Happy New Year everyone! These two episodes unite the Fraser Family. Jamie gets to meet the daughter he surrendered to the future so many years ago.
We got a bit of the action adventure aspect of the show back in Wilmington. Claire and Jamie are invited to the ‘theee-a- taa’ by the governor.
In this case, the crowd was so loud the actors actually answered their questions and corrected inaccurate assumptions about the script. According to the writers, their research indicated this was normal at the time.
By the time the evening was over the performance turned out to be the social event of the season. Jamie finds out that there’s a spy in Murtagh’s regulator ranks and that Murtagh is about to walk into a trap.
Jamie’s subtle way of creating a distraction, so he can warn Murtagh, is to punch the governor’s friend, Redman Fanning, in the stomach forcing his inguinal hernia into a critical stage.
Claire ensures Governor Tryon never realizes that Jamie slipped out of the theatre by performing emergency surgery in the lobby of the theatre. Everyone in that room was watching Claire. Wilmington will be talking about this for years!
For anyone who hasn’t yet accepted the fact that Outlander is a soap opera, Roger and Brianna's story played out like a good old-fashioned daytime soap opera.
I know a lot of people may assume that’s a condemnation, but I’m not one of them. I love soaps. Luckily, one of my favorite daytime soaps is still on the air.
When Roger happens across Brianna in a tavern, he’s surprised that she wasn’t sure where they stood. Either I’m old, he’s stupid, or both.
The last thing the man said to Brianna was that if she wasn’t ready to get engaged right then and there he wanted nothing to do with her. Did no one, during his teen years talk to him about dealing with women?
Brianna not only lets him off the hook (IMHO he still owes her an apology for that confrontation), but decides to take him up on his offer. When he suggests that, rather than simply getting engaged, they get handfasted, She agrees.
Everything between them was perfect, until Brianna discovered that Roger kept the information about the death notice from her.
Brianna blew a fuse. So Roger, being, well I have to stick with stupid, decided the best move was to suggest that now they’re married, she should just do what he says.
Even better, he tells her she’s being childish (neither of them are exhibiting massive amounts of maturity here).
When he threated to return to the 20th Century, Brianna refused to stop him. He storms out. She returns to the tavern alone.
At the tavern, she sees Stephen Bonnet about to bet with her mother’s wedding ring. Brianna offers to buy it from him, but, when she steps into an adjacent room to discuss price, she finds out that the price is her.
Bonnet rapes Brianna while a room full of men, Bonnet’s friends, ignore her cries for help. I could accept the men in the tavern ignoring what was happening to Brianna.
These weren’t family men. They were Bonnet’s buddies. It’s the 17th Century. And let’s face it, not too long ago the American justice system would allow a defense attorney to blame the victim for being raped.
What I couldn’t believe was the absolute lack of concern (or reaction of any kind) from the women in the room. I can believe that they would find it commonplace, but not even a little sympathy?
Roger and Brianna were both willing to kiss and make up the next morning.
Unfortunately, Bonnet forced Roger to finish his employment contract, so Brianna thinks he returned to Scotland and the 20th Century.
Lizzy was able to brighten Brianna’s day by telling her that Jamie and Claire Fraser were in Wilmington at that moment.
Brianna finds her father. {We hit another moment I wasn’t sure they’d bring from the book literally. Jamie was indeed relieving himself when Brianna found him. Lol}
Finally the family is together.
I kind of like that Brianna didn’t waste any time showing her parents the obituary. Although I did laugh at Jamie’s professional indignation over the smudge that obscured the date.
The family heads for Fraser’s Ridge.
The trip works. Brianna and Jamie have a chance to connect.
Brianna admits to feeling disloyal to Frank. Jamie lets her know what he thinks about Frank. I think he makes it okay for Brianna to keep Frank in her heart.
Brianna finally admits she doesn’t know what to call Jamie. He suggests she call him Da.
When Lizzy identified Roger as the man who raped Brianna, I realized…classic soap opera complications have peppered this entire story.
Brianna is raped just after consummating her marriage, so she doesn’t know which man is the father of her baby. She has no idea that Roger is still in America, let alone coming to find her (hopefully to apologize).
Brianna never spoke to Lizzy about that evening so Lizzy is unaware that Roger was the man she saw with Brianna or that Roger did NOT rape Brianna.
All of these misunderstandings, miscommunications and omissions led to Roger getting the daylights kicked out of him by an angry protective father.
Overall, I enjoyed the two episodes. For me the highlights were the emergency surgery and the montage of Brianna spending time with her family. I liked seeing Murtagh sitting at the family table laughing and telling stories about Jamie’s childhood.
What were your episode highlights? What didn’t work for you? Share in the comment section below.
