Outlander (Starz) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

I like the show but am waiting for something to happen to make me love it.

Most of the shows I watch tend to be very fast paced, so coming back to "Outlander" with its very deliberate pacing was an adjustment. That being said, once I settled in I again appreciate that the editing gives the show room to breathe. The audience lives with the characters in every scene.

The two leads are fantastic and have great chemistry - reminds me of John and Aeryn from Farscape.

But when neither of those two characters are on the screen, my attention wanders.

Fortunately that rarely ever happens, since the show stays more or less exclusively in the POV of the narrating character. Maybe I'm just forgetting, but during the first half of the season the only times I recall sequences without Claire were in scenes that lingered in a setting after Claire had left. Likewise, tonight's episode was entirely composed of scenes that Jaime was in the room for. It's one of the strengths of the show that makes it stand out, and lends it an literary quality that most shows can't capture.

The only outright departures from the first person that I can recall have been the glimpses we've gotten of Frank Randall back in 1945. And I accept those because, personally, I find them endlessly fascinating. Tobias Menzies is grappling with the same task as Tatiana Maslany, and while his two characters don't pose the challenge that her several do, it's astonishing how effectively he portrays two completely different men that share the same face.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The reveal that Geillis Duncan was a time traveler, while not entirely unexpected given some of her past comments, was still an interesting leap forward for the show given that -- until now -- time travel had just been a plot device to get Claire to 1743. The reveal that she was from 1968 was also interesting, since it both helps explain Geillis's lack of inhibitions compared to Claire and makes it clear that the time travel isn't limited to two fixed points 202 years apart. Geillis clearly thought she'd come back to change history and save the Jacobite cause. Given that, the revelation that Claire had come back for no apparent reason whatsoever and this all might be random bullshit was obviously quite disheartening.


The New York Times has a good profile on the personal and professional relationships of showrunner Ronald D. Moore and costume designer Terry Dresbach in Scotland. Moore and Dresbach met when he was running HBO's "Carnivàle". They got married, and when Moore went on to reimagine "Battlestar Galactica" for Syfy (then SciFi) Dresbach retired to care for Moore's young children. By the time "Outlander" came along, Moore's kids were older and Dresbach, a huge fan of the books, was lured out of retirement.

 

[Simon Massey]

Not seeing much discussion here, but the latest episode was one of the strongest yet and a tense payoff to the previous confrontations - between Claire, Jamie and Randall - that Randall is one demented man and somehow Menzies never lets him become a caricature. I assume its the season finale next week and I will be in for next season.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Definitely one of the most brutal hours of television I've ever watched, as much for the psychological torture as the physical torture. It was suffocating in that dungeon cell.


While the episode was written by the always terrific and reliable Ira Steven Behr, it's interesting that this particular hour was directed by Anna Foerster -- one of the relatively few female directors working in television today. While she has had an extremely varied career, the bulk of her previous television directing experience was on "Criminal Minds". That would seem like ideal preparation for Black Jack Randall, and she certainly brought some of those dark, dark elements to the fore.


Great work by all three primary actors. Hard to believe the next episode is the season finale. Doesn't seem like they can get to a satisfactory resolution in on episode.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

"Black Jack" Randall is a true son of a bitch and a sadist. After this ep I can't believe they're making us wait two weeks.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Very strong finale. I think they almost needed to set sail for other parts of the world, to leave that harrowing business behind them.


On that point, I'll just note that this show's portrayal of rape was simultaneously much more harrowing and far less troubling than "Game of Thrones's" portrayal.

 

[Simon Massey]

And I thought it couldn't get any more brutal - that was two harrowing episodes where pretty much every possible type of trauma - physical, psychological, spiritual, emotional - was inflicted on Jaime. And the show invested the time in watching him attempt to come to terms with it, if he ever truly can. Tough watch and I have no idea where the series is going next.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

They're casting a seriously major character for Season 2:

Spoiler

EDIT: On second thought, this should be in spoiler tags.

 

[Mark-W]

Loving this show. Only past the wedding. Watching the blu-rays.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Scottish actor Richard Rankin cast as Roger Wakefield


I don't know much about the actor, but I do know that in a lot of the comments sections for Outlander articles, fans have been championing him for this role.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

When is the second season going to grace us?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Nothing official yet, but RDM has said to expect sometime in late March/early April.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Newcomer Sophie Skelton cast as Brianna Randall:

I was really rooting for Karen Gillan to get the role, but there's no question that:

Spoiler

she looks like Claire and Jamie's daughter.

If they weren't going to go with my choice, I'm glad they went with an unknown. At 5-foot-8, she's not as tall as the character in the books, but she's plenty tall.

EDIT: Fixed issue caused by forum software conversion.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Season 2 Trailer:


One of the best I've ever seen for a television show.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Season 2 Poster:

(L-R) Mary Hawkins (Rosie Day); King Louis XV (Lionel Lingelser); Louise de Rohan (Claire Sermonne); Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix); Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan); Claire Randall Fraser (Caitriona Balfe); Le Comte St Germain (Stanley Weber) and Prince Charles Stuart (Andrew Gower).

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Season three premiered tonight. I continue to enjoy all aspects of this show -- the writing, the cinematography, the editing, the costume design. I find the slow, deliberate pacing refreshing. And I appreciate the show's continual reinvention of itself.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Just caught up with, and finished Season 4 on Amazon Prime. Although a little slow at times, this is one of the best TV shows I have seen.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Outlander is back. Season 5 episode 1 on Prime

 

[Sam Favate]

Catching up on this show; watching season 5 on blu-ray. On the one hand, it's beautifully shot and the production is second to none. On the other hand, it's so brutal that it's implausible, and if the characters had a means to escape that world (which they do) there is no logical reason they wouldn't. The characters consistently meet horrible people and try to do nice things for them, which leads to more and more trauma for them. After all they've been through, isn't it time for some peace and quiet? The show also falls into the trap of always trying to shock the audience, either with gory images or with increasingly worse situations. Just how far can they push it until we can't watch anymore? I'm pretty much at that point.

I also find the romance novel stuff more than a bit silly. I know that's the source material, but this show was transcending the material for a while.

I know a sixth season is coming next year, and it's been renewed for a seventh. Hopefully, that's it.