As the new season drops this weekend, we returned to the rivalling world of Pogues and Kooks. We left the end of Season 1 with the the gang separated. JJ (Rudy Pankow), Ki (Madison Bailey), and Pope (Jonathan Daviss) believe John B (Chase Stokes) and Sarah (Madelyn Cline) died in the great ocean chase. Rafe (Drew Starkley) won the approval of his father Ward (Charles Esten) after shooting Sheriff Peterkin at the air field and framing John B for her murder with much of the treasure antics centreing around their bizarre bond and complicated sibling rivalry with Sarah.
5 Behind the Scenes Facts:
- The five leads – Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, Madison Bailey, Jonathan Daviss, & Rudy
- Pankow – can all operate boats in real life.
- Madelyn Cline had to learn to drive a stick shift for the show.
- The container ship used in episodes 209 and 210 was manned by a crew from Russia that became friends with the OBX cast and crew.
- The show shoots with three cameras almost all the time to allow for improv to be incorporated into the final edit if need be. Capt. Lance Julian, the series’ marine coordinator, is renowned in his field and was also the marine coordinator on Titanic.
- Madelyn Cline and Chase Stokes were in the same wardrobe for nearly half of the season.
Best Moments:
If you havent seen it yet, tough – Sarah dies in Episode 2 in the Bahamas. Enjoy the show!
Relax, I’m kidding, the back alley Doctor who most likely looks after visiting cartels and underworld figures managed to remove a bullet after her murderous brother accidentally shoots her.
Yeh Rafe has issues, even his own mother thinks he’s a psychopath and Ward won’t have any of it since he’s the reason they’ve managed to smuggle half a billion bucks worth of gold to their mansion at Paradise Island. These two are a piece of work. As the feud is passed from father to son, now that we know what Rafe is capable of, how far will Rafe go to prove his loyalty to Ward. Messed up on so many levels with the body count and inflicted injury count between them starts to pile up by half the season. Whatever last shred of Kook-ness Sarah had left in her is gone after her brother and father try to kill her by the end of the season. Turns out the psychopathic apple doesn’t fall far from the asylum tree where Ward and Rafe are concerned.
Kie, JJ and Pope were in tears at the end of Season 1 and still grieving in Season 2 with the whole town believing their best friend was a murderer. We knew they were all going to end up together, but we couldn’t have imagined how.
So the intersection of chases as John B and Sarah try to outrun the man they robbed at the same time Kie, JJ and Pope were escaping Carla Limbrey’s thugs was a great moment of unspoken joy couched in panic and adrenaline. Such a shortlived sequence which ends up with John B in prison by episode 5.
Despite organising a hit on John B to make it look like suicide, being revealed to have betrayed Carla Limbrey in a deal too, it was impossible not to share in the relief and happiness Ward was was experiencing when finally reuniting with Sarah and then that slap! Being pushed to the limit with having to clean up Rafe’s mess, this villain elevated himself to love-to-hate status when being pressured to choose between his children. Great scene and everything up until this point is leading up to events in episode 6.
While the treasure hunt for the half a billion in gold that John B’s father reaches a somewhat anti-climatic pause, a new Goonies style treasure is revealed and linked to ancestors of Pope. Following cryptic riddles and clues linked to a sunken ship in the 19th century, this season sees two active hunts with the Camerons after all of it.
We almost forgot about JJ’s father, Luke who was absent until episode 8. A short arc sees Luke on the run with JJ agreeing to help his father escpae. Right after exchanging barbs with Kie, Luke’s bittersweet exit is beautifully montaged with him strangling his son and JJ holding a gun to his head while he was sleeping after they say their farewells. This was a great moment, however something was different with Rudy Pankow this season and he didn’t come across as tough and hard like he did this season, but rather more comedic. While JJ can’t always be counted on for his over the top ideas, acting before speaking and always ready to purposely or accidentally botch everyone’s plans, he seemed less Andrew Cody (Animal Kingdom) and more Billy Elliott. Need to re-watch Season 1, hold that thought, something is definitely different since he bought that hot tub last season to deal with his anger issues.
The girls performances were strong this season. Madison Bailey gave us great insight into Kie’s undying loyalty to her Pogue buddies in a series of heated confrontations with her charachter’s mother, Anna (Samantha Soule). Turns out, Anna and Mike were the original John B and Sarah, back in the day – go figure! With the season ending with Cleo in the group shot, could we be seeing less of Kie next season now that the writing for her being sent to boarding school is on the wall? Madelyn Cline had no shortage of conflict with her own parents, particularly Ward and we saw some of her best performances in the season finale finding ways to express her concurrent distain, surprise and relief at the big reveal when she opened the door to her cabin with no words. Was that even scripted? Amazing.
Episode 5 culminates in the most dramatic four minutes full of suspense as Rafe tries to drown Sarah, an inmate tries to strangle John B to death, while bad timing turns JJ’s failed rescue attempt and Ambulance theft into an involuntary 10-63 or criminal trespass. Surprising everyone as the hero of the episode after being absent all season, is the welcome return but episode 6 awkward pogue reunion of Topper!
What’s interesting here is how Rafe could hold Sarah’s head underwater almost drowning her and yet couldn’t shoot at a whole load of pogues. What changed?
Wasps stings, Alligator attacks, boat chases, explosions, car chases, Kooks versus Pogues fight night at the annual bonfire, prison hits, shootings, murder overups, evidence tampering – the whole season was full of action every single episode! As the pogues are left stranded on an island, the Cameron kooks seem to have made off with the entire loot and it seems the only thing set to balance the scales is the shocking 10 second ending after Limbrey goes to visit the author of a mysterious letter she receives! What. The. Hell. HOW IS HE STILL ALIVE?