Outlander: Heaven and Earth
November 19, 2017 2:14 PM - Season 3, Episode 10 - Subscribe
Claire races to discover the source of an epidemic aboard a disease-stricken ship before hundreds of sailors die; Jamie clashes with Capt. Raines; Fergus is torn between loyalty and love.
Nooooo Elias, you were with us for but an instant, and you really couldn't act at first, but you grew on us and then, just like that, you were gone.
posted by tracicle at 2:20 PM on November 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by tracicle at 2:20 PM on November 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
I thought it was kinda boring too. But I will say I’m on board with the Fergus casting now, and Marsali is absolutely fantastic. I want a Marsali spin-off show.
This season is the most uneven for me so far, but it’s also a pretty strange book, so. I guess they had their work cut out for them.
posted by something something at 2:23 PM on November 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
This season is the most uneven for me so far, but it’s also a pretty strange book, so. I guess they had their work cut out for them.
posted by something something at 2:23 PM on November 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
I totally agree with all of you, it's such a weirdly paced book, this episode felt really slow (but also managed to be somewhat tense for me, even with book knowledge of how it's going to end), and I have no idea how they're going to pack in the rest of the book into just three more episodes. When I think about all of the books, though, it's really just the first one that's super action packed, the rest have big moments and riveting scenes, but there's a lot of character building and scene setting in the books that turn out to be kind of difficult to translate to tv.
Fergus has finally grown on me, too! I thought he was more believable than Jaime in those scenes with Jaime locked up.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 7:20 PM on November 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Fergus has finally grown on me, too! I thought he was more believable than Jaime in those scenes with Jaime locked up.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 7:20 PM on November 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
I think what gets me down on the show/story is that Claire and Jamie are super reactive when together, but proactive when apart. Their only motivation seems to be "be together" which is why when they are together, hassles have to come out of the woodwork for them to react to, but when they are apart they suddenly remember they are protagonists who have to do stuff.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:29 AM on November 20, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:29 AM on November 20, 2017 [5 favorites]
BRB, gotta register the username Annejke the Magical Goat Lady.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:42 AM on November 20, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:42 AM on November 20, 2017 [5 favorites]
Show-Jamie is even less of a nice person than book-Jamie. Blackmailing Fergus? What were the writers trying to do here exactly? Getting jealous over Claire being on a boat with *grits teeth* THREE HUNDRED MEN.
When I read later books in the series I keep looking for other people online who might be talking about the ways in which Claire and Jamie have aged into grumpy assholes who are mean to their friends, but I don't have to look far for people noticing the swift deviation in character between book-Jamie and show-Jamie.
At any rate, there's only three more episodes this season. Have they even been renewed for season 4?
posted by annathea at 2:30 PM on November 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
When I read later books in the series I keep looking for other people online who might be talking about the ways in which Claire and Jamie have aged into grumpy assholes who are mean to their friends, but I don't have to look far for people noticing the swift deviation in character between book-Jamie and show-Jamie.
At any rate, there's only three more episodes this season. Have they even been renewed for season 4?
posted by annathea at 2:30 PM on November 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
Some book series are meant to build to a single plot point: Harry Potter finally battles it out with Voldemort; the end. While others feature disconnected outings by the same characters: The Famous Five visit the magic island, go camping etc. The Outlander series seems like a strange hybrid: Diana Gabaldon says she wrote the first book just to see what it would be like - then added the others in the way we might extend a house over a number of years.
For people like me who are just viewers - I find this can be a bit frustrating. For the first couple of series we had "Culloden" as the big event on the horizon. And for a while we then had "Jamie and Claire are re-united?". But now we are living on a diet of much shorter term plot goals. As robocop is bleeding says - the nature of the story seems to be that whenever Jamie and Claire are re-united they have to immediately be split apart again lest the plot stall. Fans for "24" might recall this as the "Jack's daughter getting kidnapped again" issue.
Fortunately the acting and characterisation help paper over the plot cracks, for me at least.
posted by rongorongo at 1:50 AM on November 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
For people like me who are just viewers - I find this can be a bit frustrating. For the first couple of series we had "Culloden" as the big event on the horizon. And for a while we then had "Jamie and Claire are re-united?". But now we are living on a diet of much shorter term plot goals. As robocop is bleeding says - the nature of the story seems to be that whenever Jamie and Claire are re-united they have to immediately be split apart again lest the plot stall. Fans for "24" might recall this as the "Jack's daughter getting kidnapped again" issue.
Fortunately the acting and characterisation help paper over the plot cracks, for me at least.
posted by rongorongo at 1:50 AM on November 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
Have they even been renewed for season 4?
They're filming season 4 now! I read that season 4 will run next fall, so we don't have to forever like we did for this one.
I had some friends over to watch a few episodes (the Helwater one, the Print Shop one, and the Lallybroch one) this weekend, and it was interesting to get the perspectives of people who haven't read the books and haven't really followed the show super closely. One was like "what is even the point of this show now that Jamie and Claire aren't even together??" during the Helwater ep, and Laoghaire stuff was super bananas to them. Overall, even after the reunion, they're wondering what the overall point of the show is now.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 5:20 AM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
They're filming season 4 now! I read that season 4 will run next fall, so we don't have to forever like we did for this one.
I had some friends over to watch a few episodes (the Helwater one, the Print Shop one, and the Lallybroch one) this weekend, and it was interesting to get the perspectives of people who haven't read the books and haven't really followed the show super closely. One was like "what is even the point of this show now that Jamie and Claire aren't even together??" during the Helwater ep, and Laoghaire stuff was super bananas to them. Overall, even after the reunion, they're wondering what the overall point of the show is now.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 5:20 AM on November 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
I am reading the books now--up to Song of Ash and Bone or Breath of Ice and Fire or whatever-the-fuck (god these titles drive me nuts)--and yeah the whole thing gets pretty "Little House on the Prairie" as soon as Claire and Jaime get to the colonies. Complete with all the disturbing writing about slaves and native peoples.
(I thought all of the islands stuff was insane to the point of shark-jumping.)
Still, I grew up in Asheville and am loving the history of the area, and I do find fascinating everything about the slow boil leading up to the Revolution. I know this history in the Northeast (just as the characters do), but it is so interesting to read an account of what it might have been like in the Appalachians.
Sorry, am jumping way ahead with this commentary. But I will say the books age Claire and Jaime in a very realistic way, and the ship voyage and islands adventures are very much a part of that.
posted by torticat at 8:24 AM on November 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
(I thought all of the islands stuff was insane to the point of shark-jumping.)
Still, I grew up in Asheville and am loving the history of the area, and I do find fascinating everything about the slow boil leading up to the Revolution. I know this history in the Northeast (just as the characters do), but it is so interesting to read an account of what it might have been like in the Appalachians.
Sorry, am jumping way ahead with this commentary. But I will say the books age Claire and Jaime in a very realistic way, and the ship voyage and islands adventures are very much a part of that.
posted by torticat at 8:24 AM on November 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
i am mad that all the ship episodes feature loud vomiting.
posted by poffin boffin at 5:53 PM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by poffin boffin at 5:53 PM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
this season has been horribly slow and weird throughout but if they give us jaime in the full glorious excesses his posh frenchman disguise it may all be worth it
wait is that the next book i forget
posted by poffin boffin at 6:20 PM on November 24, 2017
wait is that the next book i forget
posted by poffin boffin at 6:20 PM on November 24, 2017
...also (have now watched Heaven and Earth, which actually I hadn't done yet when I wrote my previous comment)--people may need to get over the obsession with Claire and Jamie being reunited and all that--and just enjoy the story for what it is. I mean the UST was taken care of (at great length) in the print shop episode. I don't know if viewers will still be interested going forward or not? I am, but far more for the historical fiction than for the love story.
Or actually, of course--there are other love stories to be interested in as well. But I kind of like the development of the relationship between C & J into something more mature and static than what has gone on before. I want to just get through the next three episodes so we can move on to the next epoch in their lives, which is a lot more interesting.
posted by torticat at 1:04 AM on November 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
Or actually, of course--there are other love stories to be interested in as well. But I kind of like the development of the relationship between C & J into something more mature and static than what has gone on before. I want to just get through the next three episodes so we can move on to the next epoch in their lives, which is a lot more interesting.
posted by torticat at 1:04 AM on November 25, 2017 [2 favorites]
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posted by olinerd at 2:15 PM on November 19, 2017 [1 favorite]