WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 2 of Outer Banks, now streaming on Netflix.
In Season 2 of Netflix’s Outer Banks, the story shifts from the Royal Merchant gold that Ward (Charles Esten) stole to a new treasure quest — that of the Cross of Santo Domingo. It turns out that this was on the ship as well, with Denmark Tanny, the freed slave hiding it somewhere else on Kildare Island. Now, as Pope (Jonathan Daviss) and the Pogues search for it, the show goes full-on National Treasure.
Admittedly, there are tones of Indiana Jones, but it’s more influenced by the Nicolas Cage-led series, which focused on Ben Gates unlocking secrets in America’s past and chasing troves down in stories tied to the Founding Fathers and the country’s political relics.
In this case, the cross is tied to slavery as Tanny’s actually Pope’s ancestor. The slave hid the cross and when he tried to free his wife, Cecilia, centuries ago from the Limbrey estate in Charleston, he was killed. Cecilia drowned trying to escape but her daughter survived, beginning Pope’s Heyward bloodline. Thus, this is his birthright and there’s a lot more value to him pursuing the heirloom. Carla Limbrey kickstarts the chase by demanding that Pope hand over a key in his family, which he discovers is tied to his great grandmother.
He visits her apartment, and using a drawing he got from Carla, Pope finds a maze on the roof that has a similar pattern. This leads him to the key, and from there it gets even crazier because, in the presence of darkness and dust, a message is decoded that sends them to find the “island house.” It’ll take them to a tomb where the cross is buried at Cecilia’s foot.
Unfortunately, Carla pursues, screwing over Pope whenever she can get a chance to, to the point that his dad’s assaulted and Pope is forced to dupe her by slipping her a fake. It’s the kind of shenanigans Gates would be involved in, and the plot thickens when Pope’s crew finds the “island room” in Sarah’s home at Tannyhill mansion. Once the wallpaper’s ripped off, a map points them to an Angel Oak tree with a hole in it. Carla takes the false bait in the grave, but Pope and Co. are much smarter and find a canister that sends them to Gator Island. There, the final clue reveals a church where the real cross lies.
This time, it’s not on the ground for worship or near the pews; it’s built into the wooden overarching structure. Ironically, it’s tilted, but Pope, the show’s resident genius, knows X marks the spot above the pulpit, and he scales the beams and breaks the structure open. Pope and the cross, made of diamond, gold and precious gems, fall to the ground, but luckily they use the pew cushions to brace it.
It’s a remarkable story, more upbeat and with an adventurous aesthetic as opposed to Outer Banks‘ Season 1 where they found the gold in the Crain well in a horror episode. Season 2 evokes a lighter spirit, but it does take a supernatural swing as Carla wants the cross due to a Christian shroud inside that could supposedly heal her malady that’s left her on crutches. In time, Ward and Rafe steal it from the Pogues, but ironically, while the cloth isn’t in the cross, John B’s dad returns at the end to suggest he and Carla may need another hunt to find the garment.
Watch all the adventure unfold in Outer Banks Season 2, now available on Netflix.
About The Author
