Outer Banks Season 4 Parents Guide: Is it Kid Friendly?

Wondering if Outer Banks is ok for kids? Rated TV-MA, Outer Banks is not appropriate for younger kids due to language, drug use, and violence, but this mystery series is popular amongst tweens and teens. Who can resist good-looking unsupervised teens running around the beach in search of treasure? Here’s what parents need to know in this Season 4 Outer Banks Parents Guide.

Outer Banks Parents Guide on Netflix

The Outer Banks in North Carolina is a popular summer vacation spot for families where I used to live. The OBX stickers on cars are a dime a dozen, so I was intrigued. Come to find out, it wasn’t filmed there, but close enough. 

Netflix’s Outer Banks follows a group of teenagers who are called “Pogues” (the bottom of the social and economic ladders) in a wealthy area and they set out to find out what happened to the missing father of the group’s ringleader, John B (Chase Stokes). People say he drowned, but John B doesn’t believe it. 

While on the quest, they discover treasure tied to John B’s father and have to escape those that want to kill them. 

In Season 2, Sarah (Madelyn Cline) and John B are on the run and looking for the gold that Ward stole. There are plenty more crazy adventures, twists, turns, and backstabbing as some of the action takes place in the Bahamas and more. 

In Season 3 of Outer Banks, new adventures take the Pogues to the Caribbean and far beyond as the friends are pulled into a dangerous rival’s hunt for a legendary lost city. New enemies and competitors emerge. 

In Outer Banks Season 4, John B and crew are back at it after discovering gold in Season 3. They use their money to buy back JJ’s home and make Poguelandia, but find themselves in money troubles again. Things can never settle down too much for the gang and again find themselves in the crosshairs of people trying to use them or kill them.

Age Rating: Why is Outer Banks Rated TV-MA?

Outer Banks is rated TV-MA for language, violence, and sexual content which means some content is not suitable for kids under 17.

Language in Outer Banks

There is plenty of bad language by teens and adults including many f-words, a**, bi*ch, damn, sh*t, etc.

In Season 2 there is more of the same plus a lot of uses of g-ddamn, bullsh*t, and pu**y. 

In Season 3, there are uses of sh*t, fu*ck, and g-ddamn.

In Season 4 of Outer Banks, you will hear the same type of language. There are uses of sh*t, f*ck, g-ddamn, a**, and b*tch.

Violence: Is Outer Banks Too Scary for Kids?

There are many scary situations with guns involved and fights.  The teens in the show seem to be always be in danger, whether it’s getting in fights or people trying to kill them. They are attacked with different weapons. 

In Season 4, Part One, you’ll see a character being strangled, another one shot dead. A dead body is found on the beach. You see some dead bodies. There is some animal cruelty. There are fights with guns and knives. 

Mature Content: Is Outer Banks OK for Kids?

There is partial nudity in the Outer Banks, and implied sexual relations. Characters are seen making out and kissing. There are conversations about sex, blow jobs, and a character is seen in their underwear. 

Many of the characters use drugs and are high. The main characters are often unsupervised teens doing adult things including drinking alcohol and partying.

Season 3 still shows some drinking, but the main storyline involves looking for treasure and trying to stay alive. I would say Season 1 has the most sexual content and conversations about sex. 

Drug use, death, underage drinking, loss of family, betrayal, and murder are all mature topics in Outer Banks.  

In Season 4 of Outer Banks there is no explicit nudity but implied sexual relations. There are conversations about sex and basically all the Pogues are in a relationship with each other.

Is Outer Banks Appropriate for Kids Under 17? 

I’ve seen Outer Banks described as the OC, Dawson’s Creek, Scooby Doo, and The Goonies. And essentially those could all be accurate, except on Netflix, content is more risqué. Teens will want to watch it, because they want to watch shows about cool teens, although these are actors in their 20s.  

In Outer Banks you can expect to see violence, characters in peril, underage drinking and drug use, sexual situations, and profanity used by some of the characters. To sum it up, Outer Banks is not kid friendly for kids under 16. However, again, many tweens and younger kids have watched it. It’s still way better than your teens watching Euphoria.

Season 4 is no different in the general content as other seasons. Is it the best role model show? No, not really, but again there is way worse out there.

Entertainment-wise, there’s enough to satisfy any teen who wants a guilty pleasure. The plot twists make for a good mystery, and yes, it is an easy binge, but some of it borders on unbelievable. .

There is the classic haves vs. have nots storyline, where love triangles pop up. Will the rich girl end up with the guy from the wrong side of the island? You always need romances for some good trash teen TV, a la Dawsons Creek. Perhaps not the best show on TV, Outer Banks does enough to satisfy its intended audience and has a good size following.

The mystery adventure adds more excitement than just a bunch of teens running around high school with the usual cliches.