Outlander: Season 2 Show Only
July 11, 2016 9:24 AM - Season 2 (Full Season) - Subscribe
Claire and Jamie struggle to find a way to avoid Scottish defeat at Culloden. Also: Fergus.
It really was terrific. Best episode of the series so far.
My only complaint was the inexplicable cheese level of the last few seconds, which seemed out of character with the rest of the episode. The blinding sunshine in her face actually looked a bit painful. In the book it's Brianna who says to her, "Mama, you have to go back," which I prefer to TVClaire's reaction, which is essentially, "Okay, awesome! See you later, kid." But! That is very nitpicky; overall I thought this was a fantastic 90 minutes of television.
posted by something something at 9:52 AM on July 11, 2016
My only complaint was the inexplicable cheese level of the last few seconds, which seemed out of character with the rest of the episode. The blinding sunshine in her face actually looked a bit painful. In the book it's Brianna who says to her, "Mama, you have to go back," which I prefer to TVClaire's reaction, which is essentially, "Okay, awesome! See you later, kid." But! That is very nitpicky; overall I thought this was a fantastic 90 minutes of television.
posted by something something at 9:52 AM on July 11, 2016
I thought this season was a little uneven. It hit all the dramatic plot points that it needed to, and it was gorgeous to watch, but I felt like the relationships between all the characters, and especially Jamie & Claire, really could have been fleshed out more. I think if they had a few more episodes in the season we could have had something more special. But I also think Ron Moore fundamentally doesn't understand Jamie and Claire's relationship, and that the narrative is not just about plot points, it's about people's feelings. Ron Moore's editing choices (from what I've gathered listening to his podcasts) cut a lot of Jamie & Claire interactions that I think needed to be there to build the relationship.
Thoughts on the finale: I wasn't sure about the structure of the episode at first, going back and forth between 1968 and the past, but it ended up working well for me. I think showing all the Culloden stuff at once would have left us hanging with a weird lack of tension halfway through the episode.
I'm surprised that after the long, long time they spent casting Bree that this is the actress they settled on, I really hope she gets some acting lessons over the hiatus, she was pretty disappointing. Also, that accent, just ugh. Most of the Bree scenes were giving me contact embarrassment. As for Can I Have A Biscuit Roger- Richard Rankin has come a ways from his days doing bits on Burnistoun. A+ job on Roger Wakefield.
Even knowing that it was coming, I squealed with delight at the Geillis/Gillian reveal.
I wish they had kept the Jamie & Claire ending a little truer to the book, that cabin scene was epic. Can I say that in a show only thread? I have a few other book-to-show nitpicks I can save if we're going to do a separate books-included thread. Also, I cried so much around the end.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 10:15 AM on July 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Thoughts on the finale: I wasn't sure about the structure of the episode at first, going back and forth between 1968 and the past, but it ended up working well for me. I think showing all the Culloden stuff at once would have left us hanging with a weird lack of tension halfway through the episode.
I'm surprised that after the long, long time they spent casting Bree that this is the actress they settled on, I really hope she gets some acting lessons over the hiatus, she was pretty disappointing. Also, that accent, just ugh. Most of the Bree scenes were giving me contact embarrassment. As for Can I Have A Biscuit Roger- Richard Rankin has come a ways from his days doing bits on Burnistoun. A+ job on Roger Wakefield.
Even knowing that it was coming, I squealed with delight at the Geillis/Gillian reveal.
I wish they had kept the Jamie & Claire ending a little truer to the book, that cabin scene was epic. Can I say that in a show only thread? I have a few other book-to-show nitpicks I can save if we're going to do a separate books-included thread. Also, I cried so much around the end.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 10:15 AM on July 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
This episode made me feel like the show/books are transitioning from "Claire and Jamie's interesting and very real-feeling relationship in 18th century Scotland" to "Claire and Jamie are going to bounce around through time having crazy adventures." The cheese factor just suddenly got cranked way up.
I also thought that the acting for Brianna was just terrible. Considering that she is the hook for the later-era story, that's a really bad sign. It was hard for me to care about anything happening in 1968.
I enjoyed the first two seasons despite some reservations about things like the regular violent tone-shifting, but I'm going to start the third season needing to be convinced to stick with it.
posted by dfan at 11:57 AM on July 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I also thought that the acting for Brianna was just terrible. Considering that she is the hook for the later-era story, that's a really bad sign. It was hard for me to care about anything happening in 1968.
I enjoyed the first two seasons despite some reservations about things like the regular violent tone-shifting, but I'm going to start the third season needing to be convinced to stick with it.
posted by dfan at 11:57 AM on July 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Hey, I went ahead and posted a books-included finale thread now, maybe people should move the book talk out of this thread?
posted by oh yeah! at 12:13 PM on July 11, 2016
posted by oh yeah! at 12:13 PM on July 11, 2016
Sorry, I was so excited to see the thread I didn't notice it was Show Only.
posted by something something at 2:20 PM on July 11, 2016
posted by something something at 2:20 PM on July 11, 2016
I'm a non-book-reader and there was nothing said here that was anything beyond general/obvious. We're good.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:27 PM on July 11, 2016
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:27 PM on July 11, 2016
Is this season less rapey than the previous one? We started out watching season 1, but the constant looming threat of rape cumulating in the hour-long rape-a-thon kind of turned us off of it.
posted by jordemort at 8:48 AM on July 12, 2016
posted by jordemort at 8:48 AM on July 12, 2016
Still rapey. Equal opportunity rapey, too.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:14 AM on July 12, 2016
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:14 AM on July 12, 2016
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The season finale, setting up Brianna and Roger (who I am told are a big deal), was terrific though, and I'm back on board for next year.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:28 AM on July 11, 2016