'Outer Banks' Season 3 Proves Kiara and JJ Are the Perfect Couple
Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Outer Banks Season 3.Catch your breath, because Outer Banks has wasted no time in its action-packed third season. The latest installment of the teen drama turned treasure-hunting adventure series was a sprint from start to finish over its 10 episodes, never shying away from inserting high-stakes heists, chases, and confrontations. While there was no shortage of heart-pounding moments, Outer Banks held true to the story at its core, incorporating three separate love stories among its main cast.
While seeing John B (Chase Stokes) and Sarah (Madelyn Cline)'s marriage go through the wringer in this season was intriguing and the blossoming connection of Pope (Jonathan Daviss) and Cleo (Carlacia Grant) served as a welcomed addition, it was the journey of JJ (Rudy Pankow) and Kiara (Madison Bailey) that stole the season. After a will they, won’t they plot mechanism was employed, Outer Banks Season 3 finally delivered its payoff between the two in the penultimate episode, giving them their deserved time in the spotlight before the grand finale in the quest for the City of Gold.
It's Important to Remember Where Kiara and JJ Started
When it comes to the main cast, it’s best to always recall where the roots of these characters begin. The boys of the show – John B, Pope, and JJ – are the Pogues, the ones on the hard-working, lower-income side of Kildare Island, and Sarah and Kiara come from the affluent side where the classifications of Kooks originate from. The show has already shown us one love story in which someone from one side falls for the other in John B and Sarah, but what made that pairing special was the journey they had together that forced them to be as close as they have become.
When it comes to JJ and Kiara, they had a prior friendship built in, but the beauty of what Season 3 was able to accomplish was to emphasize the journey they took to take that next step together. Outer Banks played up the typical teen drama early on through the first two seasons. The normal complications come from a group of mixed teens all spending time together and feelings are bound to develop in some capacity as evidenced in the short-lived Pope and Kiara storyline. The slower burn of this group, seeing JJ and Kiara get to the point of their scene-stealing moment at the end of the season was a capstone to a rather bumpy but all the more fulfilling journey.
How Season 3 of 'Outer Banks' Landed the JJ and Kiara Relationship Payoff
At the start of the latest season, all of our favorite Pogues and honoree Pogues are together on the aptly named Poguelandia. The paradise lifestyle only lasts for so long as we’re thrust back into the rapid pacing of Outer Banks and the show truly begins mere minutes into Season 3. It’s clear from the first episode that JJ still will do anything for Kiara after she’s taken by Singh’s men and JJ insists to the group that they’re going after her. The show intentionally keeps the camera on his longing stare, which comes from a place of fear of losing her and the love that he has formed for her — but the group is forced to let her go so they can regroup and come up with a plan.
There’s a mini-payoff toward the end of the next episode when they are reunited and again, Outer Banks gives the two their own moment as it's JJ and Kiara who embrace first by themselves with JJ blurting out, “I’m so glad you’re safe.” Throughout this season, the writers don’t hold back in dropping subtle and not-so-subtle hints that lay the groundwork for the penultimate episode. Kie’s feelings are revealed in the fifth episode, following JJ’s dangerous antics on a bike that nearly get him killed; for a fleeting instant, his friends actually believe he may have been lost. It’s a quick shot but Kiara, gasping for breath, urges him "to never do that again." In one of the not-so-subtle transitions of this season, the sixth episode goes through each of the main characters, first showing Pope and Cleo hanging together, then to Kie’s room where she looks at a photo of her and Pope before pulling out one of JJ. It’s included to demonstrate an inner dialogue she's having with herself about which way her heart is leading her. While all of these are nice, small touches dropped in the middle of their often-times unbelievable treasure chase, what amps up the stakes for these two to get from Point A to Point B is the Kitty Hawk of it all.
Feeling as though they have lost all control over their daughter, Mike (Marland Burke) and Anna (Samantha Soule) opt to kidnap, err enroll, Kiara in a wilderness therapy program, Kitty Hawk. Before this, the season has given glimpses into the deteriorating relationship between Kie and her parents, even showing their lack of acceptance of JJ. Their distrust stems from their belief that he and the rest of the Pogues are the bad influences that steered their daughter off the road to success they have paved for her. Timing-wise, Kiara being shipped off to Kitty Hawk couldn’t have been any worse as the gang is already waiting to fly to South America, but from a story perspective, it serves as the major turning point for this budding relationship. JJ, after a confrontation at her parents' house, exhausts everything at his disposal, including working a deal with the local drug smuggler after nearly being killed (again), in order to break out Kiara from this faux prison. In typical JJ fashion, there’s a blend of comedic relief, a lot of sneaking around, and some illegal trespassing, but all of it for the right reason as evidenced when he finally gets to Kiara. As always, the two stumble around their words to explain what they really want to say, but Kie finally comes out and says, “I love you” to which JJ quickly responds, “I love you, too.” It is a payoff long in the making, and the series gives Season 3's penultimate episode the opportunity to be a JJ and Kiara story.
With a fourth season confirmed, and an 18-month time jump incorporated into the final scene, there are going to be some questions about whether these two are fully committed still or if this love of theirs fizzled out. The only information that’s disclosed about where everyone’s paths have gone in that year and a half was when John B is talking with Sarah: “Kie is saving turtles, Pope’s going away to school and JJ bought the charter boat.” Could Kie and JJ still be together? It’s not like what is revealed in that exchange suggests otherwise, but it does sound like the group has taken the money (and the freedom) and is moving forward with their own lives. For now, though, we can all bask in the joy of seeing JJ and Kiara come together in the end, and worry about their future in this series at a later time.
Outer Banks is available to stream on Netflix.
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