Through A Glass Darkly Episode 201

 

Hey folks! #Withoutlander is over! Yay! I’m sure you’re all excited over the fact our faorite show is now in another season. I can’t wait til Monday when we hear the news that a season 3 has been greenlit. I know it will. It has to based off this episode alone. There were a lot of good things about this episode, and as far as being a season premiere it answered a lot of questions, brought in new characters, and even introduced the bad guy. I’m not sold on Le Compte as of yet, but I know he will make us hate him just as much as Captain Jack Randall. So I’m going to get to it, since we’ve waited long enough.

Quick note before I proceed: I will admit that Dragonfly in Amber wasn’t my most favorite of the series of books. That one is reserved for Voyager because, “A. Malcolm, Printer.” That is the best chapter in any of the books. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s probably one of the most emotional scenes in any of the series. Another thing, I only read DIA once, and listened to it on audio one time, and that was several years ago when I first started out on this crazy Outlander journey, so I have probably forgotten a lot of stuff. This is going to be a dedicated recap to the show only. I won’t be putting anything from the books in, because the two mediums are different. So I will just be talking about the show, the acting, and what I liked or didn’t like about the show. I remember the high notes, but I’m going to be avoiding spoilers, and just watching week to week. Now that STARZ has made it available online, I’ll be able to get the recaps out quicker.

So, let’s get to it, shall we?

1. We start with Claire waking up at the stones of Craigh na Dun, in her famous plain Jane green dress. Seems to me she should have been in something different, but I’m not a stickler for these kinds of things, so no bother. She’s stumbling around disoriented, and we know we are in the present because all of the visuals are muted and have a grey filter over them. For this entire sequence, the underlying tone is accented by the perpetual Greyness of everything. Great cinematography, by the way. She starts out by yelling at the stones, screaming incoherently.

Then, she’s walking down the road and hears a car behind her honk. “That’s a sound you haven’t heard in a while, Claire.” The guy gets out of the car because she’s blocking the road. And then she’s all like, “What year is it?” and the dude looks at her like she’s nuts, which she is, and says “1948.” then she asks the guy the weirdest question. “Who won the battle of Cullloden?!” screaming and crying and grabbing on for dear life. Dude is thinking, that’s an odd question, and says, “Duh, the British.” and she breaks down in tears and then we go into the title sequence.

2. I have to say I like the new title sequence, which blends the footage from season one and season 2 beautifully. Bear Macreary blends the two dynamically with his new score which is part in English and French. You’ve got the new brilliantly colored outfits, the city life, Parisian culture all on display. I love the snake, and the heart tattoo on the woman spy. I’m guessing that, because there is a lot of cloak and dagger in this season, from what I remember. Then we get the title card, which shows us wee Roger fast asleep on the couch playing with a toy plane before it drops to the ground. Still can’t wait to see how Richard Rankin portrays him, and I look forward to seeing the “All grown up” scene.

3. Then we see Frank coming down the hallway of a hospital. I have to say the scenes with Frank are really great in this episode. Tobias does some of the finest acting in this series, I can’t believe his range. I saw him in Game of Thrones and said, “Bleh” like, okay he’s just a guy playing a part. But in this, he inhabits both roles totally and I can’t say enough great things about his acting chops.

So he comes in, she asks him to turn off the radio, not knowing that its him. No, don’t turn off the ragtime Jazz! Click…. Aww… “Claire, it’s me. Frank.” She looks up at him, says, “I’m back, are you happy?” and he’s all, “Yeah, duh!”. then he reaches over to kiss her and in that moment she sees this guy

And flips the fuck out. And we know as viewers that she will never be able to look at him ever again in a romantic way. Just not going to happen. She may as well be done with him. And I don’t blame her. That’s how I would see it. Now I know that’s what happened when she was offered to go back through the stones in season 1. She knew she couldn’t go back because she would equate Frank with BJR.

4. Moments later, a reporter comes in and snags a picture, one that will set National Enquirer on the path to be the sensationalist rag it is. How did that guy get into the hospital to begin with? Then frank tells Claire they are going to Reverend Wakefield’s while she gets her head back together and into the twentieth century again. Claire’s all, “Does Mrs. Graham still live with him?” and Frank’s like, “I guess so, it’s only been a few years, why?” I can see Claire thinking, “Good, because I have a ton of shit to say to that woman. Like, a fucking lot. For one, that tea leaf reading was spot fucking on, that’s for sure. And I have to ask about the stones, to see if I can go back, and well, just faerie shit, you know?” Then Frank looks over at the chair where the dress is, and she says, “Yeah, I’m going to need some clothes. Can’t go traipsing around town in a 200 year old dress now can I?”

5. So it’s off to Wakefield’s where we see Claire sitting in the back yard combing through history books like a student about to fail a final exam while Mrs. Graham dotes on her. Meanwhile, inside, Frank and the Rev are talking about her. Claire still hasn’t told Frank about what happened, and he hasn’t pressed her for details. They talk about the dress Claire was found in, and it certainly is a perfectly preserved 18^th century woman’s garment. Extremely valuable. You think? Maybe because it’s technically only a few weeks old.

Mrs. Graham is doting over Claire and giving her more and more books, til she mentions that they have exhausted the supply of Jacobite history. I’ll assume that she has told Mrs. Graham about her adventures because they talk like she has. I mean, come on, if Mrs. Graham the witch wouldn’t believe it, no one would. The lady told frank about the stones two years ago. She knows the magic, so this wouldn’t be far fetched for her at all to believe. Frank on the other hand, we’ll see later, has a bit harder of a time with the notion of faerie magic. Well that and the whole, “Other man’s child in his wife’s belly” thing. Then a couple of jets go flying overhead, startling Claire. Mrs. Graham says there’s going to be a war with Russia soon.

She apologizes to Mrs. Graham and then talks about Jamie. “He didn’t know what that word meant, I called him a fucking sadist once. He didn’t know what it was. Then he proved it by giving me a right good spanking, and then he apologized later on which was so adorbs! And then we had really hot make up sex involving a knife. And we laughed about it later.” Mrs. Graham says, “You always talk about how he had a sense of humor.” and Claire’s all, “Sense of humor? The man was dead as a cake when it came to that. I just laughed at his naiveté all the time. Man he was cute though, that smile, and those eyes, the voice like velvet, and the way he would turn the smolder up to eleven.” because the way she looks is like she’s remembering how Jamie smelled in the warmth of night.

Mrs. Graham tells her to let Jamie go but keep the memories of him locked away when there’s a real flesh and blood man ready to love her with all his heart. And she looks up and sees this guy.

And thinks, “Holy shit, what the hell was I thinking? I’m saddled with this dude? When two weeks ago I had this dude?”

“So Mrs. Graham,” she says, “How exactly do I go back through the stones?”

6. So we come to the big Reveal, where Claire has everything set up to look like Mrs. Baird’s room at the beginning of season 1. Frank says something about it, and I was thinking the same thing. She explains everything to him, but it goes to a blank screen, which was odd, because they could have had her tell him in a sort of Season One Montage voice over. I guess that would have taken too much time. Besides, havent we all watched the first season like two dozen times or more?

At the end of it, she’s all, “Well, what do you think, huh?” and Frank says, “Well it is a little far fetched, you going through faerie stones and all, but it sure beats the hell out of the whole, ‘I ran off with another man because I wanted to.’ thing.” Then he professes his undying and unconditional love for her. And at this point I’m liking Frank. Sure he has his faults, and he’s no Jamie, but whatevs. At least he’s trying to understand because deep down he truly loves Claire. And she knows this. Which is why she had to drop this other bomb shell.

“By the way, I’m carrying Jamie’s child inside of me, so there’s that.” And you can hear a pin drop. Frank loses his shit. Completely. Almost raises a fist to hit her, but restrains himself. He’s in tears, he’s so pissed off. Like, ‘I gotta go bust some shit up’ kind of pissed. Which he does a few seconds later by going into the potter’s shed and breaking a bunch of pots and boxes. And I don’t blame him, I would have too. Ask any guy who loves a woman that much if he wouldn’t do the same and I don’t think you’d get any guy saying, “yeah, I’d be cool with that.” Nah. They would bust some shit up too.

7. So, he’s contrite, and saying he would pay for the damages and Rev. is all, “Dinna fash, lad. I’d have done the same, and I’m a man of god. You get pissed, you gotta break shit. It’s not the worst thing in the world. It was all just a bunch of trash anyway.” Frank asks, “What should I do?” and the Rev tells him, go ahead and raise the child as your own. Keep this secret locked away, and if you guys decide to tell the baby later on, you can. A kid needs to have a mother and father, and you can’t abandon the kid or the mother.”

Then we see Wee Roger in all his cuteness. This kid wins the Guinness book of worlds records for cuteness for just those dimples alone. He could come over to my house and call me father all day and I wouldn’t let him out of my sight. I would sit and pinch his puffy cheeks all day. I mean, look at this kid, would you? Ladies, tell me you wouldn’t hug on this little ball of adorable all day.

See? I rest my case.

8. So Frank tells Claire he’ll accept everything as it is. He’s got a position in Boston, working at Harvard. As long as they stay here, the British press will “Flog this story to death,” to which she bristles and says, “Don’t ever use that word around me again!” Which is understandable because his six times great grandfather used the word lovingly while talking about doing the same thing to her then husband in the eighteenth century. And this all gets really confusing when you think about it. I guess the trick is not to bother with the details of the whole time travel aspect of it, huh?

But he has conditions of his own. First rule of Frank Randall is you don’t talk about Jamie Fraser. The second rule about Frank Randall is you remember rule one. Get him out of your mind, don’t look him up, don’t try to find him while I draw breath on this earth. The child we raise will have my last name, and that’s it. Deal? She just nods her head. They hug, and then she goes over and gives him the dress she came back with. All is well until she tries to take off Jamie’s wedding ring. Which she can’t do because it’s hard for her to give up the past, especially when it’s so recent.

SIDE NOTE: This outfit:

So cute! Terry Dresbach hits a home run on this one. Love it! I know it’s kind of muted but the fit and design and style all scream “Beautiful!” to me. I’m guessing I’m crazy. Caitriona pulls it off somehow.

9. So they’re all packed up and ready to go, then she hears something out the window and goes to see. There’s frank burning the dress. I was all, “Don’t do that, it’s worth money! And Claire has an attatchment to that dress, come on Frank, don’t be a douche….” yeah, you burnt the dress. Shit… Whatever, man.

Then its off to the airport, and we get the glimpse of the New York City skyline. As they walk down the steps from the airplane, they grab hands and then WHOOOSSSSSH, she’s back in

10. Eighteenth century France, getting off the boat while Jamie helps her down the gangplank. And when we get a glimpse of Jamie here, I’ll have to admit, at the risk of losing my man card, I see what you ladies see. This man is fucking gorgeous. I’m just saying, I get it. With the jaw and the eyes and that flowing red hair. I mean look at him!

Okay, enough with the gushing about the cuteness factor here. They have a conversation about Jamie’s seasickness when we see Murtagh come down the plank complaining about the smell, like frogs, which is a euphemism for the French people. And he knows it too. Claire doesn’t get it, though. Jamie and her are doing the kissy face thing while Murtagh is complaining and grousing in his own fashion. And this is where I have to break for a moment.

SIDE NOTE: I feel the emotional weight of the first half is better here than the second half. I could have used more time in the first part of the show with Frank and Claire. I know we’ll probably get more this season, but I have to say this part of the episode felt flat to me emotionally, like I wasn’t invested enough in the past as much as I was the future part. It just felt hurried to me a bit. One thing is Tobias Menzies and his acting chops. He went from happy to angry to sad to wistful to angry again, then contrite. In the first half of this episode he went through so many emotions, you could feel it. The second half was like, get here, do this, meet this person, get this done. Rush rush rush. I guess we’ll have to wait til next episode for more France stuff. We’ll see. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the episode and it worked as far as season premieres go. Maybe I’ll have to watch again just to get into it more perhaps.

11. So they get to some comfortable lodgings and Jamie is in pain. Boy needs some morphine, I thought. Then they discuss the attempt to change the future. Jamie doesn’t really like the idea, because he would be going against his own kin, and I get that. She’s trying to stop the war, which is going to be nigh impossible because Time doesn’t like to be changed. Now, I’m not going to get into the Paradox principle of time travel, or the causal nature of the things you could seriously fuck up if you do anything like stopping a war. There’s too many variables that have to interact in order for this to happen. And this is the Gabaldonian Time Travel theory which has to do with Fiction as opposed to the theory of parallel universes, multiple divergences of the time stream and other theories on how this whole thing works out if you change one aspect of the future. Now if you’re talking Max Plank’s theory–

Okay, okay! Sorry. So Jamie agrees to try to stop the war, but he needs Claire’s help. She’s no help because she only knows the highlight reel of the Jacobite Rising. Finer details, she’s up in the air about, and since it hasn’t happened yet, and she’s changing all kinds of things just by her mere existence here, there’s really now ay of knowing what’s going to happen at all. There’s also the question of how they’re going to get in with all the key players, and Jamie just so happens to have a rich cousin in the wine business named Jared who is a higher up in the Jacobite cause. So they agree to write him and see what happens. They also need to tell Murtagh though, and that goes over like a turd in a punch bowl.

12. Murtagh is all, “So why should I do all this if you’re not going to tell me why?” and Claire is all, “Well, I gotta keep it secret, okay?” and Murtagh is pissed because if you can’t trust a Murtagh with your serets who can you trust? Really, it’s Murtagh! He’s not going to go telling all your secrets out to the world. That guy is as tightlipped as a politician denying an affair. Finally, Jamie steps up and says, “I’ll tell you all in good time, hand to god.” to which Murtagh is all, “Yeah, I guess that’ll do. Dinna fash.”

Murtagh leaves, and she asks “When’s the proper time?” and Jamie’s all, “I don’t know, you tell me, you’re from the future, not me. By the way, what was it you were telling me about airplanes?”

13. Three weeks later, they meet with Jared. Jamie explains they need to join the Jacobite cause, and Jared is skeptical because his cousin has never shown an interest in politics. So Jamie strips his sleeves and shows his scars and says, “These wounds, I had on Crispin’s day,” oops, sorry, wrong costume drama. So Jared agrees to the deal but has one of his own. And it’s a sweetheart of a deal no one would ever refuse. Run of the Paris house, 35% of the wine business profits, and all the introductions to the royalty of upper cust Jacobite society. What could possibly go wrong? I’ll leave it up to the rest of the series to provide that answer….

14. Later, Claire is walking down the docks complaining about morning sickness. Okay, I understand, but do you want to go to a place where there’s fish smell and all kinds of other scents that make you throw up? I’ve been around pregnant women before, and those are not the smells you want around you. In fact, any odd smell can set the old tummy rumblin’, so it’s odd. But maybe she just wants the fresh (or fresher) air of the outdoors and decided to take a walk.

While on her walk, she spots an uproar around one of the ships. Somebody is sick and Mama Claire wants to help. Obviously she’s going to go all Superwoman on the situation and find out what she can do to help. There is little she can do though, as the bodies that are being brought into the ware house are infected with smallpox. Jamie yells at her to stop, but since she’s immunized, she can’t catch it. We all know how this is going to go, but Jamie can’t stop her because she’s “Sturdy” and lets her do her thing.

Well, then the bad guy of the season shows up. Le Compte St. Germaine. A sufficiently oily business man with contacts in the criminal element. He tries to bribe the harbormaster, but the damage is already done. The word is out, his boat is lousy with smallpox and must be burned. Germaine is upset, naturally, and blames Claire for it. She was just trying to do right, but Le Petrole Du jour won’t have any of it. He’s about to threaten her life when Jamie steps up with a look in his eye that says, “Try it boyo, you just go right ahead…” And Le Petrole backs off.

 

 

Later that night, the boat is burning, and Jamie says, “Well, you’re here three weeks and we have a new enemy and a new adventure. Life with you is never dull.” and she’s all, “You had any doubt? We are in a Diana Gabaldon book after all. What are we supposed to do, move to the new world and settle in the back woods of North Carolina for the rest of our days?” Jamie’s all, “I guess not, but you know this isn’t going to end well, right?”

“Yeah, but I’ve got you, Mr. Jamie Allperfect Mooneye MacHunkington Fraser, so we’ll be alright.”

Yes you will, Madame Fraser. Yes you will.

See you later in the week with some more updates everyone! Thanks for joining me for the rest of the season.

And here you go, the Jamie Moony eye pic of the week.