Outlander: Lallybroch (1x12)

Jenny and Ian! Yay! Let's talk about this episode.

Jamie and Claire arrive at Lallybroch after a long journey. When they show up, Jamie sees that his sister Jenny has a little boy named Jamie, and is pregnant with another child. Jamie jumps to conclusions, thinking that the child is the bastard of Jack Randall. However, he quickly realizes that this is not the case. Both Young Jamie and the unborn child are the children of Ian, Jamie's childhood friend, and now Jenny's husband.

Jamie and Claire settle in uneasily to Lallybroch. Jenny does not seem welcoming of Claire, and Jamie doesn't make things easier by taking to his new role of Laird with arrogance and unbridled enthusiasm. He ignores the fact that Jenny and Ian have been running things all this time, taking over and making demands of everybody. When it's time to collect the rent from his tenants, he decides to give everybody a break, since times have been tough. When he discovers (via Claire) that a little boy is being beaten by his father, Jamie takes care of it by using his fists. Jenny is not impressed.

The next morning, Jamie learns that the mill is broken, and goes out to fix it. Claire goes with him. Just as Jamie is entering the water to swim under the mill, a group of redcoats show up. Jamie dives under the water to evade notice, barely making it. After the soldiers leave, Jamie emerges from the water. Jenny had come to find Jamie and warn him, so when he stands up, she sees the scars on his back for the first time.

Claire tells Jamie that he's been behaving very poorly since they arrived at Lallybroch, and he should apologize and shape up. Jamie and Jenny both go to find each other and apologize. Jamie says that he was wrong not to consult with Jenny about the estate, given that she knows what's been going on all these years. Jenny apologizes because she blamed Jamie for their father's death, but now she sees the scars on his back and knows how he has suffered.

We get flashbacks in this episode, as we hear the story of what happened to Jenny when Jack Randall showed up and whipped Jamie, then went into the house with her. He couldn't get it up to rape her, and Jenny, seeing this, laughed at him. The mockery made him lash out, knocking her unconscious. He left her there.

We also get to hear the story of what happened to Jamie and Jenny's father, Brian Fraser. When Jamie had been arrested and whipped, Brian was there. He tried to visit Jamie, but the guards took him away. Jack Randall made Jamie an offer - if Jamie submitted to him, sexually, then he wouldn't whip him again. Jamie considered it, but ultimately he knew he couldn't face his father if he gave in and let Jack Randall have control over him. He took the second whipping. Brian was watching in the crowd, and when Jamie lost consciousness, he believed his son was dead. He had a heart attack, and died.

At the end of the episode, it seems Claire is finally settling in to Lallybroch. Peace has been made between Jenny and Jamie, and everybody begins to look forward to the future. Then, Claire wakes up in the morning and comes downstairs to find Jamie being held at gunpoint! There seems to be no rest for these two.

Complaints?

I'll admit I'm getting the tiniest bit sick of the cliffhanger endings... it might have been nice to let us rest in Lallybroch for one full episode before turning everything to disaster again. However, I understand the limitations of trying to fit this entire book's plot into sixteen episodes. It's a tossup, for sure, and I get why they did it.

Mostly, though, this show just keeps getting better and better.

I'm really pleased about the casting for Jenny. I was nervous that I wouldn't like her, which would seriously suck. Jenny is such an important character for the story. I'm still on the fence about Ian, because we didn't get to see as much of him so far. We'll have to wait and see. But Jenny and Jamie had the best chemistry together as siblings. I loved the way you could tell how much they loved each other, even when they were bickering, or even seriously furious with each other. Their relationship is rock solid, even through all the pain.

I appreciated seeing this more immature, slightly mean-spirited side of Jamie. We've seen this really amazing, compassionate, perfect person so far. Even when he was belting Claire, there was this sort of... innocence in his misunderstanding of the situation. But now, we're seeing the selfish brat side of Jamie, and for the first time you can sort of feel the age difference between Claire and Jamie. I think this is an important part of complicating his character.

Claire, too, doesn't come across as perfect in this episode. She's brash and impulsive, and even though Jamie now knows she's from the future, that doesn't mean she can act like a woman out of her own time. Jamie explains to Claire that she is his equal, but in public she can't talk back to him, or his people will lose respect for him. Jamie's right, as much as Claire might not want to accept it. If she wants to be safe, she has to do what she can to blend in.

I think my favorite moment in the episode was when Jenny yelled at Claire and Jamie that life didn't start when they walked in that door. It's totally true - Jenny and Ian have been running things for quite some time now, and Jamie and Claire swept through the door and took over like it was their right. The worst part? It is their right. But it's a more complicated situation than that, and Jamie should have been more understanding.

Jack Randall is all the more formidable when we discover that he has attempted to sexually assault not only Claire, not only Jamie, but Jenny as well - each of them has a story of Randall's failed attempts at rape. For Jamie, it's his stubbornness that protects him from Jack's obsession. I was really glad that the show made a clear distinction that it wasn't the "buggery" that was so horrifying to Jamie, but the thought of submitting to a man like Jack Randall. Of course, Jamie isn't some sort of enlightened figure who's totally okay with the thought of sexual activity between two men. For that matter, neither is Claire, what with her 1940's sensibilities. But I appreciate that the show is going out of their way to show that Jack Randall is a despicable villain, but it's got nothing to do with his feeling sexual desire for men. (I mean... can you even call what he feels for Jamie "desire" in the traditional sense? He's a sadist. Homosexual or heterosexual or bisexual or whatever seems almost beside the point).

The flashbacks about Jamie's father were really difficult to watch, even though I knew what was going to happen. Seeing Jamie in such physical pain is really difficult, and it's only exacerbated when we watch Jenny seeing Jamie's scars for the first time. (I'm not even going to talk about the very naked Sam Heughan in this episode... y'all saw it. Yum).

I also want to praise this episode's atmosphere. Lallybroch was just as comforting and home-like as I could have wished. There's a sense of inclusion there, like Jamie and Claire could relax and really become something. It's a nice contrast to Castle Leoch, which always felt sort of cold and foreboding. Lallybroch is home, but at the same time, the homecoming was not the cheerful affair we might have expected. I like that, too. It's more complex than anybody would have predicted. Jenny's not too happy with Jamie, and she's not suddenly going to be best friends with Claire, either. So, you have the contrast of the homey feel of Lallybroch, with all the not-so-warm-and-fuzzy feelings going on between its inhabitants. It was a nice balance.

One last thing: I loved Jamie and Claire's conversation at the start of the episode. Claire telling Jamie about her own time is one of my favorite things about the books. I want more of these conversations. Much more. Jamie seems utterly delighted by the idea of airplanes, and by the fact that Claire has seen - and actually rode - an elephant. Adorable!

I think I'll stop there. I could keep going for a while. This show is going to kill me!

9/10