Catherine: Hi, Stephanie! Outlander has delivered yet another complex episode, this time full of troubling issues about families, communities, and beliefs. The series shines brightest when it maneuvers Claire between our modern values and an older set of beliefs, particularly spiritual ones. We ended last week with Claire finding an ill wish hex under her marriage bed and this week Laoghaire (pronounced LEE-ree) admits she put the ill wish there. She fully believes that Jamie is hers and will do whatever it takes to remove Claire from the scene. Laoghaire may be diminutive in size and isn’t the brightest bulb in the box but she’s more than capable of doing lasting damage. She’s justified in being pissed but there’s an obsession going on here and it’s not going to be pretty. She’s started by using witchcraft but is already on to using other means by the end of the episode.
Stephanie: It’s interesting how the show doesn’t quite commit to whether the magic in this world is real; we know some supernatural element exists to have brought Claire to the past, but her scientific reasoning of the village customs over superstition was brought to light numerous times this episode: with the changeling, and with known “witch” Geillis’ sensual ritual out in the woods. I love the dynamic between she and Claire; their camaraderie implies Geillis is an ally, but their relationship still holds so much tension. Can she be trusted?
Catherine: One of the big reasons I love Outlander is the fine line it dances with the supernatural. Yes, Claire was brought over somehow but we don’t know how. Yes, herbs are used for medicine but that’s medicine and not magic whatever the people might think. The magical elements like the ill wish and Geillis’ late night dance point to humans forcing their desires into being and calling it the work of the supernatural. What’s going on is not the work of gods. Or is it? The show never truly says. Ronald Moore, creator and producer of the show, did a similar dance in his last series, Battlestar Galactica. Starbuck, a main female protagonist, seeks the will of the gods and can’t make her mind up if the divinities exist and care for humankind or not. And I wonder if Claire will have some sort of quandary of the same sort, if she’ll have an encounter with a spiritual force or if the reasons for her traveling will remain forever unknowable just as Starbuck found the gods ultimately unknowable.
Stephanie: Ooh, great parallels to Starbuck. I agree, the gray area between magic and science is wonderful to explore. I found the landscapes and cinematography just beautiful in this episode. Lush green hills, the weathered castle, the fog in the forest, all create such an immersive experience. The costuming is great too. The fur-accented coats Claire and Geillis wore I would wear in a second! I like that even that visual representation of the two women clothed similarly, and close in age, we instantly want to pair them as friends, but Geillis is so untrustworthy! Interesting how Claire compared watching Geillis’ forest dance to the ritual of the stones which took place prior to her time travel. Will Claire finally start pursuing a way home? She seems pretty acclimated to her new time with barely a thought toward her past, with exception of recalling a former conversation with Frank concerning details that help she and Jamie now.
Catherine: What I want to know is that if Claire goes back, how will she ever be able to separate her sweet husband from his nasty ancestor doppelganger, Black Jack. That flashback between Frank and a historian made me grimace. I had a hard time distinguishing it was Frank and not Jack in that small scene! So how she’ll do it remains to be seen. The scenery was gorgeous and eerie. The setting for the changeling in the crook of the tree was perfect. I half expected her to find a crying fairy baby. Which, of course, it wasn’t. Jamie’s explanation of the parents abandoning an ailing sick baby in the belief the real child was taken and this sick changeling was left in its place was heartbreaking. The story of the changeling made unconsolable heartbreak bearable for people and that’s what all great myths and religions do. I was also struck by the idea that the changeling story might be a way for a woman to rid herself of an unwanted child and not come under community censure. All in all, it was an eerie haunting story and they did a great job with it. I also love Claire’s and Geillis’ glorious fur clothing and their friendship. It’s a dicey friendship but they’re also two women living on the edge. Their status is constant danger and any wrong turn can risk their lives. I’m not sure if Geillis is untrustworthy (she’s been the best friend Claire’s had by far) but the show definitely wants me to feel that she is though there’s no proof yet.
Stephanie: The changeling story really is heartbreaking. Worse, Claire knows acutely of the era’s limited medical conditions. Could the child have been saved anyway? I think that further fuels her helplessness. I can’t recall if this was mentioned earlier in the season, but I believe Claire and Frank-from-the-40s were having difficulty conceiving a child. I would imagine that deepened her hurt for an abandoned child, no matter his or her condition.
So, let’s talk Dougal’s meltdown: I thought it was a great display of maddened grief. He’s a dangerous man, and to see him reduced to violence from losing his wife was an interesting turn. Though, it’s unclear whether we can believe any of Dougal’s drunken mourning given what else transpired: the reveal Geillis made to Claire that Dougal is her lover and he is the father of her unborn child, along with the careless, knowing glances Geillis and Dougal exchanged after her own husband conveniently died in front of everyone just days later. And as physically powerful as Dougal may be, his brother holds the political power, and forbids him to wed his mistress or even acknowledge his own child.
Catherine: The changeling story and Claire’s struggle raise the questions: what do you do and how do you go on when there’s no adequate medical attention for your baby who’s believed to be dying? This points towards magical belief as the community’s best answer for coping. It’s beautiful and unusual (and tragic) to have this sort of conundrum illustrated in a show. But to move on, Dougal seemed sincere in his grief until the exchange of gloats with Geillis during her husband’s death at a party. I was surprised that Dougal thought he could marry his choice of 2nd wife despite Geillis’ pregnancy. Due to his relationship to the laird, Dougal has to marry for political and strategic reasons. Geillis can’t bring anything to the table. But I do wonder about Colum’s ire towards her. Would it be because Geillis’ child would be a half sibling to Hamish, Colum’s son (but really Dougal’s bastard son)? Or maybe Colum’s just looking for a way to get even with Dougal after the humiliating revelation that Hamish was Dougal’s son and not Colum’s. Whatever the reason, Geillis’ life is in serious danger. She was hauled off for witchcraft and that’s never an accusation that ends well.
Stephanie: And just as bad for Claire, now that she’s been accused of witchcraft by association. With Jamie sent off for the time being, she doesn’t have the protection she was promised through their marriage. Speaking of Claire and Jamie, the episode opened with a deeply sensual scene of the two in bed together. Doesn’t it seem rare to see such an artistic approach to sex on TV? You can name drop Game of Thrones and True Blood for showing as much or more sex, but the way in which it’s captured on those shows is very different. For as much skin as we see on Outlander, it doesn’t feel “graphic,” at least not when it’s Jamie and Claire consensual, or Claire and her husband in the other timeline. Strangely enough, the only other recent TV show I can think of that took an artistic approach to a consensual sex scene is Hannibal in season 2, and isn’t it tragic that the subject of such a well-crafted scene is a serial killer?
Catherine: It is sad. The only other show I can think of that shows consensual sex that’s done with an artistic approach is Being Mary Jane (BET and Netflix). That’s not a show we hear a lot about and while it’s more soap opera-y than Outlander, it has great consensual sex scenes. What’s unusual about Outlander is that we see Jamie doing sexual actions and responding to them instead of just Claire lolling around naked and making orgasm faces. Though we still haven’t seen Jamie contort into one orgasm face and it’s only fair he show one for the camera too. Not only is the Frasers’ sex consensual but it’s heavy on the intimacy, something also rare in TV land. I’m still not down with the very non consensual spanking scene from last time but the show is making strong strides in the other sexual scenes.
Stephanie: Being Mary Jane is a good comparison-you’re so right on that. Most of our TV has violence at every corner, and the sex is rarely ever intimate. So, it was also cool to see Claire able to show more of her negotiating strength with the Duke of Sandringham, and how she used her from-the-future knowledge to aid in ridding Jamie’s charges. Though-tsk tsk!-Jamie doesn’t know she’s gone off to persuade the Duke. I have to think that will bite her later. And what a character the Duke was! Delightfully awful in his decadent house and silly (but era-appropriate) wig.
Catherine: The Duke was delightful and properly horrifying when he left Jamie to bleed on the lawn after the duel turned brawl. He brings a lighter note to the show though I’d class him as more untrustworthy than Geillis if only because of the power he wields. Next week will show the fate of two women accused of witchcraft and I can’t wait. See you next week.
Catherine Eaton is a contributor to The Stake. Catherine is a writer living in a western suburb of Chicago. She blogs over at sparrowpost.com and enjoys foraging around the neighborhood in her spare time.
Stephanie Scott is a Young Adult writer living in the western Chicago suburbs. Library superfan, award-winning TV-binger, and she just might be your cat’s new best friend. She tweets at @StephScottYA.
Great recap, ladies.
Can we talk for a moment about Clair’s need to do exactly what Jamie asks her not to…IN EVERY episode? Last week’s punishment/spanking is had to understand in modern times, but seriously woman, listen to your husband! She keeps putting her and Jamie’s (and many other people’s) lives in danger because does whatever she wants in a time where she simply does not understand how things work - or the severity of the consequences. Now she is being dragged away as a witch…and is going to need to be saved again! It’s the thing about Clair that DRIVES ME CRAZY. She is smart and resilient but she keeps doing these stupid things - does she want to get her husband killed?
That’s a good point. Claire behaves like she’s an independent loner when she’s actually participating as part of a team- whether she likes it or not. She just ain’t a team player. Her constant refusal to do anything she’s told keeps the plot marching along. But I wonder…is this pigheaded determination to do her own thing in constant disregard for others a female trope? The durn woman trope, perhaps?