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 502: “Between Two Fires”

The official synopsis (via Starz):

As Jamie continues to hunt Murtagh with the aid of the zealous Lieutenant Hamilton Knox, he’s forced to consider whether or not he’s on the right side of history.

My take:

Major plot points:

Jamie and Claire have no scenes together. So there’s that. Otherwise…

• Claire applies 20th century medical techniques back in the 18th century.
• Brianna tries to help Roger fit in.
• Jamie and Lt. Knox are hunting for Murtagh.
• The Regulators (led by Murtagh) carry out a gruesome punishment.
• Stephen Bonnet is up to no good, as per usual.

Insta-reaction:

Well, the sweetness and light of the wedding couldn’t last long. After all, this is Outlander, so it’s back to mayhem and danger as of episode #2.

[Note: I’m probably going to keep this recap on the short side, since it’s late and I’m tired. Sorry!]

The Regulators are out for their own form of vigilante justice, and it’s gross. We’ve all probably seen cartoon versions of tarring and feathering (Road Runner, perhaps?). The real thing, involving actual hot tar and bare flesh, is really awful and disturbing. Love ya, Murtagh, but this is just terrible.

Jamie and Lieutenant Knox ride out together searching for Murtagh and the Regulators, and have some interesting conversations about duty and loyalty. Jamie is walking a fine line between his promises to the governor and his love for Murtagh. Things go bad in a hurry when the two men question the three Regulators being held in jail, and Lt. Knox kills one of them. Jamie covers it up as self-defense (although it was really murder), but Knox later uses hefty doses of rationalization to convince himself he acted honorably. Jamie later carries out a mini-jail break, freeing the other two men, who then find their way back to Murtagh and his rebels.

Back on the Ridge, a dying man is brought to Claire for help, but it’s too late. The man’s wife’s attempts to heal her husband with blood-letting and herbs end up killing him. Claire is frustrated by how powerless she is to save lives and apply her medical training. She ends up performing an autopsy on the man, which would get her killed (or accused of black magic) if she were caught, and later convinces Marsali to become her apprentice and learn about medical techniques. By the end of the episode, Claire is trying to grow her own penicillin! Bree questions whether she’s playing God, introducing 20th century medicine two centuries too early. What if she messes up the future? But Claire asserts that they (the time travelers) are changing the future every day they’re in the 18th century. She’s determined to try to make a difference in the health of the people she cares for.

Roger can’t shoot straight, and he can’t understand why Jamie would make him a captain in his militia. He asks Brianna if she wants to go back to their own time. He clearly does; she clearly doesn’t.

Like the baddest of bad pennies, Stephen Bonnet turns up in North Carolina, betting on a fight between two women. When another man takes offense and accuses Bonnet of cheating, Bonnet challenges him to a duel, and when the man yields, Bonnet blinds him. This is straight out of the book, but still. Yuck. We get it — Bonnet is the worst. And again, back on the Ridge, we see (earlier in the episode) that Brianna is still haunted by Bonnet, drawing dark and disturbing sketches of his face, over and over again. Sadly, he and the Frasers aren’t done with each other yet.

Insta-reaction wrap-up:

I never really liked the Regulators storyline in the book (The Fiery Cross), and I’m not loving it here either. Unfortunately, this is the main historical focus this season, so I’ll just have to deal with it.

Some favorite moments from this episode:

• Roger singing Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog to baby Jem. Can we please have a greatest hits of the 1960s and 1970s moment every episode?
• Marsali carving up a deer while Claire surreptitiously checks out her knife skills.
• Bree giving Roger a shooting lesson… and then completely one-upping him when there was actually something to shoot at.
• Roger singing at the burial — hints of his future religious calling?

We met a few new recurring characters, including Mr. and Mrs. Bug, who will become important fixtures around Fraser’s Ridge.

Claire is taking a huge risk keeping a carved up corpse in her surgery! She never does stay out of trouble for long, does she?

As always, the look of the show is fabulous — the costumes, the homes on Fraser’s Ridge, the town, the food, the candle-making. Let’s hope the season doesn’t get too bogged down by Murtagh and the Regulators.

And furthermore…

If the whole reason for keeping TV-Murtagh alive years after book-Murtagh is long dead is to turn him into a Regulator leader, then I think Outlander has missed its mark somehow. I’m not loving seeing Murtagh in this role, and I’m not seeing a path to a good resolution of this storyline.

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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.

(And hurray! While the season officially starts tonight, Starz made the first episode available early!)

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 501: “The Fiery Cross”

The official synopsis (via Starz):

Following celebrations in honor of Brianna and Roger’s wedding, Governor Tryon reminds Jamie of his obligation to hunt down and kill Murtagh Fitzgibbons.

My take:

Major plot points:

It’s Brianna and Roger’s wedding day!

• Claire and Jamie help Brianna and Roger prepare for their wedding at Fraser’s Ridge.
• Lots of familiar faces in the crowd, including Lord John, Governor Tryon, and Aunt Jocasta.
• Tryon seems unhappy with Jamie.
• Roger doesn’t particularly fit in in the 18th century.
• Lots of couples seem to enjoy the wedding night!
• Jamie calls upon the Scots of the Ridge to stand by him, when and if there’s a need to go to war.
• Jamie puts on his kilt!!

Insta-reaction:

For Outlander, it’s a surprisingly happy season opener!

We start with a flashback to Scotland, as a much younger Murtagh finds young boy Jamie and tells him that his mother has died, but swears to follow and serve Jamie forever. It’s sad and sweet, and little Jamie is adorable.

But quick, it’s time for a wedding!

Claire and Brianna share a sweet moment together before the big event. Jamie and Roger’s scene is funny and a bit more tense. Jamie’s still not completely sold on Roger as husband material, and Roger is well aware that he is ill equipped for this time period. He’s a historian and a scholar. He can’t hunt or farm or shoot. Or even shave his own face, apparently.

Still, it’s very sweet to see Jamie’s emotions as he talks with Brianna before the ceremony, and even though he’d have preferred a Catholic priest, Jamie does give Brianna away, and he and Claire are both beaming by the time the wedding ceremony is over. Plus, they share a sweet flashback to their own wedding day, now over 20 years in their past.

Food and drink and music make for a good time, and it’s nothing but happy faces and lots of drunkenness all around. The day is marred for Brianna when she overhears Jamie and Lord John discussing the fact that Stephen Bonnet has been seen in North Carolina. Why can’t awful people die and stay dead?

Fergus and Marsali are adorable as always, and apparently, baby #3 is on the way!

Jamie and Claire spend a passionate night together, in between tending to baby Jem. Brianna and Roger have a romantic wedding night, after Roger serenades Brianna with L-O-V-E and his guitar, and while they do make love, Brianna appears to be troubled by the memories stirred up by thoughts of Stephen Bonnet. And there’s a third couple enjoying some wedding night sparks — Jocasta and Murtagh rendezvous in a shack in the woods. Murtagh is still a fugitive (whom Jamie’s supposed to be hunting down). Jocasta shares that Duncan Innes has asked her to marry him, clearly giving Murtagh a chance to declare himself. He doesn’t. Is this the end for Jocasta and Murtagh?

Next day, Jocasta confronts Roger about the parentage of wee Jem — quite intentionally — provoking him into an angry outburst in which he declares Jem to be his son. He goes back to Brianna and Jem and formally claims the baby as blood of his blood, bone of his bone.

Governor Tryon made clear to Jamie that he expects him to gather up a militia of Scots within a week, to serve the crown’s interests and specifically, to find the traitor Murtagh. Jamie decides that if it’s a Scot the Governor wants, it’s a Scot he’ll get. He takes out his precious kilt and puts it on for the first time in years… and looks pretty darn spectacular in it.

Lighting a giant cross made of straw, Jamie invokes the old worlds used by lairds in Scotland. The men of Fraser’s Ridge aren’t a clan and he’s not their chief, but he asks them for their fealty and to swear to stand by him when the time comes. He calls Roger to his side and calls him “Captain Mackenzie”, and Roger swears to Jamie alongside all the others.

Claire and Jamie gaze out over their land, yet another straw cross by their side.

Insta-reaction wrap-up:

Another season, another terrific new version of the theme song. The season 1 version will always hold a special place in my heart, but I’m liking this one too!

For once, it’s nice to start a season of Outlander without violence or bodily harm or terrible occurrences. While there were hints of tension and upcoming conflict, it was mostly a happy episode, and that was fine by me.

It was such fun to see the “big house”, still under construction but looking pretty impressive, especially seeing Claire’s new surgery, her thriving doctor business, and how she’s apparently attempted to explain the concept of bacteria and germs to Jamie.

I love seeing Jamie and Claire, a little older, a few more gray hairs, but still as passionately in love as always. In contrast, Brianna and Roger, while clearly in love, have a bumpy road ahead of them. Roger has already said something about “going back”, and Brianna didn’t look particularly enthused. Plus, with his lack of ability to fit in and be useful, and the fact that he’s a Presbyterian (gasp!), and Brianna’s PTSD, and the baby’s unknown paternity… well, let’s just say that they certainly won’t lack for drama.

Seeing Jamie release Murtagh from his vow and send him away so was sad… particularly seeing the tears falling down Jamie’s face as Murtagh walks away. Back in season 3, readers speculated that Murtagh would take over the role played by Duncan Innes in the book in regard to Jocasta, and it had appeared to be working out (more or less) that way… but now Duncan is around after all? Hmmm. Let’s see where this goes, shall we?

The Fiery Cross isn’t particularly my favorite book of the Outlander series, and while it’s super long, there are also long stretches where not that much happens. (After all, the first two hundred pages or so are devoted to a single day!). The show seems to be off to a good start in terms of consolidating storylines and keeping the action rolling along.

And furthermore…

It’s just so wonderful to be back in the world of Outlander! At this point, it’s like visiting family, seeing all the beloved faces — especially when the season opens with a joyous occasion. Outlander threw a wedding and we were all invited! So sweet.

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