Outlander: The Garrison Commander (1x06)

Well damn. Damn. Pretty much incredible. Let's talk about this, shall we?

Picking up on the cliffhanger from last week, we see Claire assure the British Soldiers that she's a willing guest of Clan Mackenzie. Even so, the British man takes her to talk to his commanding officer. Dougal comes with, to protect her.

At first, things seem to go alright. Claire has dinner with a group of British officers, while Dougal waits downstairs in a tavern. They agree to help her get to Inverness, from which she can then make her way, hopefully, back home to Frank. However, her hopes are momentarily dashed by Jack Randall entering the room all of a sudden. He and Claire see and recognize each other.

At this point, another person enters the room and declares that a man has been injured in a brawl down below. As the surgeon cannot be located, Claire agrees to help the man. She does so, participating in an awful amputation. She then goes back upstairs, horrified to find that the only soldier left to talk to her is Jack Randall. Jack insists on questioning Claire, because during dinner she betrayed some questionable sympathies towards the Scottish.

Claire makes up a story about following a man to Scotland, and then discovering that he was a bad person and running away from him. She says that this is why she was dressed only in her shift when Jack Randall first saw her. Jack doesn't believe her. He tells her the story of when he whipped Jamie nearly to death. Claire says that she still believes that there is good in him. For a moment, it looks like Claire has won Jack over, and that he will indeed help her to Inverness. However, he suddenly strikes her, knocking her to the ground and ordering one of the younger soldiers to kick her.

Dougal enters and puts a stop to it. Jack concedes, but says that Claire must be delivered to him at the end of the following day, or Dougal will be accused of harboring a traitor. Dougal brings Claire to a special spot with an apparently magical river. Claire drinks from it, and then assures Dougal once more that she is not a spy. Since nobody can lie after having drunk from this spring, Dougal finally believes her. He says that he can save her from Jack Randall - If Claire becomes a Scottish citizen, the British can't take her unless she's being accused of a specific crime, and there's evidence. The only way for her to become a Scottish citizen? Marriage. Dougal nominates Jamie to be the groom.

Claire is horrified, but she recognizes that it might be the only way. When Jamie comes to talk to her about their impending nuptials, Claire is worried that Jamie might be promised to someone else. Jamie points out that he's got a price on his head, so no father would really want his daughter to marry him. Claire has another qualm: doesn't it bother Jamie that Claire is not a virgin? Jamie says no, as long as it doesn't bother her, that he is a virgin. As the episode ends, Claire takes a large swig of her drink and stalks off, fortifying herself for her second wedding.

The good parts of this episode so overshadow the bad ones, that I feel a bit silly even marking them down, but I will admit that there were a few little issues.

The main one was the amputation scene. It seemed to come completely out of nowhere, didn't tell us anything new about Claire as a character or about her situation, and then ceased to be mentioned for the rest of the episode. Its only service to the plot was to get her away from the other soldiers for a moment, so when she came back to them, she and Jack would suddenly be alone. However, the same thing could have been achieved by a trip downstairs to tell Dougal that the British were taking her to Inverness, or something of the sort. The amputation was unnecessary in its entirety.

Then there's the character of Brigadier General Oliver Thomas. He's the main soldier who hosts the dinner, before Jack Randall shows up. He was perhaps a bit too campy, a bit too bumbling. The way he spoke to Dougal was just ridiculous - he was insulting to the extreme, and not in a way that made me feel threatened by him, but more in the eye-rolling sort of way. I think the character could have been slightly more effective if I had felt as if he had true power. It might be a nitpick, but I simply think there was a stronger direction this character could have taken.

As I said before, however, this episode had so much going for it that I hesitate to even waste time on the problems.

First of all, you have the centerpiece of the episode: Jack and Claire's scene. For such a simple scenario, these two actors really pulled out all of the stops. Tobias Menzies really deserves particular praise for these scenes. He was extraordinarily creepy, and I was really, really drawn in by his story of whipping Jamie. God, that scene was horrific. One of the smartest things about it was that we didn't see Claire's reaction to it until the end. We were completely in the head-space of Jack Randall and his sick fantasies. We are already starting to see the horrifying way his mind seems to work.

The other major component of the episode I want to praise is Dougal's characterization. I was actually touched by Dougal's protective nature over Claire. When Claire came downstairs to help with the amputation, Dougal seemed panicked: "Claire! Are ye alright, lassie?" That was so sweet. And Dougal is the one to save Claire in the end. It was a nice subversion of what we might have expected - instead of Jamie, the dashing hero, rushing in to Claire's rescue, we have Dougal, who is this morally ambiguous man who is sort of Claire's protector, and sort of her captor. That's much more interesting.

Of course, the other important scene to talk about is the one at the end, between Jamie and Claire. How. Adorable. It all ties in to what I've been saying about Claire and Jamie's relationship. They really do feel like equals. I love that Jamie refers to Claire as a "friend." After Claire has heard the horrific story about Jamie's whipping - both from Jamie and from Jack - you could see Claire showing Jamie pity and nothing more. But that's not the case. Claire's views on Jamie are really complex - and her pity for him is only one small aspect of it. And you could also see Jamie being condescending to Claire, holding it over her head that he's her only chance for safety. But no. Jamie is friendly to Claire. He tries to put her at ease. The two of them already feel like partners, in a certain sense.

Also, of course... Jamie's a virgin. Oh boy. I remember thinking that was one of the funniest, most endearing things about him from the books. It shouldn't be such a big deal, but I think it's really refreshing to reverse that annoying cliche of the virginal young bride, and instead take a look at the fact that Jamie's sense of honor and righteousness has actually kept him out of a woman's bed thus far. (For those that might feel a bit mixed about this, I'll assure you in vague terms that there are a lot of different attitudes about sex portrayed in the books. Sexual freedom and repression are both explored, and nobody's choices about sex before or after marriage are really shamed by the narrative - although of course the characters are products of their time).

A few other small things I must mention...

Jack's entrance! I love that it wasn't all dramatic, slow motion, or made to be all important. It was the work of an instant. Claire thought she had finally found solace, and then bam, the door slams open and Jack is standing there, ready to ruin everything.

I also love the complication of Claire's so-called "politics" in these scenes. She expresses sympathy for the Scots, even being English herself. And yet, she knows how it all turns out. She knows that the English prevail, and she knows how horrific the slaughter of the Scots is. She has been living among these people and has made real friends, and yet her main desire is still to get back to her own time. It's a delicious set of circumstances, and Claire is such an interesting character, too.

I think I'll leave it there. I'm so, so, so, excited for next week's episode. For obvious reasons. But this one was better than I could have expected, given that not much happened other than two people having a conversation in a room.

9/10