Outer Banks: Season 1 - TV Reviews (2024)

... The series transcends pure melodrama and captivates with its story, characters and reach. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Mar 8, 2023

Outer Banks Season 1 is a gripping young adult series that seems to combine National Treasure and Stranger Things. Netflix excels at placing their series within regions of the world that are underrepresented within the media.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jan 22, 2023

The sun-soaked scenery of the Outer Banks is a guilty pleasure. The teens are engaging and fun in this preposterous script.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 7, 2020

Perhaps not the best show on TV, Outer Banks does enough to satisfy its intended audience. Though this one's not for kids.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 8, 2020

Netflix's Outer Banks is Ozark meets The OC, but is worse than both

Full Review | Apr 29, 2020

Slick teen mystery drama series is fun guilty pleasure.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 23, 2020

It's Stranger Things on Spring Break. But it's also a slice of deliriously daft hokum for these daft days.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 23, 2020

Any dramatic shortcomings will be overlooked by those attracted to the show's basic premise: young people living unsupervised, on the margins of society, but who still get to behave like they have a team of lawyers on retainer.

Full Review | Apr 22, 2020

If everything about this show was just a little bit more engaging, or funnier, or more absurd, it would be actually fun to watch, but most of it is just so dreary... That said, [It] is actually very binge-able, mostly due to the constantly evolving plot.

Full Review | Apr 20, 2020

The show's golden, backlit laid-back coastal vibe is very immersive and easy on the eye, think The Notebook meets Dawson's Creek.

Full Review | Apr 20, 2020

"Bloodline" with training wheels, "Scooby Doo" with swearing...leave this one to the kids.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 16, 2020

Some of those later confrontations buckle under the weight of their plot connecting, but when "Outer Banks" dials its melodrama to its own sweet spot, there's enough fun to keep a story-hungry audience following along the trail.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Apr 16, 2020

Slick and smartly crafted, the first episode of Outer Banks is likely to hook a lot of viewers.

Full Review | Apr 15, 2020

Outer Banks isn't exactly wholesome, but there is something about its sun-soaked adventure that feels emotionally authentic to the teen experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Apr 15, 2020

It's not a bad place to visit for a bit, all bright and airy and deliciously open.

Full Review | Apr 15, 2020

Feels like a show that would have lasted half a season on The CW five or 10 years ago.

Full Review | Apr 14, 2020

It's a lot of over-the-top character portrayals, but who cares? The actors make you believe they really are in these situations and you can't wait to see what happens next.

Full Review | Apr 14, 2020

Between its crazy adventures and endless bathing suit scenes lies one of the most fun teen dramas that has premiered in months.

Full Review | Apr 14, 2020

The series' lack of nuance sometimes takes away from the emotional stakes, but it still does manage to craft a very exciting mystery-thriller with touches of teen romance.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Apr 14, 2020

The show is positively littered with characters and plot threads that feel like they might have been relevant or even important in a 13-episode season or a YA novel that offered more breathing room.

Full Review | Apr 14, 2020