This show is a thing of beauty. Honestly I just love it so much. I cannot wait to see what they do with my favorite characters, many of whom have not been introduced yet. Given how much I love this version of Claire, Jamie, and the others, I have high hopes for what's to come. I'm so happy to have this show back.
Cons:
Nothing too bad to report, really. I guess if I had to say something I'd point out that the smallpox incident towards the end of the episode felt a bit rushed. Essentially, Claire and Jamie are in France by the end of the episode, and as Claire is walking along the docks, she sees some severely weakened and sickly men being carried off the ship. She diagnoses the dead and dying men with smallpox, which infuriates the owner of the ship, since his ship and all its cargo must now be burned to try and eliminate the spread of the disease, which will cost him a lot of money. The owner of said ship is the Comte St. Germain. This character, as anybody who has read the books will know, is of vital importance moving forward. I thought his introduction was a little too sudden, and perhaps a little too on-the-nose. He gets to make quite the grand entrance, which clues everybody in to his vital importance without much subtlety. It's a small thing. I don't know... the whole smallpox scene at the end seemed to happen in the blink of an eye.
Pros:
Then again, this whole episode happened in the blink of an eye, because I was so riveted with it from start to finish that it was over before I could believe it. Such astounding atmosphere, writing, and especially such astounding acting. Wow.
The first half of episode take place in 1948. Claire is back from the past, and is reunited with Frank. We learn that Jamie planned to make his final stand at the battle of Culloden, and when Claire realizes that history played out the same way she thought it would, she tries to resign herself to the fact that Jamie died in that battle. She tells everything to Frank, who seems willing to accept it and move forward, because he's so happy to have Claire back. When she reveals that she is pregnant with Jamie's child, he is distraught. Talking to Reverend Wakefield makes him realize that perhaps he can raise another man's child as his own. After all, the Reverend has been doing that with his nephew Roger. Frank agrees to stay with Claire and tells her that they will raise the baby as their own, and that Claire must put all thoughts of Jamie behind her and live her life with Frank, unburdened with longing for the past. Claire agrees, and the two set off for Boston, where Frank has a new teaching post at Harvard.
We then go back to Claire and Jamie arriving in France. Jamie is still haunted by his experiences with Black Jack Randall, but he and Claire are healing and getting their equilibrium back. Claire wants to start infiltrating the Jacobites in France, to try and stop the Jacobite uprising before it really takes root and ends in such tragedy. Jamie is hesitant, because the path ahead of them is not honorable. But he trusts Claire, and the two begin their mission by meeting with Jamie's cousin Jared, who can introduce them to some important Jacobites in Paris. Jared offers the use of his home in Paris while he goes on a trip. He leaves Jamie in charge of his wine business as well. We end the episode with the smallpox scene that I've already talked about. Jamie observes that thanks to Claire, they've already made an enemy in France. Still, he wouldn't change her for the world.
This plot is so simple and lacking in forward motion for the plot that I'm surprised by how fast the episode went by. If it weren't for the superb way it was all handled, an episode like this seriously could have dragged in terms of pacing. But I was captivated through every second.
The plot twist of Claire being back in her own time didn't surprise me, because I've read the books, but it still packed a very emotional punch. All of the scenes with Claire slowly healing from her emotional shock were very affecting. I especially liked the moments with Mrs. Graham where Claire talked about Jamie and grappled with his death. It's such an impossible situation. Jamie is dead, in every way that counts... but Claire now knows that time travel is possible. Jamie has been dead for 200 years, but at the same time she wonders if he survived the battle at Culloden, and might therefore still be "alive," in a certain sense.
I cannot praise the acting of Caitriona Balfe and Tobias Menzies enough. Simply stunning. Stunning. Claire's trauma and despair, Frank's desperate longing, grief, joy, disbelief... all of these shone through with exquisite detail. There are too many favorite moments to mention. The way Frank's voice wobbled and cracked when he talked about what it was like to lose her, the way Claire flinched away from Frank when he first approached her, remembering the touch of Black Jack Randall, the way they both cried as they embraced, Frank with relief, Claire with grief... simply outstanding. Menzies in particular is presenting us with an Emmy-worthy performance here. I didn't see the evil sadist Black Jack Randall when I looked at him. I saw the grieving and confused Frank Randall who was willing to overlook his wife's love and devotion for another man, simply out of his continuing love for her.
Even so, there is an undeniable connection between Season One's horrific villain and this gentle, understanding Frank Randall. They play with this idea just enough for it to be apparent. At one point Frank says that he can't understand Claire's feelings for Jamie. How could he, after all? We, as the audience, know that Menzies played a character that did have intense feelings for Jamie, although I wouldn't exactly call it "love." There's also the moment when Frank says the word "flog" and Claire reprimands him, telling him to never use it in her presence again. Frank was just speaking figuratively, but that word off of that man's lips recalls the brutality of Jack's actions quite vividly, just with one quick word.
I also loved the brief moments with Reverend Wakefield and little baby Roger. Roger is playing with a toy airplane, and if you've read the books, you'll know why that's significant. I love these little hints for book-readers to find.
Then, we jump back to the 1740's, and we see a much happier Claire with her beloved husband Jamie Fraser. I honestly think the first half of this episode, with Claire and Frank, was the better half in terms of its emotional weight and acting chops. The second half feels more like a lovely prologue to the rest of the season. But honestly, that works very well indeed. We needed to let up off the gas a bit after that first half, take a deep breath, and catch up with the story proper. That's exactly what the second half of the episode did.
We met Jared and the Comte St. Germain, and we started to get familiar with a new locale. Next week we'll get the grandeur of Paris high society, and I think ultimately it was a good idea to save that for the second week instead of sticking it in here. We get a sense of transition, with Claire and Jamie making the momentous decision to try and change history.
One of my favorite details here is that Jamie is really beginning to trust Claire completely. It's not that he didn't before, but here we see his faith in her extend to cover his own sense of honor. Claire claims to be from the future, and Jamie believes her entirely. He also trusts that she knows what she's talking about when she says that the rising is a bad idea. Jamie might be inclined to try and help the Scottish win, instead of trying to stop them from the attempt. But Claire wins out, and Jamie is devoted to her and to her idea. Jamie is also trusting Claire more and more with his past trauma, as he brings up the fact that he can still feel Jack's hands on him. It's a ghost he'll have to live with for the rest of his life, and it's so important that he shares in that with Claire.
There was also a bit of humor in this second half of the episode, mostly centering around Murtagh, a character I've always adored, and am happy to see more of. When Claire and Jamie make their decision to infiltrate the Jacobites, one of Jamie's first thoughts is "what are we going to tell Murtagh?" It's so cute how he says this, like a little boy fearing the retribution of his father. Murtagh responds to the idea of trying to stop the uprising with customary gruffness. He'll do whatever Jamie wants, but he's not happy about being lied to.
Book readers will know that the jump-forward in the books is even more intense than the one we're presented with here. I like the show's version a lot, although I am anxious to meet Brianna sooner rather than later. In both the book and the show, however, we open this second installment with the same hard truth: everything Jamie and Claire are attempting is futile. It can be a hard sell, in a way. Here we are about to embark on an entire season of a show when we already know that the main aspiration of our heroes is doomed to failure. But it works, in a way. It's interesting to contemplate how history might work itself out to the same conclusions regardless of foreknowledge. And also, I love the realistic detail that Claire knows very little about the Jacobite uprising. She knows who wins, she knows that it ends at Culloden, and she knows that the British take their revenge in a way that is devastating to the Highlander's culture. Even with a historian for a husband 200 years in the future, Claire isn't some convenient history textbook for them to read and follow. They have to muddle their way through like the rest of us.
That's where I'll stop. As I said before, the smallpox scene didn't quite work for me, and since that was the end of the episode, we definitely ended on a weaker note than we started on. But I honestly think Tobias Menzie's acting alone could have saved this episode from any serious missteps. And if there were missteps, they were little ones. I'm so, so excited to continue this season, to explore Paris, and, perhaps most importantly, to meet one of my very favorite characters in the whole story: Fergus!
8.5/10
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