Outlander: La Dame Blanche (2x04)

This season is just so awesome. This show is just incredible and I love it SO MUCH.

Cons:

I don't really have anything big. In some ways I still think things are being spelled out a little too clearly, which means some subtlety is being lost. Mostly, this comes into play with the Comte St. Germain. He's just so obviously evil that it doesn't do much for me.

Also, there's another rape in this episode. This time poor Mary Hawkins is the victim. I don't have a problem with using rape as part of a story, but as with the books, I think it's relied on a little too heavily. It seems every named character is sexually assaulted at some point, and it can be a little exhausting and unpleasant, to say the least.

Pros:

The basic plot is that Claire and Jamie plan to throw a dinner party, so that the Duke of Sandringham can meet Charles Stuart face-to-face. They hope that once the Duke sees how ridiculous Bonnie Prince Charlie truly is, he'll realize that the British shouldn't be backing the Jacobites. Claire discovers that Louise is pregnant with Charles' child, and they decide to try and use this information to unsettle Charles at the dinner table, thus causing him to show his true unpleasantness. Claire, meanwhile, seems to be the target of someone's malice. She and Jamie both suspect the Comte when Claire is poisoned, although luckily it was Master Raymond's painful yet not deadly concoction. Raymond tells Claire he sold it to a servant he didn't know, and that perhaps that servant could have been working for the Comte. The second attack comes as Claire, Mary Hawkins, and Murtagh are walking back from the hospital, where Claire was working. They are running late to the dinner party because the carriage wheel broke. As they are walking back, a group of men attack. Mary is raped, Murtagh is hit in the head, but the men run when they see Claire, who they call "La Dame Blanche." At the dinner party, tensions are high but never burst out in the open. Upstairs, Alex Randall is looking over the injured Mary. She wakes up, confused and frightened, and runs from Alex. He tries to calm her down, but unfortunately Mary's screams draw the attention of the guests. Everybody rushes into the room to see Alex on top of Mary in what looks like a rape attempt. A fight breaks out between the party guests.

So. Lots of plot to talk about.

First of all, Claire tells Jamie that Black Jack Randall is alive, and she doesn't get the reaction she was expecting. Jamie is excited because now he has the chance to kill Jack himself, restoring his sense of manhood. Everything comes to a head when Jamie comes back from the brothel with bite marks on him, causing a devastated Claire to wonder how Jamie could be with another woman when he won't even touch Claire. Jamie explains that the news about Jack has revitalized him and helped him to come back to himself. He didn't sleep with another woman, but he did feel lust towards somebody else, which made him realize that he could be a man again. Claire, after thinking it over, comes to Jamie and the two of them finally make love for the first time since Jamie was raped.

I'm so happy that the show took its time with this plot line, and showed how difficult this whole recovery process has been for Jamie. We have the physical mark of Jamie's hand still being bandaged, and we can also see the psychological scars of Jamie's ordeal. Jamie and Claire come back to each other in a beautifully passionate, yet gentle, scene. I also liked the humor that bled into drama when Claire cries out that she feels like she's been going through her pregnancy all on her own, and Jamie finally explains to Claire how hard it's been for him to find himself again after the experience at Wentworth. It was funny to hear Jamie talk about the dirty French practice of 69, and showcase the bite marks on his thighs, but quickly we came to a very dramatic and heartfelt place of anger and confession. It was a beautifully acted sequence of scenes, and Jamie and Claire have come out of it much stronger than before.

Also, another element to Claire and Jamie's story is their guilt over their actions. Using the secrets they know about their friend Louise in order to expose Charles' unbalanced behavior is a pretty snake-like thing to do, if you think about it. I'm excited to see them continue to slip down into more and more grey territory as the season progresses. We, the audience, know that their plan to stop the Jacobite rebellion is hopeless. But they haven't lost hope, and their desperation is a dangerous thing. People who truly believe in the righteousness of their cause can do terrible things in the name of it. That goes for the Jacobites, of course, but it also goes for Jamie and Claire.

Mary and Alex, our blooming couple, feel very believable and genuine to me, which is important. Alex appearing to rape Mary will obviously set things back a bit, but when he was sitting with her and looking over her, I really believed in their connection. Mary is such a great character, too. The scene where she's with Claire helping at the hospital is fantastic. She's so delicate and naive in a lot of ways, but she's still strong and kind.

Louise and Charles - that's the real shocker of the evening. I had totally forgotten about this from the books, but it immediately adds some humanity to both of these characters. Louise asks for Claire's help in getting rid of her child, because she cannot break off her marriage for the sake of her lover. Eventually she decides to keep the baby and convince her husband that it's his. Charles, who still comes across as a bit of a caricature when he's climbing in to Jamie's house through the window in the middle of the night, is humanized by his genuine heartbreak over Louise's decision to stay with her husband.

Fergus is amazing and adorable. We haven't seen much of him yet, but what I have seen, I really enjoy. He and Murtagh have a funny little comedy act going on. Murtagh is totally oblivious about women, while Fergus, who grew up in a brothel, can read girls quite well. He knows, for example, that Mary is newly in love, yet still sad because she's betrothed to another. He also lets Murtagh know that his ignorance about women will make him "die alone with his hand." Ha!

On a more serious note, we're already seeing Fergus' utter devotion to Claire and Jamie. He calls them "Milord" and "Milady," and does everything Jamie asks with the solemness of a sacred vow. I can't wait to see the relationship develop. I love Fergus so much. And my favorite moment of humor in the episode goes to him: when everybody else is fighting in the drawing room, Fergus sneaks into the dining room and happily feasts on all the fancy food. Love it!

That dinner party was something else. Visually, of course, all of the costumes are stunning, but I also admire how the tone remained a mix of comedy and drama. The tension never eased up, as Jamie welcomed the guests, waiting for Claire to show up. When the Duke brought along his friend the Comte St. Germain, the tension spiked considerably, and when Louise and her husband showed up and were "introduced" to Charles, things got even worse. Still, there were moments of humor peppered through the escalating tension, and it all came to a head in the brawl that broke out over Alex appearing to be raping Mary. The fall-out is going to be epic, and I'm excited to see it.

The last thing I'll mention is that Claire is recognized as "La Dame Blanche" for the first time in this episode. It means "The White Lady," and she seems to get this reputation for burning the Comte's ship, gaining friendship with the mysterious Master Raymond, and for her considerable medical skill at the hospital. The mythic quality about Claire's presence in France at this time is quite interesting, because of course we know that there is something supernatural about Claire: she's from the future. At the same time, we tend to deride the idea that she has any sort of magical qualities. It's an interesting tension, and I think it's being maintained quite nicely.

And that's it! God, this season is impressive. I can't wait for more Fergus, and I'm so excited to see some of the intense drama to come. Hold on to your hats, boys and girls!

9/10