Tamal Kundu
One of the most important themes in Netflix’s ‘Outer Banks’ is the class conflict between the wealthy summer vacationers and residents of Figure Eight, known as the Kooks, and the working-class locals of the Cut, known as the Pogues. And no other character exemplifies the privileged life of the Kooks than Rafe Cameron (Drew Starkey).
Unlike his father, who is a self-made man, Rafe was born into wealth. It is heavily implied that he has a troubled past and now struggles with cocaine addiction. His relationship with his father is borderline antagonistic, but at the same time, Rafe desperately wants to make him proud. By the end of season 2, Ward is left mentally and physically broken, which changes the dynamic between him and Rafe in season 3, leading to an inevitable conflict. Here is everything you need to know about it. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Rafe’s Journey: From Family Tensions to Legal Entanglements
At the start of the season, Rafe and his family are on their privately-owned island in Guadeloupe. With his father being unconscious, Rafe tries to establish himself as the head of the family, but his plans to sell the Cross of Saint Domingo don’t go according to the plans, and he becomes a captive of Carlos Singh, the primary antagonist of this season.
Rafe eventually manages to escape Singh’s clutches and return to Guadeloupe. When Ward finally regains consciousness, he feels repentant about his actions, including his attempt to choke Sarah to death. He sends Rafe back to Outer Banks to sell everything they have there, an idea Rafe opposes. He becomes even more frustrated with his father when the older man decides to donate the Cross. Rafe feels he should be the one to decide what to do with the Cross as he pulled it out of the ocean after Pope (Jonathan Daviss) and his friends decide to sink it.
Rafe reaches out to Barry, the same man who betrayed him earlier, and together, they steal the Cross and then melt it down, selling it as small nuggets and bars. When Pope finds out about this, he becomes furious as the Cross is a family heirloom. Rafe doesn’t realize this, but Pope nearly shoots him. When Ward arrives in Outer Banks, he is horrified by what Rafe has done, but his son no longer seems to seek his approval. He even hires an assassin to kill Ward through Barry but has a change of heart at the last moment and rushes to his father’s aid.
A resident sees Ward and informs the authorities. Ward was the prime suspect in the murder of Sheriff Peterkin (Rafe is the actual killer, but Ward took the responsibility) until he faked his death. Rafe gets his injured father to the airport and puts him in their private plane bound for Venezuela. Ward reveals that he has figured out what Rafe has done, but he is proud of his son because he ultimately chose the right thing. This is the final conversation that these two will ever have as Ward dies in Venezuela.
The last we see of Rafe, Shoupe questions him in the penultimate episode of season 3. He isn’t present at the celebration ceremony for Sarah and the others 18 months later. He likely got into trouble with the law because he played an active role in his father’s escape. However, it’s unlikely that he confessed to Peterkin’s murder. He probably has either returned to Guadeloupe and patched things up with his stepmother or is still in Outer Banks. The latter is more likely, as he has never been interested in leaving North Carolina. We will probably see him in season 4, still very much an integral part of the narrative.
