Outlander: Doldrums   Books Included 
November 12, 2017 10:53 AM - Season 3, Episode 9 - Subscribe

Claire and Jamie sail to the West Indies on an urgent quest; when the ship's superstitious crew looks for someone to blame following a string of bad luck, rescue comes from an unlikely source.

New intro! Marsali sass! Yi Tien Cho’s backstory! The Porpoise!
posted by olinerd (14 comments total)
 
I was okay with this one. Not a lot happened plot-wise, but a lot of setup for events we know from the books came into play and I thought they did alright. Probably didn’t work as well for non-book-readers though.

I adore Marsali. Hopefully her excellent acting chemistry makes up for my lingering skepticism of Adult Fergus.

I swear that Jamie was calling Jonah dude Innes. That’s not Duncan, is it? He has two arms. But what were they calling him?
posted by olinerd at 10:56 AM on November 12, 2017


Oh, and best line:

“The whore should have the bigger bed, shouldn’t she.”
posted by olinerd at 10:57 AM on November 12, 2017 [2 favorites]


Yes, Marsali is awesome!! I am loving her so much more in the show than in the books already. I was really hoping to get the ridiculous turtle soup bit, but that episode was pretty good for me. Weirdly paced for a tv show, but the book devotes soooo much time to being on the boat, and I can live with cutting the boat down to just the essentials.

I kind of love that Terry Dresbach (the costume designer) had an argument with the writers about the idea of Jamie keeping Claire's clothes.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 6:54 PM on November 12, 2017 [2 favorites]


Non-book reader, but yes, some parts of this were a bit slow, but I still enjoyed it for the most part.

Loved the friction with Marsali and Claire, which seems entirely natural to me. I mean obviously we see things from Claire's perspective, she is Jamie's original and rightful wife, etc. But from Marsali's perspective her anger towards Claire makes sense.

The thing about Claire's clothes is odd on a couple of levels. I'm a historical costume nerd so bear with me. I do get him keeping the clothes for a sentimental thing, but if he was sentimental enough to keep them and not sell them for food, etc. it's weird that he also let Marsali make use of them and even alter them. Even so, since Jamie did do that, it makes sense that Marsali would make use of and alter Claire's Scotland clothing, which are good, sturdy, serviceable middle class/lower gentry clothes. But I can't imagine when she would have occasion to wear any of Claire's French frocks, which were very fancy upper class gowns suitable for hobnobbing with royalty. It seems to me that Marsali is much lower down on the social scale than Jamie and Claire were in the 1740s. And in this time period it was considered strange (and in some cases actually illegal) to "dress above your station". I'm pretty sure even people of her own class would have thought it weird if she showed up to a Lallybroch cèilidh in one of those costumes.
posted by katyggls at 7:35 PM on November 12, 2017 [4 favorites]


I think that this is a setup for Marsali and Fergus' Catholic wedding ;that show Father Fogden was never involved with Ermengilda.
posted by brujita at 10:05 PM on November 12, 2017


Good thinking, brujita!
posted by something something at 4:44 AM on November 13, 2017


I thought it was odd how the new credits sequence essentially spoils the events of the next several episodes, did anyone notice that? Not everyone has read the books.
posted by something something at 9:21 AM on November 13, 2017


....but It would have made more sense for Claire to leave the dresses with Louise.
posted by brujita at 10:58 AM on November 13, 2017


I didn't feel especially spoiled by the new credits. They did the same thing when we went to france partway through last season, and the credits suddenly had a bunch of France. All I could get from the new credits here was we're going to the new world and we're going to spend a bit of time there.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:21 PM on November 13, 2017


I swear that Jamie was calling Jonah dude Innes. That’s not Duncan, is it? He has two arms. But what were they calling him?

Hayes, so it's either the old one who is executed in the books or his son Archie who is supposed to be a loyalist soldier later on.

entirely possible that i'm forgetting another hayes tho
posted by poffin boffin at 10:30 PM on November 13, 2017


good lord there was way too fucking much loud graphic vomiting in this episode
posted by poffin boffin at 10:37 PM on November 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


Ahhhh thanks poffin boffin. That makes more sense.
posted by olinerd at 5:49 AM on November 14, 2017


i too spent the whole episode looking for a one-armed guy amongst the grimy crewmen, though. where is duncan?

i didn't realize that everyone wasn't fast forwarding through the credits
posted by poffin boffin at 11:21 AM on November 14, 2017


Location watch: The ship is seen departing Scotland from the port of Dysart - famous as the place of William Wallace (this one not that one). Dysart seems to be the go-to Outlander location when a port is needed - here were preparations for filming there back in 2015 - when it was being Le Havre.
posted by rongorongo at 12:57 AM on November 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


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