"The Frasers of the Ridge are here!"
Hello everyone!
Welcome back to another serial on my blog. I wasn't sure if I'd be doing this or not, at least initially, but then I decided why not? This is one of my favourite shows ever, and while I've done random posts connected to it in the past, I'd never really written it episode by episode.
The only show I've ever done it for was Game of Thrones, and I have to admit that it's kind of interesting.
I watch a BUNCH of shows every show season, and somehow the only one who got this coveted spot was HBO's. The others, I've either not done at all or I've covered in one massive post.
The adaptation of Diana Gabaldon's work, however, is much too big and too complex to squeeze into just the one blog post.
Between all the intrigue, history, romance, and hilarity that abounds, Outlander delivers on just about every front you can imagine. So let's see what season 5 has in store for us, shall we?
You'll find some posts connected to Outlander down at the bottom of this page, as per usual, and like with any good serial, the further we go into the show, the more episodes we'll have reviewed and linked at the bottom of each, too.
For now, let's dig right into it!
Time-travelling nurse from WWII Claire Randall finds herself thrown back two hundred years to the Jacobite rebellion and one James Fraser, whom she ends up marrying. What starts out as a marriage of convenience and to ensure her safety turns into a love story for the ages and she chooses him instead of returning to her own time, trying to help him stop the Battle of Culloden, unsuccessfully. In the end, Jamie sends her back through the stones, pregnant with his child, because they'd lost their firstborn daughter in the 18th century through several complications.
Twenty years afterwards, Claire discovers that Jamie survived Culloden and travels BACK to the 18th century again, crossing the ocean to America with him when they finally reunite. Once there, they set out to carve a home in the North Carolina wilderness, eventually joined by their daughter Brianna, who rushes back into the past to save her parents after reading their obituary, and her true love, Roger Mackenzie, who really has it up to here with stubborn women, but follows anyway.
Several adventures and misadventures later (including but not limited to Roger getting sold to the natives because of a mix-up that has Jamie thinking he raped Bree), and the family is now gathered together on the land Jamie was given by Governor Tryon.
Fraser's Ridge, as the place is aptly named, has become home to a large community of settlers, and they're just about to enjoy the bountiful first harvest, but they'll celebrate it first with the wedding of Bree and Roger, which is where we clock back in with our heroes.
Roger is attempting to get a perfect shave going since he doesn't want to look furry on his wedding day, but unfortunately his use of the 18th century cutthroat razor is a bit limited, so his future father-in-law (the one who sold him off, if you recall) steps in, just to be sure the kid doesn't ACTUALLY cut his throat by accident.
This is also a chance for the two men to discuss, since Roger has no real applicable skills for this time period, being a historian and all, but Jamie's like 'eh, you'll figure it out', and gives the man a wedding ring fashioned for Bree - with the help of some silver donated by none other than Murtagh Fitzgibbons.
Speaking of Murtagh, the episode actually BEGINS with him in all his dark-haired, clean-locked glory as he makes a vow to the very young Jamie after the death of Jamie's mother, whom Murtagh loved deeply, to always be there for the boy.
Sadly he can't be there right now, however, as there's a warrant out for his arrest, and Jamie should be the one doing the arresting.
Your family drama ain't got NOTHING on this one!
Meanwhile, Claire is as proud as she can be as she helps Bree with her dress, which is an interesting choice for show producers as a white wedding dress in that particular time and location was probably the most impractical you can think of. Still, the Frasers ARE supposedly well-off, so they can probably afford it a little bit more than the average Joe.
Claire makes sure her daughter knows Frank would be proud of her before heading off to find just where her biological Da hid himself (he successfully avoided actually cutting his future son-in-law's throat with the razor, mind). She finds Himself gathering the old something old, something new, something borrowed and blue for the daughter he's reluctant to give away after only just meeting her.
Claire comforts her husband, as any good wife and mother does, and sends him off to also deliver the sixpence from Murtagh for Bree's shoe, for luck.
Then, after a sip of whiskey, it's time for the Frasers to finally make an appearance before everyone invited, and we see all the familiar, happy faces gathered for the nuptials, including one Lord John who brightens up the scene whenever he appears, and one less brightening visage of Governor Tryon himself, but you can't have it all, right?
Roger and Bree are wed, and several other modern-day traditions are included in the ceremony, such as cake cutting and stuffing their faces with it while around the happy couple, tensions and currents are once again swirling.
Jocasta Mackenzie, Jamie's aunt, wants to speak to Roger, and she does the day after the wedding, telling him that she's changed her will and instead of leaving her vast estates to Bree, she's left them to Jeremy, Bree's little boy. This is because by law, any property Bree has automatically becomes Roger's, and Jocasta wants to make sure that he'll love Jemmy, if not for himself, then for the riches he brings (as Bree was raped, it's unclear who Jemmy's father is, natch).
Roger is furious and storms off, but Jocasta is a Mackenzie - some blustering thirty-something can only make her smile, especially since he gives her exactly the reaction she's hoped for. Roger does one better and claims Jemmy by blood, something he should have done as soon as he popped back into the story.
Meanwhile, backtracking just a little bit since we're on the topic of Jemmy and his parentage, Lord John hasn't just appeared for the fun of it. Unfortunately, he brings news to Jamie that Stephen Bonnet, the guy who initially raped Bree, is alive, as much as that pains both men. And simply because that's the way of this show, Bree overhears this, which brings back all sorts of memories for the poor girl, though she bravely tries to fight them off and deny their existence.
We'll leave the montage of lovemaking from several of our couples and jump straight back to the next day (although it should be noted that the added realism of Claire prying Jamie out of his clothing is probably the most hysterical moment of the episode) when Claire's surgery is filled with patients, including a young Josiah, hunter extraordinaire, whom Jamie wants settled on the Ridge despite the brand of a traitor on his hand.
Claire is apprehensive, but really, Josiah is the least of Jamie's worries.
Tryon has come to collect.
Unhappy with Jamie's progress on the Murtagh topic, he orders Jamie to find the Scot (the governor has no clue Murtagh is at that moment telling Jocasta in the woods nearby that she should marry the guy who proposed to her) and leaves him a troop of soldiers to help him do it.
Jamie knows that he's walking a tightrope - as always - and needs to ensure that the men of the Ridge are loyal to HIM, not whoever rules America, and in comes probably the most breathtaking scene of the entire episode when our favourite Scot opens up a personal chest and reveals his Fraser colour-ed tartan.
With those banned after Culloden, and the ban only recently lifted, this is the first time we see Jamie in full Highlander regalia since season 2, and it is GLORIOUS.
So is his speech, explaining the tradition of the fiery cross to everyone gathered, but most importantly to viewers as he lights it, saying the next time he does, it will be to call his new "clan" to war. Then he proceeds to take their oaths, Rogers included, in a scene mirroring one back in season 1 of the show with the Mackenzies at Castle Leod.
That done, there's only one thing left, and Jamie begs Murtagh to run and be hard to find, releasing him from the vow his godfather made to him so many years ago; additionally, if Murtagh would just WAIT for two hot seconds, they'd be fighting on the same side (since Jamie, with his future-knowing family, plans on eventually fighting against the Crown, as he's always done), but while Murtagh has a lot of strengths, patience isn't one of them.
He walks away, and Jamie breaks down.
No amount of hilarity from the wedding the night before (Marsali owning the men in a tongue-twister drinking game and Lord John being the last man left standing, somehow) can lend any cheer to this particular occasion, as the noose is tightening around everything Jamie and Claire are striving to build on the Ridge. But for the rest, we'll have to wait until next Sunday, as delightful as seeing the premiere drop on Valentine's day was!
Poignant, funny, sensual, innately happy and completely devious in its machinations, the premiere episode throws us into Outlander deep waters and forces us to swim whether we know how to do it or not. Since then, I've read SO many reviews of the episode.
People thought it was boring - I'd classify them as those who only enjoy a show with lots of action in it, which Outlander has never been, so they've missed the show's point as a total. There WILL be action, but only later on.
The cast, starting with Heughan and Balfe and going right through Skelton and Rankin to finish off with Lacroix brought their A game, and more.
And to end it all off, a short address to some online trying to make the burning of the cross into something it wasn't:
the reason why Jamie explains, to Highlander refugees who KNOW this tradition by heart and blood, what he's about to do with the cross in his backyard, is for audience purposes. Unfortunately, there will always be people who insist there are hidden meanings and motifs behind what the show is doing, and this burning of the cross is apparently problematic because of KKK connotations.
Obviously, the KKK were a problem. DUH.
But here's the thing.
The burning cross is NOT THEIRS. If people are so quick to jump on what they call their legacy, what about Scottish legacy? The calling of the clan by a burning cross predates the KKK by HUNDREDS, and should be respected as such, especially on a show like Outlander that, you know, actually deals with Scottish heritage and history. There really isn't anything remotely connected to it, and an explanation was given.
Appropriation is a terrible thing, but let's remember that not everything belongs to America. In most cases, other parts of the world, older parts, did it first, and even though this show and this season in particular are about events happening on American soil, the burning of the cross IS NOT ABOUT YOU, AMERICA.
It's about a part of European history that cannot be denied, regardless of what happened later, and only people forcing political views onto a television show would call it otherwise.
So let's just enjoy the show, or at least try to, shall we?
So let's just enjoy the show, or at least try to, shall we?
Until next week, clan!
xx
*screencaps belong to me, other images and video not mine
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