Outlander is back! Love is in the air, trouble is brewing and an old friendship looks as if it’s on a collision course.
Top and tailing the first episode of season 5 is the longest love story in Outlander– the bromance between Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) and Jamie (Sam Heughan). In what promises to be one of the major conflicts in Season 5, Jamie and Murtagh seem destined to find themselves on opposing sides for once. Murtagh, a committed regulator, fighting against British rule, and Jamie forced to side with the British if he wants to keep his land and protect his family and tenants.
Hence the opening sequence goes back in time to the moment when Murtagh vowed to a very young Jamie that he will always be at his side; while the final sequence is that of Jamie tearfully releasing Murtagh from that vow. All in all, this would seem not to bode well for Murtagh’s chances to make it to Season 6.
Of course another of Outlander’s main romances is that between Roger (Richard Rankin) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton). As such the majority of this episode is devoted to their marriage while highlighting along the way several issues that will no doubt play out throughout the series; as an Oxford don, Roger’s unsuitability to life as a 18th century man in the backwaters of North Carolina; Jamie having to give away his only daughter to a man who he’s not quite convinced is worthy of her (but then as far as Jamie is concerned: who is?); the growing bond between Brianna and Jamie; Roger’s assumption that he and his family will return at some point to the future, an assumption seemingly not shared by his Mrs; the spectre of Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers) looming in the background; and the on-going trauma suffered by Brianna following her rape by Bonnet, a trauma she seems determined to hide from her loved ones.
But it is love that suffuses this episode and not just that of our two young lovers. At one point the wedding is intercut with a flashback to Jamie and Claire’s wedding which serves to remind you of three things: firstly, it’s their relationship which is the driving force of the whole show; secondly, what an event piece of television that particular wedding episode was and lastly, that in the supposed intervening 27 years Jamie and Claire have aged remarkably well.
Of course, as night follows day, sex scenes must follows the wedding scenes. As nothing could top Jamie and Claire’s night of wedded bliss, the writers wisely decide to go down a different track all together as Roger gets his guitar out (not a euphemism) and starts to sing as a montage of our various lovers flashes before us. Claire and Jamie still manage to have passionate sex (of course they do) despite shagging in the close proximity of a restless baby; meanwhile Fergus (César Domboy) and Marsali (Lauren Lyle) aren’t seen bonking but they clearly do as Marsali is expecting another bub, even Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy) and Murtagh are doing the deed; meanwhile poor Lord John Grey (David Berry) seems to be the only gay in the village and the only major figure not getting his end away. As for Roger and Brianna, they consummate their relationship but it’s clear that Brianna can’t disassociate making love from what has happened to her with Stephen Bonnet. And if this opening episode is anything to go by, Sophie Skelton is giving a masterful performance in her portrayal of a woman trying to get on with her life while dealing with the trauma of surviving a brutal rape.
But as we all know sometimes life doesn’t look as rosy as it did first thing in the morning. Thanks to miscommunication between Jocasta and Murtagh, it looks as if Jocasta is set to marry Duncan Innes, a marriage clearly neither of them wants to happen.
Jocasta is more successful when she sets out to test what type of man Roger is by seeing whether he’s after her money or not. Roger, unaware that it’s a test, is furious by Jocasta’s apparent assumption that he doesn’t regard Jemmy as his own son, and sets off in a fury, but not before telling Jocasta to stuff her money (or words to that effect) and then baptises his son using his own blood, although, as a Presbyterian myself, I’m not sure that technically that counts.
As for Claire, no sooner is the marriage of her daughter done and dusted, she is back to what she does best. No not that – healing, where we meet a new character Josiah (Paul Gorman), a hunter and a branded thief and presumably a replacement in Lizzie’s (Caitlin O’Ryan) affection for Ian (John Bell) who no one seems to be missing at all.
Spoiling the party is an English officer of course. None other than Governor Tryon (Tim Downie) himself who hints none too subtly that Jamie isn’t providing him with all the information he could about what’s going on in the area and leaves a platoon with him to hunt down Murtagh and the regulators who it would seem are all Scots (there’s a surprise), and Jamie has been chosen for the mission being a Scot himself.
Thinking ahead as always, Jamie realises with the American War of Independence on the horizon, he has to ensure that the men of the ridge are loyal to him and not to the government. Deciding to take Tryon at his word, he weaponises his very Scottishness to ensure that whereas it may seem he is calling up a militia on behalf of the Government, he is in fact creating his own private army. Thus Jamie dons his kilt once more, and thousands of women’s hearts (including Claire’s) flutter around the world. Never in the history of marketing has one man done more for one particular item of clothing. Thus Jamie sets off to put his plan into action but first getting the all-important nod from Claire before he does so. It’s a gesture this couple make before all their important decisions, indicating that whatever may happen, they are always in it together.
Thus Jamie lights the fiery cross (luckily for him there just happens to be one at hand), gathers the men around, and in a scene echoing that of The Gathering at Castle Leoch, the men of the ridge pledge their loyalty to Jamie including Roger who Jamie makes a captain hoping to keep him safe by keeping him close to his side. Personally, I’m not sure Claire or Brianna share that particular point of view.
All in all, nothing much happened in Episode 1, as it was obviously setting the scene for the troubles to come. But surely it’s only a question of time (and a number of episodes) before the next Fiery Cross is lit and the battle lines are once more drawn out.
