Re: your spoiler
Who I noticed was mentioned in this most recent episode - in the books, I don’t recall mention of her until they get to America, but I could be forgetting.
Figured one of y’all would have the straight dope. 
Okay, so Jamie holds Lallybroch on his own, or as a tenant of Mackenzie of Leoch. But he’s still part of the duthchas - the collective clan community - of the highland* Frasers. He has a claim on Lovat as his chief.
History geek digression, here: the Frasers of Lovat were an offshoot of a lowland family, the Frasers of Saltoun. Both have chiefs on the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, today.
Your link didn’t work for me but that’s great news!
I wonder if they’re going to stick to the books or deviate and go out on their own because Gabaldon is still writing the books, as they did with the Game of Thrones adaptation.
She’s working on book 9 now, and I think she said there’d be ten total. They still have some time before they overtake her. She’s also a faster writer than Mr. Martin (and good friends with him too.)
Still couldn’t get the link to work. However, I got it via a Google search, so thanks. The article says that Seasons 3 and 4 will follow the timeline of the books, so that answers my question!
The pretending to assault Claire to get the info. out of the boy was one of my favorite scenes so far. Hilarious.
Yeah, I like the little bit of funny when Claire kicked Jamie in the balls, and his slightly strained “Sassenach”.
According to Mrs. SMV, who’s read the books at least four times, the side plot about Claire’s PTSD is not canon; but both she and I thought it added a nice element to Claire’s character development. I suspect it owes something to the modern awareness of PTSD, arising out of our Middle Eastern wars.
I found that there was a poetry to this episode. Je Suis Prest means I am Ready. So many of our characters had to Get Ready.
Jamie had to get ready to lead men into battle. The cotters had to get ready to take orders and fight. Dougal had to get ready to serve under Jamie and learn to fight in a way beyond clan raids. Claire had to face her PTSD in order to get ready to provide support in this battle.
I loved the cadences sung while the men were training. Claire’s flashbacks to World War II, were not in the book but they made sense. The only thing I missed that would have made a nice touch is Lord John (squeee!!!) making Red Jamie promise not to hurt the English lady once he was gone, and Jamie revealing the Sassenach was his wife.
Oh, and Angus’ feet are gross.
No! Not Angus!
Nice twist there. For book readers, another major secondary character dies, so we were expecting that. Not this, though. 
This was another stellar episode. Dougal trying to make himself look good for his beloved prince, only to let his bloodlust overtake him and ruin his plans. Nice shout out to the season one episodes five and six where we meet Lieutenant Cutie Pie, who Dougal admits is the only decent English soldier. But when LCP tries to be kind to Dougal, to let him know they will never win, that’s too much for Dougal to hear.
BPC is overly kind to his enemy, even at the expense at his own men who have left family and hearth to fight for his cause. I think it was wise of Jamie not to pass along his orders to Claire, who would have just rolled her eyes and continued with triage. Kudoes again to the costume design team. His shortbread cookie tin outfit is straight from his portrait.
Fergus, itching for a fight, then coming back aged five years in about fifteen minutes. That young actor, Romann Berrux, is quite the thespian.
Claire running the hospital like the head nurse she is, and Jamie trying to pee in a cup for the entertainment of the English prisoners.
Only three episodes left. Diana Gabaldon wrote the next episode, Vengenence is Mine, and the season finale will be 90 minutes.
If you get a chance, download Ron Moore’s free podcasts on iTunes. It’s a wonderful behind the scenes look of the production of the show.
I burst into tears, yet again. These actors are just superb. I’ve been reading ahead, and I’m halfway through the fourth book.
Stephen Walters, who played Angus, is on Twitter. He’s quite the card.
Mrs. SMV and I were away over the weekend, so we only just saw this week’s episode. And…I wasn’t really impressed.
I found Murdoch and Jamie’s conversation about the meaninglessness of their deaths to be a bit forced; and all the military posturing felt a little like an 18th century version of Rat Patrol. And frankly, the emotion of Angus’ death was robbed by the frankly ridiculous, hackneyed trope of Rupert waking up just then and coming to his side. This episode was a little bit clichéd, a little uninspired, especially after some of the Paris episodes and last week’s taut character studies.
That said, there were some lovely moments - “The hero of the hour has shat himself,” and Jamie’s pissing contest.
Terry Dresbach got in a really subtle, really funny little joke simply by means of costume; when Jamie and the Prince are walking in the courtyard, after the first council of war, I noticed that Charles was wearing Highland dress - as indeed he did do in history - but his kilt was a little bit too long. Nice subtle measure of his immaturity.
From a history nerd point of view, I was very happy to see Lord George Murray, who was indeed a cautious, professional soldier who counseled prudence against the wilder schemes of Col. O’Sullivan. A historian said of Murray that if Prince Charles had slept through the entire rising, and left it all in the hands of Lord George, he would have awakened with the crown of Great Britain on his head*. Another nice touch was Mr. Anderson, who had a Lowland name and a Lowland accent. Because this battle was fought in the Lowlands. In history, though, he was a lieutenant in the Jacobite army.
*(Also, he commanded the Atholl men, among whom were my ancestors; would have loved to see some reference to my clan’s chief, Alexander Robertson of Struan, who had fought in the Jacobite risings of 1689 and 1715, was 89 years old at Prestonpans, and was sent home after the battle in General Cope’s carriage, accompanied by General Cope’s brandy.)
Another clever layer of meaning: “Je Suis Prest” is the Fraser motto.
Struan…from the James Clavell books. Squeee!!
Two great Bear McCreary clips this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7RhG0CEbVw
Bear is great to follow on twitter and his blog is great, too.
And if you haven’t seen, “Nobody Likes Bagpipes”, you are welcome.
I love “Nobody Likes Bagpipes!”
That was hilarious.
And he’s right - bagpipes are cool. How cool? This cool.
This was the episode written by Diana Gabaldon. She shared some interesting insight as to why it’s not word for word from the book (and truly can’t be in any event) here.
I love the humor in the episode. As one who has read the books, the wig toppling over during the title card made me giggle with glee.
For me, this was an episode to wrap up some loose ends and get the characters set up for the final episodes. Simon Callow is a delight, Rupert gets to be a pirate, and Mary getting snapped at by Claire probably made her grow up a little. She’s no timid mouse.
Only two episodes left, even if the finale is ninety minutes.
Great to see Sandringham finally get his just deserts - brutal as that was (damn, Murdoch. Just…daammn), but that means we won’t have any more Simon Callow, whose scene-chewing I always enjoy.
I LOVED how he almost strangled trying to say, “Beauchamp,” and of course, a duke never “blurts.”