'Outer Banks' Season 4: Madelyn Cline, Madison Bailey and Carlacia Grant's characters stay independent in Pogue couples

Outer Banks Season 4, Part 1 is back in a big way. After Season 3 teased that the Pogues, John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), JJ (Rudy Pankow), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss) and Cleo (Carlacia Grant), could be headed on another treasure hunt, we're now getting the details.

Season 4 starts by taking us back 18 months, when the Pogues arrive home after finding El Dorado. Their chunk of gold leaves them with more than $1.17 million to split and they decide to buy JJ's property back from the bank to call "Poguelandia 2.0" home. But after JJ got too hot at the auction, followed by a careless bet on a dirt bike race, the Pogues find themselves in need of cash quick.

"I felt like it was classic Outer Banks," Jonathan Daviss told Yahoo Canada about the start of the season. "Somebody does something stupid, Pope's mad that they did something stupid, ... and now they just have to deal with the consequences. It's as classic a setup as you can get for this show."

That puts the Pogues back in the treasure hunt game, when Wes Genrette (David Jensen) offers to pay them to find an amulet that belonged to Blackbeard's wife.

'They're still stronger and better together'

While the Pogues may be in a state of chaos, John B and Sarah actually start the season in a place of calm, which is quite different to what we've seen from them in the past.

"It is nice to have a little bit of peace," Cline said. "We started out Season 1 with this really fun, very electric relationship and it was so awesome, but the question was always, will they stand the test of time?"

"It's really nice to be here in Season 4 and they've gone through these crazy experiences together, and they're still stronger and better together."

"I think anytime you see characters growing in a positive direction, it's kind of a nice breath of fresh air," Stokes added in a separate interview.

"So I think we've seen enough of John B and Sarah kind of butting heads over things that should be a simple conversation. I think it's just a testament to the characters growing and their growth."

'He's lonely and isolated'

Another big question in Outer Banks is whether Sarah and her brother Rafe (Drew Starkey) will ever reunite after their father's death. It's clear from what we've seen in Season 4 so far that Rafe, in particular, is struggling to cope with that grief.

"I think, strangely, family has always been kind of important to him," Drew Starkey said. "I just think he hasn't expressed it in the right ways."

"Now with their father gone, I think he has this yearning for it. He may not have the language to express that, but that's something he takes pride in. He wants his family. But I think he still has this resentment towards [the Pogues] and I think both sides are stubborn. And that's so often the case in life, a conversation or two can really solve everything. ... He's lonely and isolated. He doesn't know where he belongs. So it's a bit strange."

While we'll wait to see how Rafe and Sarah's relationship continues, if they'll have one at all, Cline highlighted that she's really enjoyed Sarah's arc of growing up throughout the show.

"I feel like we've watched Sarah grow up and have all these new experiences with these new friends, this new family, and I've really enjoyed getting to experience it with her too," Cline said.

"She has this wonder about the world. She's out of the bubble wrap, if you will, finally, ... as she would say, so there's this almost childlikeness, I think, about her, that's really, really lovely and beautiful. And I think that's something that has informed me too. So I've really enjoyed the journey with her as well."

'I really love that she does not dumb herself down for JJ'

While we'll have to wait to see how some relationships, like the one between Rafe and Sarah, possibly evolve, it's worth highlighting that even though all the Pogues are coupled up now, the women still very much hold their own.

"I think Kiara has always been very defiant and stood her ground in her own independence, which is so impressive for being so young," Madison Bailey said. "I really love that she does not dumb herself down for JJ, she doesn't hold back in fear of being too much of anything."

"We both are very much standing in who we are and I appreciate that we can do that, and still be together"

The same goes for Carlacia Grant's Cleo. While very much in a relationship with Pope, she still stands on her own.

"I think anytime we have the opportunity to play the duality of women, you're not just this person's partner, you're also an individual," Grant said. "I think the show [has] a great way of having two individuals come together, but the individual's still individual, and that's with every relationship, or a healthy one, it's two individuals coming together for one goal."

For Cleo, that includes a particularly emotion moment to close out Part 1 of the season. While we won't spoil exactly what happens, it's nice to see so much emotional depth from the character.

"For me personally, I always like those moments and those roles where I have to go to these very deep, dark places," Grant said. "Our fans, I think they will relate to Cleo in a way that they haven't got a chance to see her in this way."

"So it's still building out who she is as just a girl, just trying to figure out the world."