The Rafe Dependency

Functional Analyst by trade. Unfortunately, I have a Rafe Dependency. S5 theories, character analysis & overthinking. No insider info. Just connecting dots.

[The Rafe Dependency @RafeDependency]

📌 So… why does this account exist?

I watched all four seasons of Outer Banks this year. Then the S5 fan event happened and apparently my brain decided every Rafe Cameron thought I'd accumulated needed somewhere to go.

So here we are. 🧵

[The Rafe Dependency @RafeDependency]

In S4, Sofia’s father pulls her into a deal that ultimately leaves Rafe financially ruined. In S5, when Rafe thinks he has no leverage over Tannyhill, Sofia uses what she’s learned from her father working in construction to show him he actually does.

I love that parallel.

[The Rafe Dependency @RafeDependency]

Well... that thread I promised? Here it is. 👀

If Rafe/Kiara had been the requirement going into S5, this is how I would've made it work without rewriting S1–S4, erasing JJ or Sofia, or letting the ship take over either character's arc.

https://t.co/zyqWi1jTBO

[The Rafe Dependency @RafeDependency]

Well... that thread I promised? Here it is. 👀

If Rafe/Kiara had been the requirement going into S5, this is how I would've made it work without rewriting S1–S4, erasing JJ or Sofia, or letting the ship take over either character's arc.

https://t.co/zyqWi1jTBO

[The Rafe Dependency @RafeDependency]

1/26

S4 ends exactly as it did.

JJ is dead. Rafe and Sofia have broken up. Nothing from S1–S4 changes.

Now imagine Netflix tells me one thing before writing the final 10 episodes:

Rafe and Kiara have to be endgame.

This is how I would've done it. 🧵

#Riara #OBX #OuterBanks

[The Rafe Dependency @RafeDependency]

1/15

I could be completely wrong. I haven’t seen S5, and obviously I don’t know what the writers are doing.
But right now, I don’t think Rafe / Kiara is happening.

Not because I think the ship is impossible.

I think S5 simply doesn’t have enough narrative room
🧵

[The Rafe Dependency @RafeDependency]

15/15

And that’s why, right now, I don’t think it’s happening.

If you’re wondering how I would’ve structured S5 to make Rafe/Kiara actually work, I have a whole thread coming on that 👀

Because yes, I do think it could’ve been done.

Stay tuned.

[The Rafe Dependency @RafeDependency]

26/26

So no, I don't think S5 needed to do any of this.

It chose a different ending, and that's fine.

But if Riara had been the requirement after S4, this is the route I would've taken.

The pieces were there.

I would've just pointed them toward a different future.

[The Rafe Dependency @RafeDependency]

1/26

S4 ends exactly as it did.

JJ is dead. Rafe and Sofia have broken up. Nothing from S1–S4 changes.

Now imagine Netflix tells me one thing before writing the final 10 episodes:

Rafe and Kiara have to be endgame.

This is how I would've done it. 🧵

#Riara #OBX #OuterBanks

[The Rafe Dependency @RafeDependency]

25/26

And I'd use callbacks, not retcons.

S1: hot for a Pogue.
S3: you're half Kook.
S4: Sofia is a Pogue and it doesn't matter.
S5: Sarah can choose the Pogues and still be family.

Kiara doesn't return to Rafe's world.
Rafe learns to love someone who chose another one.