Outlander: Echoes (6x01)

Well, we're back! Since the last time this show was on, I finished my re-read of the Outlander books, including the new ninth book that just came out in November. So I've got a lot of Outlander overflowing in my brain... I'll try and keep it all straight!

Cons:

So, one big thing they're adding here is that Claire is dosing herself with ether as a way of coping with her trauma from her kidnapping/rape last season. I suppose I should reserve judgment, maybe I won't hate this change moving forward... but it immediately set my teeth on edge for a couple of reasons. One, this is a big change to the psychological profile of our lead character, and if they're going to do this, I want them to go all the way with it, meaning the ramifications from Claire drugging herself would need to be big and really rework a lot of what's happening moving forward. I'm not sure I trust them to do that well. The other thing is... in the books, Claire's experiments with ether are extremely dangerous and Claire is beyond meticulous in the creation and testing of ether. It just seems so out of character for her to do something so careless, unsupervised. Again, if this is meant to show how badly her trauma has affected her, fine, but they need to see this through.

A meaner complaint, and one they can't really correct for at this point, is the actor who plays Brianna. I'm sorry, but I've never been able to get fully on board with her performance. Every time she's in a scene with anyone, I'm suddenly painfully aware that this is all fake, that everyone's dressed up in their little outfits on a set with cameras pointing at them. There's this oppressive sense of the play-acting of it all. I don't see Brianna in front of me, I see someone awkwardly saying lines written for her to say. It honestly impacts every scene she's in.

The sex scene in this episode felt kind of... obligatory? Like they just included it because they felt like the premiere of the new season needed to have one. I wish they had been clearer about this: was that meant to be the first time they'd been intimate since Claire's horrific experience? If so, it would have made more sense. I don't know, maybe I'm just jaded, but their love scenes are so cheesy and overwrought to me. I'm not sure I find them compelling as a couple in moments like that.

This is a small thing that really shouldn't count against the show, but I have to say it... I can't believe they did my boy Harry Quarry dirty like that!! The Governor of Ardsmuir Prison before Jamie takes over is a character we get to know pretty well in the Lord John series of books, and he's an affable if somewhat thoughtless man, and a close personal friend to Hal. To have him cast here as such an asshole made me kind of grumpy. But whatever - it suited the purpose of the episode quite well, and Harry is not a character who really matters in the telling of this story.

Pros:

I still got pretty excited watching this premiere - while several things have jumped around in the timeline from what we see in the books, we're still getting lots of familiar plot elements and characters introduced in this premiere, all with story-lines I remember with trepidation and excitement from reading them.

So, we've got Jamie becoming an Indian Agent: as we get closer to the Revolutionary War breaking out in earnest, Jamie is trying to toe the line, keeping the crown happy for as long as he can before officially switching sides. Part of that will be acting as a liaison between the king and the tribes, but of course this is complicated, given that at some point most of the tribes will be on the side of the crown during the war. For now, Jamie is taking on the job just to stop Richard Brown from taking it, as he knows he can't trust such a man with something so important. This should be intriguing!

We've also got the start of one of the most difficult and tragic subplots in Outlander, which is the stuff going on with Fergus and Marsali. I'll admit this already works a little less well here in the show than it did in the books, because in the show, this family has already lived and thrived in a more urban environment, and then they moved back to the Ridge, where now Fergus is having problems due to his missing hand. Seems like they should figure out pretty quickly that they should go back to a town in order to find something Fergus can do more easily... but even setting that aside, this is shaping up to be really difficult to stomach. I do like that the show doesn't shy away from some really difficult aspects. I love Fergus, I don't want to accept that he's hurting Marsali, that he's drunk and violent and negligent to boot, but that's the situation. It's hard to watch Jamie and Claire notice the signs but not do much to stop it. At least, not yet.

Some very minor details that are starting off some subplots: Lizzie flirting with the Beardsley twins... that should be fun! And we get to meet Amy McCallum, who I believe has been recast here as someone arriving with Christie's group, which I don't mind at all as a way to introduce her. This character has a lot of material throughout the books that I'm excited to see.

And then of course the big thing: Tom Christie has arrived. I liked the flashback to Ardsmuir, it really gave so much of a sense of Christie as a person, and also Jamie's inherent leadership ability. There's a lot of tragedy and oppressiveness in this long flashback, but you also see Jamie holding onto his hope and will to live, keeping Claire with him always.

And then you've got Tom Christie showing up on the Ridge. Jamie said all Ardsmuir men were welcome to come settle, although he hardly expected this particular man to show up. I like that they kept that detail from the book that Roger is the one to actually welcome Tom and say he can stay. This somewhat backs Jamie into a corner, although he's not upset with Roger for doing it, and frankly he probably couldn't have said no even if he'd been the one in the room. It's clear that Tom has arrived here with his people and his children somewhat hat in hand, needing Jamie's help, but it's equally clear that he's not a man inclined to back down under someone else's authority. His Godly righteousness is obnoxious and also sinister. His snide comment about Jamie's back, his refusal to acquiesce to Jamie's authority, stating that God is the one in charge... But of course he has to let Claire help him with his injury, and he has to concede to Jamie's knowledge about how to settle down and build a dwelling, if nothing else. It's such a fascinating tension.

And the kids. Man, Allan and Malva are wonderfully cast. Knowing their fates going into this is so fascinating, and we're already getting a sense of a lot of trouble in the Christie family. Malva is interested in Claire's medicine, but Tom doesn't want his daughter involved. Allan is a thief and a bit of a weirdo, an outsider who doesn't connect with his father's extreme levels of faith. Jamie is forced to belt him for stealing a powder horn when the Brown Committee of Safety rolls up and accuses the man... we get the sense that Jamie was actually saving Allan from a much worse punishment from his father. And given the history with Jamie getting flogged at the prison in order to protect someone else, there are just so many layers to this.

So yeah! This episode sets up a lot of the elements we're going to explore in this season. As I said, there's some transposing going on from the books, as the Christie stuff happens in book five, I'm pretty sure, but I don't mind that at all - I'm excited to see how things will be different from the books, and what the future will bring us!

7.5/10