My thoughts while watching Outlander Episode 304: "Of Lost Things"

1. Watch yer head, Wee Roger! 
2. Does anyone else think the actress playing Geneva resembles Caitriona a bit?
3. #JoeAbernathy and #LadyJane -- BFFs ♡
4. Lord Ellesmere is so gross! Poor Geneva. (That's right. I feel sorry for her.)
5. How the hell can women ride side saddle? I'm getting scoliosis just watching it.
6. I hate seeing Jamie with his head down looking subservient. #LordMelton is meaner than I remember reading him to be.
7. This reminds me a wee bit too much of the wedding episode scene.
8. Thank you, writers, for portraying the scene with Geneva as I believe Diana intended it. #consensual #shouldapulledout
9. Right now, the timeline bothers me. Jamie's about 35 and Claire's about 50. Seems out of line and icky.
10. Actually, Roger seems too old for Brianna, too, but that's not the timeline. #ditchthebeard, Rog.
11. Isobel Dunsany is so nice. I wish we saw more of her. #LadyIsobel
12. Too bad Master Raymond wasn't around for Geneva. Best 18th century physician (besides Claire, of course).
13. They did an excellent job with the Ellesmere shooting scene. #littlebabywilliam
14. Let Jamie hold the #weebrawladdie, Isobel!
15. The display of so many emotions within mere moments on #SamHeughan's face is remarkable. #JamieFraser
16. I thought Willie was supposed to have red hair. So, ya know, he'd look like his sire.
17. "This is 1968. I've been fighting sexism since 1743, goddammit!" ~ Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser Randall Fraser
18. Ye shouldna call yer bastard a bastard, ya bastard!
19. Why isn't LJG's hair lighter?!?! Distracting.
20. I'm really liking David Berry. (Except his dark hair.) Good face actor. Now, get some sun, man. #pastywhite
21. The #StinkingPapist scene!!! ♡ ♡ #WilliamJames
22. #WillieTheSnake "Dinna fash, lad. I'll remember you." :'(
23. I'm so happy that Willie gets raised by Isobel and LJG. Good people. Caring people. They'll love him well.

In summary: #Outlander: Joe said #LadyJane and Willie said #StinkingPapist. All is right in the world (of Outlander). #OfLostThings #JamieAndClaire #Helwater

My thoughts while watching Outlander episode 209 “Je Suis Prest”

1. I love Fergus.  Loved him in the book.  Love him in the show.  One of Diana’s greatest characters. <3 font="">
2. I’ve missed Rupert’s voice so much!!! <3 font="">
3. Oh no!  Willie!  Oh… that’s all.  Whew! <3 font="">
4. Jamie is so pretty. <3 font="">
5. Love the way he says “’tis” like “tez.” <3 font="">
6. Drill Sergeant Murtagh.  Waiting for him to go all “There’s only 2 things that come from the Highlands: steers and …” on them.  
   
7. PTSD Flashback Claire 
8. Ooh.  Me likey the background mens choir singing.  <3 font="">
9. So, only 5 men in the Highlands know how to fight?
10. OMG someone else said JHRC
11. Hey, are you guys from Easy Company?  General Sink, Colonel Winter, Bill Guernere? 
    
12. Please flashback to the first time Jamie says “Je Suis Prest.”  Please, please, please.  Dammit.
    
13. Tell him what you’re thinking about, dummy!
14. Looks like the first day of band camp with a bunch of freshman.
15. Jamie’s rockin’ Brian’s leather coat. 
16. Is he going to yell FREEDOM!!! at the end of this speech?
    
17. Hills sounds like hells.  Cute.
18. OMG Dougal’s moobs are flopping.  Ew!!!!  
    
19. Don’t you guys know you’re supposed to use light blue war paint ala Mel Gibson?  
    
20. And clean that mud off yer face, uncle.  Ye look ridiculous, ye wee smout.
21. Better.  Now I can see my reflection in his shiny bald heid.
22. Claire’s goin’ Greek on Dougal!
23. LMAO!!!!  Fuck yourself.
24. What a beautiful place to set up camp and train. 
25. Hollow Claire
26. Ew nasty Angus toes!  Trench foot.  Knew it.  
    
27. We don’t want any Lt. Dan’s here!
    
28. Come on… Murtagh or Rupert to the rescue.  No?  OK.
29. Yay! Jamie looks tall for a change.
30. In-charge Jamie is hot!
31. Doh!  Dougie’s busted down to sentry duty.
32. Pukey passout Claire
33. Ambush!
34. And all the while Frank was in a comfy office.  Lame.
35. I have seen shit you 18^th century n00bs can never imagine.
36. Wow.  Jamie’s looking hot again.  This episode is chock full of Jamie hotness.
37. I can’t stay and I can’t go.  I’ll just stay here and be jittery.
38. A Dragonfly in Amber!
39. You’ll never be alone again… even if it means 20 years of misery with Dr. Boring.
40. Hmph.  Haven’t seen Jamie piss on a wall since early in Season 1.
41. Oh my.  Is this Not-Yet-Lord John Gray?  Not how I pictured it happening.  I pictured them in a forest.  
    
42. Oh yes please do the scene!  Go, Claire, go!
43. Lmao at the faces of the guys who don’t know what she’s up to.
44. Hahaha The looks between J&C!
45. Why not just call him John from the start?
46. Lol Claire is so good with her “acting.”  At least they didn’t bare her breast.
47. Oh, you’ll meet again.  And again and again.
48. This episode is so much better than the last one.
49. Show ‘em your nasty back.  6 lashes ain’t nothing.  Love taps compared to the damage wrought by BJR.
50. Nice war paint.
51. Jamie looks hot in war paint.  Murtagh just looks scary.  But Jamie reminds me of Mathias Nygard in full Turisas regalia.  
    
52. We be burnin’ yer wheelz.
53. I’ve burnt stuff.  I’m horny.  Let me get war paint on your face.
54. I like their rustic abode.  Too bad they have to leave it.
55. The singing sounds like Latin or Hebrew or Native American, not Gaelic.
56. Ooh.  Bigger camp.
57. How nice, throwing your dear uncle a bone.  Wait til he meets that fop.

Post episode:

1. Ron Moore is a good looking man.
2. I love you a lil bit too, Matt Roberts.       

Thoughts while watching Outlander episode 116: To Ransom a Man's Soul

• Heed the viewer discretion warning, pearl clutchers.
• I never want to see Tobias Menzies below the neck again.
• Murtagh should've stabbed him for good measure.
• Don't shoot the cows!!
• Murtagh... carrying Jamie like a baby <3
• Bowl cut = bad idea
• Espiritu vomitus
• I expected even BJR to not want to kiss a pukey mouth.  Does nothing gross him out?
• Jamie's been beaten, mangled, nailed, and molested and STILL spits in the guy's face. Daaaamn!
• Hand surgery. Fascinating.
• Puking again. Girlfriend, you preggers!
• Seriously, you dudes need a new barber at the monestary.
• The gray haired monk looks like he walked right out of a medieval painting.
• lol Angus popping Willie in the head.
• Subtitles!  Come on, Ron!  Throw us a bone.
• Blech!  Could Tobias have a whiter, blander torso?
• Oh fuck. The brand.
• Ah, young Willie, how I love ye.
• And Rupert's voice.  Luurrrrrvvvvve...
• Pfft.  Wee Willie, he's never gonna forget.
• Oh, Murtagh, you are so wise.  And foul-mouthed. And blessed with dancing eyebrows.
• Way to go, Claire. Fight an injured man.  Make him support his weight on his broken hand.  Some healer you are.
• Omg Sam Heughan does haunted eyes so convincingly.
• BJR, you twisted son of a maggot.
• And put some clothes on. You're icky.
• Oh goddamn he's so gross.
• The mind fuck is far worse than the butt fuck.
• Holy shit Sam/Jamie is a big man.
• Screw all the "fans" who think Claire doesn't love him enough.
• Third nipple!
• This is like Dorothy saying good bye to the Lion (Willie), the Tin Man (Angus), and the Scarecrow (Rupert).
• Jamie looks so weeeeird in a tricorn hat!
• Play your part, indeed.
• Awwww.  He called her Sassenach.
• Cue the Claire and Jamie theme music.
• The closing credits music is breathtaking. The violins playing counter to Raya's singing.  Gorgeous.

Outlander's Outsider: Laoghaire

What can I say about Laoghaire MacKenzie, the resident wannabe slut of Castle Leoch?  Well, I don't like her one bit.  I can certainly say that.  She bugged me from the moment she came on screen in Episode 102 and that was before I read the books.  During the hiatus known as Droughtlander, I read the first five books in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series and boy do I hate Laoghaire now!

I watched the much anticipated Episode 109 - The Reckoning - and while everyone else is freaking out about how Jamie handled (both figuratively and literally) Laoghaire at the brook, I'm salivating over Jamie's final word of the episode: "Laoghaire."  One thing that REALLY BUGGED me in Voyager and beyond was that Diana had Jamie marry Laoghaire.  Maybe there's some purpose to this in book 6 or beyond, but so far, as of the end of The Fiery Cross, I see no real reason for Diana to have thrown this wrench in the story line.  It is my greatest wish that Ronald D. Moore takes liberties with this story line and has Jamie learn in Season 1 that Laoghaire is a vindictive little bitch who tries to have Claire executed and that that is the end of Laoghaire in Jamie's life.  Maybe we can get a glimpse of her sad, fat self in Season 3 but not as she's screeching at and shooting her sort-of-husband.

The Jamie-Laoghaire marriage serves no purpose.

1. It makes Jenny into an unlikable character due to her meddling.  I want to like Jenny.  She's Jamie's beloved sister who helped raise him and loves him to pieces.  So, why, if she felt that she needed to meddle and find him a new wife, couldn't she have picked ANY other woman in the Scottish Highlands???  Are you telling me that Laoghaire was the only woman available?!

2.  If it's to put another chink in the perfection of Jamie, it could've been done with someone else.  He's already been with Mary McNab and Geneva Dunsany.  Both of those liaisons bugged me but seemed to serve a purpose in the story.  Jenny could've married him off to someone else, for pete's sake.

3.  If it's to eventually get Fergus and Marsali together, that could've been achieved in any number of ways.  Honestly, she doesn't even need to be Laoghaire's daughter.  Once they leave Scotland, her parentage is only used as a device to insert conflict between her and Claire on the ship to America and for Claire to get satisfaction every time she's called Mother Claire by her enemy's offspring.  Neither of these are necessary plot points.

4.  If it's so Jamie and Claire can struggle with money (because Jamie feels obligated to continue paying alimony from across the Atlantic), they could've struggled financially anyway!

I just don't see the point!  It's as if Diana put the marriage in there intending to do something more with it and then changed her mind.

So, given that, as far as I can see, there is no point to this plot line, I would LOVE for Ron Moore to changes things up and have Jamie realize that Laoghaire is no good right now starting with the ill wish.  Then I'd like him to know during or immediately afterward that Laoghaire was responsible for Claire being with Geillis at that fateful moment in Craigsmuir.  I don't want him to find out 20+ years later in an anti-climactic "oh, by the way" statement years after the Frasers have left Scotland and set up in North Carolina.  Seriously, why does Diana even bother bringing it up at that point?

Ron Moore, Starz, Outlander's writing team, Maril Davis, Matt B. Roberts, and anyone else with pull, PLEASE depart from the books when it comes to Laoghaire!  Let Jamie see the evil soul that lives behind those sad blue eyes now.  Please, please, please, please, PLEASE!

(I tried to find the original source of the photo but couldn't.  All I can tell you is that it's not my work.)

Outlander Episode 107: The Wedding

Much has been said all over the internet about this wonderful hour of television last Saturday, so I won't repeat it.  These are just a few observations of mine that I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere.

1. Right before their wedding, Frank refers to Claire as Mrs. Frank Randall.  On their wedding night, Jamie refers to her as Claire Fraser.  The former, where the man's name is used, may be proper but it has always irked me.  It takes away the woman's own identity as if she only matters now in relation to her husband.
   
   
   
   
   
   I haven't read the books, but the impression I've gotten from what little we've seen of Frank is that he loves Claire in relation to himself.  She's his arm candy.  She puts up with his self-centered ancestry quest on their second honeymoon.  She's willing to have sex with him.  But I feel like he would be totally unaware or uninterested in the parts of her that don't involve him.
   
   Jamie, by calling her Claire Fraser, has perfectly nailed the "two become one" concept.  She is still herself, Claire, but she is also now a part of him with his last name.  I feel like he respects her in a way that Frank doesn't or can't.  That he appreciates her as a person, not just as his wife.  And, thus, he will love her in a far deeper way that Frank ever could.
   
   
   
   
   
   I would love to know if Diana Gabaldon did this on purpose or if I'm just reading too much into it.


2. Diana Gabaldon wrote and Sam Heughan portrayed the perfect combination of unsure yet confident as Jamie Fraser in the post-wedding bedroom scenes.  In general, Jamie is a very confident man.  He's strong, tall, good-looking, smart, witty, and bunch of other things rolled into one and he knows it.  Not in a cocky way, but in a way that instills confidence.  However, as we know, Jamie was a virgin going into this night, so he is somewhat unsure of himself when it comes to certain things.  He has a complete lack of experience and, on top of that, he knows that she does have experience.  He's eager but a little nervous about making a wrong move and her skittish behavior isn't helping.  But rather than reducing him to a pathetic puddle of nervous groom, Diana and Sam maintain his charm and sense of humor and use both whenever they are not directly engaging in or talking about engaging in sex.  This perfect balance of self-assurance and self-doubt makes Jamie absolutely, positively lovable.


3. Some bloggers and others have mentioned the lack of body hair on 18th century Claire and Jamie.
   
   I admit that I noticed Caitriona Balfe's smooth pits in one of the bedroom scenes, but I quickly realized that I was glad her pits were shaved and that I would've been highly distracted if they were hairy.  Although the show is doing a great job of staying true to the times, I think unshaven armpits on a woman would be an unnecessary step and probably would've caused a bigger hubbub than her hair-free underarms.
   
   
   
   
   
   As for Sam Heughan... be still my heart.  Oops.  I digress.  Again, I haven't read the books so I have no idea how much body hair Jamie has been described as having.  I do, however, know that wedding night Jamie is supposed to be 22 or 23 years old and that Sam Heughan is supposed to also be playing Jamie in his 40s or 50s later on.  It occurs to me that perhaps Jamie's sparse body hair is one of the ways the show is using to make Sam appears younger at this point.  I guess I'll find out down the road when I see an older, shirtless Jamie.  But it's something to keep in mind for those who are bugged out that Sam doesn't perfectly meet their imagined image of James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser.
   
   
   


4. And my final thought (for now):  Did anyone else notice that Claire's boobs and bodice made a perfect heart shape as she was walking into the church?  ;)