Even though the first season of Outlander has been the longest, up to now, I haven't really felt like there was a pure filler episode up to now. There were some nice moments, and it is fun to see Claire and Murtagh finally get a chance to build a connection. Remember, though the focus has largely been on Jaime and Claire, it was Murtagh that actually saves her from Black Jack and brings her to Dougal in episode 1. It's also nice to see that Jenny and Claire have built a type of connection. They are two stubborn, headstrong, fierce women, so a connection between them would seem natural, though it has been tough sledding considering that one is a rural highlander and the other is a highborn modern Englishwoman. But in truth, there are really on two things that stand out in an otherwise forgettable episode.
The first is the idea of the Sassenach, the idea of the outsider and how it has evolved since the first half of the season. It's not surprise that the title of the show and first book is Outlander; it is literally the story of a Englishwoman who is both out of place, in the Scottish Highlands, and out of time. When the term was used in the early season, it was almost always used as a derogatory term, a way to exclude Claire from the others. As Claire herself said in episode 4, it didn't matter that she was going to leave the castle, no one cared. She was just some outlander, some Sassenach that didn't belong. That's why it's rather fitting to see its evolution. Sassenach has been Jamie's pet name for Claire for a while, a term of endearment for her. More importantly, the term also has a special meaning for both of them; they both share in the knowledge that she's from another time, an intimate secret they both share between themselves and no one else (as of yet). In this episode, Claire's Outlander status is the main vehicle for reunification with Jaime. In the beginning of the season, she resented being the Sassenach, the person everyone looked upon with "suspicion and awe." Now, it has come to the point that she wants to be recognized as the Sassenach, to bring Jaime back to her. It doesn't take a phd to figure this out, its just one of those minor details that makes the series compelling.
The second thing is that this episode introduces an important theme that really continues on for the rest of the series: How far are you willing to go? What are you willing to do for the ones you love? It's a relatively common theme in any romance series like this, but its a question that the characters constantly grapple with. Up to now, there have been many times where Jaime and Claire have put their bodies at risk to help others, but this in the first time in the series where there is some serious contemplation about it. When Claire takes a beating from Randall in Garrison Commander and avoids giving up information, there is no contemplation about why she should do, whether she's thought about what's going to happen, she just does it. When Jamie rescues Claire from Fort William and the Witch Trial, there is no contemplation on what that will mean for Jaime, it just happens and is never really thought of again.
Here the entire episode is about how far Claire is willing to go to get her husband back. We've seen the impact that killing has on Claire in episode 8, it's the antithesis of who she is as a person. She's a healer, a physician, someone whose nature is to heal battered and broken men, not kill them. You can see the unease she has at the thought of killing the English soldier. The episode continues to pose the same question to Claire again and again, and the choices she makes get harder and harder, to the point where at the end, she has decided to break into Wentworth Prison with a handful of men and agreed to marry Dougal for his "cooperation" with the efforts to break Jaime out. I think what makes the rest of this series so compelling is that answering this question gets harder and harder as the characters change and the web around them grows bigger.
The first is the idea of the Sassenach, the idea of the outsider and how it has evolved since the first half of the season. It's not surprise that the title of the show and first book is Outlander; it is literally the story of a Englishwoman who is both out of place, in the Scottish Highlands, and out of time. When the term was used in the early season, it was almost always used as a derogatory term, a way to exclude Claire from the others. As Claire herself said in episode 4, it didn't matter that she was going to leave the castle, no one cared. She was just some outlander, some Sassenach that didn't belong. That's why it's rather fitting to see its evolution. Sassenach has been Jamie's pet name for Claire for a while, a term of endearment for her. More importantly, the term also has a special meaning for both of them; they both share in the knowledge that she's from another time, an intimate secret they both share between themselves and no one else (as of yet). In this episode, Claire's Outlander status is the main vehicle for reunification with Jaime. In the beginning of the season, she resented being the Sassenach, the person everyone looked upon with "suspicion and awe." Now, it has come to the point that she wants to be recognized as the Sassenach, to bring Jaime back to her. It doesn't take a phd to figure this out, its just one of those minor details that makes the series compelling.
The second thing is that this episode introduces an important theme that really continues on for the rest of the series: How far are you willing to go? What are you willing to do for the ones you love? It's a relatively common theme in any romance series like this, but its a question that the characters constantly grapple with. Up to now, there have been many times where Jaime and Claire have put their bodies at risk to help others, but this in the first time in the series where there is some serious contemplation about it. When Claire takes a beating from Randall in Garrison Commander and avoids giving up information, there is no contemplation about why she should do, whether she's thought about what's going to happen, she just does it. When Jamie rescues Claire from Fort William and the Witch Trial, there is no contemplation on what that will mean for Jaime, it just happens and is never really thought of again.
Here the entire episode is about how far Claire is willing to go to get her husband back. We've seen the impact that killing has on Claire in episode 8, it's the antithesis of who she is as a person. She's a healer, a physician, someone whose nature is to heal battered and broken men, not kill them. You can see the unease she has at the thought of killing the English soldier. The episode continues to pose the same question to Claire again and again, and the choices she makes get harder and harder, to the point where at the end, she has decided to break into Wentworth Prison with a handful of men and agreed to marry Dougal for his "cooperation" with the efforts to break Jaime out. I think what makes the rest of this series so compelling is that answering this question gets harder and harder as the characters change and the web around them grows bigger.
