Outer Banks – Season 4 Episode 8 Recap & Review

Family Plot

Episode 8 of Outer Banks season 4 starts with the group looking over the map while smoking weed. Except Sarah, obviously. They’re back in Poguelandia after escaping, and they find themselves confronted by Groff. He’s back, and has nowhere else to go. When he calls JJ son, the truth is obviously revealed.

He knows the scroll is encrypted and also the name of the group after it. They’re the Lupine Corsairs and after stealing from them, Groff helps to fill in some of the blanks. The map can be decoded but they need to work together to dig into Larissa’s grave.

Here we also learn that the Blue Crown is apparently a mythical artifact that can be used as a dangerous weapon to grant wishes. Groff’s not interested in the magical element though, he just wants the treasure. And that seems to be inside a hidden vault within the desert. So I guess we’re jetting off to Africa then. But first, they need a lens.

Taking a slight break from everything, Sarah reveals the truth to John B about her pregnancy. Similarly, JJ speaks to Kiara about how Groff is his father and he’s convinced on this now, given their similar demeanours. However, Groff receives a message from Dalia, telling him he knows what to do, so it looks like a double-cross is on the cards here!

Pope leaves for the marines but he changes his mind at the last second and rushes back home. As he does, he ditches his ankle monitor. 

Groff and JJ head off together while all this drama is going on. Over at the station, Shoupe gets the lowdown on the mercenaries from Africa we’ve been seeing. Anton Finch seems to be the big boss here, and he’s an arms dealer. He’s been giving money to the state in exchange for taking “bad seeds” out of jail before sending them to combat zones. Their sigil is the trident with a triangle around.

Groff and JJ head to the Genrette Cemetery and head into the mausoleum together. Groff decides to ring the police and claim someone is sneaking about and it could be JJ. JJ himself is not sure grave-robbing is a good idea but Groff convinces him to carry on. Just before they open the coffin, he leaves JJ to do it alone, who is obviously unaware that cops are en-route.

Groff speaks to the officer when he shows up and uses this as a distraction to grab the lens and take off away from JJ, who’s left hiding inside the mausoleum twiddling his thumbs. Groff heads back to grab the map. Armed with everything he needs, Kiara tries to stop him but Groff knocks her out and bundles her in the chest freezer instead.

Groff returns to JJ, and after taking his phone, arrives to confront Hollis. She’s not happy that he lied to her, given Goat Island is in the process of being deemed a nature reserve and not what he initially promised Rafe. She also knows that he’s not the heir and threatens to tell Shoupe where he was the night Wes died. Hollis knows he wasn’t with her and with a gun pointed at him, she calls him a fraud.

To distract her, Groff does the ol “look over there!” trick and when she turns her head, Groff pounces and kills Hollis. With his accomplice gone, he takes the money and gun, dumping the latter in JJ’s van to make it seem like he killed Hollis. They have keys to a boat so they take that and off they go.

At the same time, there’s drama involving Sarah and John B as they find themselves reunited with Pope before they too head out on a boat. When they return home, they free Kiara and track JJ’s location out on the water.

Groff is not stupid and he knows JJ’s friends are after him. He throws JJ’s phone overboard “by accident” and they use the lens, which shows off a location called Mogador on the map. JJ is similarly not to be trifled with, and he immediately realizes something afoul here. He also knows Larissa didn’t drown, given he’s seen the body himself, and knows Groff killed her.

Groff realizes JJ is catching on to him, and he throws the kid out in the middle of the water to drown. “So long, Jackson,” He says before returning to Dalia and Lightner. This, I may add, was foreshadowed earlier in the season when Groff mentioned his kid drowned at sea. It’s a small inclusion but a welcome one.

At the station, Rafe shows up and he’s not happy. He wants to report Groff and Hollis, as he’s been scammed out of $400k. Shoupe though knows that Groff is one of the Lupine Corsairs (or at least used to be) and his alibi is resting on shaky foundations. Shoupe starts to put the puzzle pieces together and realizes Groff is the one they need.

Meanwhile, the gang regroup and manage to find JJ in the exact spot in the ocean Groff dropped him off. They head back to land, and try to come up with their next plan of action.

The Episode Review

So Groff shows his true colours, obviously, and double-crosses JJ after an entire episode of us just basically waiting for him to do it. I’m not sure why Groff didn’t just let the police arrest him and take off with the lens and map himself, but alas, it works to bring the group together, away from Kildare where the police heat is on for both Pope and JJ.

With the pair wanted fugitives, I’d imagine all charges will be dropped once they get the Blue Crown, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves here!

The second half of this series has undoubtedly been action packed, with plenty of thrills along the way, but it has also opened itself up for way more contrivances than before. It’s definitely got some plot issues, but the characters are why Outer Banks works so well and at least on that front, the core group continue to be worth their weight in gold.