Mrs SMV was very disappointed not to see the “Willie falls into the privy” scene. I think she was looking forward to Young Ian’s awkward explanation of how Willie came to be befouled. And maybe John and Jamie’s Latin quotations on the matter.
The Claire/John subplot was nicely done. I remember being disappointed by BookClaire’s reaction to discovering John’s sexuality and love for Jamie; I had hoped for a bit more compassion and understanding. But then I remembered that she’s not a modern woman with 21st century sensibilities; she’s a child of the Thirties and Forties. No reason to assume she’d not share that time’s unquestioning homophobia. And John is in love with her husband. The TV scene is a bit more nuanced; it felt like her envy of John’s time with Jamie and Willie was more to the fore.
You could, I suppose. But for whatever reason, the historians I’ve read don’t consider the War of the Regulation to be a precursor to the Revolution, the way they do the Stamp Act riots or the Boston Tea Party.
I think that’s part of it. Realizing someone is in love with your husband and is the teensiest bit envious of you can make a relationship fraught. Plus, Lord John knew Jamie post-Culloden, and that’s a part of his life Claire didn’t have.
No Jamie and Claire, as we focused on Bree and Roger. I found Bree’s journey after coming through the stones similar to Claire’s journey on the island after she jumped from the ship in the Caribbean. It was nice to see Laoghaire again, acting as a decent human being (until she found out who Bree was) and Ian Murray. Laura Donnelly is currently doing a run on Broadway and was unable to reprise her role of Jenny, hence her absence. Bree got to raid her mother’s wardrobe (the cloak with the gorgeous fur-lined collar is the one Claire wore in Season 1) and head off to the colonies, although Lizzie is older than I imagined. I thought she was a young girl, maybe 12 or 13.
I know Stephen Bonnet is a heartless bastard. I know he’s vicious and cruel. But I had to pause my hatred at him throwing ill passengers overboard. We saw what the threat of smallpox could do when Count St Germain’s ship was destroyed in Le Havre. Even Claire was unable to cure those ill of typhus on the Porpoise, all she could do was stop the spread of the disease. In order to save his ship and crew, honestly, what else could Bonnet have done? They had no idea of germ theory then. All they knew was people got the pox and died and spread the disease. It truly was “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Yes, it was heartbreaking and horrific. Roger comes from a time and place where you care for the sick. But in the 18th century, they didn’t have the luxury of treating the stricken, mainly because there was nothing they could do and it wouldn’t have stopped the spread anyway.
Most of our beloved characters are in Wilmington (Young Ian is off canoodling with the Cherokee) and we meet George Washington. Fergus and Marsali are proud parents, Claire does emergency surgery on a hernia (I presume she pushed his intestines back where they need to be, then stitched him up, and thank Og we have anesthesia today), Fergus and Murtagh reunite, and Brianna has a most traumatic wedding night.
I appreciate the way they handled the rape. We didn’t need to see the gruesome details, but hearing the screams for help from behind the closed door while the men blithely played cards made it more horrific. We are getting set up for the next steps (book readers will know) so hang on…the ride is not over yet.
Roger is coming across a bit of a prat in the show. Part of the reason Bree didn’t tell him she traveled back in time was because she wanted to be able to focus on him back in present day Scotland to return. Finding out he followed her puts a big kibosh on her plans. He did run into danger to find her, so there’s that, and IIRC he is about seven years older than she is, so there is a maturity gap there. Still, he doesn’t come across so much as a chauvinist pig in the books. There’s more of an equality, although she is rightly pissed he withheld the information about the fire from her.
We still have a ton more to get through and only five more episodes to fit it all in!
The Jamie/Bree meeting was almost word from word from the book, so I’m glad they kept true to it. Poor Roger. I did love how Bree melted after Claire asked her “How far along are you?” Like Mama’s here, Mama knows, Mama will help. And Jamie couldn’t keep his eyes off Bree, as if he’s trying to cram the past 18-19 years into a few seconds.
Still a lot more to go in four more episodes. I think this was one of the best ones of the season.
AV Club can go suck an egg. The ratings and the reviews do not support their opinion.
Whoever wrote that article hated the one episode with slaves from earlier in the season. I think they took that one episode and decided the whole show was abysmal.
I’ve enjoyed this season quite a bit. More than three, actually.
I’m getting really sick of the “all rape, all the time” aspect–yes, I realize it’s Gabaldon’s fault and that the showrunners are doing what they can to ameliorate it but goddamn I could do without it. RAPE RAPE RAPETTY RAPE OH LOOK HERE IS MOAR RAPE. Gross.
I also get really super sick of characters keeping vital information to themselves in order to “protect” someone. It never works and it’s a lazy way to further your plot. Also gross.
I think women in the 18th century were in danger of rape a lot of the time. Unfortunate but true.
Claire and Jamie have kept information to protect each other (Claire didn’t tell Jamie BJR was alive, for instance) but I think we can blame this particular situation on Bree. I think Claire and Jamie were knocked sideways by her sudden reappearance and they need time to figure out the new normal.
Women in the 21st century are in danger of rape a lot of the time too–even more so, really, because there are more people in general and nobody’s in the “untouchable” categories that used to exist in society. Doesn’t mean I want to see it, doesn’t mean it’s the only goddamned peril that can exist, doesn’t mean it’s the only or most defining event that drives and informs a woman’s existence. It’s lazy, it implies that some guy’s dick, some guy’s actions, simply HAVE to be the most important thing to happen to a woman. I’m a sexual abuse survivor and I find that, day to day, that informs my worldview much less than events from childhood that resulted in attachment disorder. As I said, it’s lazy, and it’s gross. FFS, come up with some other shorthand event, this one’s tired and lame.
I haven’t seen it yet…Ivylad and I were away for a long weekend for our anniversary. I plan on watching it while he’s watching some silly college football championship game.
Then we wouldn’t have a show! It’s a bit more convoluted in the books…Jamie and Ian only realize who they beat up after Bree draws Roger. Also, she calls him Roger Wakefield but he’s been going by Roger MacKenzie in the 18th century, so a little more dust in the eyes of our main characters.
I am SO glad Lord John is there next episode. I was hoping they’d keep that bit in.
I was hoping they would include the scene when Jamie helps Breanna understand that she was a victim and nothing she could do would have made a difference. I remember reading it and thinking how powerful it was…and it really hit home for me.
Sophie nailed that scene. You can see the look of realization in her eyes as she understands she could have been killed, and she was never going to overpower Bonnet. And then finding out from Jamie why he didn’t fight BJR. It was a bit odd for Jamie to tell Bree that killing Bonnet may not give her peace, but then he turns around and tells Murtagh to find Bonnet so he can kill him himself.