'Outer Banks' Season 5 Full Recap (Episodes 1-10): Does The Blue Crown Work? 

The latest and final season of Outer Banks is like a world tour for the Pogues. It takes us to Croatia, Spain, and Azerbaijan. The show follows the events of JJ’s death in Morocco, and Groff stealing the Blue Crown. I guess you could say the plot is split into two halves: one, getting the Blue Crown, and two, getting revenge on Groff. The story goes a bit cray cray with the two plots merging, but eventually, all we need to know is that the Pogues are going to be okay, and that’s what’s important. So without further ado, let’s jump into this recap of season 5.

Spoiler Alert

How Do The Pogues Get Back Home? 

The season opens with the Pogues stranded in Morocco, so they need a way out, and they end up in Spain on a boat run by people who know who they are. Turns out, there’s a bounty on Kiara and JJ specifically that’s been put out by a man named Anton Finch, because of the crown. Kiara learns that Groff is heading to Croatia to an antique shop owned by a guy named Henrique. The gang make it to Croatia on a boat after being split up, as girls and guys, but the two men who try to catch Kiara fail at their mission, and are made to fight each other, so there’s only one survivor. This is how we’re introduced to Finch, who wants the crown from Kiara. The only thing is that she doesn’t have it. Kiara ends up going after a guy who looks like Groff, but isn’t Groff, because Groff paid him off to dress like him and distract the Pogues. 

She ends up pulling a gun on him in a crowded place, when Groff himself calls the police on her. While escaping on a cable car, Kiara ends up alone with Finch, and he makes a deal with her: she can have Groff, but the crown is his. If she agrees, he will help her escape. Kiara reluctantly agrees, and Finch shoots the car door, letting her jump out in the middle of nowhere and hang on for dear life. But hey, I guess it’s Kiara, so she can survive. She then comes face to face with Groff, who is looking at himself in the store window. At this time, he’s going to the house of a woman who verifies antique goods. When he ends up at her house, she also makes a call to Finch to sell the crown to him. Groff realizes that the buyer has to be Finch, and curses the auctioneer for letting Finch know where they are. Before you know it, Finch kills the woman, who calls herself Medici, and Groff escapes yet again, for another cat-and-mouse chase. Kiara makes it there too late, but the gang do end up getting in the way of Groff and Finch. This basically helps Groff get away because the cops show up. 

Kiara gets yet another chance to shoot Groff, but it doesn’t work out, and he escapes by jumping off a church-type building and escaping. But on the other hand, the gang get arrested without their passports, and are deported to their own homes, which means no Cleo for some time. Pope ends up in prison for deferring his army thing, and the rest have to find a place to stay because their home is taken down. 

What Happens With The Money? 

John B and Sarah have it the worst in this situation, because Kiara goes back home, while Pope is in prison. On Sarah’s birthday, they both decide to do something actively about the situation (i.e. being homeless). Kiara gets keys to a summer home that they can squat in – Tannyhill – and John B ends up finding a box full of weed, which he gets Rafe to help sell to Barry. The plan’s flawed right from the start because the guys who lost the box see him immediately, and now whatever money he has got, he has to return some 5 times that to the guys. Barry suggests he rob Topper’s house, where he’ll get the money he needs. John B doesn’t like the idea, but he ends up doing it anyway. By this time, Pope’s out of prison, but he’s not in good shape at all, because he killed a person. So, he’s smoking or drinking all the time. In the meantime, Dale is making big plans to buy all the properties on the island and make something big there. Kiara, on the other hand, learns that the crown isn’t just valuable, but is known to be magical. Also, Rafe finally finds out from Sofia why she decided to work with Dale back in season 4, and he forgives her immediately, taking her back. Or maybe it’s because she offers him the ring he gave her to get him some money. It’s pretty sweet, I guess. At the same time, Rose threatens Rafe with a letter that she found from his dad, that clearly states that he killed the sheriff back in the day. So he’s genuinely broke. 

Now comes the hunt for the Scytale, and Kiara and Pope end up in Ward’s creepy basement to find out more about the crown stuff. They don’t find the item, though. But hey, Cleo comes back, and Pope is refreshed again. Amongst all this drama, John B needs to get out of the Outer Banks with Sarah for a bit to escape the weed guys, because he doesn’t manage to steal all the money from Topper’s. 

Who Is Sarah’s Mum? 

This is when Sarah and John B find out that her mum is in New Orleans, so they go there to see her. She asks Ellie, her mum, about the Scytale, and Ellie lies, saying she sold it a long time ago. Turns out, she was just trying to protect Sarah, because she does still have it with her. Now, this subplot is very rushed, and we don’t really get time for Sarah to process the idea that her mum didn’t leave her family, but was sent away by her dad, who drugged her and made it look like she was a bad mom. Instead, all Sarah does is ask for a favor, and then leave when she thinks her mum can’t help her. But that’s when the drug guys show up at Ellie’s and nearly kill John B and Sarah; luckily for them, Dalia and the Corsairs show up to kill the guys and take the Scytale, which Ellie had promised them, I guess. Dalia leaves them alive, because apparently Finch likes them. 

What Happens Back In The Outer Banks? 

Now, to learn what the crown really does, the gang needs the Scytale. It has a secret parchment around it that gives you all the instructions on what to do with the crown to resurrect a loved one. But, of course, it’s in Persian. The Scytale might not be with the gang, but Ellie gives them a bill of sale for drawings made by Denmark Tanny, which were an exact match for the actual artifact. Kiara gets close to Wincloss at a fancy Kook party, just so that she can see where the drawings are kept. She then gives the information to John B and Sarah, who find them, while Pope makes a terrible marriage proposal to Cleo without really thinking about it. But what nobody knows is that Groff is also at this party, and he drugs Kiara, takes her away into the ocean, and tries to drown her. Luckily, the gang find her in time to save her from certain death, but Groff of course, escapes again. 

Ward has come back as Rose’s new boyfriend, and plans on taking all the gold that originally belonged to the Pogues. He then sends off the letter about Rafe to Shoupe, making this situation even more complicated. Apart from Kiara, everybody gets working on recreating the Scytale, and they realize that they need to be in Azerbaijan in 2 days’ time. Now, Cleo gets left behind yet again, as they all head out on a private plane. This time, she essentially sacrifices herself so that Kiara can go do her thing. 

What Happens In Azerbaijan? 

When they get there, Finch and his people are there too. At this point, Finch has the crown, and is also in the same place. Why? Because he has a dead daughter he wants to bring back. The Pogues decide to literally bomb a mountain so that a landslide can block the bridge that leads them to the lake where the crown is meant to be used so the magic can happen. The plan works so well that the bridge ends up collapsing, causing the van that the Corsairs are in to go straight into the water below. Finch ends up stuck in his seat, and Kiara literally drags the crown out of his hands. 

She has to try to do the incantation as the meteor shower occurs. This is her main agenda, apart from revenge, of course: trying to get JJ back. She says the words, but nothing happens, until a big beam of light appears in the sky and sends her through her memories of her life with JJ. Is the crown magical? Well, in a sense, it brings closure to Kiara, so you could say so. But the magic is over in moments, and Finch shows up right then. He asks Kiara if it works, and she says it does, but not in the way he expects it to. All he can understand from this is that he can see his daughter again, so he snatches the crown from Kiara, but he also tries to kill her before Pope shoots him in the arm and saves Kiara. The young Pogues escape the mercenaries yet again, somehow. The Corsairs leave, because all they care about really is the crown. 

What Happens To Rafe? 

In the meanwhile, Groff is back at the Outer Banks, nearly choking Rose to death, but Wheezie saves her by shooting him in the arm. Groff still manages to escape with all the Merchant gold, which Rose was planning on running away with. So now, as soon as the Pogues are back, they need to go straight after Groff, who plans on escaping in the middle of a hurricane. There happens to be a mandatory evacuation order in place for everyone on the island, but Kiara hasn’t given up yet. In the meantime, Sofia gets arrested instead of Rafe, who decides to help her escape by turning off the generators during the storm. Shoupe finds them and goes after them, but Rafe apologizes for killing Sheriff Peterkin and says he will go away and never come back. At this point, Sofia and Rafe are the only two people who can help Shoupe, who is stuck under a fallen tree. Shoupe gives up, and the couple save him before running away to the lighthouse, where they will eventually meet the rest. Rose tells the gang what’s happened with the gold, and says she needs help and promises to give them a percentage of the gold. They remind her it’s their gold and go to do the work. Pope needs to help his dad first, though, and they both nearly drown before Sarah and John B come to their rescue. They nearly get electrocuted too, which was definitely scary. They all end up at the lighthouse safely, except for Kiara, who is on the boat with Groff. 

Does Kiara Get Her Revenge? 

At the end of Outer Banks season 5, Kiara and Groff get into a physical altercation on the boat, which he stole from some Kook. She manages to tie him to the mast of the boat and send him flying over the sea. She’s finally able to get her revenge without actually killing the guy, just dropping him into the sea to be swallowed by the ocean. She then throws the gold out of the boat, because she needs to stay afloat. She shares her coordinates, and they hear it at the lighthouse. The gang saves Kiara, while Rafe signals them with the light so they can make their way back to the lighthouse. Later, when the storm has cleared, they go back to the coordinates that Kiara was at to find the gold. After some searching around, they finally find it, making them rich. The Outer Banks have been completely destroyed by the hurricane, but they are now rich enough to restore it to exactly what it used to be. Sweet turn of events, because now they get to live the Kook life. Cleo was deported after being arrested, but now Pope is rich enough to pay for her immigration, and they get married (he does make a better proposal). On the other hand, Sarah gives birth, and John B and she get married at the end of the show, giving everyone the happy ending they deserve (except Kiara, who will take time to get over JJ, of course). They even name the baby JJ, and Rafe and Sofia have gone off to Rio to live a peaceful life, or at least I hope so. 

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