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Outlander II: Sing me a Song...


Theda Baratheon

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On 11/27/2017 at 5:21 AM, Dr. Pepper said:

This season has been a real slog for me.  I thought I remembered this book in the series to be fun, fast paced and exciting but it's not translating well to the screen.  Or maybe I'm just misremembering how I felt about the book.  

I'm also becoming quite annoyed with peripheral female characters having such little development.  It seems like Father WhatHisName had much more development than the Brothel Owner, Mamacita and Goat Lady combined.  

I concur. This season feels so random and even though there is a story we are supposed to follow, the episodes are not tightly connected as one would think they should be. I truly liked the first several episodes, especially Lord Grey scenes, but now... It is just boring characters on the menu.

That said, I seriously had my hopes up when Mamacita saw the zipper. I actually thought that it would lead us to intro about American legends of Outlander. I expected too much and got nothing :D

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I really enjoyed the newest episode though it was terribly hard to watch and in some places quite maddening.  A plot that incorporates the slave trade is always going to be nauseating and emotional.  I think they did an ok job of showing the horrors of the enslaved without fetishizing it too much.  I was frustrated that Jamie and Claire didn't give Temeraire something to assist him in his life in hiding.  Not even so much as a weapon, ugh.  Would be great if they actually had more story and commentary about the slave trade other than using it as a convenient pot device to further Claire's and Jamie's needs. Then using Yi Tien Cho as a distraction, gods that was terrible.  

Geillis!  I mean it was beyond creepy and disgusting and horrifying.  I could barely watch as she seduced a child, but it's hard to deny that some of the camera work and directing was excellent.  That part where she slithers off Ian was so crazy.  

The reunion of John Grey and Jamie was the highlight.  I'm glad that (spoiler is minor change from books)

Spoiler

they didn't include the bit of drama where Claire learns about Willie only after meeting John Grey in Jamaica.  It's worked out better that she already knows and isn't blindsided by anything other than not realizing that Jamie and John had a closer friendship than she knew.

It just made the reunion that much better.  Looking forward to more Governor Grey.  

 

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There is nothing worse (or better) when you have to retract your words. And I could not be happier to do so when it comes to this season of Outlander.

Simply, all the loose ends and all the unconnected dots rushingly came together in this episode. It felt a bit crammed, but, by God, I shall not criticize the return of John Gray. The way he looked at Jaime, the way Claire looked at him... So, lovingly awkward. I loved it.

And then Claire's reaction to slavery. I can only imagine that situation in my head. To be transported in time and see it for yourself. I feel that for many of us, it is just a story, a history, a lesson we learned at some point in school. It is not, to say, real, even though, even today it does happen. That is why this was so poignant. It takes from knowing these things to seeing the slavery, slave markets and all the atrocities that have been done. It was such a poignant way of reminding not just Claire, but all of us, that it is not just some history lesson, but countless lives forever lost in that madness.

Lastly, we have Geillis. From the second Young Ian laid his eyes on her, it was a wild, mystical ride. Her presence in Jamaica brings us to that mystical part of Outlander and based on the preview for the next episode, we can expect a wild ride. I am truly excited about the finale. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, Corvinus said:

Actually I want to discuss my disappointment that Geillis's lunacy didn't lead to Jamie meeting his daughter. But it was a very solid finale.

I refuse to believe that something made a bigger impression than John owning Lieutenant Leonard thus saving Jaime, only to wish him goodbye and good luck, lovingly staring at him. I honestly found an answer to Catelyn Stark's rhetorical question from ACOK. Yes, a gay man in love with a straight guy is a sadder creature than an ugly girl.

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  • 3 months later...

I've started watching this show and much to my surprise I find myself...........enjoying it. 

Cruised through season 1 last week, finished season 2. Yes it had some silly stuff but I am loving it for the setting, some of the characters and the story is not bad at all. The Highlands look magnificent, as do the characters.

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On 3/30/2018 at 11:30 PM, Calibandar said:

I've started watching this show and much to my surprise I find myself...........enjoying it. 

Cruised through season 1 last week, finished season 2. Yes it had some silly stuff but I am loving it for the setting, some of the characters and the story is not bad at all. The Highlands look magnificent, as do the characters.

Ye, in general is quite good!

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I just watched the last two episodes of season two and episode 1 of season 3, excellent stuff. Great finale of season 2 with the flash forward in time and showing part of how it ends at Culloden, which is then rounded off in season 3 episode 1.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Season 3 -- available to me on netflix dvd.

I watched the first three episodes tonight.

I wept almost all the way through the first one.  I cried a lot in the next two.

Won't see more for many days as I leave home again for other parts very soon.

But gosh!  It must be the actors, and the attention to novel and historic detail.  And the depth of author's investment.  This is the most romantic, without being the horrible, story in ages and ages.

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I cried almost all the way through the Boston Christmas.  Gads, I don't cry from books, tv, etc.  I just don't.  I never cried reading the books.

But lordessaeleanorroosevelt! this gorgeously executed historical romance has gotten me, hard.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just concluded watching season 3.  As with the third novel, Voyager, when we hit the Caribbean, the African slave trade, and the supposed culture that was created with African slavery on the islands, it really goes of the rails.  It even looked as cheesy as the cliched mess the scenes were, of drinking blood and all the rest. The scenes among the white people were fine, with the exception of the cray cray Geillis.  There was way too much hand wavium, which comes straight out of the novel.

Thank goodness, changes were made to the novel's Chinese Mr. Willoughby, and made for the better, yet entirely plausible.

Now they're on North America, one hopes this horrible kind of collision of cultural depiction and plotting is put behind us forever.

The actors portray Jamie and Claire even more deeply and plausibly than ever.  Gads they are beautiful people, those actors!  But they've got something brilliant, separately and together, as actors, that goes far beyond beauty, and that beauty alone can't create.

 

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On 5/10/2018 at 4:05 PM, Zorral said:

I just concluded watching season 3.  As with the third novel, Voyager, when we hit the Caribbean, the African slave trade, and the supposed culture that was created with African slavery on the islands, it really goes of the rails.  It even looked as cheesy as the cliched mess the scenes were, of drinking blood and all the rest. The scenes among the white people were fine, with the exception of the cray cray Geillis.  There was way too much hand wavium, which comes straight out of the novel.

Thank goodness, changes were made to the novel's Chinese Mr. Willoughby, and made for the better, yet entirely plausible.

Now they're on North America, one hopes this horrible kind of collision of cultural depiction and plotting is put behind us forever.

The actors portray Jamie and Claire even more deeply and plausibly than ever.  Gads they are beautiful people, those actors!  But they've got something brilliant, separately and together, as actors, that goes far beyond beauty, and that beauty alone can't create.

 

3

I absolutely wholeheartedly agree. They're beautiful people, sure. They're solid actors, definitely. They have chemistry together, no doubt. But there's also something else about them both separately. I really love them so much. 

On 5/10/2018 at 12:28 AM, Corvinus said:

I love how Starz operates. Great news.

After the terrible news of the Expanse this is incredibly welcome...

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