The Netflix teen drama Outer Banks is about the lives of two groups of teenagers in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the Pogues and the Kooks. The Pogues have to work to stay afloat and navigate tricky family situations, while the Kooks are born with silver spoons in their mouths. John B. Routledge (Chase Stokes), JJ (Rudy Pankow), Pope (Jonathan Daviss) and Kiara (Madison Bailey) make up the Pogues, while Sarah Cameron (Madelyn Cline), Rafe Cameron (Drew Starkey) and Topper (Austin North) make up the Kooks.

The Pogues and Kooks clash about more things than one in this series, and the tension is raised when the Pogues start searching for the treasure of the Royal Merchant, which some of the Kooks and their families have already been searching for. In a world where hundreds of millions of dollars of gold are on the line, it’s not surprising that the Pogues and Kooks’s parents are caught up in it too, whether it’s sending their kids away in a misguided attempt to try and keep them safe, or trying to kill them in an attempt to find the treasure first.

Luke Maybank

JJ’s Dad

Image via Netflix

Fans don’t see too much from JJ’s single father, but what they do see is enough to confirm that Luke Maybank (Gary Weeks) is a terrible parent. He is physically abusive to his son, and blames JJ for his mother leaving them. Luke is also an alcoholic and a drug addict, which affects his treatment of JJ, and also compels him to steal the restitution money that JJ came up with to pay Topper back for being charged with sinking his boat. This is made even worse by the fact that Luke beat JJ up for owing this money in the first place.

Luke is also manipulative, and takes advantage of the fact that his son loves him, despite his terrible treatment of him. Luke knows that he is the only family that JJ has, and forces him to help him leave the Outer Banks for good in season 2, leaving JJ with no one looking out for him except for his friends. The fleeting moments that Luke shows love to his son are nothing compared to the obvious years of physical and emotional abuse that Luke has inflicted on him.

Ward Cameron

Sarah, Rafe and Wheezie’s Dad

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Ward Cameron (Charles Esten) starts off the series as a devoted father to Sarah. She listens and confides in him, showing that they have a strong relationship, and one that involves a lot of trust. Despite Ward’s good relationship with Sarah, he has a much less empathetic relationship with his eldest, Rafe, and an almost nonexistent relationship with his youngest daughter, Wheezie (Julia Antonelli). It becomes obvious to fans, and to Wheezie and Rafe, that Sarah is Ward’s favorite, and his other children are treated like afterthoughts.
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Once her rose-colored glasses are lifted toward the end of season 1, Sarah starts to realize that her father is not as good of a guy as he has claimed to be. He has stolen the gold from the Pogues, he has killed her boyfriend’s, John B’s, father, and he is going to cover for her older brother’s murder of Sheriff Peterkin (Adina Porter). Their relationship only gets worse throughout the series’ three seasons, at the height of which he tries to choke Sarah out, telling her to stop calling him dad. Ward Cameron is by far one of the worst parents in the Outer Banks. Abuse aside, he favors one of his children over the others, and will do anything to maintain the power and safety of his family, even at the cost of that very family.

Big John

John B’s Dad

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Outer Banks started with the disappearance of John B’s father, Big John (Charles Halford), and the hope that John B had for his return. This hope was destroyed when John B learned that Ward Cameron actually killed his father during a dispute over their joint quest for the Royal Merchant. Little did John B know, but his father survived Ward’s attempted murder, and had made little to no effort to try to reach his son to let him know that he was alive. When Big John finally returns to the Outer Banks, fans expect a heartfelt reunion, but instead they get a man who is desperate to find a treasure, and who only uses his son as a means to get there.

Big John makes very little effort to get to know the people who helped John B through his disappearance, or John B’s girlfriend, Sarah, because of his, albeit understandable, grudge against her father. Even more, when his father returns, John B just wants to reconnect with him, but Big John would rather search for El Dorado, and really only shows affection to John B when he figures out a clue that gets them closer to that goal. Both John B and fans are disappointed to see that Big John’s presence in his son’s life is not much better than Big John’s absence.

Rose Cameron

Sarah, Rafe and Wheezie’s Step-Mom

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Rose (Caroline Arapoglou) is another parent who is not seen very often throughout the series, but as the stepmother to Wheezie, Sarah and Rafe, it becomes obvious in the first season that she has not made much of an effort to bond with the kids or establish any sort of step-parent-step-child relationship. When she tries to convince Sarah to go to Midsummers in season 1, Sarah tells her that she’s not her mother, so she doesn’t have to listen to her, making it pretty clear that the two have no relationship.

After Ward fakes his own death in season 2, Rose plays the caring stepmother role to Sarah after Rafe locks her in a wine cellar. But this was just an act meant to make Sarah feel comfortable enough for Rose to drug her tea and put her on a ship against her will to take the family away from the Outer Banks. Additionally, besides the fact that she has no relationship with Wheezie, Rose is afraid of Rafe and what he is capable of, so she has never made much of an effort to get close to him, let alone to understand him. While Rose is not abusive, or as neglectful as Big John, she is not a very present parent to her three step-children, and really only cares about Ward.

Mike Carrera

Kiara’s Dad

Kiara’s parents are definitely some of the more normal parents in the Outer Banks, but they are not immune to some unfortunate parenting decisions. Kiara’s father, Mike (Marland Burke), is very biased against the Pogues, partly because he understands what it’s like to be a Pogue and the things that they may get into, but he makes very little effort to get to know Kiara’s friends, which blinds him to the community that they provide for her, despite the dangerous activities they get involved in.

Understandably, when John B is accused of murder, any parent would be worried about their child spending time with him, let alone helping the accused murderer escape persecution. But even after the charges against John B are dropped, Mike has a hard time believing anything Kiara says, and is blinded by his anger at the Pogues for “ruining” his daughter’s life. He stops trying to listen to her, and he even makes the decision, with his wife, to send Kiara to a wilderness camp to get her away from the Pogues, and to force her back into a normal life. Mike Carrera clearly loves his daughter and wants the best for her, but in his desire to give her the best life he can, he doesn’t listen to what she wants or make an effort to understand her perspective.

Anna Carrera

Kiara’s Mom

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The other half of Kiara’s parenting team, Anna (Samantha Soule), makes some similar mistakes to her husband in wanting what’s best for her daughter, regardless of what Kiara desires, but she also makes much more of a concerted effort than her husband to improve her and Kiara’s relationship as the show goes on. She is much more open-minded than her husband, with regard to trying to understand the treasure hunting and the crazy goings-on with Ward Cameron and the people the Pogues are up against, but understandably has a very hard time keeping up with the stories.

Anna also co-signs the decision to send Kiara to a wilderness camp to give her some structure and to secure her a future. This decision, which involved forcefully removing Kiara from their house and taking her against her will to this camp, was a total breach of trust and autonomy for Kiara, but audience members can surely understand Kiara’s parents’ desire to keep their daughter safe, while still allowing her to explore the outdoors, which is what this camp is supposed to provide. Despite her missteps, Anna Carrera loves her daughter and has taken the time to understand her better and to make sure Kiara knows that she is listening.

Heyward

Pope’s Dad

No parent in the Outer Banks is perfect, but Pope’s father, Heyward (E. Roger Mitchell), is definitely the closest thing. Pope and Heyward clash a lot in the series, but they disagree on things that any teenager and parent would disagree on, like the importance of a quality education, being mindful of the fact that not everyone gets second chances and about the realities of taking responsibility for one’s actions. Heyward and Pope do get into a physical fight in the first season, and have a bit of a rocky relationship, but subsequently, there is a concerted effort on both Pope and Heyward’s part to improve their relationship.

Heyward also, despite not approving too much of Pope’s friends, makes more of an effort to get to know them than the other parents in the series. He knows that Pope’s friends mean a lot to him, and that they feel like they’re doing the right thing, so he does his best not to patronize them. Heyward even helps the Pogues when Renfield (Jesse C. Boyd) comes to attack him, by not giving away any information, and then points Pope in the right direction for the treasure. It is clear that Heyward’s goal in parenting is not to control his son’s decisions, but to steer him in the right direction, and to make sure that when Pope needs help or makes a mistake, that he knows he can come home and regroup.