Let’s be honest: Outer Banks‘ JJ was an impulsive, emotional mess before he learned that his entire existence might be a lie. So when the Pogues’ highly stressful financial situation comes to the fore in the series’ midseason premiere, let’s just say that poor JJ doesn’t have a lot of patience or equilibrium from which to draw… and the results are disastrous.

Episode 7, “The Town Council,” picks up where the midseason finale left off: with JJ reeling from Luke’s revelation that he wasn’t the teen’s real father. As JJ sputters that he can’t possibly be Larissa Genrette and Chandler Groff’s son, because that baby died at sea with his mother, Luke corrects him: “That baby was you, JJ.”

In a flashback, we watch as a young Luke — who was working as a hired hand on the Genrette’s property back in the day — becomes friendly with Larissa. She’s an overwhelmed new mom, and Groff is an emotionally abusive husband; Luke becomes her pal and baby whisperer. Chandler comes to him one night, baby in tow, and says that Larissa needs a break, and can he watch the boy for a little while? The whole thing is super shady — Groff gives him money and warns him to stay put — and the next morning, Luke hears the news that Larissa and her son died on the boat. When Groff meets up with Luke, he warns him not to tell Wes Genrette that his grandson is still alive, and then he threatens to go to the police unless Luke keeps his mouth shut.

“So I’m just a kook, huh?” JJ says, taking off in an huff. Luke yells at him that he’s got to tell him something else, but JJ doesn’t want to hear it.

Meanwhile, Cleo and John B. rescue Pope and Sarah by breaking them out of the crypt (by somehow breaking the actual crypt), and return to The Cut. The Pogues barely have time to appreciate that they’ve reunited before they realize that the rezoning hearing is that evening. So they rally other non-kook townsfolk to pack the hearing and speak out against the rezoning effort that’ll cause them to lose their home and business.

John B. speaks eloquently, but he’s cut off by Mr. Zeasy, who claims the property’s original owner filed a promissory note that wasn’t finalized when the auction happened, therefore the Pogues don’t really own their land. And that original owner? JJ’s dad. Kiara stands up and starts yelling at him, everyone else starts yelling, too, and eventually it’s too much for JJ: He grabs a chair and hurls it through a window. Chaos breaks out after he does.

JJ fights off the cops who try to restrain him, but he’s eventually loaded into the back of a police car. However, the angry crowd has followed him outside, and in the confusion (and with a little help from his friends) he’s able to kick out the back window and slip away. But JJ is always going to choose violence, so he steals a baseball bat from a kids’ game that he passes and then lays waste to cars, storefronts and power lines along the town’s central boulevard.

He winds up in Zeasy’s realty office, where the police and the mob that’s following them eventually catch up to him. Shoupe grabs a megaphone and shouts to JJ — who’s holed up inside — that he’s got to come out, or they’re going to shoot. Pope can’t handle the idea of his friend getting shot, so he tackles the officer aiming at JJ… which gets Pope arrested right there and then.

While all of that’s happening, JJ creates a diversion by microwaving a bunch of silverware in the realty office’s kitchen, then evades capture by jumping out a window and then limping away without the cops noticing. He winds up at Groff’s door, knocking to be let in.