Sterling Acting from Rankin Again, Murtagh Gets a Love Life and Heughan Seems to Have Been Short Changed.
Contains SPOILERS.
Thanks to the exceptional navigational skills that all Outlander characters seem to be blessed with, Claire (Caitriona Balfe), Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Ian (John Bell) arrive at Shadow Lake attempting to trade for Roger’s (Richard Rankin) freedom. Unfortunately for the Frasers, the stone Claire found alongside the skull in a forest many moons ago (don’t ask), and which she now wears as a pendant causes a sensation among the Mohawks and not in a good way, and the Frasers are summarily thrown out of the village.
With their plan to trade for Roger in ruins, it seems that Jamie is still his reckless self despite the passage of time and is contemplating returning alone to the village to rescue Roger. Claire is less than impressed with the plan. As it happens, it soon becomes a moot point when a group of Mohawks try and ambush the Frasers for the stone, obviously unaware of Jamie’s skills as a warrior who handily thwarts the attack by holding one of the Mohawk by the neck with his own axe. Thanks to that nifty little move and Claire’s disarming tactic of simply asking the ambush leader, Wahkatiiosta (Carmen Moore) for her name, both sides sit down to talk and Wahkatiiosta handily fills us in on the back story of the stone’s previous owner, Otter Tooth (Trevor Carroll).
Wahkatiiosta wants the stone, believing whoever has it has the power to see what will happen to the Mohawk and thus can serve as a warning to her people. With that in mind, she agrees to help the Frasers rescue Roger in return for the stone.
When Roger first sees Jamie he’s not sure if he’s about to be rescued or Jamie’s there to finish off beating him to a pulp. Unfortunately the escape fails and our would-be rescuers are captured despite Jamie and Wahkatiiosta in full warrior mode and seemingly able to disarm almost anyone who crosses their path. The chief Tehwahsehwke (Tom Jackson) fearing the stone will once again bring disharmony to his tribe banishes Wahkatiiosta and offers to let the Frasers go while Roger, still enjoying his unlucky streak, is told he has to remain.
Jamie being Jamie of course offers to take Roger’s place. If I were the Mohawk, I’d be congratulating myself on getting a much better deal. Not surprisingly, Claire isn’t too happy about this plan either. Jamie then tells Ian to convince the Mohawk about the swap. And then in a rather unwise move, considering all the Mohawk seem to speak fluent English with a flair for English grammar and use of idiom, Jamie tells Claire right in front of them that he will escape and come back to her. Considering Jamie speaks Gaelic and Claire had picked up the rudiments of that language by Season 2, I’d have opted for speaking the lesser-known tongue of Jamie’s forefathers. Yet again, when Jamie finds out that Ian has offered to take Jamie’s place, Jamie does the same thing, he tells Ian to escape or that he’ll come for him despite the fact that the Mohawk are RIGHT there. Remember, both these guys speak Gaelic. I’m no special services operative but surely Rule 1 of planning a future escape is not to openly discuss it in front of the enemy.
Nevertheless it seems Ian is determined to stay and Jamie and Ian part in a moving little scene. Later on Ian has to run the gauntlet and shows he is far more adept than Roger was by managing to get through it. Now considered part of the Mohawk community, you get the sense that, unlike Roger, Ian is happy to be part of the tribe. I love the fact that Jamie seems so relaxed about telling Jenny the news about her son. I suspect he wouldn’t be so relaxed if he had to tell her in person and she wasn’t safely ensconced on the other side of the Atlantic.
As for Roger, he is a changed man. I love the way Rankin has subtly shown how the circumstances have changed him over the run of the series and toughened him up. No better proof is needed of this new Roger when he thumps Jamie who lets him punch the hell out of him, thinking it only right and proper given the beating he gave Roger. But I’m with Claire on this one who looks on with exasperation as the two men in her life exercise their testosterone.
Great acting again from Rankin as Claire tells him what’s happened to Brianna. Jamie, however, still doesn’t seem that impressed with his son-in-law and refuses to give him any time to consider if he can go back to Brianna given the possibility that she might be carrying Bonnet’s child. It’s rather unfair of Jamie given it’s a lot for Roger to take in all at once. Claire is far more understanding and despite the glowers coming his way from Jamie, Roger decides he needs time to think: Claire and Jamie thus return without him to River Run.
Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) having arrived at River Run a few months previously has crossed swords with Aunt Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy) over the impending marriage of Brianna (Sophie Skelton) with Lord John (David Berry). As a former Jacobite, you understand where Murtagh is coming from and as Jamie’s best friend and fellow inmate at Ardsmuir he no doubt had his suspicions about the then Governor’s intentions towards Brianna’s father too. Needless to say, he’s pretty relieved when Brianna tells him their engagement is just a way of getting around Jocasta’s attempts to marry her off before Roger’s return. More importantly, Brianna admits to Murtagh that she has forgiven her father. This is a plot point that is sadly not underlined at any other point in this episode.
It turns out though that the sparks between Murtagh and Jocasta are flying in more ways than one when we discover Murtagh and Jocasta have spent the night together. It did bring a smile to my face to see Murtagh lounging in bed like some love god – by the way not a bad body for a man supposedly in his sixties: evidently running from the law is a good way to keep you fit.
Given that Murtagh is killed off in the novel, this affair is a pure invention on the part of the TV writers. I suppose they have to give him something to do now they have brought him back from the dead. I suspect it’s also a set up for Season 5, as when Jamie finds out – and he notices something almost immediately – this will add fuel to the firestorm between these two close friends which the writers seem to have been building towards since Murtagh’s reappearance.
A massive talking point on the Twittersphere was that the scene where Jamie and Claire are at the birth of their first grandson was missing. It’s a touching scene in the novel where father and daughter truly reconnect and Jamie gets to finally be the loving patriarch he’s always wanted to be. It would have been a great scene to have. Heughan would have been fab in it, a bit of wry humour thrown in for a good measure: not a dry eye in the house.
I understand why the writers couldn’t fit it in, given how they had structured the episodes, but what I don’t understand was why they were so determined not to show that plot point at all. Jamie doesn’t get a chance to hold the baby, Claire later passing the child to Jocasta when you suspect once Jamie got anywhere near the baby, the child would be in his arms and you’d be hard pushed persuading him to give the babe back to anyone else.
Even the reconciliation between daughter and father is missing. Yes, Brianna comes down to eat dinner with her parents but leans into her mother. Surely she could have leaned into Jamie, let him know he was forgiven and Jamie would have shown his vulnerable side once more whereupon millions of women around the world would have let out a heartfelt sigh.
By this point not only was I worried that the Jamie/Brianna reconciliation wasn’t on the cards but that the Brianna/Roger one was being left to Season 5. Luckily in the last few minutes Roger makes an appearance. It’s just a snippet of the reconciliation that is depicted in the novel – maybe that is in store for us next season – but it’s a touching scene nonetheless, particularly when Roger asks Brianna to take him ‘to see his son’.
The episode closes with Jamie receiving a letter from Governor Tryon ordering him to lead a militia to fight the Regulators with his first mission being the hunting down and killing of Murtagh. Ever since the scene with Jamie and Murtagh in the tavern it was on the cards and it looks as if it will be one of the main plotlines for Season 5.
What did I make of this season? I’m not as enamoured with the show as I used to be though that may be that since Season 1 (which I probably watched an unhealthy 40 times or so) I might have made some attempt to get a life. The first couple of episodes this season I didn’t enjoy at all but as the season progressed I found the series more engrossing.
There was some incredibly clunky dialogue – the cod psychology game at the River Run dining table springs to mind but also some beautifully written scenes as with Roger’s speech to Father Alexandre.
Admittedly, with a novel like Drums of Autumn there is too much plot to fit into 13 one hour(ish) episodes. Having resurrected Murtagh from the dead, the writers also have to add in a storyline for him. However, the writers may be in danger of trying to fit too much plot into the season and as a result not allow the characters enough time to breathe. That was what made season 1 so enthralling. You had time to get to know the characters and care about them. I appreciate for drama to work you need stuff to happen but if you stop caring for the characters then you also stop caring what happens to them.
As for the characters, Brianna irritated the hell out of me in Season 2 but Skelton has grown into her role beautifully as Brianna has grown up and Rankin has put in a sterling performance in (so far) a rather thankless role, particularly when at times the character of Roger was in danger of coming across as a massive twat. He really made his mark in the last two episodes in particular. It’s always good to see Murtagh and David Berry as Lord John Grey is enchanting as always and if the rumours are true that Lord John may get his own series I for one will be watching. Sadly, Marsali and Fergus were underused this time round.
That leaves us with our heroes – Claire and Jamie who sometimes didn’t get to make much of an appearance at all. Obviously the story has to broaden out: you can’t have season after season where Jamie tells Claire not to do something, Claire does it anyway and Jamie has to rescue her. But Jamie and Claire and their relationship are the heart of the show, and if that goes so will a lot of the fans. You also get the impression at times that the writers are worried of making Jamie too much of a hero. Believe me, Heughan can handle it. Let’s not forget in Season 1 Heughan had to play a scene where as a healthy 22-year old with a healthy 22-year old libido, on what he believes will be his last night with the woman he loves, he refuses to bed her but rather pleasures her so he can watch her face and he made that believable. If he can make that believable, believe me, you can trust Heughan to have full reign to be the Jamie as written in the novels. That man can do it!
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