I started watching Netflix’s new show Outer Banks because I myself have vacationed in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and couldn’t escape hearing about how good the show was on my Twitter feed. The cast was super attractive and there seemed to be plenty of melodrama, so I thought I could enjoy it.

I did not expect to continually think about nothing else but these characters and the plot for days and having an all-caps text conversation with news editor Katie Ann McCarver about how great it was.

Outer Banks follows a group of friends who live on the islands off the coast of North Carolina and plan to spend their summer having as much fun as they can. However, their lives become very complicated when they embark on a treasure hunt to find $400 million in gold they suspect is buried in the bottom of the ocean.

I’ll admit, there’s a fine layer of cheese covering Outer Banks, but then again it is a show about a group of teenagers played by people that are definitely not teenagers. There’s the love story that goes all in immediately, and there’s love triangles abound (but they all are very subtle, which is a nice change of pace from usual teen-centric shows). But none of this detracts from the plain fact that Outer Banks is addictive in the best way possible. In fact, I like a little cheese on my show, especially when the creators of the show also highlight what’s so smart about their narrative.

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The added layer of mystery surrounding the treasure hunting plot is an immediate draw to people like me who love a good crime drama. Throughout the 10-episode arc, the stakes increased in intensity until I felt like I was gasping at my screen every five minutes. Centering around a modern day treasure hunt is an angle I haven’t really come across before, and it made me long for summer and beach adventures that we can all hopefully have soon (hopefully, though, without the murder mystery on this show).

But the best part of Outer Banks definitely is the central cast. There’s two different groups the show focuses on, the Pogues and the Kooks (yes, they’re ridiculous words, just roll with it). The Kooks are the kids living in mansions on the island, while the Pogues — the central group — are made of teens who are part of the working class.

The four Pogues the main story follows includes John B, JJ, Pope, and Kie. Now, a trope that gets me every time is the found family; a group of young people making their own home makes me cry every single time. The Pogues represent the epitome of this trope, and it hooks you right in the heart. No matter the crazy scheme, they are there for each other, no questions asked.

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I personally haven’t come across work from any of the four main actors before, but I was incredibly impressed by how they carried what at times were extremely heavy topics. I was particularly impressed by Rudy Pankow as JJ, who’s heartbreaking family situation made me sob like a child on his behalf.

As a mystery show, of course Outer Banks ends on a cliffhanger, and I went onto the Internet to see what some fan theories were on a future season. But what I found was a slight fear from fans that we will be denied a second season, despite the fact that Outer Banks has been trending on Netflix since its release.

If you can hear me, Netflix, I demand further seasons. In the meantime, I will be re-watching Outer Banks to fall in love with this group of friends all over again.