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.
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.
While the Kooks are the kings and queens of the island thanks to their parents and backgrounds, the Pogues are trying to find a way to move up the ladder and create a new life for themselves.
Here's everything you need to know about the Pogues and Kooks on Outer Banks.
What is a Pogue?
If you're a Pogue, that means you're from The Cut, the south side of the OBX. "Home of the working class, who make a living busing tables, washing yachts, running charters. The natural habitat of the Pogues," John B says in the show's pilot.
"Being Pogues, you are automatically singled out as less than, because of where you live," Jonathan Daviss, who plays Pope, told Seventeen exclusively.
As revealed in the first episode of the series, the Pogues are actually named after a type of fish. "Pogues, pogies, the throwaway fish. Lowest member of the food chain," John B says in the beginning of Outer Banks. Because of this, pogies are usually used as bait to help catch bigger fish.
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.
"John B says it in the pilot, 'The downside is that we're ignored and neglected. And the upside that we're ignored and neglected,'" Madison Bailey, who playes Kie, exclusively told Seventeen. "Pogue life is all fun and nothing not. You can worry about it after we're done surfing. It's going out and having fun and then when you come back to shore, you can deal with everything."
Rudy Pankow, who plays JJ, agreed saying that Pogues are able to look at things differently thanks to the way they live life.
"There's a time and place where you can just really let everything else go and I think people forget about that," Rudy revealed to Seventeen in an exclusive interview. "Pogue life is just like 'Don't worry about the rules. Don't worry about where you have to be.' You can just go do stuff."
What is a Kook?
A Kook is a person who lives in Figure 8 or the north side of the OBX. They are typically well-off and have the most power on the island.
The word Kook has two different meanings. The first one usually means crazy and is the most common definition used for the word. However, in surfing, it stands for a person who tries to fit into the culture without even trying. According to Urban Dictionary,
"Kook is a term, most often used by aggro locals, to describe any surfers that:
- don't live in the sh*thole little coastal towns
- don't work construction and/or drive old, beat-up trucks
- pretend like they can surf when, in reality, they suck-ass
- don't follow the rules of the lineup
- show up in the lot with a frappachino, excited about 2-footers"
It's likely that Kooks are called this in the show because they aren't really seen as the ones who are fitting in with island life thanks to their money and privilege.
Are these terms really used in real life?
Madison, who is from North Carolina, revealed that while characters are constantly called Kooks and Pogues on the show, they're not really used in her home state.
"Pogues and Kooks are real, they’re just not called that," she told US Weekly. "The root of [the rivalry] would be the privilege aspect of it. Of seeing somebody who gets to be born into this life as an enemy. That’s real. You see people that have more than you that didn’t even have to work for it and it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating when you have to try so hard. It’s stressful too. You can be a superior Pogue and you’ll never be as a mediocre Kook."
Tamara Fuentes is the current Entertainment Editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers TV, movies, books, celebrities, and more. She can often be found in front of a screen fangirling about something new. Before joining Cosmopolitan, she was the entertainment editor over at Seventeen. She is also a member of the Television Critics Association and the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
