Outlander: Brotherly Love (7x10)

Lord John! He's here! My bestest friend!

Cons:

When I was looking back over my reviews of the earlier half of this season, I saw how much flip-flopping I did about Rachel and Ian's relationship. In this episode, I did rather like the romance moment they had together. But I do need to reiterate my dissatisfaction with the Arch Bug plot thread. In the books it honestly feels kind of random and extraneous too, but in the show especially so - the fact that Rachel is held at knife-point and William shoots and kills a man in this episode feels so... random and unmotivated and out of scope for everything else the story is trying to do? Especially since, for the viewer of the show, the stuff with Ian killing Arch Bug's wife happened ten million years ago.

Not to be all "in the books" again, but... in the books, Claire takes on the role of rebel spy through her own initiative and successfully passes messages around many times before finally being suspected. It felt a little silly that she's discovered instantly her very first time out, when ostensibly there would have been no reason for everyone to abruptly suspect her at that point. Another book change is not having Fergus and his family around at this stage in the story. I've re-read John telling Claire about the Euturpe so many times that I remember vividly she's got some of her grandchildren underfoot at the time, and John's appeal to Claire is about saving Fergus and Marsali and the kids specifically, along with their other rebel friends. I don't mind the changes on principle, but I am sad because I always want to see Fergus.

There was less of it this week, but I just want to reiterate that the Roger inner monologue thing is still just really awkward and doesn't work! It's particularly infuriating when his internal voice is just saying something like "oh, Christ" or something. Let the actor's face tell us that he's shocked, we don't need a verbal cue!

Pros:

The whole opening sequence dealing with Ian Sr.'s end of life was just the perfect amount of cheesy and overwrought to make me a little misty-eyed. We get the flashback of young Ian and Jamie learning to fight, we get Ian saying "on your left" to Jamie as he lays dying... we get the image of Jamie digging a grave for his brother-in-law, him and Jenny sitting together and knowing that Ian will always be with them. He's this loyal, stalwart, permanent aspect of these two siblings' lives, it's so sad to know he's gone!

Like I said above, I actually didn't mind Ian and Rachel this week. Even more surprising, I didn't mind William and Rachel either. This is the rare type of love triangle story that I think works really well, because it's not actually so much that it's a mystery of who Rachel will end up with. It's pretty clear Ian is the winner. But William's feelings for her are very sweet and very genuine, and I feel invested in the outcome in terms of William not being too heartbroken. Also, Ian and William teaming up to protect Rachel is fun stuff. The scene with Ian and Rachel where they talk about their religious convictions being different was really lovely. Rachel basically says that it's okay that Ian isn't a pacifist Quaker like she is - he can go off and hunt at night, as long as he comes home to her. Awww! And the Rollo reunion was lovely as well!

I miss Brianna and hope we get to 20th century story stuff next week, but even still, I do enjoy the stuff with Roger and Buck and Geillis this week. Dougal turning up is a real treat, I love how in a show with time travel, your character's on-screen death doesn't mean you can't come back for later story moments in all sorts of ways. And Roger's heartbreaking delight when he sees his father's military ID tags! All of the truths that come unraveling for him in that moment... oof. I think Roger gets some of the least interesting material in this show sometimes, but I think the actor is really good and the performance is quite strong, so it's fun to see him get some juicy material out of it.

And then saving Claire's main story-line for last: I love seeing her excelling in her core competency of medicine, but also just how much her presence is a reassurance to the people around her. The conversation with Mercy Woodcock about the death of her husband, the moment with Ian and Claire celebrating Jamie's letter, the warm greeting between Claire and John, the mentoring moment with Denzel... she's just such a good person who gives so much to the people around her, and I felt like this episode really made a case for her as a remarkable person worthy of knowing. We see that Henry's life is able to be saved because of Claire, and I'm always delighted for more time with all the characters connected to the Grey family, so I'm happy for that! And I hope we get to see William and Claire interact next week, because that will be a treat.

Of course Lord John is my favorite forever and always so I loved seeing him in his dashing uniform, warmly greeting Claire, grateful for her arrival. The fact that he got her the supplies to make ether without being asked, because he was so sure she'd come to the rescue... this man is down so bad for both halves of this married couple, albeit in very different ways. I love it.

And oh my god, The Scene where John has to break the news to Claire that Jamie is dead... I was so looking forward to this moment and I'm pleased to say that it didn't disappoint! The way he's sitting down covering his face with his hands when she comes into the room, the stammering, the way his face crumples and tears come to his eyes... ouch! And Claire, her dissociative denial and then her anger and terror. Just... the utter intimacy of this, of these two people with such a complicated relationship to one another and to Jamie, it feels so cruel and so important that it be John who tells her. And I loved the way she lashes out at him, hitting at him as she tries to deny the truth of what she's hearing, and he just stands there and takes it. He's on the verge of collapse himself, and he's holding himself together as much as he can to be stalwart in telling her what's happened. Oof! And then the bit where Claire's just lying there in a stupor and he's knocking at her door to check on her... John Grey is the love of my life, I'm telling you. Also it's super sexy how he plays it cool with Richardson and then the moment he can, he runs up the stairs and bursts into Claire's room uninvited and proposes marriage. Like. Bro does not hesitate, he knows what he's about. I love it so much. I'm vibrating with anticipation for next week's episode!

9/10