Outlander: Rent (1x05)

A great episode. No major missteps, and it pushed the plot forward in a number of ways. We're getting closer and closer to the legendary romance between Jamie and Claire, which I'm very excited about. Even if this is primarily Claire's story, their story is definitely the centerpiece of the books. Given how much I like the chemistry between the actors, I'm excited to see how the romance plays out on screen. But before I get ahead of myself, let's talk about what happened in this one.

Claire becomes friends with Ned Gowan, a lawyer, while traveling with the Mackenzie men. They stop in many villages and collect rent from the people. When Claire ends up spending time with the women in one town, she gets into trouble with the men for disappearing - Claire, who had been drinking, angrily attempts to return a goat to a family with a hungry child. An English man appears and asks if Claire is alright, but the Mackenzies all gang up and scare him away. We then see him don a red coat, revealing himself to be a British soldier.

By day, Dougal collects rent from the people. By night, as everyone drinks at the taverns, he makes impassioned speeches against the English. He uses Jamie's scarred back to incite the people to donate more money. At first, Claire is entirely apalled that Dougal would try to scare these people and basically steal their money. Later, she realized that it's not thievery - it's politics. Dougal is raising money for a Jacobite army, to fight under the banner of Bonny Prince Charlie.

She tries to warn Ned Gowan that the Scottish will lose this fight, but to no avail. One night at a tavern, Claire finds Jamie sleeping outside of her room in an effort to protect her from any unwanted advances from the drunk men upstairs. Later, several of the Mackenzie men get into a fight with some villagers. As Claire patches them up, she learns that they were fighting to defend her honor - they had called her a whore.

By the end of the episode, Dougal manages to get more funding for the Jacobite uprising without using Jamie's scars to get attention. As Claire goes down to the river to wash, Dougal follows her and demands to know who she really is - and why she was talking politics about the Jacobites with Ned. As Claire and Dougal argue, the British Soldier returns, with several reinforcements. Again, he asks Claire if she is in need of assistance. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, as we are not sure if Claire will stay with the Mackenzies, or place her trust in the British.

If I were to nitpick a bit, I suppose there were one or two moments that were slightly confusing. For example, at one point we see some men beating up on someone for being a British sympathizer, and Dougal seems to be taking a cut from the plunder. But where does this fall under Dougal's purview? Is it part of his duty as Colum's representative of Clan Mackenzie, or is it Jacobite business? Maybe someone else can clear this up for me, but I felt that it should have been given a bit more weight here.

And then I have sort of the opposite complaint - some of these themes and ideas were a bit too heavy-handed. Did we really need to see the crying baby, hungry because the goat was gone? Did we really need to see Dougal make his speech about the tyranny of the British so many times? Maybe this all goes back to my wish for some more subtlety. The creators of this show have given us something really beautiful, but now they have to learn to trust us to see it without so much prodding.

But onto the good stuff!

John Donne! I have a professor who would freak out if she were watching the show. When the Donne poem showed up, I was seriously so thrilled. He's an amazing poet. Even though this show is about the past, it does an amazing job of connecting to so many places and times at once, that it feels sort of timeless. Claire is talking to us - the audience - in the 21st Century, yet she's hailing from the 1940's, and speaking in the 1740's. She quotes Renaissance poets, and then turns around and says "Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ." There's something so interesting about the way that time and place are mixed together in the story.

Ned Gowan - a great character introduction. The show is doing a consistently excellent job of letting us know who's important to pay attention to - Ned got a fair amount of time dedicated to him in this episode, so we know to keep an eye on him. Great acting, great chemistry with Claire - their friendship is an interesting one.

We're continuing to complicated Dougal's character, which I love. It seems like an irredeemably dick move to use Jamie the way he does in this episode, and maybe it is. But at the same time, we do learn that he's doing it because of his ideals and his desire for freedom, and not just for personal greed or anything like that. Dougal's relationship to Claire is interesting, too. As she says in one of her voice-overs, Dougal now respects her as a healer - but that doesn't necessarily come with trust.

Great music - again - in this episode. I particularly liked the women's song. I was proud of myself for recognizing bits of the Gaelic, in particular the phrase "mo nighean donn" which is basically a term of endearment specifically for brunettes, oddly enough, meaning something like "my brown-haired lass." I'm always reminded of the song "Brown-Eyed Girl" when I hear it. (My apologies for the really random aside).

Claire's journey in this episode is probably the most complex one yet. Not only does she go through several changes of opinion about Dougal and his men (from common thieves to brave yet doomed revolutionaries) she also has a moment or two with other characters that seem very significant. She is still yearning for escape, and yet she's inevitably getting to know these people, and getting to feel a certain affinity for them - or at least for Jamie, and now Ned.

The scene between Jamie and Claire outside of Claire's room was the most adorable so far - they had a moment where they shared a deep and silent look. But it wasn't a cheesy romance look... it was cute, like two young people who are mutually attracted to each other. It was a moment of total sweetness, where we were allowed to forget, for just a moment, the full peril of Claire's situation. Jamie is just so adorably innocent about some things. We also see some heavier moments between them, as Jamie warns Claire to stay out of things she doesn't understand, and Claire consoles Jamie about Dougal's treatment of him. I think the most endearing thing about their relationship is that it feels very balanced. Both of them have saved the other. Both of them have seen moments of embarrassment, of weakness, in the other. And they seem to respect each other as relatively equal beings - despite the inherent sexism of the period.

I think I'll wrap it up there - I'm excited about the cliffhanger, and about the promo for next week, and about so many things! I'm loving this show so much. This was my favorite episode yet.

9/10