Summary
Outer Banks season 1, episode 7, “Dead Calm” sees some characters break while others find clarity and the ultimate twist comes together.
This recap of Netflix series Outer Banks season 1, episode 7, “Dead Calm” contains significant spoilers.
Outer Banks season 1, episode 7, “Dead Calm” shows some characters showing their true colors; falling apart under pressure while others get clarity.
Episode 7, “Dead Calm” begins with John B laying out plans to Sarah on methods to extract the hold; her father Ward overhears. Ward then conveniently approaches John B and asks him to go fishing with him the next day, which delays the plans for the gold.
Ward is the real enemy, the real villain in the story.
But before the big fishing trip, John B and the crew start melting the gold they have to get rid of the wheat symbol. They head to a pawn shop and JJ leads on negotiations. The pawnshop woman alerts Barry in the back about the gold they’ve just brought in. She tries to offer JJ $70k; JJ insists it needs to be in cold hard cash so she recommends they go to a warehouse. On the way to the warehouse, John B and the crew believe the police are pulling them over but it is really Barry who pulls a gun out on them. Barry takes the gold but John B sneakily starts an ambush and they all attack Barry. JJ is now fuming, and he insists they head to Barry’s house to get revenge.
JJ shows the start of his breakdown in Episode 7; he walks into Barry’s house and steals his money. John B and the crew are concerned and warn JJ about his behavior — JJ gets angry and walks away from them all.
Tensions become a real problem in Episode 7; Barry confronts Rafe about Sarah robbing him; a scared Rafe confronts Sarah and insists that Barry is a “bad man” and they have a huge argument in the street. Topper then heads over and confronts John B, and claims John B has corrupted Sarah.
As for JJ, his “off the rails” pursuits continue; he gives the stolen money to his father. His father is happy and says he wants to use the money for something else and not the restitution. JJ and his father have a brawl and JJ wins this time; he looks down at his pathetic-looking father and says he isn’t scared of him anymore.
John B and Sarah get closer in Outer Banks season 1, episode 7, “Dead Calm”; John B shows Sarah an old abandoned church where he used to hang out when he was younger. Sarah warns John B that she usually bails at this point when she gets too close to someone; John B reassures her. Sarah then expresses that she’s afraid that if they have sex, and she loses her virginity, that he will not like it — John B says they can wait. Sarah looks at him and says “thank you”, and they have sex.
I mean, this was reverse psychology at its finest, surely.
As we near the end, Kiara and Pope find JJ super drunk and he’s spent all his money on a hot tub and luxuries. He stands up in his hot tub and says he bought it for his family, referring to his friends. Kiara gets into the hot tub and hugs a sobbing JJ; Pope then awkwardly joins in.
And here we go; the true enemy of the Netflix series. Outer Banks season 1, episode 7, “Dead Calm” closes with John B joining Sarah’s father Ward for a fishing trip. While out on the sea, the pair drink and they toast to “trust” and Sarah. Ward then turns suddenly and apologizes to John B for asking him to stop looking for the Royal Merchant gold and then claims John B has found it — “Finding it, that’s where the fun ends and that’s where the trouble begins”. Ward lists the difficulties of extracting all that gold.
To be fair, when he listed all the difficulties I was on board with Ward.
“Let’s do this together and find an equitable split”. John B tells Ward that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Ward then says he knows everything and lists all the events from the series so far on John B’s treasure hunt but John B is irked that he knows about Redfield. Redfield was the last message before his father disappeared. John B is very suspicious of Ward now and he threatens to go to the sheriff before driving the boat back home. The episode ends with Ward heading up to the deck to attack John B.
S*** is really going down now.
Additional Notes
- Rose asks Sarah’s father if he’s still looking for lost treasure.
- In the middle of the night, John B sneaks into Sarah’s room for a kiss.
