Outer Banks: Pogue Life

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At the beginning of episode one, John B., the show's main character, opens up about life on the crazy island and how it's split up. "The Outer Banks, paradise on Earth. It's the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses. Two tribes, one island," he says. Being Pogues, you are automatically singled out as less than, because of where you live," Jonathan Daviss, who plays Pope, told Seventeen exclusively.

This is Figure Eight, the rich side of the island. Home of the Kooks," he says as they pass by golf courses, large ranch houses, and marinas full of expensive yachts. He describes Kooks as "rich trustafarian posers" who he sees as his natural enemies. (He’s not wrong; all the antagonists in the show are rich). Rudy Pankow, who plays JJ, agreed saying that Pogues are able to look at things differently thanks to the way they live life.The south side, also called the Cut, is where lower income people live; it’s where John B (Chase Stokes), JJ (Rudy Pankow) and Pope (Jonathan Daviss) live. This is where you’ll find people called Pogues. Simply put, a Pogue is someone who lives in the Cut. It’s a title that John B and his friends have adopted for their group. According to John B in the series pilot, its origin is from a type of fish: pogies, a throwaway fish, the lowest member of the food chain. They take their Pogue status very seriously — P4L or “Pogue for life” is a common refrain you hear from this group. They even go so far as to carve “P4L” into a tree when they think a fellow Pogue has died — indicating once a Pogue, always a Pogue, even in death.

They are surfing amateurs, pretending that they know what they’re doing in the water, when in reality, they have no idea. While Outer Banks had a lot of life lessons to discover, the most important is that friendship is key. Few onscreen bonds have been stronger than those of the Pogues, and while the treasure and the romances are great, it's the true friendship aspect that really strikes a chord. Whether it's Kiara comforting JJ in a hot tub he can't afford or the entire group rallying around Pope in an effort to secure what’s rightfully his, the biggest takeaway of Outer Banks is that the true treasure is the people who are there for you, no matter what. In the OBX, there are two kinds of people. Netflix's latest YA series, Outer Banks, shows us the different lives between the Kooks and the Pogues of the island. Depending on which one you are, your life can be totally different. John B. makes a point to express in the pilot that the name for the group actually derives from a specific fish. As the protagonist says, “Pogues, pogies, the throwaway fish. [They’re the] lowest member of the food chain.” From the looks of things, it seems that the pogies are used for bait in the fishing industry. What is a Kook? By now, you probably know the fictional Outer Banks world — which is set in the barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina — is home to two classes: the Kooks and the Pogues. In Season 1, John B., the suntanned leader of the Pogues, describes the southern side of the island as "the natural habitat of the Pogues," where the working class lives in small homes and "makes [their] living bussing tables, washing yachts, running charters." They don't have much money, but the teens basically live a life of sun-drenched freedom (before getting tangled up in dangerous treasure hunts, of course).

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The Pogues are named after a type of fish. They're referred to as the throwaway fish. They are the lowest member of the food chain. The pogies are usually used as bait to help catch bigger fish, according to what John B says at the beginning of Outer Banks. The downside and upside of the Pogues are that they are ignored and neglected. While it seems like being a Pogue is just filled with downsides, the cast members of Outer Banks pointed out that there is one many positive thing about being a Pogue. Outer Banks style has already taken off on social media. Tik Tokers have started dressing up like their favorite OBX characters using just the clothes they have in their closet, so you know it's easy to emulate. Maybe it's our nostalgia for happier times spent browsing in surf shops and lounging on the beach or our newfound appreciation for comfort-meets-cool, but all I know is it works. I, for one, am going to be living in Pogue fashion this summer. According to the show's costume designer Emmie Holmes, that was exactly the point. "Our style on Outer Banks is unique and most importantly obtainable, and that's something that was top on my list," says Holmes. "I think the level of comfort in our Pogue style is perfect for this summer" — which will most likely be spent in quarantine.

In the beginning of the series, John B., the show’s protagonist, discusses what life is like in the Outer Banks and exactly how classes are divided. “It’s the sort of place where you either have two jobs or two houses,” he says. “Two tribes. One island.”The Kooks are the elite with parents having money. The Pogues are desperate to move up the social ladder to become new versions of themselves and establish new beginnings. It's like Gossip Girl but island style. According to GQ, a Kook is "an individual with no understanding of the social and sartorial norms of surfing." In terms of the show, this makes sense: The Pogues' rivals are the types of people who pose with expensive boards but never get their hair wet. They are also assholes, though that's not a official category. Since they're the "elite," the Kooks treat the Pogues pretty badly. Not only do they repeatedly get away with murder, stealing, and other heinous crimes, but they're only goal is make the lower-class people life a living hell.Gossip Girl had "Manhattan's Elite," Riverdale boasts "The Serpents," and Netflix's Outer Banks has "the Pogues." The word — which is pretty much everyday lingo at this point — is used nonstop onscreen and off thanks to the show’s massive success. But do you actually know where the term comes from? Here are the deets surrounding what “pogue” from Outer Banks means so you can use it knowledgeably — whether or not you’re cruising along the coastline. Kie, for example, lives on the Figure 8 (where the Kooks reside). But her spunky personality and no-shit attitude make her an enemy to her fellow rich neighbors. Also, Sarah, formerly known as the Princesses of Kooks, rejected her royalty title in season one after realizing just how vengeful and murderous her family was. On this show, it's also about who lives on the Outer Banks and who visits the island. You don't need to be from coastal North Carolina to understand this concept. People who live in beach towns or any kind of vacation spot all over the world know this struggle. Rich vacationers try to act like they own the place, but they're ultimately just tourists. The "pogues" are the working class Sarah’s father, Ward, wasn’t always a Kook. He was actually born and raised in the Cut, but he fought his way to the top as a real estate developer — sometimes crawling over others to get there. Now as a Kook, Ward has no problem using his money to get what he wants at any cost. Rose Cameron (Caroline Arapoglou) The pogies hold the marine ecosystem together by feeding the fish humans consume regularly. This is a nod to the essential work the Pogues of Outer Banks do to keep the town going, despite not receiving much respect.