And just like that, it’s the end of season 5. Here’s my final “Insta-Reaction” post for the season!

Warning:

I may be talking about events from this episode, other episodes, and/or the book series… so if you’d rather not know, now’s your chance to walk away!

Outlander, episode 512: “Never My Love”

The official synopsis (via Starz):

Claire struggles to survive brutal treatment from her captors, as Jamie gathers a group of loyal men to help him rescue his wife. Roger and Brianna’s journey takes a surprising turn.

My take:

Tough, painful episode. I’m not even going to try to recap it.

Insta-reaction:

The show has now gone to the most difficult and awful section of book six. I was hoping (but without really thinking there was a chance) that the show would for once decide that it doesn’t need to show every single rape that happens in the books. Sadly, that’s not what happened.

Look, I love Outlander, but I think it has a rape problem. Maybe because the books are so long, and so many years go by in between the publication of each book, it just doesn’t feel like being hit over the head quite as much as it does when viewing the TV show. I was just thinking back — has there been a single season of TV Outlander that hasn’t had at least one character being raped? Sadly, the answer is no.

This segment of the book is so disturbing and awful. I just can’t say it strongly enough. It’s what makes me flinch whenever I think about re-reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes (which happens to be a book with a LOT of terrible things — probably the bleakest of the books).

Couldn’t the show have included the abduction, if it needed to, without including rape? I think it could have. Book purists will argue that it had to be included because it happpened in the book, but I think the trauma and violence and fallout from this incident could have been conveyed regardless. Then again, I made the same argument when it came to Brianna in season 4, but no one else agreed with me!

I absolutely applaud the fine acting in this episode, particularly Caitriona Balfe, who just shone. She was splendid in every scene, and I respect her accomplishment and dedication so much. Really, the entire cast was excellent.

But still… it was a tough episode, and a downer of a season finale.

At least we got one of my favorite classic Jamie lines:

Sigh. Oh, Jamie.

Brianna and Roger’s return is practically an afterthought — yes, they went through the stones, but because they were both thinking of home, they ended up right back in the same place. They both now realize that they belong at Fraser’s Ridge, with Jamie and Claire.

I did think the opening was quite well done. As Claire is being abused and assaulted, she dissociates and in her mind, goes to a 1960s-era home where she’s surrounded by her loved ones — Jamie, enfolding her in his plaid, and then a Thanksgiving dinner with Ian, Murtagh, Jocasta, Marsali and Fergus. They all look super mod and it would be adorable if it weren’t a fantasy that’s keeping Claire from having to live in her pain and trauma.

Overall, this was a terribly painful episode to watch, and I wish this wasn’t the final note of the season, because this is the tone and content that we’ll all be left with over the long months (years?) until the next season airs.

Season wrap-up:

This has been a very uneven season — not because of the acting, which is as excellent as ever — but because of the strange pacing, the downplaying of certain traumatic events, and the inclusion of others that I wasn’t expecting until next season. It leaves me wondering what’s next. Will the show circle back to the pieces of book six (such as the Christie family) that didn’t get included here? Or will we be moving directly on to season 7 and the looming war?

I love Outlander, and always will, but this season has left me with very mixed feelings.

Of course, after watching today’s episode, it may just be that I haven’t dealt with the impact yet. Maybe with time and a rewatch, I’ll feel better about the season as a whole. Still, right now, I’m uneasy and feeling not quite satisfied.

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Season 5 is here! I’ll be writing an “Insta-Reaction” post for each episode soon after viewing, to share some initial thoughts, questions, reactions — you name it.

Warning:

I may be talking about events from this episode, other episodes, and/or the book series… so if you’d rather not know, now’s your chance to walk away!

Outlander, episode 511: “Journeycake”

The official synopsis (via Starz):

A revelation about Jemmy forces Roger and Brianna to choose between staying in the eighteenth century and returning to the safety of the future.  Jamie finds that unrest in the backcountry has given rise to a new power – an organization led by the unpredictable Brown brothers.  Claire finds that her attempts to make this time safer for her family have dire, unintended consequences

My take:

Major plot points:

We’re really and truly into book #6 now. Major events this episode:

• After discovering that Jemmy has the ability to time travel, Roger and Brianna decide it’s time to go back to their own time
• Jamie tells Brianna about her brother William.
• The Browns form a Safety Committee and want Jamie to join, along with his men, but he declines.
• Later, Lionel Brown brings his wife to Claire for treatment, and discovers that she’s the “Doctor Rawlings” whose advice has been circulating.
• Brianna, Roger, and Jemmy leave.
• Claire is abducted by the Browns. (Scum.)

Insta-reaction:

Wow. The show is serious about covering a lot of ground. It’s been a year since the events of the last episode. It’s now 1772, and there’s a LOT going on.

It’s full speed ahead into territory covered in book #6, A Breath of Snow and Ashes. We open with the same disturbing setting as the opening of the book, the “Dutch cabin”, where a family of settlers has been killed and their cabin burned to the ground. The Frasers find the bodies and wonder what could have happened. One woman, horribly burned, is found still alive. Jamie and Roger give her a mercy killing and a final blessing, and the family buries the dead.

Back at the Ridge, Ian plays with Jemmy using the opal left by Otter Tooth. Jemmy touches it and says that it’s hot. The stone is hot to the touch for Claire, Roger, and Brianna, not to Jamie and Young Ian. The time travelers can also hear the hum that they associate with the standing stones, and when Jemmy holds the opal again, it cracks. This must be a sign that Jemmy is a time traveler, like his parents, and — Brianna hopefully adds — perhaps this is finally the proof that Roger is Jemmy’s biological father.

Roger and Brianna decide that it’s time for them to go back to their own time, and agree to leave in a month, to give them time for proper good-byes. Young Ian learns the truth about Claire and time travel, and begs Brianna and then Claire to take him with them, so he can then attempt to go back to an earlier time and fix his mistakes. He’s devastated when they turn him down, explaining that it doesn’t work that way — either you’re born a time traveler, or you’re not, and since he didn’t feel any heat from the opal, he’s not. We still don’t know much about Ian’s time with the Mohawks, but he does mention a situation between husband and wife. Book readers know what happened, but this is another clue for show-only fans that Ian has a romantic past that’s yet to be revealed.

A group of armed men led by the Browns show up at the Ridge, calling on Jamie to gather his men and join their Committee for Safety, to patrol the region and ensure peace. They do not have the blessing of the new governor. Despite some attempts at intimidation, Jamie says he needs time to think. This does not please the Browns.

Lord John comes for a visit, and hey, it’s always great to see Lord John. He’s preparing to return to England. William’s grandfather has died, which means that William is now the heir to both the Ellesmere title (he’s an Earl, don’t you know) and the Dunsany estate, and John needs to prepare him for what that will mean for him as an adult. He leaves Jamie with a portrait of the lad. Later, Jamie shows the portrait to Brianna and explains that she has a brother. He tells her the story of how William was conceived and what his life is like, and suggests that when she’s back in her own time, she look in the historical records to see if she can find him.

Lionel Brown returns to the Ridge for Jamie’s answer, and he declines to join the Brown endeavor. This is not going to sit well with the Browns. Before leaving, Lionel wants Claire to tend to his injured wife. The poor woman, married to Lionel for only a year, has a broken wrist and has clearly been abused. When Lionel leaves the room, she confesses to Claire that Lionel became angry when she wouldn’t sleep with him, and she didn’t want to because she read Doctor Rawlings’s advice about when to avoid intercourse if a woman doesn’t want to conceive. Uh oh. And then Lionel comes back into the room and sees a notebook with Dr. Rawling’s name on it. Double uh oh.

Brianna and Roger make tearful good-byes. Their cover story is that they’re moving to Boston, where Roger has been offered a professorship. Kind of a flimsy alibi, isn’t it? Won’t everyone wonder why they never come back for a visit or write a single letter to their parents? In any case, it’s all quite sad. Poor Lizzie fully expects to go with Bree, and seems heartbroken when she’s told that she’ll have to stay at the Ridge.

After a farewell dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (Jamie and Ian are not impressed), Brianna and Roger head to the stones, with Ian along to make sure they arrive okay. Roger ties ropes around himself, Brianna, and Jemmy so they won’t get separated, and they touch the stones… and are gone. They wake up, somewhere, and apparently see something shocking. But we don’t know what! Let’s hope we find out next episode that they arrived back in the 20th century safe and sound.

When the Fraser’s Ridge still explodes, Jamie and the men go running, leaving Claire and Marsali alone in the house tending to a patient. A gang of Brown’s men burst in, knock out Marsali, and abduct Claire. Damn, damn, damn.

The episode ends with Jamie lighting the fiery cross, calling his loyal men together. It’s a sign of readying for battle. They’re going to get Claire back.

Other tidbits:

• Ulysses is hiding out at Fraser’s Ridge, after killing Gerald Forbes in the previous episode. He’s going to sail to England with Lord John, posing as his servant. Once out of the Carolinas, he’ll finally be free.

• Jamie and Claire make love in a window (straight out of the book). The next day, Claire shows Jamie his sperm under a microscope. Um, thanks? Weird scene, and now we’ve all seen Jamie Fraser’s sperm.

• This episode was written by Herself, aka Diana Gabaldon. It’s always nice to get her imprint on an episode! And now, I’d like for her to finish up the next book, pretty please.

Insta-reaction wrap-up:

Damn it. The preview for next week makes it clear where the storyline is going — straight toward the part of A Breath of Snow and Ashes that makes me truly unhappy, and that I’d prefer to be spared, or at least not forced to watch this season. There’s been quite enough trauma already, thank you very much.

Given the speed with which the show is moving through books 5 and 6, does that mean that next season will pick up with season 7? Frankly, book 6 contains a lot of pretty disturbing material, so if we could be done with all that, I’d be fine with it.

The cast is turning is really strong performances, and I just hope that Brianna and Roger’s departure doesn’t mean that the actors and characters will be disappearing from the story. (The books include their 20th century lives… we’ll see what happens in the show).

Next week’s episode is the season finale. I really and truly hope that they don’t follow the absolute letter of the book with this next set of events. If you’ve read the book, you know what I mean. That would be an awful way to end the season. Please, please let us end with something upbeat!

Ack. I’m feeling upset already, and we’re not even there yet. Keeping my fingers crossed that the show finds a different way to bring this season to a close.

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Season 5 is here! I’ll be writing an “Insta-Reaction” post for each episode soon after viewing, to share some initial thoughts, questions, reactions — you name it.

Warning:

I may be talking about events from this episode, other episodes, and/or the book series… so if you’d rather not know, now’s your chance to walk away!

Outlander, episode 509: “Monsters and Heroes”

The official synopsis (via Starz):

When Jamie is bitten by a venomous snake, Claire fears she may not have the resources to save him. Jamie asks Roger to complete an important task in the event of his death.

My take:

Major plot points:

• Jamie almost dies. But he doesn’t.
• Really, that’s the focus of the whole episode.
• Marsali has a baby girl.
• Roger and Jamie bond.
• Claire is amazing.

Insta-reaction:

The menfolk of the Ridge go out on a hunt, then split up into groups to track a herd of buffalo. Roger and Jamie pair up, and Jamie is bitten by a snake. It appears to be venomous, and Jamie becomes ill very quickly. Roger attempts to go for help, but the others are too far away. They have no choice but to make camp for the night and try to return by daylight.

Jamie’s condition worsens, and he believes he’s going to die. He asks Roger for last rites, which Roger says he doesn’t know, and in any case, that Jamie doesn’t need them. He offers Jamie a prayer for the sick, but Jamie scoffs since it’s not in Latin. As long as he keeps his sense of humor, he can’t be too badly off, right? Jamie makes Roger promise two things in case he (Jamie) dies: To kill Stephen Bonnet, and to make sure Claire goes back to her own time, along with Roger, Bree and Jemmy, if possible.

In the morning, Jamie’s condition is bad, but he’s still alive. Roger begins hauling him back to the Ridge, but luckily, Ian and Fergus find them and help get Jamie home.

Jamie’s leg looks bad. His body has fought off the venom, but his wound is infected, and even an application of maggots can’t get rid of all the infection. If only Claire’s syringe hadn’t been broken by that rotten Brown brother last episode!

Claire knows that she may have to amputate the leg to save Jamie’s life, and he tries to force her to promise not to do it. Ian scolds Jamie harshly, asking if Ian Sr or Fergus were any less brave or honorable for having lost limbs to amputation?

Finally, Jamie gives in and gives Claire permission to amputate, but engineer Bree rushes in to save the day. She’s made a syringe from the fang of the snake that bit Jamie, and Claire is able to use this to inject Jamie with penicillin. All is right with the world!

There are some great moments in this episode. Early on, we get a tender moment as Claire gives Marsali a prenatal check-up and Marsali confides how glad she is to have Claire with her, both as a doctor and as a mother. Sweet! Of course, when the time finally comes, Claire has her hands full with Jamie and Marsali goes into fast labor out in the woods with Fergus and their two kids… let’s just assume she made it back home and didn’t deliver right then and there.

We also get an important scene with Claire and Brianna, talking about finding their callings. Claire knows she was always meant to be a doctor, and whether called a healer, a nurse, or even a witch, her life will always have meaning so long as she can continue to practice medicine. Brianna is concerned about both herself and Roger and what they might do with their lives. Claire reassures Brianna that she’s meant to be an engineer, and that it’ll be up to Bree to figure out what that looks like for her in the 18th century.

I loved Roger and Jamie’s time together, each showing their depth of caring and respect in their own way. And in all the drama of the episode, it’s almost easy to forget the opening scene, when Jamie comes to the cabin to fetch Brianna for the hunting trip and basically walks in on Roger and Bree in bed together. Little Jemmy was adorable too.

And not too quibble or be ungrateful for a beautiful episode… but apparently the show has decided that Roger is just perfectly okay and has no lasting damage from the hanging? Alrighty then. I mean, strange choice, but okay.

Claire was simply stellar in this episode. She tends to Jamie as a physician but also as the woman who loves him, and feels the absolute crushing weight of her impending decision. I don’t for a minute believe she’d allow Jamie to die rather than amputate his leg, no matter what she promises him, but she also knows that if she does it without his consent, he may never forgive her. The moment when he appears to be dying and Claire wraps herself around him and begs him to stay with her… oh my. Waterworks.

Insta-reaction wrap-up:

This was such a well-done episode. Maybe I loved it so much because it does what the best Outlander episodes do — show us the hearts of the people involved and the depth of their relationships.

So much of season 5 has focused on externals — the Regulators and the Governor and the battles and militia. Here, in episode 9, we’re tightly focused on the Fraser family and their life at the Ridge, and it’s a beautiful thing.

More of this, please!

And yet… it’s sad to realize that suddenly the season is starting to near the end. Only three more episodes to go!

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