This show is so weird and I like it probably more than it deserves lol.
Cons:
I really wish the actor who was playing Percy was... sexy? Like, I want him to be rakish and irresistible and he's just kind of blah. This isn't about physical appearance so much as it is about charisma, and I didn't feel the charisma I wanted from Percy.
Same complaint I've had in the past about the sex scenes, that they are all very same-y in terms of one passionate kiss, then they just lift their clothes out of the way and Jamie is in her instantly lol. I keep thinking... is she like, prepared and comfortable for this? It seems like they're both having a fulfilling experience to say the least but it just seems to lack variety and is not really... hot, to me? As a viewer? I don't know. I think I'm in the minority here, but I used to think the sex scenes in Outlander were pretty well choreographed and performed and now it kind of seems like everyone is going through the motions.
I recall a similar instance in the books where Claire delivers a stillborn baby but then it lives again? But only briefly and then it dies? I might be conflating circumstances, but in any case, I don't necessarily mind the story flirting with this mystical idea of Claire giving life through a magic healing touch to an infant. I don't even mind the direct call that this makes her think of Faith, and think of how Master Raymond saved her life with that same sense of a blue light coming from him into her. This show has always included magical elements to it. What I do mind is, once again, the dumb-ass decision to say that Raymond must have saved Faith's life in the same way as Claire's and then been unable to return the baby to her parents for some reason. This story element adds nothingggggg. Ugh. I will continue to be annoyed forever, thanks.
Pros:
The main over-arching concern of this season is of course the militia forming up in the back country, contrasted to Captain Cunningham's gathering of loyalists from the Ridge. I would say I am... less interested in this plot line than a lot of the more intimate character-focused ones, but I still think they're doing a good job of putting all the pieces into place. Jamie's devotion to the American cause is very tied up in the foreknowledge provided to him by his time traveling family, so, it makes sense that he'd feel caught in a very strange place here. I like the exploration for that of Jamie, along with the haunting message from the future that Frank has left for him. Poor guy is really caught in a web right now and I think they are depicting that really well!
Part of the frustration about the Faith thing is how much I like Fanny as a character and how well she adds to the themes and vibes of the story. It was so sweet to see Brianna being protective of her, to see Claire address her fears, and to see Jamie take the time to give Fanny a place to grieve for Jane, all of them finding ways to integrate her into the family. She is a young girl who has seen things she never could have seen, and Jamie has already done for Fergus what he's now doing for her. It's lovely to see.
Speaking of Fergus... I am thrilled they're keeping in the little detail about Percy wanting to talk to Fergus about a family inheritance thing, that's such a little subplot in the books that I thought it might just be cut for time. More to develop there, but I am living for John being just indignant and uncomfortable at Percy's overly familiar ways at the dinner table. What an asshole.
William and Amaranthus share some very cute back and forth about beetles, I just love that she embroiders a waistcoat and it's objectively kind of weird and showy but William wears it with pride around a bunch of important people. I know some things from the books about where this is going, but as far as the show goes so far, I totally ship it! William is convinced Ben is not really dead and is going to keep pulling at those threads, while also developing feelings and sharing a little smooch with Ben's widow... juicy stuff, William. What a mess.
We also get this tantalizing little detail of William finding out John's history at Ardsmuir prison, and he seemingly has put together that connection with his birth father there. I don't recall if they discuss this in the books, so I'll be interested to see if more comes of that.
Lord John writing a letter to Claire and Jamie getting mean and jealous about it is soooo funny, and continues the trend of many of my favorite book moments making it onto the page. Jamie is so weird about John, I swear. He basically says that he's not worried about Claire thinking about another man when they're in bed together, but he is worried that he might think about John while they're having sex. That's so funny dude. You are ridiculous. There's a tragedy here in this broken friendship of course, but I like that Claire is mostly eye-roll-y about it. She knows she didn't do anything wrong, and she knows Jamie needs to get over himself and forgive her and move on. I loved the Brianna moment where she is shocked and a little delighted to learn about Claire and John's ill-advised night together. And I love that Fanny overheard and told Claire she should have kept her mouth shut about "swiving" another man.
That's all I've got for this one. I love this stupid show and I can't wait to see how some of these stories play out. But if Faith Fraser shows up on my screen... no thank you.
Outlander 7x05 Easter Eggs and Spoilers - “Singapore”
Spoilers below the cut!
Singapore is the name of this episode, and it opens with goats on a cliff face. This is in reference to the Highlander’s whom fight for the British, we later find out. The title is a direct reference to the battle of Singapore and the attack of the Japanese, which Claire describes to Jamie as a parallel with the impending attack on the fort, which informs his actions for the episode.
Lallybroch
Gem and Mandy are playing in a graveyard, as Mandy wanted to talk to Jamie. Jemmy tells Bree that Jamie told him to leave him a stone and built him a cairn if he ever came to Lallybroch. I try very hard to tolerate Sophie’s acting but she’s so wooden at times. Other times she’s fine (mainly in the more emotional scenes) but her line delivery is quite hard to swallow sometimes. She has changed her pronounciation of ‘Da’ like 4 times now, and that’s hard for me to ignore.
Roger and Bree read another letter from Jamie and Claire. The letter is dated June 18, 1777, which is our ONLY way of knowing the timeline and how much time has passed between episodes. In it, Claire writes that Jamie continues to dream about the children and Bree reveals she’s been to the fort before with Frank. Her and Roger decide not to look at the history books and find out what happened there.
Before Bree heads to work, these two have another attempt at a romantic scene that doesn’t quite land (a hard hat in bed and his hands down her pants just made me uncomfortable). These two try but they just don’t have it!!!! And I think Richard Rankin could if he wasn’t opposite Sophie, as he is a great actor.
Jemmy gets off the bus from school and Roger follows him into his hide out (which I think is referenced in the books as a place Fergus used to play). Roger tries to talk to him about it and Jemmy says he got in trouble at school for defending their family in Gaelic. This child actor playing Jemmy is so great!!! He’s doing such a good job!
Ticonderoga
They have now been there for months, and Jamie once again organically finds himself leading men, this time they refer to themselves as ‘Fraser’s Irregulars.’ Claire is practicing medicine under Lieutenant Stactoe, and the fort is under the command of Saint Clair. We also meet General Formoy (who is mirroring the ignorance of the Bonny Prince). Ian has reunited with them as well.
Sugarloaf hill is mentioned as a point the English can attack from. For those unfamiliar with the location of Fort Ticonderoga, it sits on the edge of the New York and Vermont boarders, along a narrow portion of Lake Champlain. The fort is surrounded by water on three sides, and as of now it doesn’t look like there is a Sugarloaf hill near the site. There’s a sugarloaf ski mountain in Maine, though!
Jamie has a dejavuex moment with Formoy when he uses his knowledge to advice against an attack and is found denied and insulted, akin to a goat for being Scottish (like the episode preview implies). Jamie is once again being sidelined and watching history repeat itself with the ignorance of leaders like Formoy and the Bonnie Prince (and simultaneously history is…happening? But where they know the outcome, could you consider that history repeating itself?).
Denzel Hunter and Claire finally meet towards the end of the episode and the two of them help a man named Walter Woodcock together. It’s the dream team finally united! They successfully opperate on Mr. Woodcock and amputate his leg, but only after Denny so kindly recognizes Claire’s struggle to be taken seriously and back door allows for her to help him.
The Hunters and William
Denzel makes a comment about attending medical school in London via a distant relative after their parents died. Their mother died in childbirth having Rachel, and their father died a few years later in a flood having drown. The Quakers who took them in made that connection for Denzel when they learned of a shared last name Hunter, so this scene hammers home the importance of their Meeting (and reminds us that they are now kicked out).
William and Denzel debate over morals and how Denzel can be within his beliefs while practicing medicine. They come upon a man on the road who offers them a place to stay for the night and they are fed a disgusting meal of rat stew. William is shown the realities of the war and he and Rachel speak outside. In the few short scenes they’ve had you can tell William has a crush on her, which is exactly how the books describe their relationship from Williams internal monologue.
While sleeping, the Johnsons attempt to attack William, Denny and Rachel with knives and William is able to show his strength and skills as a fighter. Charles is such a great casting, as he is every bit the young man described in the book and his size and strength is akin to Jamie’s. The Johnson’s have evidently done this many times before so to steal from un expecting visitors.
William feels guilt over taking that man’s life and tells Rachel that he’d never killed anyone before. This scene you can see Jamie’s heart come through in him. He has a flurry of feelings about it that he cannot sort through and worries that Rachel might think less of him due to her beliefs but she reassures him she knows him well enough to know he did it to save them.
When they part William tells them to ask for his uncle should they run into trouble. He gives them the money from Ian and keeps the rosary beads. When Rachel watches him leave with fond eyes Denny reminds her that he is a British soldier, and violence follows men like that. There’s a sweet scene between the siblings where Denny gives Rachel an out, but she insists they stay together.
Loch Errochry
The Land Rover Bree and her boss drive around in is a dream, I want one. The setting is also stunning, having driven through the highlands last year it’s still so hard to believe that country looks like that. Bree meets her new male employees including Rob Cameron (!!!). He immediately locks her into the tunnel like a jackass and Bree discovers the light they gave her has no batteries. She quickly lights a match and finds some lights and proceeds to inspect the tunnel. I’d be clostrophobic down there and it feels like something out of a nightmare watching her walk through the tunnels.
She hears buzzing halfway down and a weird blue light at the end that she has to walk through (the graphics are strange but hey, hard to depict what was written) and it leads her to her escape. It’s implied that somewhere in the tunnel may be a portal for time travel.
Bree tells the kids at dinner about being trapped in the tunnel and how she escaped but you can tell she’s still unsettled by the event. Her and Roger step away from the table to discuss it. She’s worried the men are never going to respect her and Roger reminds her Claire did it at Harvard. A bit of a turn around from him being slightly sexist last episode about her working in general.
While in the office they uncover a hidden drawer in the desk and he gifts her a pen. Doesn’t undo his comments from last episode but that’s just me, and his insistence on her wearing knickers and a hard hat needs to stahhhhhp.
Bree heads to the bar where the men and Rob Cameron are hanging out and tries to awkwardly earn their respect. They all try and play it off as a joke and she tries to insert her dominance. Sophie also can’t say the word “anything” without a Scottish accent.
Young Ian
Joseph Brant of the Mohawk is at Shadow Lake and Ian is recruited to deliver a letter to him. Ian is reluctant because of personal reasons. He asks Claire how baby’s come to be and why he was unable to get his Mohawk wife pregnant. His belief is that his spirit was not strong enough and fears he cannot get a woman pregnant again and would refuse to take another wife. He tells Claire that Jamie told him about sperm and asks her to look at his (had to laugh). When asked, Ian tells her Iseabell was perfect and not deformed, but Claire has a Frank conversation to help Ian understand that it’s not a matter of his spirit but science and gives him renewed hope he may be able to have a child with another woman one day.
When he arrives at the Mohawk camp he sees Emily, who is happy to see him. She tells him she now has two children and is happy. Ian seems to finally be at peace with that, and asks to meet her son (who does not look Mohawk). He tells Ian that Emily’s mother tells him he’s the child of his spirit. Ian gives him the name Ian James and I’m sat here smiling like a fool over how cute that scene was.
Simon Fraser
One of the few scenes we get with Claire and a Jamie this episode, Jamie tells Claire that a Simon Fraser is one of Burgoyne brigadiers on the side of the British. Book readers will know that he is a ticket home to Scotland for them later on, and Jamie tells her it is not the same Simon Fraser she met in season 2 but not the old fox or his son but one of Jamie’s second cousins from Balnain (located outside of Inverness, not far from Loch Ness). It is also now understood that with their troops low on supplies they will need to attack the fort sooner than later. Jamie knows that a Fraser in the camp, the troops will know well enough to attack from higher ground as Highlanders do.
Jamie brings Formoy and the men to higher ground to show them that it is possible to the English can reach them by cannon, and once again finds himself standing across an incompetent soldier (with a terrible accent). These scenes are so short and choppy, and for that I dislike them. It’s not enough time with Jamie (or Claire for that matter) before we are abruptly switched over to another character. The atmosphere of them walking around at the Fort was palpable in the books, and we are missing it so far in the show sadly.
Later on the British set up shop in the exact place Jamie warned of, and Jamie uses his knowledge how Highlander warfare to help lead an evacuation by boat. Claire won’t allow Walter Woodcock to leave the fort because his injury is still too fresh, and sadly has to leave him. She tells him due to his injury the British will have to show him mercy, but also gives him laudanum. I was surprised she didn’t outright show him how to use it if he needed to drift off to sleep. The civilians are all put into boats in the lake and the fort is abandoned. The next sequence of events in the books is fairly action packed so I’m curious how they go about it all next episode.
Ian and Rachel
When Ian returns to the fort, he spots Rachel. A critique I have of this season is that they make the traveling seem so fast, and it’s incredibly hard to keep track of time passed. Ian was just in Virginia, now he’s suddenly back in New York. That said, these two have great chemistry without even trying, and Ian let’s Rachel know Claire is his aunt. It’s implied they will be seeing much more of one another, thankfully. I think the actors have done a great job of establishing the differences between Rachel and Ian and Rachel and William - Izzy plays Rachel differently around Ian and it’s great work on her part.
In the End
Roger goes out into the dark to search for the Nucklavee and we see a camera angle from across the yard watching the front door of the house. I suspect next episode we will actually set eyes on Buck for the first time.
The episode ends when Bree goes to the graveyard to talk to Jamie and brings him a stone. She tells him about her new job, buying Lallybroch, etc. and it fades to black (a weak ending and my least favorite thus far). Nothing happens this episode action wise, and it was mainly an episode used for establishing upcoming plot. The pacing is getting really bad in that such large expanses of tiem are not being explained. How in one episode did Jamie have two conversations about Sugarloaf Hill and the British Invasion, and The Hunters / William Travel by Horse to New York from Virginia, Ian leave camp to go see Emily and return…it’s so many moving parts and it’s not clear how they all make sense. Even having read the books I’m getting confused with how they are choosing to speed things up.
I will say this until I’m blue in the face, but this show works best when Claire and Jamie are together and on screen, and every time I dislike an episode it’s in large part due to a lack of them. That can be said with this episode, but I’m optimistic we will see much more of them next episode thanks for the preview.
Episode 6 Preview
Preview for episode 6 shows what looks to be an action filled attack on the Fort - we see Jamie attacking British soldiers, William in a red coat again, Roger running into the yard angrily, and Ian and Rachel getting closer. Lots of good things that I hope we get proper screen time to dissect.
God is speaking to Roger very loudly this week while Brianna is a way better person than I’ll ever be.
Everything continues to awful for Roger
Baby Fergus is gonna save Murtaugh. I feel this is going to be disastrous but I admire his pluck.
Outlander is doing a A+ job of putting Brianna in dresses that bring out her hair color.
Btw, she’s Brianna Fraser now. When did that happen? Not that I’m complaining.
“He will hang next week.” Yeah, he was supposed to hang in 4x01. I believe it when I see it.
Lord John bossing Brianna around in an effort to protect her is the cutest.
Jamie can write a hell of a letter.
HE IS FEELING HER BELLY. Alright, I know I am supposed to want Brianna and Roger back together, and I do, but I am also completely fine with Brianna and John getting married, going shopping together and bickering adorably for the rest of their lives. Sorry not sorry.
It’s called PTSD Brianna. You are handling it exceptionally well.
What Roger wouldn’t give for some Tylenol.
Can we please stop tossing Roger everywhere? He’s not a hay stack.
Dog Face? Yeesh. Not exactly a complimentary name. Dance With Wolves is much better. Sadly, Roger is not Kevin Costner.
“Good.” I LOVE MARSALI!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously I ship them so hard.
Fergus and Marsali are Outlander’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith. COME FIGHT ME.
I was wondering who the father was because Johiehon’s baby is white.
Oh. I thought he was just a missionary. Nope. He’s a priest. Speaking as a practicing Catholic, he ain’t wrong. This is a problem. He broke his vows and had a baby out of wedlock. These are no nos for everyone, but particularly a priest. He can perform the baptism if he receives the Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession), but it’s probably a little tricky to find another priest in the middle of nowhere. This is quite a predicament.
Did they cut off his ear???? Yikes.
“I will not mock the sacrament even to save my own life.” We don’t see this kind of integrity nowadays. Sure the priest could fake it and pretend to perform the baptism without really performing it. I wouldn’t blame the man if he did. Roger’s advice is not without merit. But these are his beliefs. He’s already compromised them once before and he won’t do it again - even if it means his life. There’s something admirable about that.
If you are Catholic and living in free, democratic countries our faith isn’t challenged like this anymore. It’s not a life or death choice. Many of us have a hard enough time arguing our beliefs on Twitter, so this decision can be difficult to understand because we aren’t forced to make a choice like this. While it may be easy to simply sweep this away as “18th century thinking” I know for many Catholics in other parts of the world, present day is much the same. It is life and death for them. So, I appreciate the priest’s willingness to literally hold his feet to the fire because there are many Catholics, past and present, who have done the same.
I love how they are juxtaposing the priest’s belief in the sacraments with Roger’s belief in love. Marriage is considered a sacrament in the Catholic faith, so the comparison is absolutely on point. The priest can’t turn his back on God and Roger can’t turn his back on Brianna - even if it secured his freedom.
Roger is having a crisis of faith. All his pain and suffering has made him question what all his belief in love has really brought him. This is completely understandable given everything Roger has gone through. The man is only human. But maybe this priest was put in Roger’s path as a reminder that his belief in his love for Brianna, and in their marriage, is worth any sacrifice - even his life. Some things are worth dying for. Of course, what Roger doesn’t realize is Brianna is fighting just as hard for him. She hasn’t let go anymore than God has let go of Roger and the priest.
“However I do not share those feelings Roger. I must do that which my conscience dictates.” The priest is going to suffer for Roger so he can escape. Whether the priest views it as his penance for his sins or just the right thing to do (maybe both), his unwavering faith is a staggering lesson for Roger and a message from God. Hold on Roger. Brianna is coming for you.
My kingdom for Brianna to vomit on Bonnet. Hey that rhymes.
I’m also here for Lord John taking Bonnet apart piece by piece.
Brianna: I’ll see him alone.
John: You will not.
Me: #TeamJohn
Brianna this is Outlander. Chains don’t mean jack.
I understand why Brianna is forgiving Bonnet, but she doesn’t need to make death easier on him in the process.
“You will be forgotten. My baby will never know your name, will never even know you existed. While you rot in the ground I will raise my child to be a good person, to be nothing like you.” THAT’S MY GIRL.
DO NOT STEP WITHIN REACHING DISTANCE OF THIS MAN. DID JAMIE NOT TELL YOU HE COULD HAVE SNAPPED YOUR NECK IN A SECOND?
If you want me to believe Bonnet has a soul worth saving because he coughed up a ruby for Brianna’s baby then sorry. I’m afraid I’ll disappoint. I’m quite comfortable handing him over to the Lord Jesus Christ and letting him sort that mess out.
Nothing is more Outlander than family reunions in prison.
All those in favor of Murtaugh snapping Bonnet’s neck on his way out raise your hand.
OH FUCK. YOU DUMB ASSES LEFT THE KEYS IN BONNET’S REACH. WHAT DID I TELL YOU?
Murtaugh and John fighting over who gets to escort Brianna to River Run is the greatest thing to ever happen on this show.
Btw John you are marrying into the Fraser family so you can’t hunt Murtaugh anymore. *We are family. I got all my sisters with me.*
Bonnet better have lost an arm or leg in the explosion or both.
Hahaha. John covered for Murtaugh. Welcome to the family bro!
Oh shit. Whenever they start playing “Adagio for Strings“ in any television show or film something super bad is about to happen. Why? Because it’s the saddest piece of music ever written.
DON’T DIE ROGER!!!!!!
Burning feet slowly or burning entire body. This is a lose lose. I can safely say neither of those choices are pleasant.
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? SHE’S JUMPING INTO THE FIRE TO BURN ALONG WITH THE PRIEST?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously Roger if you don’t understand belief and love are worth dying for after witnessing this than I cannot help you.
Don’t kill the baby. The baby is all you have left of Johiehon!!!
Oh. Ok Kaheroton agrees with me. Nobody is killing the baby. I’m settling down.
I told you! “Adagio for Strings“ every time. Every. Single. Time.
“Oh beautiful, for heroes proved,
In liberating strife,
Who more than self, our country loved,
And mercy more than life”
This was an incredible season premiere in my opinion. There was iconic book lines and while some people complain that it doesn’t fit into the scene, I for one am a fan every time. The pacing of the episode overall was a bit interesting, now having watching it for a second time, I’m hoping that it will change to be a bit more smooth in later episodes. The CGI was not so good, actually it was pretty bad most of the time, which is disappointing but at least Fraser’s Ridge won’t be CGI :) There wasn’t much that I disliked about the episode, other than the wigs ofc and the CGI.
Hearing Claire’s voice at the beginning gave me absolute chills and I was reminded once again why I love this show. Seeing Jamie on screen, his tricorn in place W O W. I think it’s incredible how it feels like Sam and Cait really know their characters, like its second nature to them.
Stephen Bonnet can go die. Watching him talk with Claire about the rings and then knowing what was going to happen was so hard to watch bc he’s evil and manipulative. He’s also very attractive haha, but imo Bonnet is a better villain than BJR bc you don’t know he’s evil at first. BJR was evil and everyone knew it. Bonnet is charming and sly.
T H E R M O D Y N A M I C S
Set me on fire. Pls. I’m burning already. Again… the editing was a little weird, like we have them talking about sleeping outside and then cut to Jamie with his shirt off, fire built, Claire in her shift, just felt like a weird cut. But other than that, I loved this scene for obvious reasons ahem. The book quotes made me heart flutter and seeing the way that Jamie and Claire look at each other after so many years is what it’s all about. This sexy time scene was H O T but also incredibly intimate with their hands just trying to hold on to each other so tightly. Claire needed to feel alive and this scene is them loving one another, heads pushed together, breathing in each other and it’s messy and lovely and exactly what it needed to be for the moment. WELL DONE. (Also hey sam and Cait we see you)
I love the scene when Jamie and Claire tell the rest of the clan about wanting to stay in America and then O M G, Fergus and Marsali are pregnant! What I’m most excited about is that Marsali is pregnant with the wee fiend Germain, who I LOVE from later books and Jamie and Claire are officially going to be grandparents (wink wink).
Then the governor’s scene was a nice setup for what’s to come and leading up to the ridge and then we Segway into Claire telling Jamie that perhaps they should stay in America. We have the sweet moment of Jamie wanting to make the country a good place for Bree in the future and we all tear up.
M E D I C I N E B O X
“24 years ago, I married ye Sassenach. I hope I havena given ye cause to regret it.” THIS! The whole scene was wonderful, starting with Jamie carrying Claire off the top of the boat and her little giggle (hello Cait) and then the beautiful moment when Jamie gives her the box as a wedding present. This scene is heartbreaking however bc of the foreshadowing of Claire saying that the ring from Jamie is all she ever needs.
The final scene of the episode was haunting. Fraser & Co. are sleeping peacefully and someTHEFRICKhow Bonnet and his men takeover the boat and FREAKING KILL LESLEY AND BEAT JAMIE UP! Enter Ray Charles’ “America The Beautiful” and it completely adds chills and a whole new level to the scene. Bonnet was once again his charming self, using their weaknesses against them. Once he has Claire alone, the look on her face brought me to tears. He screams but the music plays over and Cait’s acting here is superb and she deserves every award already. The emotion that she feels is visceral through the screen and I was sobbing til the very end, begging Bonnet not to take the ring, which ofc ended up being Jamie’s, a good switch from Fronk’s for obvious reasons later on. We’re left with Jamie, bloody and beaten crawling in to see Lesley dead and his wife fallen on the floor, coughing up Fronk’s ring, her heart crushed to find out that Jamie’s ring (the Key to Lallybroch) one of the two things Jamie had left her with was gone. To me, this hurt like a bitch and was up there with the pain and loss of when they parted at the stones.
This episode was just what I wanted for a season premiere and I’m looking forward to what the rest of the season has to come! Now…. FRASER’S RIDGE, FRASER’S RIDGE, FRASER’S RIDGE!
I'm so mad lol. The term that keeps popping into my head is "unforced error." Like, the show is ending in three more episodes. They didn't have to do this. Why would they do this? Jesus Christ. The thing that's really getting to me is that I did not expect this at all. When the house was on fire, when the boys were on the roof, I thought I was about to see adorable little Henri-Christian die, and it would be so sad. And then when they did the fake-out and Roger caught him falling from the roof and it panned up to Fergus still standing up there I said, out loud, "oh, fuck no." And they fucking did it. They killed my boy. They killed Fergus, a thing that does NOT happen in the books, because frankly it's just too fucking awful and sad to think about. Why? Why would they do this?
A few months back, my friend and I were watching the final season of Stranger Things, which, for a lot of reasons, has been pretty panned by viewers. As we were watching we were noting the increasingly obvious foreshadowing hints that Eleven was going to die, and we kept saying to each other, okay, but, if she does, then Hopper will drink himself to death. Like, there's just no recovering from this for him. And instead, the show ends with Hopper apparently fine, like, sober and happy and completely at peace with the death of his daughter (for the second time, no less.) It made the death ring hollow, it made everything feel so cheap and lazy.
And as I watched Jamie making that coffin, and little Fanny holding his hand and calling him grandpa for the first time, all I could think is: realistically, Jamie would be ruined by this. Now, I'm not saying he'd never recover, I'm not saying he'd kill himself or anything. But. realistically, this would grind his life to a halt, he would be inconsolable for a long time, he would be drowning in grief. Claire too, to an extent, but especially Jamie. Fergus was his boy, his son. His first son, the eldest, and of all his children, the one he got to spend the most time actively parenting. The reason this is pissing me off is that I know we'll see a bit of Jamie's sadness in the remaining episodes, but there's so much other shit going on, the show isn't going to be about that at all. It's a minor fucking footnote. We'll maybe get a scene or two of Jamie visiting the cairn, we'll see Marsali being comforted in her grief, but life will move on and the main plot will take over and Fergus's death will be just this... this thing that happened, that didn't matter. Structurally, narratively, emotionally. I can taste it, and I hate it.
The thing is, it also makes the Faith stuff even more ridiculous. If you wanted to tell a story about Jamie and Claire grieving the loss of a child, you really did not need to bring back the memory of their stillborn daughter from 30+ years ago, if you were planning to actually kill their living son in this season. Like. Here's something that really steams me, and I promise I'll talk about the rest of the episode too, but I have a lot of feelings to work through: Jamie and Claire talk about how when they lost Faith, they were in such a bad place, Claire had told Jamie she hated him, because she wanted Jamie to feel her pain. What they don't remind the audience in this episode is how that all went down. Claire has a late-stage miscarriage upon viewing Jamie wounding Jack Randall in a duel, making him impotent and, as far as Claire knows, potentially making it so Frank will never be born. Why does Jamie go against his promise to Claire not to kill or harm Randall? Well, because Randall was trying to rape a little boy Jamie had come to care for very much. What little boy you might ask? Oh, I don't know, MAYBE FERGUS???? Like, how could they waste our fucking time with all this Faith stuff, and making Fanny their biological grandchild, and not even mention the part Fergus played in that whole situation? It just feels like such a slap in the face, such a dismissal of who Fergus is as a man and as a character in this story.
And, let's say something forced them to make this choice, let's say the writers had a gun to their heads and were told "Fergus has to die instead of Henri-Christian, some studio executive thinks it's more impactful." Okay, hey, I hate the choice, but let's pretend they were forced into it. In that case, doesn't it make much more sense, thematically, for Fanny to be an orphaned girl that they take in, and she becomes family, just because they grow to care for her and want to protect a vulnerable and friendless child? Doesn't it mean more for Fanny to reach out and take Jamie's hand and claim him as her family, if she's not literally, super duper coincidentally, his granddaughter by blood? Wouldn't it tie the story threads together more, if Jamie's paternal instincts to protect another orphaned young person living in a brothel, were paralleled explicitly with what he did for Fergus all those years ago? Making Fanny literally related to them is so stupid and actually makes it much less emotionally impactful, god damn it!!!!
That's not even to mention the stupid way that they're able to get such definitive proof so quickly about Faith. Fanny mentions having a grandmother in Paris who was a lace maker, and then Jamie goes, "oh yeah, I remember a place where I bought lace in a shop right across from Master Raymond's, and one time I went in there and heard a child crying." LIKE. Shut up, what the fuck, why would he have a clear memory of that decades later? And isn't it so convenient that Ian was able to find the notes from a journalist who interviewed Jane before she died, and Jane explicitly mentions the Lady Broch Tuarach connection? Like, Jesus Christ, if you're going to do this dumbass soap opera incredible coincidence shenanigan-filled twist, at least attempt a bit of subtlety and art in how the characters discover it all. And even with that end scene, we still don't understand why Master Raymond and Mother Hildegarde would lie to Claire that Faith was dead. There is still no good explanation of the reasoning there.
Pros:
The thing is, when big structural aspects of a story are stupid and bad, it doesn't matter how good the details and tiny moments are; it's rotten at the core. That said, I want to mark down for the record that there were moments, scenes, little tableaux in this episode that were lovely to me in isolation. If I weren't so angry and betrayed by Fergus's death, I would want to admire these bits. Like, Brianna's face screwed up to hold back a sob as Marsali rests her head in her lap and numbly talks about how she doesn't even have a body to hold. Roger holding Bree and them discussing how this time and place is their home now. Henri-Christian saying they need to go back to the print shop, because his father told him that words are weapons. Marsali sobbing the second she's in Jamie's arms, like she's finally allowing herself to collapse and grieve now that her father is there for her. Fanny taking Jamie to a cairn for Fergus, and holding his hand and naming him as family for the first time. The moment Jamie wakes up from a deep sleep with a foreboding sense that something terrible is wrong. That super manipulative montage of moments of Fergus over the years, that adorable little kid, the grown man, the moment Jamie first named Fergus as his, and gave him the name Fraser. These moments, if I try to remove the larger context from my mind, were lovely. Great performances from talented actors.
I also want to say, I know there are some nay-sayers regarding all the attention we've been putting on William in this final season of the show, but I continue to be impressed and really invested. William walking in on John and Percy sharing a smooch was not on my bingo card, but that, I think, is a good change and consolidation from the source material. We need to have some sort of resolution for William as he sorts out his identity and how he feels about both of his fathers. This doesn't happen in the books either: as far as I remember at the end of the ninth novel, William is still unaware of his father's homosexuality. But unlike Fergus's death, this change feels like it's serving a forward momentum, it's adding texture and propelling us forward into the end of the story for William. I'm intrigued about how it's all going to wrap up, with Amaranthus and Ben and all that as well. I would kill for a spin-off just about Lord John and his family.
William's response being so cold and betrayed, and John saying that he understands Amaranthus making the choices she did for the sake of protecting her son, and William saying he has no father, and the look on John's face, and Percy being such a creep but John just can't quite help himself... lots of delicious stuff going on here and I just wish we had more than three more episodes to fully explore and disentangle it all.
So... yeah. I'm so mad. I'm so upset about Fergus. It just, I know I keep saying it, but it feels so unnecessary, such a slap in the face. The show is almost over. Why did they have to make something so bleak happen at this stage, something the fans would never be on board with or enjoy? Sighhhhhhhh. I guess it's blessing in disguise that I only have a couple more weeks of this show's existence to be annoyed about this.
Exactly what I said was going to happen lol. Like, exactly.
Cons:
There were a lot of things to like about this episode, and I will talk about those things in a minute. But the stupidity of Fergus's death, and the whole Faith story-line, both taint the entire season at its foundation. We open with a scene of Jamie and Marsali talking about Fergus, and Jamie affirming that Fergus was the son of his name and his heart, and Marsali talks about taking Percy up on his offer in order to have money to rebuild the print shop. We learn that Marsali is, of course, pregnant. Eye-roll. And the thing is, this scene, in isolation, was lovely for what it was. I teared up a little when Marsali says she's so glad to have more of Fergus, in the form of this new child. I liked hearing Jamie and Marsali talk about Fergus and their love for him.
But, like, this whole thing still feels so unnecessary. Later, there's a dinner scene where William is there, and Ian and Rachel are back, and Roger has good news about his career, and they all toast to their future, and talk about how this is an auspicious day, and the whole time there are just alarm bells going on in the back of my mind like... hey! Jamie! Your son just died! As the episode continues, and a big part of it is about William and Jamie reconciling, I just kept thinking about how this story has not successfully integrated its choices with its themes. Does Jamie have... like... feelings about the son that he just lost, as he embraces his biological child who he had to leave behind when he was just a young boy? If this is a story about parenthood, about the relationship between fathers and sons, or just children and parents in general, why throw in Fergus's death like a footnote, and then not actually have Jamie processing that grief alongside the reconciliation with William? Why not have Jamie talk to William about Fergus, talk about how he has an unconventional relationship to his own status as a father? How his biological children were both raised by other men, and the only son he did get to raise was someone he met by happenstance in Paris? Why did Fergus die, if it doesn't matter, doesn't integrate with the larger themes of the season?
The same exact thing is also true of the Faith situation. As I'm watching Fanny talking to Roger, as I'm seeing Fanny so excited to see William, all these lovely moments, I'm thinking about how the Faith thing is just a distraction to what is already a full and lovely story. I'm distracted by the fact that William doesn't know that Fanny is his biological niece. And that JANE was his biological niece. Whoops. I'm distracted by Jamie and Claire ostensibly grieving for their dead son while also still reeling from the news that their stillborn daughter lived after all.
I think this is the bottom line: William matters more because he's Jamie's "real" son. And Fanny matters as a character because she's "really" related to Jamie and Claire. That's the message that the show has pushed, and I think it's garbage. If that's where you wanted to spend your time and energy in the story, then the least you can do is let Fergus live his life off screen somewhere. Yeesh.
A smaller note, but I really think Buck being here is just because they wanted to keep Graham McTavish in the show. The idea that he killed Rob Cameron and we get to see it now as a little flashback is just kind of silly to me. It feels like such a footnote, such an afterthought. The idea that Buck wouldn't have opened with that when he turned up: "oh, by the way, I killed that villain from last season, so we're good." I feel like we all just would have accepted that Rob Cameron was thwarted and wouldn't be turning up here in the past, you know? I like Buck as a character but there's just nothing for him to do.
Pros:
Much like I said last week, I have to praise the performances even if I think there's a lot in the writing that doesn't work. Lauren Lyle, who plays Marsali, is a low-key fave of mine from the whole run of this show. She takes a character I feel pretty neutral about in the books, and gives her so much life and texture. Her performance of grief as she talked to her dead husband was in fact moving, she's that good at what she does.
Last season when all the crazy stuff was going down with Lord John and Claire getting married and all that, I kept remarking on how lucky I felt, that all my favorite goofy melodramatic nonsense from the books was making the cut into the adaptation. They know they have a popular character in Lord John and they're going to milk it for all it's worth, and for that I continue to be so grateful. I love the way John speaks of William's capacity for forgiveness, to Amaranthus. Obviously he is hoping his son will find that forgiveness for him as well. And then that ending, where Percy betrays him and Richardson knocks him out! I was actually surprised, even though in retrospect I should have seen the whole thing coming.
So this is where we go into the realm of pure speculation, because this is lining up very much with stuff from the ninth book of the series. That book ends with John having been arrested, and William comes to Fraser's ridge to get Jamie's help rescuing his father. The circumstances are quite different. I only read the book one time and it was a couple of years ago so I'm fuzzy on the details, but I believe John has been arrested in part on suspicion of being a homosexual, but William does not know that it's actually true. Here, William is already at Fraser's Ridge, so I wonder how word will reach them that John is in peril, and if it will still be a quest to go rescue him. I would love that, for a penultimate episode of this show, honestly. Give it to me...
I know people find William annoying. They find book William annoying, and show William maybe even more so. And, yeah, he is kind of annoying, is the thing... but I actually continue to be so invested in his story on the show. I'm sorry, but just imagine being a young man coming into your place in the world, and discovering a grand conspiracy to hide the truth about your parentage. Imagine your father lying to you every day for your whole life! He's allowed to be salty and grumpy and unreasonable about the whole thing, in my opinion. And honestly, he isn't being that unreasonable? He doesn't hold the secret against Bree, and is instead openly affectionate with her. He feels a great deal of anger towards Jamie but honestly that anger manifests more as awkwardness and avoidance than anything else. When he is alone with Jamie, he actually is civil and the two of them reminisce about Helwater. Sure, he gets worked up about the John stuff, but he does listen to Claire and stick around to make things right with Jamie. Even though he's sometimes sulky about it, how can you not be endeared by him inviting Jamie to hunt with him "in the forest"? That made me smile so big! And the hug! Ugh, so earned. As I was watching all of this I was still quietly steaming in the back of my mind about Fergus, of course, but I was happy for William and Jamie all the same.
I do wonder, as I said, where we're going from here. William accusing Jamie of having been John's lover at Ardsmuir was so juicy, and obviously he was lashing out, but also it's not an unreasonable idea to have come into his head; it would explain why John agreed to raise him in the first place. I wonder if some version of this conversation is something Diana has planned for the tenth Outlander novel... and I wonder if we're going to get to see this rescue mission play out in a way that maps with what will happen in the book, or not! We're so close to the end...
I am so happy for Roger, in becoming a minister. It's very sweet the way his whole community supports him. In the book there's more awkwardness and tension with Jamie, who is of course Catholic, but even in the books Jamie is pleased for his son-in-law finding his calling. It was such a nice little subplot to see him actually being a minister, being a comfort to Fanny in a difficult moment, just as he is officially ordained into that calling. I love the innocence of Fanny's character, and I got choked up for the second time in the episode when Fanny asked if Roger could ask God about Jane, now that he's a minister. And Roger says that Fanny can talk to God directly, if she likes. I love that Roger offers that, and then we see Fanny talking... to Jane. Not to God. We're left on an intriguing moment of Fanny finding a gemstone and hearing the tell-tale time travel buzzing. Dun dun dun!
With just two more episodes left, I am going to try to forget about the Fergus issue, the same way Jamie seems to have forgotten about Fergus after that opening scene of the episode... and enjoy what time we have left with the rest of these characters!
The "Faith lived" story is one of the stupidest things this show has ever done. Just... profoundly, entirely unnecessary. I cannot imagine why they decided to go this route. And I'm very suspicious of the way Faith "died" by being thrown overboard on a ship... if this woman shows up in this season still alive magically, I'm going to be super annoyed and yet not at all surprised. And too many precious minutes of this episode was taken up with Claire and Jamie with their anguished faces just boohooing about it. I think it's stupid just on a logistical level because like... how, and why, would anybody have just lied to Claire's face about her daughter being stillborn? And how would a tiny infant hearing Claire sing a song to her one (1) time remember the tune and words? That's nonsense.
And then, I'm going to go so far as to say that Fanny being Claire and Jamie's actual granddaughter sort of... flies in the face of a major theme of this story? Like, it's all over the episode, the way Claire and Jamie collect a family around them that is not tied exclusively by blood. We have Fergus, who took Jamie's last name, we have Marsali, who was/is Jamie's step-daughter from a previous marriage, we have Ian who is Jamie's nephew but more like a foster son to him. And then Jamie's two biological children, Brianna and William, both growing up not knowing him for a father but coming into that knowledge and grappling with what it means for them. It's not a story where destiny is the be-all-end-all. Is it destiny that Jamie and Claire found each other? No. Fergus was random happenstance on the streets of Paris, William was the product of coercion and deceit. Them taking Fanny in fits in perfectly with the way these people collect strays and build family ties from that collection. There is simply no reason in this text that you need to add in this dumb as fuck twist about Faith. The story functions fine, functions better, without it. (Also, like, if Jane was Jamie's granddaughter then William slept with his niece. Is that ever going to be a thing that's addressed?)
I don't have any major complaints I don't think, other than just a degree of cheesiness and clunk to some of the dialogue. That's sort of part and parcel with this show and is part of what endears me to it a lot of the time, but there are moments that are more eye-roll-y than others, mostly when it seems like they are just making everybody react emotionally to something? Like, when they walk into the new house and the dialogue basically devolves into "wow, wow, wow, omg" over and over or all the awkward greetings and reunions at the Ridge. It's just a little tedious.
Pros:
To be quite honest, however, mostly I watch this show to point at the screen and gasp and smile at my little darlings who I've read thousands of pages about and have been watching on my screen for such a long time. The whole episode I was like, Fergus and Marsali my babies! William my baby! John my baby! Bree and Roger my babies! Lizzie my baby! Ian and Rachel my babies! And that was fun for me, it felt good to see everybody again.
There's a shot of Marsali screaming in agony in the preview for the rest of the season and I know exactly what she's reacting to and ouch, this first scene with Fergus and his family in the print shop already set me up to have my heart broken. I love that Jamie immediately finds Fergus's little hidey hole of seditious materials, because honestly, everything Fergus knows about how to do this, he learned from Jamie. Jamie tells Fergus to be careful, and honestly it's mostly just nice to see Fergus at peace with himself and doing so well in life. I love the actress who plays Marsali, she is such a warm and welcoming figure on the show and it's always a delight to see her.
Jamie and Claire return to the Ridge with Fanny in tow, reunite with Ian and Rachel, discover that their whole community, led by Ian, have built the new house for them, they meet a somewhat sinister former British captain who has settled on the Ridge, then Bree and Roger and the kiddos turn up and we get lots of good reunion stuff... it's a busy time for the Frasers.
Of the many reasons I hate the "Faith lived" twist, one of them is that it taints Fanny for me as a character, when actually she is quite sweet and the idea of Jamie and Claire tenderly welcoming in a little orphan and making her feel comfortable is so lovely. I loved the little moment when Jamie offers Fanny a room all her own and talks about building her furniture for it. So sweet! I'd love to see more of that, and I'd love for Claire and Jamie to find out right now that they're wrong about the Faith thing and just love Fanny for herself and not for this connection to their dead daughter please.
I really loved Ian and Rachel just being this unambiguously happy couple gleefully welcoming the Frasers back to their home; I have flip flopped so much about Ian as a character over the many seasons of this show but I've landed on being very endeared by him and the story being told here.
And of course it was such a joy to have Bree and Roger and the kids back; the scene of Jamie reading Goodnight Moon to the kiddos was genuinely adorable, and I love that they kept in that detail of Brianna bringing back a medical book for her mom, and The Lord of the Rings for her dad. Amazing. I also liked the scene of Jamie being haunted by the image of Frank on the book about the American Revolution, and asking Claire why she never told him that Frank looked so much like Black Jack. I think Jamie and Claire work best for me as a couple in these smaller little conversations, as opposed to the big declarations of passion. And it's such a fun and compelling tension to set up, that Claire's first husband Frank warns of Jamie's death in his work about Scottish people and their role in the revolution. I know where this is all going from the book but I really like how it was set up here!
I hope Lord John is in every single episode of this season, disgruntled and holding a cute little baby. I am so obsessed with him it defies belief. I think I've said this often about this show; I'm always curious what story-lines make the cut and what doesn't, and I love that they've chosen for William's stories to get a focus, and of course, by proxy, John's as well. The stuff with Amaranthus Grey is already making me smile, especially since I Know Stuff and am excited to watch it play out. My heart broke for John talking about how if he told Hal that Ben was dead, Hal might die of heartbreak and he couldn't bear that. Poor guy! My favorite John moment was when he told William that all three of the men who had some claim to being his father (Ransom, Grey, Fraser) would be ashamed of the way he'd treated Amaranthus. John's like, "all of your dads are very disappointed in you, son." It made me laugh and also John looked kinda hot getting all stern about it, to be quite honest with you.
So that's episode one, of this final season of Outlander! I'm most curious to track which story-lines from books eight and nine make it in here, and if I detect hints of stuff from the as-yet-unfinished book ten... it's a unique challenge, ending a show like this when the source material it's adapting is still a live document. I have confidence this show will do better than Game of Thrones managed to do in that same scenario, but then... that's not exactly a high bar, is it?
I love Lord John so much, I'm willing to look past a lot of stuff that's not good about the show these days... he's my weakness...
Cons:
Obligatory statement that the Faith thing and Fergus's death still feel pointless and cruel and neither played into this episode at all. Jamie talking about his son William meanwhile I'm like... you're supposed to be in intense grieving for Fergus but of course he doesn't come up at all... whatever.
I also felt like the time jumping in this episode was kind of perfunctory and bizarre. Even as a book reader I had sort of forgotten Bree was even pregnant and I kind of chuckled when suddenly in voice-over Claire was just like "oh yeah, here's Davy" like. What an afterthought.
My only bigger note for the cons section is... hmm. This might be difficult to fully articulate. It's been a minute since I read the book, and of course book enjoyers are eagerly waiting for the John rescue mission to come in book ten. I do wonder what similarities it will all bear to what we've seen here. But let's ignore the book, and go purely on what we see on our screens here. At the end, when John tells Percy he has to sign an affidavit confessing to trying to smear John's character and kidnapping and all that... I kept thinking, my god, Percy should want to sign the damn thing. It's bad, of course it's bad, but like... that confession he wrote and signed implicates HIM as much as it does John, in committing the crime of sodomy, right? Like, the fact that Percy was blackmailed into doing that, and at no point did the show point out that this would have also ruined his life... it really bothered me how unclear the stakes were.
I also feel like Percy is an interesting character because he's a coward, and our big heroic lead characters all have such disdain for him for not being brave enough to risk his life to protect a loved one, and then in the end he kills himself like... immediately, upon the prospect of potentially going to prison for life? Surely he could have tried to weasel his way out for a little longer. It just felt... fuzzy, to me, if that makes sense. And I don't really share Jamie, Claire, William, and John's utter distaste for Percy. The man was forced to confess to a crime on paper, twice, once by Richardson's threats, and once by John's. What exactly was he meant to do in this situation?
Pros:
But honestly. As a book reader I really have been waiting for this John rescue mission for years and years, and it was satisfying to see at least some version of it play out on my screen. I love how catty and sarcastic John is, he's such a fun character. He stands up well under rough treatment, he's so clever getting a message to William with his ring. I loved the look on John's face when the door bursts open and it's Jamie on the other side. Like, what on earth must have been going through his mind at that moment? Jamie complimenting the beard was really cute, and the hug with William was everything! We love Claire holding a gun on Richardson and saying she's here on behalf of her former husband. This is such a weird twisted little family situation and I am, as always, obsessed with it.
I have to wonder, again, how this is going to go down in the book, because I kind of can't picture book Jamie saying some of these things to John when they have their reconciliation conversation. I think it's more likely that they both decide to just move past it and say all there is to say with a couple of pats on the shoulder and awkward nods lol. That said, I did love seeing it play out this way too. The minute Jamie says "I have decided to forgive you" is so funny. You just see that Jamie thinks he's nailed this whole interaction, meanwhile John's got steam coming out of his ears, and Claire is rolling her eyes so hard at the both of them.
And then for Jamie to say it felt like a betrayal, what John said to him about his night with Claire, and John saying he was trying to explain something that couldn't be explained... John did need an apology from Jamie; Jamie kicked the shit out of him which was totally unwarranted. In my fantasy version of this conversation, Jamie would allude to the fact that he has a specific reason to despise the idea of a man touching him in that way, beyond just a heterosexual aversion to gay sex. Like, that's another thing that I sort of wish the show would go into more, is that Jamie does love John, he considers him a dear friend, but he does think his proclivities are unnatural and sinful. Claire is put off by John's homosexuality too. They're both homophobes. Like, that's undeniable. I understand why the show wouldn't want to delve into all the messiness of this, but I think it does make things a bit more interesting. I'm not putting this as a "con" of the episode, though, I still liked what we got. I liked Jamie apologizing, I liked John being snarky and then sincere, I liked them sitting down to play chess. I liked Claire challenging Jamie to deny that he loves John.
William and Amaranthus's last conversation was nice, I like that they were able to part with respect and friendship, and that they aren't going to try for a very ill-advised romance. I do wonder what Amaranthus's long-term plan would be from here; her husband is still alive, whether the world knows it or not! I'd watch the spin-off about Lord John, William, and all their gang... I love them so much.
I really enjoyed Claire and Richardson's conversation; any time there's a scene where time travelers encounter each other unexpectedly in this story, I find it really satisfying. I was a little miffed at Claire for letting him go but also at least it made sense why she would have great sympathy with his cause. This show has a bad track record of actually dealing with the racism and slavery thing that's just sort of hanging over our heads constantly. At least this was an attempt to acknowledge it, and I do think it's enough to justify Claire making a reckless choice. And of course John shooting Richardson right between the eyes was horrific and also satisfying in equal measure.
Brianna and Jamie have a scene at the very end of this episode which I enjoyed, where Bree implores her father not to go to the battle where he is fated to die. We've seen within this episode that history cannot be evaded, and Jamie thinks this might be the only way to keep his family safe, to stop the war in the back country. I am, at this point, extremely curious as to what they are going to do to wrap up this show in one more episode. I assume we've seen the last of the bulk of our side characters, that John, William, etc. won't appear as their stories are basically wrapped with this one. I assume we'll see Jamie's ultimate fate, and I wonder whether that will include some reference to his ghostly image looking up at Claire in the window at the very start of the first Outlander book and season!
I don't even know if I think this was a super good episode of TV, but it was an episode that had plenty of Lord John in it, and heartfelt conversations, and William got to hug his other dad, and at this stage in the game, what with the decline in the quality of this show overall, I'm just glad to be getting these precious little morsels however I can.
