DDAAAGHHH I was wrong now we have to wait till April.
That cliffhanger was designed to torture book-readers who know what’s coming, not show-watchers who don’t.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I see numerous female fans loved the line, but I don’t get it.
We’re terrible lovers when we’re virgins and it takes us awhile to know what we’re doing. Why get excited about the idea that Jamie’s a virgin and is probably going to try and stick his wang in her belly button the first time if he doesn’t blow his load right away?
Again, I’m not trying to be offensive or disrespectful but so many women seem to really love that line and I just don’t get the love.
It’s about turning the standard Experinced Man / Blushing Virgin Bride trope on its head, and letting the woman being the one with the power to teach for a change. It also makes Jamie a little vulnerable, which is hot.
Ah, I see that makes sense.
Oh, poor Frank!
I’m glad he got to kick some arse, though.
What gallows fodder said. In the book Claire observes, “still too clumsy and too hungry for tenderness, he made love with an unflagging joy that made me think male virginity was a seriously underrated commodity.” Then the next morning (just before Hugh Munro sends an arrow in their direction), she says she feels like a geisha, teaching him the ways of love, and that she likes the feeling.
Yup. And I foresee (serious spoiler below):
The “punishment” scene at the end of episode one or beginning of epi 2.
With major apologies to anyone who isn’t reading the spoilers…
And which punishment scene is that? I foresee the belting in the first half of episode 9, followed by the nighttime reconciliation, return to Leoch, and then the… um… “blunt object” punishment at the end of that episode. Or possibly skipped altogether, because they skipped the post-fecht fireside “it willna take long! close your eyes an’ think of Tcharlach!” boning. Which would have created a lovely little emotional downhill for Claire. If they had done it. Which they didn’t.
whoops double post
Well, of course the belting, Claire’s reaction to it, the teasing by the other men, Jamie’s explanation for the belting, their reconciliation, and so on. It brings another layer to the relationship and to Claire’s acceptance by the others, so I do think it would be a shame to not include. But it may well be TV’d down to a verbal argument.
Ok, sorry. I’ll knock it off with the book-reader spoilers now.
If there’s interest, I wouldn’t mind starting another thread with speculation and book spoilers. I’m really interested to delve into SPOILERBOX and whether/how that will be handled come April.
So that’s it until April.
I think I’ll start at the end. I feel like the cliffhanger was a cop out. Its a crutch almost, and not what I expect from the storytelling that we’ve had so far. That was disappointing.
That said, I think it was a really solid episode. Not as good as garrison commander, but really good work. What I’m finding so interesting about the how is how the episodes have connecting threads that lead us through in terms of the structure. For example, looking at the last three - 106 and 107 were both basically Claire and a man, alone in a room, evolving their relationship and coming to a new understanding of each other. Then 107 and 108 had the framework of dipping in and out of other times than the present - 107 it was flashbacks and 108 it was 1940. Really great stuff.
I’m still feeling the loss of “we may have secrets between us but not lies” and that just hi lights what I felt this episode -and really all of the series is missing. There is no development of Jamie and Claire’s relationship. She has more of a nuanced relationship with Dougal than with Jamie at this point. Claire and Jamie basically have a few jokes, some shy smiles and Claire’s boobs binding them together. How are we supposed to be carried through the potentially highly controversial scene book readers know is coming up, probably in 109? There is no foundation there. So much time has been spent - wasted I’d say - on setting up Claire’s relationship with and conflict over Frank, that if I wasn’t a book reader I’d be firmly team Frank. But this isn’t Frank’s story.
Anyway, I’m not trying to nitpick the choices the story runners are making and I’m not ticking a box on every favorite quote and line…and I’m enjoying it completely 100% but still I’m here to see the story of Jamie and Claire and have not gotten it. It bugs.
As for bringing the love, the Craig Na Dun scene was amazing, epic, beautiful. Again - I’m feeling Team Frank because that storyline is being treated with so much love and thought. The difference in the colors of the timelines so you can tell where and when you are, and the moment that claire was captured just as she reached the stones was devastating. (I could wish that they had ended the show with Claire tied up in the cart plotting her next move instead of naked and helpless being rescued by a man…which goes against the show thematically IMO.)
The “That’s what she said” joke by Angpert…might have been the best moment of the whole show.
Did anyone else catch that Frank beats up his assailants with a weapon that is called a blackjack? I thought that was a nice touch. Also I giggled internally at the Sherlock Holmes reference - and wonder if that was a little nod to the world of fandom.
Barrett Bonden I think a book discussion thread would be great. Might be a nice way to pass the hiatus.
Either way, perhaps we’ll all continue to check in here over the next few months but if not you can count on me to bump the thread when things start up again.
Book readers/open spoilers thread created here. Hop on over, y’all…
I was on vacation when the final episode of this year aired, and I finally caught up on it. Really good stuff. A lot of plot was covered in this episode, which is how the book is written.
I agree with Hedda that the thing lacking at this point is the development of Claire and Jamie’s relationship. They have the sexual chemistry down, but didn’t devote enough time developing the friendship that was developing between them on the road. That is an essential part of the story, and it suffers for its loss. Having Frank’s parallel story is a very interesting added element, but I’m afraid it was done at the expense of Jamie’s development. I suppose we’ll see a lot more of him in the 2nd half of this season, though.
FYI, in the book, Claire was tormented leaving her new husband (and her fat horse) and hoped that he’d forget about her soon. Although I actually like how they handled her return to Craigh na dun better on screen, it made her seem a tad calloused to run off like that with nary a care for Jamie. And what bugs me about both the film and the book is that Jamie leaves her alone in the woods while he goes off to meet Horrocks. (In the book, he leaves her alone; on screen he leaves her with Willie (?), the youngest and greenest member of the clan.) Um, how exactly is she safer there vs. going with Jamie and the entire rest of the clan, and kept at a safe distance while he meets with the deserter? A bit implausible.
Speaking of Willie, what’s up with him? I can’t put my finger on it, but he seems a tad hostile to Claire, especially when she was learning how to use the sgian dhub.
I loved the scene where Frank came unhinged on Sally and her friends. Tobias Menzies is an excellent actor. I love how the Producer described the two men: Frank is sweet with a dark undercurrent; Black Jack is dark with an undercurrent of humanity.
I also liked that Mrs. Graham told him about people disappearing, and Frank’s return to the rocks, even though the rational part of him doesn’t believe it.
I think that they forgot a key element in Claire’s last scene with Black Jack (seriously, don’t open this if you want to be surprised]…that Jack loses his erection when she stops fighting, because he’s not really into women but I suppose that’s best left for the viewers til later.
Finally, I think Caitriona is doing a fine job, and that her boobs should be nominated for best (un)supporting character. 
Willie, for show-watchers, is not a character in the first Outlander book. It’s not clear that he’s a character in any of the Outlander books, in fact, but let me put something in spoilers for the book readers to ponder:
Do you think they’re going to spin that character as Will, the kid who witnesses Jamie murdering Dougal at the end of book 2? Cuz that’s the only reason I can imagine for him to be there…
April 4 approaches. Is anyone watching the various previews available? Or purchase the BluRay…if so how are the extra features?
I’m looking forward to getting things started again!
I’m still agitated they split the season. I hope season 2 starts around October, but I’d accept December if it runs straight instead of splitting.
Excited and slightly fearful about the pacing. They’ve left an awful lot of story to cram into eight episodes.
And I’m so afraid that they will bowdlerize the main crisis of the story.
**One. More. Day. **Are we all ready?
Has anyone else felt a little bit of their excitement and commitment wane during Droughtlander? I believe I’ll be as engaged once I see tomorrow’s episode but right now I’m not as excited as I would have been if they’d spaced the season halves nearer together.
I did not watch it when it originally ran. Me and my husband caught the marathon last week end. Watched them all in order. I have not read the book. And I would have been pissed if I had to wait all this time to find out what happens.
But then again, I never ever got to find out what happens at the end of North and South, so I guess this is much better than that.