Outlander Recap: Both Sides Now
Did you hear the awful cry that shook the very foundations of the earth last week? That was me, uttering a bellow from my very soul upon learning that, after this week’s episode, I’d have to wait until APRIL 2015 to be given fresh opportunities to stare at Jamie’s bottom and chortle nerdily at Claire’s dirty jokes. Starz knew what they were doing baiting us with this first half of the series. They’re like old-school strippers: it’s all about the tease.
But this is the year 2014, gone are the strippers of yore, and in their place are topless bars with all-you-can-eat shrimp dinners. What I’m saying is this: a long hiatus is a terrible idea. The show’s creators have underestimated my fervor for all things Gabaldon. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that by April, I will have written the rest of the season and shot it with my phone starring my cats. Conversely, should my cats prove unwilling to bone and flog each other on demand, I could very well book a studio space in New York and make the second half of the season a one-woman show. A deeply, deeply disturbing one woman show. You’re welcome, America.
I may not like it, but this is how things are. As a meager concession, the episode was designed to feel like a season finale. Eager to pack as much action as they could into this final installment, the episode moved at an intensely rapid clip. Claire was nearly raped not once, but twice in the span of an hour. That is twice the amount of attempted rapes anyone should have to experience in a lifetime, let alone in a brief 60-minute period. Trying one last time (after the shock and horror of taking a life) to make it to the stones and back home to Frank (a sequence so emotionally painful I maybe nervously got up and walked around while it was happening, humming anxiously to myself), Claire finds herself back in the clutches of Black Jack Randall. The episode ends with a cliffhanger: will Jamie’s arrival save Claire? Answer: Probably. There are many, many books after all.
But what everyone was really talking about post-episode? Just how damn delighted Black Jack Randall looked as Jamie kicked in the door. It was like “I Will Always Love You” was playing, making theirs a story for the ages, rather than, you know, one dude always trying to kill this other dude because of his confusing sex-feelings.
Menzies has been on fire this season, adding dimension and humanity to the character of Frank. In the first book, we only see Frank in the shadows. What he may be thinking or feeling is not our concern. In this episode we finally learn the true extent of Frank’s love for Claire. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to quietly turning to my roommate and going, “Maybe I’m Team Frank, now?” She was half a second away from slapping me full in the mouth for this borderline heresy. Ours is a Fraser house.
What about you? Still Team Jamie? How are you going to while away the wait until April?