Outlander: Carnal Knowledge (7x12)

You ever watch an episode of TV and actively cackle at the events playing out on your screen? I have been in full-on cackle mode for this entire plot thread of this show. It's everything I could have asked for.

Cons:

So, I think sometimes this show's acting is stronger than its writing, by which I mean a stellar performance from Sam Heughan can often elevate a clunky line of exposition, or the genuine passion in Caitriona Balfe's face can elevate an otherwise cheesy moment in dialogue. That remains the case in this situation as well, but there have been a few moments in Jamie's dialogue specifically that felt kind of awkward. It happened last week when he was explaining about not being on the Euturpe, and it happened again this week when he's explaining to John about why he has soldiers chasing him. Just super clunky moments where he's having to lay out basic tenants of the plot for the audience that don't feel naturalistic.

Also - I need to go back and re-read this section of the book again I think, because I was having trouble following the logic of why Jamie needed to drag John with him all the way out of the city. Once he's clear from the soldiers why doesn't he just say "hey, sorry for the light kidnapping, I'm going to run - just say that I hit you and then gave you the slip, and go back home." Like, what extra protection does John afford Jamie on his way out of the city, if the goal is to get a horse and sneak out? It only makes sense if there are still soldiers with their eyes on him who don't want to take him in by force for fear of harming Lord John. A nitpick, but I was distracted by it.

Pros:

But come on. This episode was SO juicy, where to even begin?

I've been really pleased by William's acting this season, I totally believe his distress. He's an inherently good person and, one might think, fairly open-minded and understanding, but this situation is just beyond the pale for him. I loved his conversation with Claire, where she points out that either way you look at it, she is still his stepmother. He's very reasonable and calm with her as he asks for details about Jamie and Geneva, and then when he finally does lose his cool, he storms off and destroys some property but doesn't actually take anything out on Claire.

Of course, later, he does rather hilariously and horribly take it out on Ian. Poor Ian and Rachel sharing the good news of their betrothal, and William says a strained congrats and then turns away, only for Ian to reach out for him with a smile on his face, likely wanting to invite him to the wedding or something, and William just turns around and socks him full in the face. It's darkly hilarious since Ian has no idea that it's coming. Also, this scene is so sad to me because Ian still believes that Jamie's dead, so when William is being all horrified about being Jamie's son, Ian is like "how dare you, any man would have been lucky to be his son." All the while, William could tell the poor guy that his uncle is alive, but fails to mention it in all the excitement. I also liked Rachel being horrified by the violence but also standing by her man when William allows Ian to be arrested.

We also get to meet Jane, a prostitute who William... befriends? If that's the right word? at the height of his despair over the revelation of his parenthood. He's rather awful to her at first, but then later he protects her from being taken by a man who wants to "bugger" her and likes it when the girls don't enjoy it. He takes her upstairs and offers her a night of repose, saying he won't molest her or anything. Jane, who offers William this plain first name in lieu of the "fancy" appellation of Arabella that she uses at work, seems to find William's honor charming enough that she actually does pursue sex with him, even though he's saying that his honor, his word, is the only thing he has left and he doesn't want to abuse it. It's a messy situation, because on the one hand William is saying no and Jane isn't stopping, but on the other, she's trying to give him a kindness in the only way she understands how, and he's so mixed up in the head about what's right and wrong that he doesn't know how to process anything that's happening. We'll see more of this dynamic later, and I'm anxious to see if they make any changes in adaptation...

Last thing before I turn to the juiciest stuff: we do have a moment where Jamie and William confront each other, but there's actually no opportunity for any sort of emotional catharsis or explanation. Earlier in the episode Jamie says he's sorry to John that William had to find out "our secret" and then says they'll find him and explain... but here, Jamie just shoves his son up against the nearest surface and threatens to expose him as a bastard if he doesn't get Ian free from capture. It's Jamie being very pragmatic and dangerous and very much damaging his already completely destroyed relationship with his biological son. Pour on the angst, why don't you!

The opening scene with John and Jamie - I was having the most fun staring at David Berry's face as John and just watching all the conflicting emotions. Delicious. On the one hand, Jamie's alive, and on the other hand, John has to tell him that he's had sex with Claire. I just kept thinking about how this whole scene is undoubtedly the most physical contact these two men have ever shared, what with Jamie tugging on John's arm and guiding him around Philadelphia, and then the uh... other kind of physical contact when Jamie is beating John bloody and John is basically egging him on. It's so twisted to imagine what John is thinking about everything that's happening. I love that he refuses to give Jamie the details, I love that he screams "I'm not bloody sorry" when the soldiers are dragging him away. Jamie spends this episode thinking himself the aggrieved party in this situation, and yeah, sure, hard not to see why he would feel that way - but at the same time, John didn't do anything wrong, in going to bed with Claire, did he? Strictly speaking? I also really loved the fact that when the rebel soldiers first turn up, Jamie's first instinct is actually to stop them from taking John. It's not exactly a protective instinct born of affection in that moment, but there's this sense that instinctively, he knows he and John are a thing separate from rebels vs. loyalists. He knows that this is a personal thing between them, and he doesn't want to hand John over into the hands of people who might mean him harm. The moment where you actually feel like Jamie has crossed a line, in my opinion, isn't really with the punching. It's when he gives John over and lets him be taken as a prisoner.

I could go on and on about the exchange between them, so much of this excellent dialogue is lifted straight from the book - Jamie's initial reaction being this kind of restrained and polite curiosity: "oh, why did you and Claire have sex? How interesting, please explain yourself" is sort of the tone here, and John's bewilderment is also such a treat. His incredulous anger: "What do you mean, why? I thought you were dead!" It's just such a treat for me that for all of the book moments that can't make it to screen, for all of the things they could have chosen to truncate or cut, it's my favorite stuff in the world that's getting the full drawn out treatment.

Then the Jamie and Claire scene, which happens a bit differently than in the books - the fact that it happens at Lord John's residence and that they end up having their reunion sex on his dining room table is frankly just... sending me. But honestly the whole scene is delicious, perfect acting from them both. When Claire is explaining what happened, there's this moment where you think Jamie will have to be moved to understand: Claire has just finished saying that she was contemplating suicide, and that John had the look of a man about to throw himself off a cliff, and that she really needed triage in that moment, that John provided her solace when she was at the depths of despair. There's this look on Jamie's face like he can't help but be moved by the idea of these two people being so deranged in their grief that they did this insane thing they never would have done in their right minds. But then, Jamie suddenly asks, quite calm and matter of fact: "did he bugger you?" And it's such a slap in the face to Claire and to the viewer both. Jamie isn't going to be super-human about this, he isn't going to be emotionally mature enough to accept what happened and move on. He's jealous and he's mean about it, and I love the drama there.

I also feel like this scene elevated the weird emotional triangle between Jamie, Claire, and John, even from what it is in the books. Claire has a line about how she couldn't bear to be alone and also she couldn't bear for John to be alone, and she seems so genuinely worried about John and what Jamie did to him. Then there's the beat right before Jamie decides to set aside the matter (for now), where he talks about how at Helwater, when Geneva died and William was a baby, John saved Jamie's life with his friendship. He's drawing a parallel - both of them know what it is to have John Grey hold you together when you're on the verge of falling apart. Another weird twisted way in which each arm of this triangle act as mirrors to one another. So juicy!

Meanwhile, John's eye is a mess because of Jamie's attack, and Denzel gets word that John is going to be hanged as an example, because he's deemed important enough to make a spectacle out of. So Denzel arranges to help John escape. The end of this episode is framed so amazingly and hilariously, with Jamie and Claire having passionate and re-connecting sex on a table, while John is wearing an eye-patch and in utter disarray, running through the woods as a shot rings out behind him. Lord John Grey's No Good Very Bad Day. Somebody give that man a hug.

So yeah. This whole story-line is the best because it takes my favorite character, Lord John Grey, and just shoves him into such a Situation. I love putting blorbos in Situations, I really do. Can't wait for more of the season to play out - we've got a lot of juicy stuff ahead of us, and I'm so curious as to what makes the cut from the books!

9/10