1 jb & kiara but i'm glad we got a few moments of them. praying that pt2 keeps this up because i do not want to go back to all the couple bs

but, speaking of couples, let's yap about them!!

starting off with the ogs themselves, jarah <3

i am forever and always a jarah girl. jarah just makes my heart happy. and WOW am i glad we made them so healthy and good this season.

s3 completely ruined them in every way and then just shoved them back together like topper never happened and i did not like it. and because of the whole chaselyn break-up there was a clear tension reflected onto jb & sarah for the whole season (and that's not saying what they were doing was bad because it was VERY professional. i'm so glad their break-up did not reflect onto the show). it wasn't even a THEY were being awkward about it, it was just knowing as a viewer that irl they broke up that further ruined the already badly done jarah in s3.

HOWEVER this season did them so good! for once there was no topper and they were so happy and together. sarah talking about being 'sarah routledge' in the twinkie made me so happy, and even jb discussing having kids just made me fjeuqgolliru32. i LOVE jarah

whatever irl tension that was blending into s3 isn't there anymore and it's so much better. i'm so glad to see bts videos of madelyn and chase being friends (to the people who still ship chaselyn i hope you realize how embarrassing it is)

till death do them part i hope jarah is always happy.

next is cleo & pope (still haven't found that ship name after a whole year :D)

they were really cute this season and i liked seeing pope protective and sweet towards her. we see a different side of pope with cleo, and they were cute in s3 too (pope really found comfort and a safe space in her). i have NOTHING against their characters personally. carlacia and jd also did really good and they were just totally pure.

BUT BUT BUT i'm still not 100% on them (DON'T ATTACK ME)

they've grown on me but once again i just can't shake off the fact that they feel like they're together just because they were the only 2 single characters left. truly, character wise it makes more sense for jj & cleo (and that's how it was SUPPOSED to go).

i love cleo && pope as a duo and i fear that i liked them better that way. BUT again that's no hate to them as a couple. they ARE cute. it's just very forced and almost rushed to me.

rafe and sofia

UGH they were actually really good as much as i hate to say it.

last year, i was not a fan. genuinely, i was concerned on why we were giving rafe a love interest before therapy. they did NOT use sofia as much as they should have and she was really flat. BUT BUT BUT they totally switched my mind.

she is changing him. he's letting her. OH MY GOD.

i'm genuinely so glad the pates used sofia this season, even if it was going behind rafe's back (she deserved too after how he kept shrugging her off like buddy she is the ONE person who likes you). she's a sweetheart and it's really interesting to see how she interacts with rafe. she knows he's dangerous but he's never treated her that way.

it's also interesting seeing a soft rafe that we've never seen before. he's a totally new man and as weird as it is, i'm here for it.

very excited to see where they go, especially since rafe wants to settle down with her (i rlly need to know what happens when he finds out she went behind his back with hollis)

okay i guess i leaving one out.....jiara.

it's really hard for me to explain my thoughts and opinions on jj and kiara.

the idea of jiara is really nice to me. i love the cute and dramatic edits, i love the chemistry that they have in s1-s2. i am not a jiara hater to any extent-last year, i'll admit i was looking forward to seeing them be together.

but now that it's really a thing.....eh.

LOOK THEY WERE CUTE THIS SEASON OKAY. their first kiss actually had me kicking my feet and the obx writers did them really good. he's so gentle and protective over her. she's there for him. they're so ugh. madison and rudy had good chemistry and this season was overall very good for them. they weren't a bad couple. the concept of jiara makes me happy.

i just can't???

they are SUCH fan service it just makes me really sad. like jiara was never supposed to happen and i liked it better when we were just hoping it would.

s3 completely ruined them in my eyes with whatever fucking quick rush they tried to do. putting them together in the span of 10 episodes just wasn't for me because again we never really got to see it happen on the island! we just got them talking, them almost kissing, and then tension and personally i prefer a more slow burn and even then jarah happened in even less time and i love them so truly it's just jiara in general

so now that they're actually together i feel like nothing really happened? like there was no sense of achievement i fear?? they're just together and that's that and while people are eating it up it just gives me the ick.

like when they were like "so what should we do?" in the chamber i was getting the ick. physically, i can't with jj & kiara.

and it hurts me to say that because i want to like jiara. like i rlly do guys

i like them and i don't. i legit can't explain it to you.

moving on to the ending of e5 and what i think will come next

okay e5 was actually BONKERS???

so much was happening. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BARRACUDA MIKE WAS JUST HIDING LUKE THIS ENTIRE TIME???? THATS CRIMINAL???

finding out that luke was not jj's real dad and that he's truly a genrette was wild. like um since when was obx not about kids having fun on the beach. i really feel bad for jj and it's totally going to take a real turn on his character in the second half. i do hope we get some more info on larissa and whatever the fuck his real dad is named in the next 5 eps tho (maybe the episode "mothers and fathers"???)

pope and sarah in the church??? so much was happening did we just forget that they're like, idk TRAPPED down there??? sarah was so me with the rats tho and truly they were the duo i didn't know i needed to see.

why is john b. actually fearing for his life over graves like WHAT did they do to you man. honestly hope they do something with his trauma over big john because that's called character development!!

rafe & kiara???? hello??? him forgiving her is insane work???

dumping terrance's body into the ocean was crazy idk how they WEREN'T caught by shoupe.

hollis??? i don't trust this little hoe at all??

the only good part about this little break is that we have a month to collectively figure out what the fuck is happening next :D

my top things are:

1. jj is gonna be off the rails.

2. with that, jiara is gonna be a little fucked over. they keep saying there is a bomb coming so it's gonna happen

3. rafe & sarah interaction/rafe working with the pogues???

4. MAYBE some more kie & rafe

5. hollis ending up working with chandler and be a bigger bad than just to rafe

6. the pogues will have to save jj somehow someway because that's how it goes

7. more detail on larissa and chandler.

now, i've seen big theories that larissa IS hollis and she didn't actually die (which is why she is with chandler at the end). she was jj's babysitter as a kid just so she could see her kid and then....yeah? it's a valid theory.

i've also seen that theory connected into the jj/sarah sibling theory (hollis knew ward via business so there would be time for something) but it would be very very weird if sarah & rafe are full blood siblings because why is hollis flirting?

ANYWHO that's my rant of obx4pt1 !!

comment your thoughts and opinions on this season, as well as what you think will happen in the next 5 eps! i'd love to see :)