Goddamn. Seriously, in the last episode, 30 minutes of graphic love scenes between the leads left me unaffected*, and 5 seconds of Dougal taking Claire’s chin in his hand made me pause the Tivo to collect myself from the vapors. I’m clearly doing this wrong.
*Although, I have to say, the two of them have incredible chemistry and Sam H. is totally killing it as Jamie. That there is the sweet, strong man millions of women have fallen in love with.
You know, for the most part Sam Heughan gets on my nerves. All of the compulsive head-nodding and “welllll” and “ayyyye” have made me roll my eyes and wonder where they found this clown more than once.
But there have been three moments that sold me on him, especially to be Jamie in future seasons:
The look he gave her in her surgery when she untied his cravat to check his gunshot wound. That was the look Colin Firth kept trying to give Jennifer Ehle.
The scene with Claire and Laoghaire in the hall, where he unintentionally snubs Laoghaire. It was so well played.
The shift in expression between “I said I was a virgin, not a monk” and “if I need guidance, I’ll ask for it.” For a book reader, that was a total squirming-in-my-seat, THERE’S-our-lad kind of moment.
Well, well, well. I think that was certainly worth the wait.
So many small moments to love. When Claire does the little slide through the hallway to the registry office, and then how the darkness and light of that moment going through the door is echoed as she comes from the light into the dark church. (Though I do wish they had kept Frank & Claire’s marriage at the same church; they missed an opportunity to have some great flipping back and forth between ceremonies there. Book spoiler there.)
The unlacing of the corset and the look on Jamie’s face. Going from romantic and aroused to “Ok feeling a bit foolish…will this ever end?”
Rupert and Angus being the comic relief was fun as always.
I’m starting to worry for Claire’s liver. Though the interplay between Jamie making a toast to his new wife and then Claire tossing back drink after drink while he watched, bemused was great.
WTF Dougal. Really?
The “My name is JAMMF” moment was really well done. They knocked that one out of the park for book fans. But kept it fresh - when Claire said “I can’t marry you…” for a second there you think she’s going to completely lose her courage and not go through with it. And I knew what the next line would be and still I worried for a split second!
Ned and the prostitutes. Love.
Claire’s wedding dress. LOVE.
The top of Claire’s boobs were a character of their own this week. I spent most of the first half watching to see where they’d end up. It looked pretty uncomfortable actually. And I have to call foul on one thing - I know from personal experience if you wear a chemise under a properly tightened corset you get all kinds of dents in your skin…not the smooth blemish-free skin we see on Claire. I know, its a fairytale not real but she’d have been all criss-crossed with lines in reality.
And finally, I will just say that Sam has a verra verra fine arse. Herself promised us that months ago and she was right.
I agree that Clarie might want to dial back the drinking, especially around the British soldiers, but honestly, I would be drinking like a fish myself through the entire experience. Self-medication.
And those boobs should have had a red dent from the top of that corset. Those of us who are cream-coloured get red dents in our skin from wearing a corset (with or without a chemise).
I thought the episode was good. I was rather disappointed that some of the more important dialogue was exorcised, such as (paraphrased): “Let there be honesty between us. Love has room for secrets, but not lies.” and possible spoiler ahead: “Marrying you keeps me safe, too. Dougal is threatened by me because some people want me to be the next laird. But the clan would never accept me with a Sassenach wife, and we both know it.”
I could have done without all the nudity. I find it actually takes away from the story instead of enhances it. I find myself distracted with thoughts like, “Those poor actors have to get completely nekkid in front of each other just weeks after meeting.”
I also was distracted looking for corset marks.
I thought that Jamie’s, “Now my turn. Take off your clothes.” came off as kinda creepy. And he lost a lot of his attractiveness once he combed his hair.
BTW, in the books, Dougal did not make a move on Claire on her honeymoon. And he didn’t slug Murtaugh for making a ribald remark about her.
Not sure what they’re getting at with the ring being made from a key. That’s a mystery we’ll all find out together because it wasn’t in the book. In fact, a big deal is made of Jamie’s quest for a ring once they return to Castle Leoch, but I won’t bore you with the details.
I’m guessing that the key is to Jamie’s ancestral home, now destroyed by the English army. Or perhaps the cottage in which he intended to start a family, also destroyed by the English. Either way, it’s to a place for which the key no longer serves a purpose.
He slugged Rupert. Murtagh is constitutionally incapable of making ribald remarks, I’m pretty sure.
They’re now trying to sell replicas of the ugly-ass iron ring on the Outlander website. Who the hell is going to buy that? It’s not from the books! He married Claire with his father’s ruby ring, in the books!
I was also super distracted by her boobs being squeezed to within an inch of their life by that corset, and not in a “Boobies!” kind of way. I couldn’t really pay attention to anything but “Doesn’t that hurt? That looks really uncomfortable. She’s going to have marks for days.”
While this is clearly a female fantasy wish-fulfillment Harlequin Romance story, I don’t begrudge that and try not to roll my eyes to much at all the roooomance. It does give me empathy for women who suffer through dopey action flicks, though. I feel like a woman watching a low-rent comic book movie.
This strikes me as odd, since they were presumably pretty comfortable with each other by then compared to all the naked sex scenes between Claire and her husband in the first episode.
This has bothered me too about Claire, but to be honest, that’s the same impression I got from her from the book (although it has been a good decade+ since I read it, and I only read the first book). Even in the show, she’s mostly sour and foolishly impulsive except in her scenes with Jamie.
Now I worry that I’m being sexist for wanting her to be sweet and likable, but whatever-- in a story like this, I need to root for the main character, and it’s hard to do when she keeps doing/saying self-defeating things.
Mrs. SMV is right alongside you, there. And while I don’t find him sexually attractive (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”), I find him compelling as an actor. When Dougal’s onscreen, that’s where my eye goes.
Graham “Dougal” McTavish is also Dwalin, in the Hobbit movies. So it’s hobbits all around, on Outlander.
Diana Gabaldon just posted on Facebook, with the heading “Don’t shoot the messenger,” that the second half of the season will begin to air on April 4, 2015.
If I’d have known they were going to split the season, I would have waited to watch the whole thing next year online - except I’d have missed out on this thread, so maybe not. That’s really aggravating.
I liked the wedding episode pretty well. Claire’s dress was nice, although it would have had more impact if they hadn’t been showing her wearing perfectly clean, nice dresses while they were traveling. I wish we’d gotten a more dramatic presentation of Jamie in formal dress: “A Highlander in full regalia is an impressive sight - any Highlander, no matter how old, ill-favored, or crabbed in appearance. A tall, straight-bodied, and by no means ill-favored young Highlander at close range is breath-taking.”
Even with the hobbit factor, I think Heughan looks better with his hair in his face, at least a little bit. There’s something I don’t like about his forehead when he pulls his hair back.
In the book Claire’s rings are very important to her, so even though they changed the story of the ring Jamie gave her, I liked that they ended with a shot of her wearing both rings.
I don’t think that’s Geillis in the bar, and all I saw was intercuts of some fantasy scene about Frank getting beat up (YEAH!) with the stramash with the Grants.
Sooooo… I’m like 95% sure I know how this episode will end. I hope I hope I hope I’m right.
