The Frasers and Mackenzies are on the Ridge, rumblings of war are beginning, and we have a new version of the theme song!
I’m glad they shortened the Gathering. That went on and on and on and ON and really, they had to shorten it or all twelve episodes would have been on that one day.
It looks like they got rid of the Malva story, which probably works best for the show since Diana can write some long and tricky plotlines.
And no, I didn’t watch Stephen Bonnet “damning the eyes” of his fencing opponent. But, rawr, Jamie is back in a kilt!
My wife(read all the books) and I(not read all the books) are again watching every episode. This is “must see” TV for us, up there with the best shows on television.
I watched the first four seasons and enjoyed them. When I went looking for the 5th season, the reviews were somewhat iffy. So rather than be disappointed, I got the Kindle book, which takes up where season 4 left off. She’s a pretty good author, albeit rather wordy. I tend to scan the soul-searching passages to get to the meat of the plot.
Generally if lots of people like a show I also do, minus some cases of super-violence, torture particularly, which I just don’t like to watch. I’ve heard latter is a feature of this show sometimes…but wife and I never got to that, decided it sucked after 3 episodes of Season 1 and dropped it. You can’t argue taste I guess.
They had to cut down A LOT from Book 5. We long-term fans used to joke season 5 would have to be split in two, with the first 10-12 episodes covering The Gathering (which goes on for 18 chapters, I think, and covers just one or two days) with the second half covering the rest of the book. I think they’re doing a good job condensing and streamlining. After all, Diana can type as much as she wants, but Ron and Maril and Toni and Matt have to get the story told in twelve one hour(ish) episodes.
Jamie and Claire head off to a side quest with the Beardsleys. Book readers will understand the significance of Josiah and Keziah. My question is…were two-year-olds really sold into indenture? What use could they possibly be at that age?
It looks like Mr. and Mrs. Bug just got dumped in, so I hope they take the time to develop that arc…it’s important later. Although no sign of the Frenchman’s Gold yet.
I was interested in Claire’s attempts at culturing penicillin mold. And she also wrote out a document explaining proper hygiene, which she attributed to a fictional male doctor. That’s the sort of thing that’s been suggested in threads about what one would do if transported to the past.
They moved her “book” up about three books. Apparently when Fergus grabbed the piece of paper for Jamie it was one of Claire’s discarded drafts. I didn’t catch that when I watched the episode and I was wondering why they lingered on that.
Some of the recaps I’ve read since Sunday mentioned the show’s reliance on rape and sexual violence, listing all of the times someone has been raped (Jamie, Fergus, Ian (I think), Brianna and Claire (more than once?)).
BTW, what was up with Brianna and Roger’s round trip via the stones? Is the idea that you have to focus on someone or something at the time you want to go to, so since they focused on their current life, they came back? I was wondering if the stones can move people to any time period, or are they fixed to a particular time?
BTW, was Otter Tooth the skull that Claire found some seasons back? As I remember, she noted the presence of dental fillings, showing it was a time traveler.
I am getting a bit tired of it. I know it is from the books. I have read the first book (and generally thought it was meh), but it has soured me from reading any more. It’s just a bit too much at this point. At this point I don’t mind spoilers - is their more rape going forward. If so, I may just quit.
And I know in the time period, sexual violence against women was far more normal. And there is probably a reason that the author wants us to remember that (it helps prevent a little bit of pining for the days of ole - even though the rest of the series seems to promote that).
I haven’t read the books, but have been watching the series religiously.
When Claire was in her having flashbacks/flashforwards (?) while trying to stay alive between beatings and rapes, the police in the future showed up at her door on Thanksgiving day to tell her that Brianna, Roger, and their child were all killed in an automobile accident on icy roads.
I’m guessing that Claire’s hallucination was a premonition about reality and, when they tried to return to the future, they were rejected from re-entry because they were no longer alive in the future. It’s really just a wild guess.
It seems that the way time travel is handled in the story is that time progresses normally on both sides. If you left on April 9, 1970 and went back 200 years, it would be April 9, 1770.
If you spend 4 years in the past and leave on June 6, you would return to June 6, 1974. So time advances normally. That’s the way it seemed to play out in previous seasons, but I don’t know how it initially determines how far back to send you. There were several characters from a range of times who have popped up over the seasons.
I don’t recall the exact sequence of events but somehow she was able to confirm that Otter Tooth was also the Doctor whose medical case she now has in her possession. (At least in the books, can’t recall if the same connection was made in the show).
No, Otter Tooth is part of the Montauk Five, as was Wendigo, who was part of the band that kidnapped Claire. They went back in time to try to save the Native Americans from being decimated.
I’ve religiously watched every season thus far but haven’t read the books, but I do realize that a lot must be left out of the show in order to condense things.
Violence aside, I was meh about this season for other reasons. There were some bright spots like Young Ian returning home, Murtagh and Jocasta, and Marsali becoming Claire’s apprentice, but overall I think the story itself has lost some charm since arriving in the colonies.