Outlander: Waiting for April [SPOILERS: First Season]

[Jack Bauer 24]

Edit

[Jack Bauer 24]

http://m.hitfix.com/harpy/recap-outlander-what-did-i-just-watch

"Outlander lied to me."

[Dr. Pepper]

That was...I'm not even sure the word because saying amazing to describe this episode feels a bit gross. But it really was very good. I think what's so shocking about it is that tv rarely acknowledges the aftermath of rape and violence and we're left with a promise that the suffering this character experienced is real and the writers won't forget about it. Which is a good thing since

Jamie suffers some serious PTSD for at least the next 20+ years. I was always glad that the books never failed to brush aside what happens to the characters and I'm thankful it appears the show will continue to be realistic in portraying how things that happen to us can really change a person.

Outlander certainly never lied to me. We started off with the heroine's hands elbow deep in blood and gore and then moved to her looking almost sad that the war was over. Later she goes on a honeymoon where blood is painted on all the doors and her husband is obsessed with an ancestor who was apparently heavily involved in the rape of Scotland. Then, the heroine falls through time and the first thing to happen to her is that she's shot at and then sexually assaulted and then knocked out with a blow to the head and then threatened again with rape and then forced to go to Castle Leoch. You get the picture. I can't imagine why any viewer would go into this thinking it was going to be some lovely unicorn rainbow sprinkles.

I think there were some annoying pacing issues in the second half of the season that likely wouldn't have existed if they hadn't lost momentum by taking a six month break. There was also a big misstep with Claire and Jamie at the stones. I know of at least two non-book reader viewers who really aren't sure if the stones just didn't work or if Claire made the decision to stay. I'm looking forward to season 2.

[BearQueen87]

http://m.hitfix.com/harpy/recap-outlander-what-did-i-just-watch

"Outlander lied to me."

I have a hard time taking that review seriously since it states up front that they've never read the book. Outlander didn't lie; the person should have just done some research into what the novels entailed. Also, everything Dr. Pepper just wrote about how no one could think this show was simply some of sort of time traveling romance given the Pilot episode alone.

[Veltigar]

Holy crap, what did I just watch. This episode was just bad, luckily a lot of it was so-bad-that-it-is-good, but still I can't help but be disappointed. Outlander and series like it always walk the fine line between ridiculous camp and good drama, but tonights episode was just full on camp. On top of so many other problems, the show was just being incredibly sloppy as well.

First of all, we are at the end of Outlander's first season. We leave of with Claire and Jaime expecting a child and with the two of them being determined to try and save the Highlander way of life. Two earthshocking surprises SAID NO ONE EVER. Like, how lazy was that, literally just coming out with that in the last five minutes.

Moore's reasoning seems to have been 'Alright you guys, you all knew this was coming, here are five minutes of dialogue to keep you sweet until next year. See ya.' Just utterly pathetic. I mean this is a time travel story and our two heroes are going to try and stop a massive cultural genocide from taking place, as well as saving thousands of lives in the process. That fucking deserves more lines than just "Dum Dum, this is going to be hard." Also why does this just come up now. Literally, from the moment she chose to tell Jaime, they should have broached this topic. I have been waiting for this the whole season and this is all we get. Stupid, just stupid.

The episode is also riddled with plotholes that take me out of the story. Like, how did they get those cows up the hill, let alone getting them there unseen? I can buy the fact that the noise was obscured by the parade, but did the English army just decide that guards are to expensive? Did David Cameron use a Tardis to go back in time and cut back on the guard budget? There has to be an explanation for why these English forts are so easy to crack.

How on earth am I ever going to explain this to the people I recommended this show to. I mean they literally broke someone out of a high security prison with A HERD OF COWS. What's more, those selfish bastards only broke Jaime out. They were inside of the Scottish equivalent of the Palmyra prison in Syria and they couldn't - you know - just open up one of them large cells while the guards were all training for their vacation in Pamplona? Also, this show is seriously trying to piss me off by having characters spare Black Jack Randall for no reason at all. They fucking had him unconscious and pinned down under a fucking door. Has it not been established countless times that EVERYONE would be better of if that bastard was dead? If this is the type of intelligence the real Scots displayed, than they deserved to be invaded and pillaged by the English.

Then we have Claire opening up to the most unrealistic monk I have ever had the pleasure of watching (and that includes the titular character in Bulletproof Monk). You're telling me that a seventeenth century monk, who has never even seen Claire before, is not only willing to believe that she's from the future. He's also willing to overlook that she's basically a bigamist, has wormed her way out of a witch trial, has associated with non-Christian religions and who knows what other crimes in the eyes of seventeenth century Catholic doctrine. Not buying it, certainly not without the monk having an established relationship with Claire or Jaime.

Now on to the actual rape part of the episode. This was utter camp. I can't believe that people actually hail this as a "good" depiction of rape on the tele. It's better than GoT definitely, but GoT's motto is basically "rape all day, every day" so that's not really difficult. The actual scenes themselves were so melodramatic and over-the-top serious. The show was so desperatly trying for dark, edgy and gritty. It was just embarrasing, like bad Grimdark fantasy, I couldn't take it seriously at all. I actually burst out in laughter quite a few times. The initial seduction scenes were terrible (although nicely shot, you have to give them credit for that. There was one image where Randall and Jaime seemed to have been framed like Michelangelo's Pieta) I'm already looking forward to the parody where someone lays a shitty R&B track over that scene.

The actual rape itself though. That was even worse, all that was missing was Randall asking Jaime to squel like a pig and some Banjo music, but the rest of the scene was full on Deliverance. It certainly didn't help that their scenes also reminded me of the Room. Tobias Menzies was really channeling his inner Tommy Wiseau during those, what with the frequent buttshots, the unkempt long hair and the cheesy lines.

The whole breaking of Jaime was also ridiculously rushed. He was in there for like a night or two tops and he has already been completely broken? This is the guy who took 200 lashes in like a week and still soldiered on and he breaks here in a night or so. I get that things like loving your torturer did happen, but not in a single night, not with a character who has been built up as ridiculously stubborn and who seems to be able to take more punishment than Rocky Balboa.

However his recovery was even worse. He gets over this supertraumatic event in less than an episode. They had 16 episodes and they rush through such a pivotal series of events like it was nothing. The pacing was absolutely abyssmal. If Outlander was really interested in showing his recovery and the full extent of his trauma, he wouldn't have been recovered by the end of the episode. They should have packed him into that boat still bemoaning what has happened to him, not on the mend. I seriously hope he gets to experience some repricutions in season two, because what we got was laughably short. Especially since the means in which she brought him back was again stupid as fuck. Scent of lavender and opium apperently heal everything. Especially if you try and pick a fight with your patient/hubby, it gets the heart pumping, Claire must have been listening to showTyene.

EDIT: Also, the voice-over was back again, annoying as ever.

Luckily much of the suck in this episode was so ridiculous that I actually had a good laugh, but I hope Outlander starts to take itself more seriously next season. The show might be based on stupid romance novels, but I'm expecting the show to rise above that and not stoop so low. I'm here to get a glimpse into the cultures of the time and how they are planning to prevent that culture genocide, the whole weird Black Jack thing and even the whole Claire/Jaime romance doesn't captivate me at all if they keep it unrelated from that.

I think there were some annoying pacing issues in the second half of the season that likely wouldn't have existed if they hadn't lost momentum by taking a six month break. There was also a big misstep with Claire and Jamie at the stones. I know of at least two non-book reader viewers who really aren't sure if the stones just didn't work or if Claire made the decision to stay. I'm looking forward to season 2.

This season was an episode or two to long imo. Cut the bloat away and much of the pacing would have been better.

I have a hard time taking that review seriously since it states up front that they've never read the book. Outlander didn't lie; the person should have just done some research into what the novels entailed.

This point isn't very good at all. Why should someone who is just out to enjoy the show obliged to look into the novels?

Also, everything Dr. Pepper just wrote about how no one could think this show was simply some of sort of time traveling romance given the Pilot episode alone.

This on the other hand is a valid point and something that viewer should have taken head of.

[wolfmaid7]

Quick question:

How long was the recovery in the books? I know Moore was saying that Jamie's "recovery" takes place in France in the books, but how long of a period was it? My one issue with the episode is that it seemed like a relatively fast recovery in the episode. But then, I have no idea how long they were in the monastery for.

Ron Moore erred here,Jamie 25-30yrs later still hasn't recovered from this.Ad something happens in France that i won't spoil you on

[wolfmaid7]

I thought that after three watches i would come away feeling differently,but i didn't.I even did ep15 run into ep16 one time and i still felt rather disappointed in how things were done.I've said before i don't mind changes,editions,additions as long as the essence of characters and relationships remain the same;as long as there is continuity and cohesiveness.In a fair amount of ways i didn't get that.

I take nothing away from the actors, the job done by the entire main cast was amazing.I tip my hat especially to Sam whose mastery of the face still has me floored.The raw emotion the pain i felt it deeply.Tobias's portrayal clawed at my skin like thorns and that was great. Cat for the most part brought the practicality of Claire in a crisis situation to the fore and i could see it in her scenes.She has a nuturing side to her but it was nice to see this while trying to fix Jamie.

The actor that plays Murtagh i like him more and more everyt ime i see him.His portrayal sooo on point. I can say yeah that is Jamie's left leg.I feel his care and love for Jamie.I see it in his eyes when he talks about him, grieves for him.

What didn't work for me was what i thought were careless cosmetic stuff that took me out of the scene.When the gang were breaking Jamie out, that fast paced adventure type Bag piping didn't work for me .For when they switched for a brief glimpse of Jamie in the cell the transition felt off to me emotionally.Wrong musical score for that scene.

Now down to some of the scenes that didn't work for me in how they did it.Their "interptetation" of keeping Claire before Jamie's eyes was bad IMO.This came off to me as BJR role playing as Claire to get Jamie to respond.I'm sorry but what a freaking cop out and just not logically contextual.The whole " can your woman do this," carried for me a different connotation in the books because there were things she couldn't do and Jack could and it did get a rise out of Jamie. That led into "you cannot have him as i have witch that you are,you are a woman."

To me It should and could have been the dialogue.The whole dynamic of BJR and Jamie's arch that was laid down in the show concluded in a bust for me as it changed because of one scene.I always got and figured that Jamie may have yielded that way in the books but not because BJR role played as his wife.

When Jamie told Claire of this i don't know if it was the acting from Cat in that moment or just how the lines were written but i did not feel that she helped or better yet is helping heal his soul.Plus the whole "you did what you needed to do to survive" didn't make sense because Jamie thought he was going to be dead come morning.No secret code passed between you guys in ep15 .He didn't know you were coming back so survival wasn't on the table.Writing continuity issue.

Plus, nothing on Jack??? He just got knocked down by Cows and that was it? End scene.Oh we not going to mention that atlease to Jamie?There's actually a moment or two when it could have been mentioned and have it not feel like info just dropped in.

The reveal of Claire's pregnancy i am sad to say i felt nothing.It just had no emotional punch i was being rushed from one scene to the next without a smooth transition.This epi felt like they wanted to cram a lot of things in 1hr and that's how it came off. I couldn't process or feel emotionally connected.Didn't feel connected to brother Anslem and what he meant to the scenes with Claire.It was so passing they could have called him Bro Ambrose,Bor Flint and it wouldn't have mattered.The impact he made,and could have made was rushed and in the end his introduction felt like fanservice......Heeeeeere's Bro Anslem and theeeeere he goes.

This sounds harsh i know and i'm sorry but to me the only positives i can say is for what the writers gave the cast the acting overall was absolutely great.I mean brave men,brave women splendid talent.

Other than that i felt like i was in a museum looking at paintings while being hurried along to the next by an impatient tour guide.The context of the Randall and Jamie scene was a failure to me and some scenes that i expected to have an impact emotionally didn't. Sorry this is just one person's opnion.

[Jack Bauer 24]

Holy crap, what did I just watch. This episode was just bad, luckily a lot of it was so-bad-that-it-is-good, but still I can't help but be disappointed. Outlander and series like it always walk the fine line between ridiculous camp and good drama, but tonights episode was just full on camp. On top of that their were so many other problems, the show was just being sloppy.

First of all, we are at the end of Outlander's first season. We leave of with Claire and Jaime expecting a child and with the two of them being determined to try and save the Highlander way of life. Two earthshocking surprises SAID NO ONE EVER. Like, how lazy was that, literally just coming out with that in the last five minutes.

Moore's reasoning seems to have been 'Alright you guys, you all knew this was coming, here are five minutes of dialogue to keep you sweet until next year. See ya.' Just utterly pathetic. I mean this is a time travel story and our two heroes are going to try and stop a massive cultural genocide from taking place, as well as saving thousands of lives in the process. That fucking deserves more lines than just "Dum Dum, this is going to be hard." Also why does this just come up now. Literally, from the moment she chose to tell Jaime, they should have broached this topic. I have been waiting for this the whole season and this is all we get. Stupid, just stupid.

The episode is also riddled with plotholes that take me out of the story. Like, how did they get those cows up the hill, let alone getting them there unseen? I can buy the fact that the noise was obscured by the parade, but did the English army just decide that guards are to expensive? Did David Cameron use a Tardis to go back in time and cut back on the guard budget? There has to be an explanation for why these English forts are so easy to crack.

How on earth am I ever going to explain this to the people I recommended this show to. I mean they literally broke someone out of a high security prison with A HERD OF COWS. What's more, those selfish bastards only broke Jaime out. They were inside of the Scottish equivalent of the Palmyra prison in Syria and they couldn't - you know - just open up one of them large cells while the guards were all training for their vacation to Pamplona? Also, this show is seriously trying to piss me off by having characters spare Black Jack Randall for no reason at all. They fucking had him unconscious and pinned down under a fucking door. Has it not been established countless times that EVERYONE would be better of if that bastard was dead? If this is the type of intelligence the real Scots displayed, than they deserved to be invaded and pillaged by the English.

Then we have Claire opening up to the most unrealistic monk I have ever had the pleasure of watching (and that includes the titular character in Bulletproof Monk). You're telling me that a seventeenth century monk, who has never even seen Claire before, is not only willing to believe that she's from the future. He's also willing to overlook that she's basically a bigamist, has wormed her way out of a witch trial, has associated with non-Christian religions and who knows what other crimes in the eyes of seventeenth century Catholic doctrine. Not buying it, certainly not without the monk having no established relationship with Claire or Jaime.

Now on to the actual rape part of the episode. This was utter camp. I can't believe that people actually hail this as a "good" depiction of rape on the tele. It's better than GoT definitely, but GoT's motto is basically "rape all day, every day" so that's not really difficult. The actual scenes themselves were so melodramatic and over-the-top serious. The show was so desperatly trying for dark, edgy and gritty. It was just embarrasing, like bad Grimdark fantasy, I couldn't take it seriously at all. I actually burst out in laughter quite a few times. The initial seduction scenes were terrible (although nicely shot, you have to give them credit for that. There was one image where Randall and Jaime seemed to have been framed like Michelangelo's Pieta) I'm already looking forward to the parody where someone lays a shitty R&B track over that scene.

The actual rape itself though. That was even worse, all that was missing was Randall asking Jaime to squel like a pig and some Banjo music, but the rest of the scene was full on Deliverance. It certainly didn't help that their scenes also reminded me of the Room. Tobias Menzies was really channeling his inner Tommy Wiseau during those, what with the frequent buttshots, the unkempt long hair and the cheesy lines.

The whole breaking of Jaime was also ridiculously rushed. He was in there for like a night or two tops and he has already been completely broken? This is the guy who took 200 lashes in like a week and still soldiered on and he breaks here in a night or so. I get that things like loving your torturer did happen, but not in a single night, not with a character who has been built up as ridiculously stubborn and who seems to be able to take more punishment than Rocky Balboa.

However his recovery was even worse. He gets over this supertraumatic even in less than an episode. They had 16 episodes and they rush through such a pivotal series of events like it was nothing. The pacing was absolutely abyssmal. If Outlander was really interested in showing his recovery and the full extent of his trauma, he wouldn't have been recovered by the end of the episode. They should have packed him into that boat still bemoaning what has happened to him, not on the mend. I seriously hope he gets to experience some repricutions in season two, because what we got was laughably short. Especially since the means in which she brought him back was again stupid as fuck. Scent of lavender and opium apperently heal everything. Especially if you try and pick a fight with your patient/hubby, it gets the heart pumping, Claire must have been listening to showTyene.

EDIT: Also, the voice-over was back again, annoying as ever.

Luckily much of the suck in this episode was so ridiculous that I actually had a good laugh, but I hope Outlander starts to take itself more seriously next season. The show might be based on stupid romance novels, but I'm expecting the show to rise above that and not stoop so low. I'm here to get a glimpse into the cultures of the time and how they are planning to prevent that culture genocide, the whole weird Black Jack thing and even the whole Claire/Jaime romance doesn't captivate me at all if they keep it unrelated from that.

This season was an episode or two to long imo. Cut the bloat away and much of the pacing would have been better.

This point isn't very good at all. Why should someone who is just out to enjoy the show obliged to look into the novels?

This on the other hand is a valid point and something that viewer should have taken head of.

Finally some voice of reason! I thought I was in bizarro world here Veltigar.

[Dr. Pepper]

Ron Moore erred here,Jamie 25-30yrs later still hasn't recovered from this.Ad something happens in France that i won't spoil you on

I think

Chekov's Herring meant physical recovery. I don't recall the exact timeline of that, but it was at least a couple of weeks at the abbey in France, if not longer. There was the time spent in active physical distress, withering away in fever and such. Then there was a considerable amount of time spent regaining weight and strength that was lost while sick.

I think Moore made it clear that Jamie isn't even close to being mentally or emotionally recovered. We are seeing a very different Jamie, an extremely haunted one.

[Astromech]

Thanks Wolfmaid7 and Dr. Pepper. I was wondering how much time passed at the monastery. It didn't seem like much.

[the hound of sansa]

To tell the truth i could not watch every scene from the finale... I had to fast forward some parts. They were really disturbing, and usually i don't have a problem with anything, from Hannibal cooking human hearts, to Walking Dead-zombies eating a guys mouth off. But yesterday i skipped some minutes.
Despite that, i will surely come back for season 2. The show is stil intriguing, and i understand why they thought they had to show explicitly the rape.

[Mladen]

God, you are making me want read these novels... And even though I have them here, I almost gave up on them...

RANT

LOL, Veltigar, that was amazing...

When it comes to this episode, when I finally got it and started watching, my eyebrows were raising every 5 seconds to the point I thought I lost them somewhere in my hair. It was nonsensical. Like, truly, nonsensical.

The way I see this it is all about girl falling in love with the hunky Scottish guy. That is the story. I was OK with that. Add some problems here and there, and you have a bit more interesting soap opera. That was sort of deal I signed (alongside, of course, cursing the main actor whenever he goes shirtless and jealously wishing his physique). But, this last episode was kinda too much. Even if I was ready to surpass the gory nature of that rape, and I was (especially having that other rape from two weeks ago), this episode did it all wrong. If rape had to be part of the story, and since it is adaptation and such important event of Jaime's life, it had, then I imagine for me, the correct way would be to go through memories during the talk with her. In a way, that Jaime deals with the rape and essentially moving on, hand-by-hand with Claire. Basically, instead of 5 minutes talk, I would make the entire episode one long conversation. Because, that is what I signed up for. Two of them dealing with everything. Showing the light to each other.

As Veltigar said, the cows and monk were horrible. This reminded me of "Fellowship of the Ring" and me wondering how Nazgul destroyed Bree's wooden gate. But, if logic of horse power was never enough there, they had rings of power, after all. Here, nothing... And how Randall didn't die, I swear to God almighty, I have no idea. Even Mufasa died when he was run over the herd. The monk... Well, I think it is more of cliche how we see religious people think about certain things. But even if we discard that, we still have the weird power, bigamy and priest coming from nowhere in 18th century.

I won't be commenting changing the future part. It is just blah... Too much Star Trek of you, Claire... I loved this show when it didn't try to work on big issues. Simple things... Always work.

[The Mother of The Others]

Well shit, there goes any chance I had of selling my autobiography to Double Day. Ninja'd by Starz again.

Uhhhh, the season's over soon, right? Is the finale near?

Hey, now that we've watched this maybe for a limited time we're Undisturbable by anything else! Try it! Everybody do the things you've been putting off for fear that it'd be too disturbing! Because that stuff's suddenly not that bad anymore. Really, the episode set us free. NOw go forth into those regions where certain fungal infections are common!

[bloodsteel bitterraven]

I just began watching after hearing so much about this show, and it looks great so far. I've seen the first 7 episodes. Can't wait to watch the rest. It really plays with the idea of what would you do if you were in Westeros, or some other mythical land? Very enjoyable.

[wolfmaid7]

I think

Chekov's Herring meant physical recovery. I don't recall the exact timeline of that, but it was at least a couple of weeks at the abbey in France, if not longer. There was the time spent in active physical distress, withering away in fever and such. Then there was a considerable amount of time spent regaining weight and strength that was lost while sick.

I think Moore made it clear that Jamie isn't even close to being mentally or emotionally recovered. We are seeing a very different Jamie, an extremely haunted one.

Ok i see yeah

Crap he almost died at the abbey you are right it took weeks for him physically all.The trip across the water didn't help him either

[Le Cygne]

It was a very good episode and I thought they handled the citation well. It was of course hard to watch as it is with anyone being hurt the way Jaime was but I didn't feel it was gratuitous, graphic yes, but not gratuitous.

It was also good that they address the aftermath of such a trauma, I thought it was very realistic although the whole thing with the oil and the fighting from Claire was a bit much. Though I know that part is based on the source material.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the season as a whole and look forward to watching season 2.

I haven't popped into this thread all season but in brief, this opening season was just phenomenal from start to finish. All the actors (especially Heughan, Balfe, and Menzies) have been stunning to watch. The rich depiction of life in the Scottish highlands, the costumes, the narrative that wavers from intense to light just when the audience needs it...all fantastic. Can't wait for S2.

Jamie suffers some serious PTSD for at least the next 20+ years. I was always glad that the books never failed to brush aside what happens to the characters and I'm thankful it appears the show will continue to be realistic in portraying how things that happen to us can really change a person.

Yes to all of this, looking forward to next season, too.

Comic Con panel just ended, a bunch of stuff here:

http://outlander-online.com/

[red snow]

I've watched the first four as I'm trying to get the use out of my amazon prime account. Like most Starz shows it fortunately gets better with every episode (so far). I didn't really like the first one as it felt like it was laying on the fantasy scotland a bit thick and the narration was being used as too much of a shortcut in storytelling. Luckily these things are diminishing and the voice-over restricted more for useful thoughts/feelings than exposition.

 

EDIT:

 

Ok. I'm at the half way point where the initial season break was. Given how quickly I'm getting through a 1 hour show, I'll have to admit it's good fun.

 

Tobias Menzies steals the show for me. Granted he gets to show off his skill as he's the only actor (I'm aware of) that has two characters to play but it's damn impressive to see him switch from good to evil so effortlessly. I'm sure they film his scenes so he does each character in a whole session but to do that change even on a daily basis is sublime. Black Jack's presence always adds a good 25% extra entertainment to an episode and even though a scene with him and Claire can last a good 15 minutes they are so well executed and tense that they never drag. GOT must be kicking themselves for wasting such a good actor but I think I'd rather have him in this show than any character in GOT. If only because he gets more screen time.

 

The rest of the show is just a fun narrative and romp really well executed. It's hard to escape that it is essentially female wish fulfillment to the extreme "I have to marry this gorgeous young hero", "the antagonist just happens (even with family resemblance) to look like my husband", "Gorgeous young hero is a tortured soul who needs rescuing" and probably countless others but I really don't care when it's so well executed that I can gloss over those elements. It's not like my TV viewing is saturated with wish fulfillment from that angle and it adds an interesting element seeing things play out from that angle.

[red snow]

Just watched episode 11 and I'm trying to think of a case where I've been so conflicted over an episode of TV.

The entire trial was garbage - it felt like a bad episode of Stargate sg1/Next gen when they have a trial on some backwater planet. Then they threw in all the tropes that make court dramas painful to watch. All of a sudden the Laird is willing to allow (possibly set up) his super healer to be killed?Jamie turns up at the last moment without them ever stating why. The whole thing was awful.

 

But then there was the last 15 minutes which makes it a key episode with some landmark moments. Same with the revelation that Geiliss was from 1968 (that reveal was really clever as I'd just spent a few minutes complaining to myself that "going to a fucking barbeque" shouldn't be a phrase she'd utter - the show has already established fucking isn't a used word and while barbeque existed I'd be surprised if it was used that way). That opens up a can of worms that this gateway through time has been used many times and allows for more time-travel down the road.

I have to concede the behaviour of the priest/minister was a nice double-turn too (the only classy thing to happen in the trial).

 

So I'm stuck with 40 minutes of the worst the show has been and 15-20 minutes of absolutely essential moments in the show with regards to mythology and Jamie and Claire making really brave decisions.

 

The question I'm left with now is "did she touch the stones?" The way the scene cut could have left her time for a quick jaunt back before returning to the past. I do feel that she owes Frank some explanation (not sure how she'd manage that conversation) and to leave him in the lurch is cowardly. Although I guess she could always leave some note for him that he might encounter in the future while continuing his genealogy search?

 

I'm also wondering whether the Jamie we saw in the pilot was a "ghost" or maybe a genuine moment where Jamie was present in the future? I still think it works more as a spirit-type thing but I guess the door is open for it to have been more.

 

I guess I'll just continue to watch to see if any of these get answered.

[red snow]

 

 

1) As stated in my reply to Iskaral Pust, I think this show will inevitably create a moment where Claire has the opportunity to kill Black Jack, realizes that that would mean killing all his descendants including Frank and thus decides to let him go. That will probably have certain unpleasant consequences on Jaime and the other members of Clan McKenzie.

2) Jaime will eventually become a full member of Clan McKenzie. Thus he'll be eligible to succeed Colum. There has to be some conflict with Dougal sooner or later I reckon. It's to early to tell how it would all go down exactly, but the most probably incentive I can think of now is Dougal's continued investment in the Jacobite cause. If Claire has spilled her beans by then, Jaime would probably try to become leader of the Clan to prevent them from fighting in the battle of Culloden.

3) The battle of Culloden was fought near Inverness. Their might be some timejump shenanigans and conflict there, seperate from the battle.

 

Number 1 is a great idea and would actually provide a really logical reason for not killing him. I also loved the incredibly sinister "solution" to Frank by killing him via death of ancestor.Now that would be a dark turn for the show. More likely (and fitting with the wish-fulfillment) is that she has to kill Black Jack to save Jamie and thus angst but relief in the knowledge she really had no choice. I mean, has she checked to see if Black Jack has any kids yet?

 

As for the other predictions given how wonderful things are (irrespective of dark moments) I'm pretty sure Claire will end up being Queen Claire of the British Scottish empire by the time it all ends up. Season 2 will have Jamie become king of the clans (why stop at being laird of just one clan). Season 3 will have Jamie and Claire cease the british throne. Season 4 has them single-handedly prevent the american war of independence (unless the Author is American and then I guess we can ditch "Queen Claire of the british Scottish empire" and go for "Queen Claire the first of America" after she and Jamie travel there and lead the rebellion). Fortunately there's been no sign of them changing events and I'm crossing my fingers the show/books have a conservation of history eg her efforts to alter the past are what cause them to come to be. I've already started thinking this about the jacobite rebellion - if she goes around telling people it will fail that could cause less of them to rebel which in turn causes it to fail.

 

Oddly though, I'm not watching the show for the time-travel side of things but the romp.

[red snow]

Ok, I'm finished. I did enjoy the show quite a lot. Some strong performances and I particularly grew to like Murtaugh and the two scots who were initially Claire's minders.

The last two episodes must have been tough for the actors playing Black Jack and Jamie. There were so many conflicting emotions running throughout those scenes and both did an excellent job of conveying them all (withouth the aid of voice-overs).

While tough to watch it was also weirdly reassuring to see that "fridging" (or building your protagonist through the suffering of the love-interest) knows no gender boundaries in terms of characters and authors.

 

I found the second half of the season to be a lot more uneven than the first half. While it was never as conflicting as the witch trial episode there were still a lot of ups and downs usually within an episode. It could partly be due to the length of an episode and I wonder if US showwriters are just a little too used to 40 minute episodes and found the 60 mins tricky? I'm still not sure why we had to go through 30 minutes of "claire - stage performer", you'd think simply arranging places to meet as a standard (with hidden notes in the vicinity) would be easier than drawing attention through song and dance. Then again I'm still confused as to whether Jamie was caught in the ambush or escaped and then got recaptured several weeks later?

 

Connected to that, the show seemed to erratically move around in terms of plot and style for several episodes. I don't know if this was faithfulness to the book or because the show added extra bits? I guess it was interesting to try and establish that the show could do lots of different things but I wasn't always convinced they could pull of the different styles equally well. It just felt a bit scatterbrained in places, is all in the sense I thought I was getting used to what the show was about (politics of the Mackenzie family with Black Jack thrown in) and then it would completely change.

 

The show also suffered from far too many incredibly convenient dramatic rescues. The odds of people turning up just before someone dies become quite difficult after successive plays. I guess Black Jack being a fan of theatrics just spent a lot of time hanging behind a corner waiting for maximum impact.

 

The cinematography was beautiful throughout. I'm off to Inverness and the highlands in a couple of weeks and the show has got me a lot more excited about the trips I had planned. I suspect the show will boost tourism (not that it needs much boosting).

 

I'll be watching season 2. The excellent elements outweigh those that I find somewhat laughable/iffy. I'd put it above Vikings s3 and Strange and Norrell but way behing Black Sails. Maybe ever so slightly behind Wolf Hall. Production and acting is very similar and while I liked the writing in Wolf Hall I would say it was "colder" (and probably more accurate of its time) than "outlander" which did have me warming to the characters and their relationships.

 

One thing that's strange for a show I've enjoyed is that I still have no interest at all in reading the books. I could be tempted to check summaries of the books if I wanted to know what happens to characters but I fear without the acting and cinematography the book would be lacking in terms of what I'm interested in.

 

EDIT: Veltigar did a great job of pointing out an episodic synopsis of "all over the place". LOL at the cows - I wonder how big an army of Aberdeen Angus they can breed before the battle of Culloden? This is clearly the best way to gain victory. Unless, of course, Claire's altering of the timeline caused the english to be tipped off against the surprise tactic of cow-rustling and are training as we speak on tactics of how to overcome the mightiest of cows.

 

I agree that the Monk was taking things in his stride. I was actually waiting for him to say "It's cool claire, I'm Frankie Boyle from 2030 and I've been stuck here for 20 years repenting". In all seriousness I thought he might be a time traveller too.