Outlander: Castle Leoch (1x02)

Okay, here's episode two. I have to say right off the top... they are certainly taking their time with this! We're about 100 pages through the first book as of the end of this episode. I'm really happy that we're taking our time. Here's the plot of this one.

Claire, Jamie, Murtagh, Dougal, et. al. arrive at Castle Leoch, where Claire meets Mistress Fitzgibbons, a kindly old house maid. Mrs. Fitz, as most people call her, is scandalized by her outfit, but when she realized that Claire is a medicine woman, of sorts, she immediately tells Jamie to listen to Claire and let her help him.

Claire cleans Jamie's wound and re-bandages it. As she's doing so, she sees scars on Jamie's back, and he tells her the story. The show gets a little muddled, so I'll tell it to you in chronological order. At least, I think this is what happens: Jamie is tending his farm at Lallybroch when he hears his sister screaming. He goes to rescue Jenny, and he sees Captain Jack Randall and some other British soldiers restraining her. He is tied up and whipped in front of Jenny, who is given the choice to go inside with Jack (ostensibly to be raped) or to watch her brother continue to suffer. Jenny, believing that Jack will kill Jamie, goes inside with him.

Later, Jamie was whipped twice more after escaping from prison. He managed to get away after being whipped nearly to death. As such, he has large roped scars all over his back. Jamie then holds Claire as she cries about Frank, realizing that her husband is not alive (even if he's not... dead. Time travel is weird).

The next day, Claire is cleaned up and given fresh clothes by Mrs. Fitz. She is then sent to go meet Colum MacKenzie, the laird of Castle Leoch. Claire makes up a story about heading to France to meet with family, now that she's widowed. She was set upon by highway men, and then attacked by Captain Jack Randall, who took her clothes. Then, Murtagh rescued her. Colum seems skeptical of this story, but agrees to help Claire get passage back to Inverness on the following Saturday.

At dinner, Claire sits with Colum and Dougal, and Colum continues to press Claire for details. Claire realizes she's being interrogated, and tries desperately to keep her story straight. She then meets Hamish MacKenzie, a young boy. Claire mistakenly thinks that Hamish is Dougal's son, when in reality, Hamish informs Claire that he is Colum's son and heir to Clan MacKenzie. Colum has a degenerative disease that gives Colum only a few more years of life. (Although the show is kind of fuzzy on this, in the books I think we're told that this disease makes Colum impotent, or at least makes it unlikely for him to bear children. Claire is therefore pretty sure that Hamish is not really Colum's kid).

Claire visits Jamie at the stables to help him with his bandages, and the two of them flirt a bit. Jamie tells Claire he's decided to trust her. Somebody, however, is not so trusting: Dougal has been having Claire followed. He thinks she might be an English spy.

After this revelation, Claire decides she should just keep her head down until Saturday, when she'll be back on the way to Inverness, Craigh na Dun, and (hopefully) her own time. While out collecting plants for Mrs. Fitz, she meets Geillis Duncan, a mysterious and bold woman who says the villagers are suspicious of Claire.

Geillis proves useful to Claire as an interpreter, as the two of them go to watch Colum receive his people and hear their complaints. During this evening, a man brings his young daughter, Laoghaire (pronounced Lee-ruh) in front of Colum and asks that she be punished for loose behavior. Jamie steps forward and agrees to take the punishment on Laoghaire's behalf.

Afterwards, Claire cleans Jamie up and tends to his wounds (he took the punishment in the form of fists), and she asks him why he did what he did. Jamie says that he can stand to be beat a bit, but for Laoghaire, the incident would have shamed her greatly, and taken a long time to get over. Mrs. Fitz thanks Jamie, since Laoghaire is her granddaughter. Claire and Jamie take leave of one another, as Claire gets ready to depart the following day, as Colum promised.

Claire goes to get a ride with a man on his way to Inverness, but Colum and Dougal do not let her go, instead taking her to look in the surgery of a now deceased doctor. They have heard she's a good healer, so Colum tells her to be the new medicine woman of Castle Leoch. Dougal and Colum both believe Claire is hiding something, and have decided to keep her close by, where they can watch her.

Let's talk about some of the weaker aspects of this episode. Overall, I was pleased with things, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't have something to complain about.

My biggest pet peeve: too many flashbacks! They are very overused. Not only do we get a very, very long "previously on" before the episode starts, but every few minutes I swear we see Clarie think back to her own time and do a blatant compare/contrast of Castle Leoch then vs. now. It's like the before and after pictures Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!

A few elements that I know from the books are not explained very well here. Earlier, I mentioned the thing about Hamish and his dubious paternity. I'm not sure if that spoils things for people who haven't read the books, because I honestly don't know if the episode wanted us to grasp that plot point from what we were given here. Will we be told later, or not?

The character of Murtagh is another point in which the book does a better job of explaining things. This isn't giving anything away, so I don't feel bad about saying it: Murtagh is Jamie's godfather, and his particular friend and protector. We saw that a little bit here, as he tries to dissuade Jamie from taking Laoghaire's punishment, but I don't think his relationship to Jamie, or even his name, have been clearly established within the show.

But, along the same vein, let's switch to some of the good stuff, starting with ways in which the deviations from the books are improving upon the source material, rather than detracting from it.

Geillis Duncan. In the book, she is introduced a little bit later. I don't mind introducing her sooner - in fact, I encourage it. While we've met a lot of characters thus far in the story, I don't think I'm giving too much away to say that Mrs. Fitz is not going to be our #1 most valuable or interesting character here. Instead of giving her more scenes with Claire (in the book, she is Claire's translator) we get to meet Geillis and start developing her a tad earlier. Again, I don't think I'm giving much away when I say that Geillis is a character you should be keeping your eye on. I love the actress they got to play her, too. Lotte Verbeek has already infused Geillis with just the right mixture of charm and mystery so I'm drawn in to her secrets, and am also just a bit scared of her.

Another change from the book: Claire almost gets away! This change gives Claire a specific goal and starts her on the way to accomplishing it. She has made her decision to go back to Craigh na Dun, and in fact almost gets in a wagon and starts setting off in that direction. The nice thing about the story, for those who haven't read the book, is that it seems totally feasible that maybe Claire does get away and start heading back to Inverness. Maybe more adventures befall her on her way, and she's forced to turn back to Jamie and the MacKenzie clan for help. Instead, we see her goal thwarted. Colum and Dougal go from being vaguely threatening to being true obstacles to Claire's goals.

Geillis wasn't the only new character we got to meet this week. We introduced Dougal's brother, Colum MacKenzie: leader of his clan. I am thus far very impressed with Gary Lewis' performance. Colum has to be both vulnerable and intimidating. His disease has to make him an obvious cripple, while his manner has to convey a subtle and terrifying power.

I want to take a moment to praise the opening credit sequence - I love the song they've picked out for it. I don't know why it's a big deal to me, but there's something so nice about the fact that a woman is singing it - reinforcing, even in the credits, that this is a woman's story. On that note, I really enjoy all of the music in the show so far. It hasn't been overpowering, but it helps to add to the atmosphere in a very subtle yet meaningful way. I've heard several strains of popular Scottish songs played in the background, including a very famous and beautiful song called "Loch Lomond," which I recommend everybody listen to at some point in their lives.

A footnote before I sign off - this has nothing to do with this episode, but actually about how this show is being marketed. I keep on seeing promotional material that talks about the "love triangle." What? What do you mean, love triangle? I suppose Claire is supposed to be torn between Jamie and Frank, but in reality, it's more that she's torn between the world she belongs in, and the one she's been thrust into. Obviously this story is a love story, but it's much more Claire's story, with everything that goes along with that. I would hate for anybody to be put off by the "love triangle" aspect. Frank and Jamie don't even live in the same century, for goodness' sake! I can promise you, there's no jealousy between the two of them as they fight over Claire. This is not that story.

This episode might not have made quite a strong a showing as the first one, but it was still very good.

8/10