"It's always been forever for me, Sassenach."
Hello everyone!
Okay, okay, I'll admit - whenever I run into something particularly interesting or worthy of my fangirl moments, I usually end up writing it for my blog.
Which does, sadly, interfere with my movie recap schedule, but luckily for me I somehow manage!
This week I would have been totally content in reviewing something or other movie-related, but truth be told that went right out the window when I remembered that there were two weeks of Droughtlander and the latest episode dropped this Sunday.
Scotland, you say? Eighteenth century, with a handsome printer with a hint of rebel?
Count me in!
Also, a lot of people are on the fence about the season so far, and especially about this episode, so I thought I'd add my own two cents into the mixing bowl. Outlander's A. Malcolm covered some bases and left others open for exploration, but let's see what happened, shall we?
If we briefly recap just about everything that's happened in the previous seasons and the episodes up until this week's one, here goes (also, whatever else I have on Outlander can be found at the bottom of this post): Claire Randall is a 20th century military nurse who is transported back in time to the 18th century where she marries James Fraser, Scotsman, to keep her out of the hands of the English. Claire then decides not to return to her 20th century husband but to stay with Jamie, pregnant with his child, and help him stop the Jacobite rebellion which ultimately led to the demise of the Scottish clans. Unfortunately, the couple fails in this task and also lose their firstborn daughter, which, once Claire is pregnant again, prompts Jamie to send her back to her own time so that she and the child may survive.
He has no plans to do so, but despite this, he survives the Battle of Culloden and goes on to become a printer twenty years later. In the 20th century, Claire is reunited with her original husband, Frank, and they raise Brianna, her daughter, together. After Frank's passing and the discovery that one James Fraser is in fact alive, Claire decides (and is encouraged) to return to 18th century Scotland and seek him out.
Which is where we are with episode A. Malcolm!
Jamie, the erstwhile printer from the title, has fainted after seeing his long-lost wife, but after reviving realises she is, in fact, real. What follows is a nervous, tender reunion where (even sans trousers, long story) Jamie seems to be about as shy as back when they'd first married. Also, I can't recall him ever asking for permission to kiss Claire, so there you go.
The two, finally reunited, shock and scandalise Jamie's co-worker, who angrily quits, but Himself has other things on his mind, namely being told about his daughter, Brianna.
"What a terrible name for a lass."
Well, scuse you, man, you DID ask that the kid be named after your dad, Brian!
Anyway.
Seeing the photographs that Claire brought along with her (and being thoroughly scandalised by the revealing bikini Brianna is seen wearing in one of them), Jamie has a confession to make: Bree isn't his only child.
See, after being shackled in prison for years, Lord John Grey took Jamie to a family friend and installed him there as stable hand. The daughter of the family friend decided she wanted Jamie and used blackmail to get him to sleep with her, which resulted in one lad named Willie. But Jamie can never claim him as his own, or do anything of the kind, nor will he ever get to know his actual, legally-born daughter, so that obviously hurts.
Claire assures him she doesn't expect him not to have had a life for twenty years, so her man relaxes a little bit - even knowing he now needs spectacles to see things up close, she thinks he's still as dashing as ever!
But he's also just as nervous that his wife might disappear again, as proven when he bashfully (with that little uncertain smile Sam Heughan perfected) asks her to tag along with him to a tavern.
Claire accepts, and they're off into the streets of Edinburgh, where another surprise awaits her:
Fergus.
Not a little boy anymore (even if bloodthirsty), but now a full-grown man, who is thoroughly pleased to see 'Milady' again, as she'd been the closest thing he had to a mother during their rebellion adventures.
Claire is stunned with the handsome young man, and equally stunned with his artificial hand.
Fergus lad, Jamie Lannister called. He wants his hand back. Also, Captain Hook wants to let you know that his hook is currently out of commission so you're free to borrow it!
Jamie pulls Fergus aside, and Fergus mentions a viable point: is Claire staying now? And what about ... ?
We don't know what this is all about yet (well, book readers know, and I'm curious to see how the show handles this) but Jamie needs to consult a lawyer to figure things out, so we'll leave it at that.
And while he's off in the tavern dealing illegally, Claire meets Mr. Willoughby who somehow eschewed his 20,000 pounds worth of heiress and landed in the Scottish capital!
Wait, no, wrong story, she meets a Chinese man whose name can't be pronounced and sounds like a bad Gaelic word, so Jamie renamed him. Points for originality.
Wait, no, wrong story, she meets a Chinese man whose name can't be pronounced and sounds like a bad Gaelic word, so Jamie renamed him. Points for originality.
This said and done, the couple decides they might as well head to where Jamie calls home, which is a brothel, but, you know.
Could be worse.
Once there, the scene is rather reminiscent of the wedding episode as both of them are nervous and uncertain, not knowing what to expect from the other, and dinner is being served. One thing, however, remais the same: they're still so in love with each other that, really, everything else is just details.
They reconnect, physically and emotionally, and discuss all the things they couldn't talk about during the day (as in, Jamie's a smuggler now), and happily fall asleep together. In the morning, postponing breakfast, Jamie later has to leave on a mysterious errand, leaving his wife happily snoozing in their bed for the time being.
She then encounters Young Ian (and I give a happy dance when I figure out it's John Bell who played Bain in the Hobbit movies) and they establish the first tentative contact, which I loved since their relationship is also vitally important for the future. Ian is on the lookout for his uncle, but Jamie's off someplace else, so there you go. Claire will give him a message, not to worry.
She'll also find the time to break her fast with the ladies of te establishment and find a suspicious looking man in her room afterwards, who grabs her by the throat and leaves us with the screen going black after she demands that he gets the hell out of here.
Looks like life is never boring when you're around a certain Fraser, and I have to admit that I'm intrigued to see what happens next week - by which I mean I want to see how Claire uses a hidden scalpel or something to skewer the idiot. Pretty sure Jamie's going to roll his eyes at the man's stupidity, but hey, life's tough. In any event, however, I thoroughly enjoyed the episode and LOVED the connections with the wedding one, which makes a lot of sense - after all, in a way, this WAS another wedding night for the pair of them.
And now, for the biggest nitpick people seem to have: the aging.
I knew this was going to be a problem once the show was announced and I had already been further with the books. Aging for twenty years means certain things, but even so Diana Gabaldon made it known in her writing that Claire looked a whole lot younger even when she was fifty, and Jamie had also aged beautifully. So that, in itself, didn't bother me, nor does it bother me to see Sam and Caitriona mor or less the same with some touch ups. It would probably use a lot of makeup or prosthetics to apply to the face otherwise and might hinder the actors in their performances. Not to mention, is that REALLY what people will complain about? That Sam and Cait don't look old enough? Come on, enjoy the show for what it's worth and let people do their jobs, which incidentally is keeping the viewers entertained. If you don't like it, stop watching. It's that simple.
Besides, once the colour washes out Claire's hair will have gray in it again and I thought Jamie with the spectacles was adorable - he reminded me of how my grandfather used to do certain things, so I understood the implied age.
People will just never be satisfied, I guess.
For me, this was lovely to watch and I ENJOYED the reunion. Now let's move along with the story and all the other shenanigans these two get themselves into!
xx
*images and video not mine
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