Okay! This episode is the one I've been waiting for. I knew this was coming, and I was excited to see how they would handle it. Obviously this was brutal... but I think it was fairly well executed.
Cons:
That being said, as I sit back and think about this episode, I realize that there were a couple of very well-executed scenes, in an episode that was a bit more middling than the rest of the season thus far. I think this is a consequence of some story lines jumping forward with all due haste, and others sort of plodding along and becoming repetitive. I think I have more complaints about this episode that I've had of any episode all season... but the highs were really high, too.
The final scene of this episode is where things really shine, but a lot of the rest of it felt like marking time. Basically, this week we have Jamie and Claire's plan to fake smallpox in order to stop the Comte St. Germain from being able to fund Charles Stuart and the Jacobites. While that is going on, Claire is continuing her volunteer work at the hospital, where she learns that King Louis is planning on executing a bunch of people connected to the "dark arts." She rushes to warn Master Raymond of the threat, and he promises to flee the city. The smallpox plan works - sort of - but now Charles and Germain want to move the wine sooner to avoid inspection. Jamie and Murtagh stage a highwayman robbery, which successfully deprives Charles of his funds. We also have Murtagh finding out about Claire, and then we finally get to the big climax.
All of these story lines have merit, but for some reason the pacing seemed just a little bit off. The main offender here was the stuff with Master Raymond. In an episode otherwise focused on the stuff with Charles Stuart and the Comte St. Germain, this weird little detour about Louis wanting to kill dark arts practitioners felt like nothing more than a way to take up some space. I like Master Raymond, don't get me wrong, but maybe this brief scene belonged in another episode.
The other reason that I think the pacing was slightly off is that the climax of the episode felt like a proper continuation of last week's main concern: Black Jack Randall's return. The majority of the episode preceding this climax, however, was dealing with our other concerns surrounding the Jacobite uprising. Both stories are important to tell, but the first 75% of the episode dealt with one story, and then we capped it off with the continuation of the other. This is more of a pacing issue with the whole season, I guess. There's a lot of story to tell, and it can be hard to get everything going properly.
There was one other little scene I wanted to mention. While Jamie and Fergus are off planting fake smallpox symptoms on the sailors in the Comte's crew, Claire is with Louise and some other friends, as they all gossip and giggle about the promiscuous lives of their friends. Claire suddenly bursts out about the appalling situation of the underprivileged in the city, and one of Louise's friends suggest that they have their husbands petition the king to remove these undesirables to a less savory part of the city. Claire is all offended and upset, and she rushes out. This scene was just way too on-the-nose. I guess it ties in with all the suffering and poverty that Claire has been exposed to while working at the hospital, but the utter obliviousness and cruel snobbery of Louise's friends was a bit too cartoonish. It was a brief scene, but its lack of subtlety really made it stand out for me - and not in a good way.
All of these story lines have merit, but for some reason the pacing seemed just a little bit off. The main offender here was the stuff with Master Raymond. In an episode otherwise focused on the stuff with Charles Stuart and the Comte St. Germain, this weird little detour about Louis wanting to kill dark arts practitioners felt like nothing more than a way to take up some space. I like Master Raymond, don't get me wrong, but maybe this brief scene belonged in another episode.
The other reason that I think the pacing was slightly off is that the climax of the episode felt like a proper continuation of last week's main concern: Black Jack Randall's return. The majority of the episode preceding this climax, however, was dealing with our other concerns surrounding the Jacobite uprising. Both stories are important to tell, but the first 75% of the episode dealt with one story, and then we capped it off with the continuation of the other. This is more of a pacing issue with the whole season, I guess. There's a lot of story to tell, and it can be hard to get everything going properly.
There was one other little scene I wanted to mention. While Jamie and Fergus are off planting fake smallpox symptoms on the sailors in the Comte's crew, Claire is with Louise and some other friends, as they all gossip and giggle about the promiscuous lives of their friends. Claire suddenly bursts out about the appalling situation of the underprivileged in the city, and one of Louise's friends suggest that they have their husbands petition the king to remove these undesirables to a less savory part of the city. Claire is all offended and upset, and she rushes out. This scene was just way too on-the-nose. I guess it ties in with all the suffering and poverty that Claire has been exposed to while working at the hospital, but the utter obliviousness and cruel snobbery of Louise's friends was a bit too cartoonish. It was a brief scene, but its lack of subtlety really made it stand out for me - and not in a good way.
Pros:
Despite the pacing issues and the way the big ideas in this episode had a problem gelling, I did like the big ideas as individuals.
The whole plan with faking smallpox, then planning a highway robbery, worked really well. The Comte St. Germain was definitely suspicious, but I loved the sense of espionage and teamwork at work in these scenes. Claire created the concoction to imitate the symptoms of smallpox, and then Fergus helped Jamie to spike the sailors' wine. Later, Murtagh came in to do his part leading a group of "highwaymen" to rob the Comte of his supply. All of this stuff was quite fun. Even knowing that Jamie and Claire will ultimately fail to change the course of history, you still root for them to succeed in these missions.
I really liked the scenes with Charles Stuart this week. He still comes across as totally unstable and pretty laughable, but I actually felt sympathy for him when Jamie and the Comte reported that the wine had been stolen. He lamented all of the time he'd spent begging for money and acting as a commoner in France. What is he supposed to do now? The scene ends with him bursting into tears and declaring: "I will take my own life if I am forced to live in godforsaken Poland." The delivery of that line was just excellent.
The other plot of the night, obviously, is following the return of Black Jack Randall. Jamie and Claire seems relatively okay with one another, even after their brutal argument of last week. I was a little annoyed with this at first - I thought that the end of the last episode constituted a significant rift between the two of them, and it was a bit disconcerting to see them on such good terms. Jamie gives Claire a foot rub, they cuddle together in bed, Jamie talks to Claire's stomach, and they even have sex. At first this seemed out of nowhere, but when I think about it, it follows Jamie's characterization perfectly. He made a promise to Claire, and now that that's been settled, he's not going to ruin his relationship over the fallout. He tells Claire that he's not sparing Jack's life for the sake of repaying a debt, as he said last week. Instead, he's doing it because he's worried that they might fail in their mission. If it comes down to it, if the rebellion happens and Jamie gets swept up in it, he wants Claire to promise him to go back through the stones and return to Frank, a man who loves her and will protect her.
That's a powerful moment - Jamie has made a promise to Claire not to kill Jack for one year. Claire now makes a deeply solemn promise in return. She will go back through the stones. We as the audience know that Claire, tragically, keeps that promise. She does indeed return to Frank. Even knowing the outcome, however, doesn't spare us from the shock of Jamie breaking his own promise by the end of the episode.
So... let's get into that. First, we've got to grapple with Murtagh's role in events. When he finds out that Jamie isn't going to duel Black Jack Randall, he is furious and upset. What could possibly have changed Jamie's mind? Claire and Jamie make the decision to tell Murtagh the full truth about Claire. In keeping with the typical Scottish pragmatism mixed with superstition, Murtagh has no real problem buying the idea that Claire is a witch from the future. He punches Jamie in the jaw and chastises him for not trusting him with the truth sooner, and then he talks to Claire, letting her know that he understands how difficult her burden of knowledge must be for her. It was the perfect set of scenes. His moments with Jamie and Claire both felt very true to the relationships we've been setting up thus far. And it was about time to bring somebody else in on the secret. Murtagh's loyalty to Jamie means that we can buy the idea of him sabotaging the Jacobites because Jamie said so. But that can only go so far - now we can have Murtagh in as a full and equal partner in the scheming.
Fergus was more adorable than ever in this episode. We've already sort of established his relationship with Jamie, but this week I saw a lot more of the bond between Fergus and Claire, which I thought was rather lovely. Fergus is very protective of both Claire and Jamie, assuring Claire that he will look after "milord" when they go on their sabotage mission, and then promising to look after Claire at the hospital while Jamie is busy with Charles. Jamie and Claire both take his promises of protection seriously, and they don't belittle his loyalty, which I think is so important. Most significantly though, is the fact that Fergus is extra-strength adorable. I love him so much. He's been hovering around in the background so far this season, but he's been enough of a presence that his role as a sort of foster son for Claire and Jamie has been firmly entrenched by this point.
That's so important, because it's actually Fergus that causes the catalyst for the climax of the episode. Jamie and Fergus go to the brothel. Fergus sneaks into somebody's room and starts poking around. We see a British officer's uniform hanging on a peg. A man appears in the doorway, enters the room, and ominously closes the door. That's literally all we see. We don't even see Jack's face, but... it's enough. Next thing we know, Claire is arriving home to the servants telling her that Jamie has gone off to duel a British officer. There's a note that simply says "sorry, I had to." Claire rushes to the spot of the duel, her anxiety and pain growing. She sees Jack and Jamie dueling, and fears to call out and cause a fatal distraction. She waits - which of her husbands is about to die? Jamie, or Frank? The fight escalates. Claire collapses, blood rushing down her legs. Jamie stabs Jack in the groin - not a fatal wound, but potentially a sterilizing one. Claire calls for Jamie, Jamie turns and sees his wife on the ground. He tries to go to her, but the gendarmes have arrived to arrest Jamie and Jack for their illegal duel. End episode.
Intense. Really intense. Even knowing what was coming from the book didn't prepare me for the buildup. You don't even really need to know the specifics of what happened in the brothel. Did Jamie open the door stop get Jack in time? Did Jack try and rape Fergus, or was he just punishing him in some other manner for snooping in his room? There's this sense that it doesn't matter. Jamie is already stretched to the limit of his restraint in his determination to wait one year before killing the man who tortured and raped him. Seeing Jack threaten Fergus, in any capacity, was bound to snap his resolve. Fergus is just a kid. And he's become family to Jamie, even in such a short amount of time. I like that we don't see Jamie discover Jack and Fergus. I like that we see the whole buildup from Claire's perspective. We don't watch the duel begin: we just see it end, when Claire shows up.
And Claire losing her baby... ouch. That answers the question for all people who were wondering why she didn't seem to have a baby bump in the future that we saw back at the start of the season. Obviously a lot of intense drama is coming next week. This final scene, with the slow buildup and intense fighting, coupled with Claire coming apart at the seams, has me really excited to see the next episode. Things are not looking good for our heroes or for our villains, frankly. Jack may still be alive, but his ability to father a child is seriously in question.
I guess I'll wrap it up here to avoid going on and on. I did actually have some big complaints about this episode, and about the way it fits in to the season as a whole. That being said, the good moments were very good. I appreciate the hell out of Murtagh and Fergus both. They are turning in to my favorite characters in the show, and knowing what I know about the books makes me even more excited to see how things work out on the screen.
7.5/10
That's a powerful moment - Jamie has made a promise to Claire not to kill Jack for one year. Claire now makes a deeply solemn promise in return. She will go back through the stones. We as the audience know that Claire, tragically, keeps that promise. She does indeed return to Frank. Even knowing the outcome, however, doesn't spare us from the shock of Jamie breaking his own promise by the end of the episode.
So... let's get into that. First, we've got to grapple with Murtagh's role in events. When he finds out that Jamie isn't going to duel Black Jack Randall, he is furious and upset. What could possibly have changed Jamie's mind? Claire and Jamie make the decision to tell Murtagh the full truth about Claire. In keeping with the typical Scottish pragmatism mixed with superstition, Murtagh has no real problem buying the idea that Claire is a witch from the future. He punches Jamie in the jaw and chastises him for not trusting him with the truth sooner, and then he talks to Claire, letting her know that he understands how difficult her burden of knowledge must be for her. It was the perfect set of scenes. His moments with Jamie and Claire both felt very true to the relationships we've been setting up thus far. And it was about time to bring somebody else in on the secret. Murtagh's loyalty to Jamie means that we can buy the idea of him sabotaging the Jacobites because Jamie said so. But that can only go so far - now we can have Murtagh in as a full and equal partner in the scheming.
Fergus was more adorable than ever in this episode. We've already sort of established his relationship with Jamie, but this week I saw a lot more of the bond between Fergus and Claire, which I thought was rather lovely. Fergus is very protective of both Claire and Jamie, assuring Claire that he will look after "milord" when they go on their sabotage mission, and then promising to look after Claire at the hospital while Jamie is busy with Charles. Jamie and Claire both take his promises of protection seriously, and they don't belittle his loyalty, which I think is so important. Most significantly though, is the fact that Fergus is extra-strength adorable. I love him so much. He's been hovering around in the background so far this season, but he's been enough of a presence that his role as a sort of foster son for Claire and Jamie has been firmly entrenched by this point.
That's so important, because it's actually Fergus that causes the catalyst for the climax of the episode. Jamie and Fergus go to the brothel. Fergus sneaks into somebody's room and starts poking around. We see a British officer's uniform hanging on a peg. A man appears in the doorway, enters the room, and ominously closes the door. That's literally all we see. We don't even see Jack's face, but... it's enough. Next thing we know, Claire is arriving home to the servants telling her that Jamie has gone off to duel a British officer. There's a note that simply says "sorry, I had to." Claire rushes to the spot of the duel, her anxiety and pain growing. She sees Jack and Jamie dueling, and fears to call out and cause a fatal distraction. She waits - which of her husbands is about to die? Jamie, or Frank? The fight escalates. Claire collapses, blood rushing down her legs. Jamie stabs Jack in the groin - not a fatal wound, but potentially a sterilizing one. Claire calls for Jamie, Jamie turns and sees his wife on the ground. He tries to go to her, but the gendarmes have arrived to arrest Jamie and Jack for their illegal duel. End episode.
Intense. Really intense. Even knowing what was coming from the book didn't prepare me for the buildup. You don't even really need to know the specifics of what happened in the brothel. Did Jamie open the door stop get Jack in time? Did Jack try and rape Fergus, or was he just punishing him in some other manner for snooping in his room? There's this sense that it doesn't matter. Jamie is already stretched to the limit of his restraint in his determination to wait one year before killing the man who tortured and raped him. Seeing Jack threaten Fergus, in any capacity, was bound to snap his resolve. Fergus is just a kid. And he's become family to Jamie, even in such a short amount of time. I like that we don't see Jamie discover Jack and Fergus. I like that we see the whole buildup from Claire's perspective. We don't watch the duel begin: we just see it end, when Claire shows up.
And Claire losing her baby... ouch. That answers the question for all people who were wondering why she didn't seem to have a baby bump in the future that we saw back at the start of the season. Obviously a lot of intense drama is coming next week. This final scene, with the slow buildup and intense fighting, coupled with Claire coming apart at the seams, has me really excited to see the next episode. Things are not looking good for our heroes or for our villains, frankly. Jack may still be alive, but his ability to father a child is seriously in question.
I guess I'll wrap it up here to avoid going on and on. I did actually have some big complaints about this episode, and about the way it fits in to the season as a whole. That being said, the good moments were very good. I appreciate the hell out of Murtagh and Fergus both. They are turning in to my favorite characters in the show, and knowing what I know about the books makes me even more excited to see how things work out on the screen.
7.5/10
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