Outlander: A. Malcolm (3x06)

!!!!! Amazing! Pretty much everything I could have hoped for from this episode.

Cons:

I mean, there were things that were changed from the reunion in the books. I don't mind the changes for the most part, but of course there are always those treasured details that you want to see and when they happen a bit differently, you notice. For example, in the books, Fergus comes across Claire when Jamie isn't around, and immediately drops to his knees and hugs her around the waist. Claire doesn't recognize him right away and thinks he's an eager customer in the brothel. I'm not saying I didn't love what they did instead, but... you know. These are the things you remember.

Young Ian doesn't look the way I expected him to. I thought the guy playing him did an excellent job, but still. I pictured him to look more like Jenny, with the dark hair. I can't remember how he's described in the books, but for whatever reason, this wasn't what I was picturing. I also pictured him to seem younger, more like a child. I think he's meant to be fifteen or sixteen, but honestly he seems more like he's eighteen or nineteen. It might not seem like much, but it does make a difference.

One significant change from the books that I really liked is that Jamie tells Claire about Willie straight off. There's no hiding anything there. I think this is an excellent idea. However, it makes it a little jarring that Jamie chooses not to tell Claire about... the other thing. The thing I won't say outright because I don't want to spoil it for non-book-readers. But there's another significantly huge piece of information that Claire doesn't know about Jamie, and while his motivations for not telling her make a certain kind of sense, I sort of wish they'd gone for total honesty here. It's something that bothered me in the book, too.

The episode ends with a strange and dangerous man hunting around for Jamie's ledgers in Jamie's room above the brothel. Claire comes in and this man, thinking she's a prostitute, basically tries to rape her. This show has a problem with sexual assault, and that's that it's everywhere. This man could have threatened her with straight up violence instead of the sexual kind, and I actually would have been more okay with it. I understand that Claire, as the protagonist of an adventure-romance, is going to be put into perilous situations sometimes, but come on. Really?

Pros:

Before we get to the centerpiece of the episode, which is Jamie and Claire's prolonged scenes together, we should talk about some of the other details.

Mr. Willoughby. They made some changes to this character from the books so that the language barrier is less of an issue. This is an acceptable change just from a practicality standpoint. I liked Claire and Willoughby's conversation. It was especially sweet when she called him by his true name at the end.

We meet Young Ian Murray in this episode. While I expressed some concern with the casting choice, the kid playing him did do a fantastic job. I like how he takes Claire's reappearance pretty much in stride. He wasn't even born yet when Claire disappeared, so he doesn't have the personal connection there to make this moment anything special. He just says it's nice to meet her. He seems like a sweet kid so far. He's going to be such a big character moving forward that I hope they do justice to him!

Fergus and Claire's reunion was adorable. Different from the book, but adorable. He's so happy to see her, he hugs her twice, calls her Milady, and is just so overjoyed at her return. Seeing Claire and Fergus together again was so emotional, especially if you think about the last moment they were together, with Claire wishing him a tearful farewell as he left the Jacobite camp. We also get to see Claire's reaction to Fergus' missing hand. This was one of the most subtle and powerful moments of the whole episode, actually, as her face changes quickly from one of pure joy to slight horror, and then she tries to smooth it out so as not to express any disgust. You can tell she's realizing how much she's missed, and is grieving for an injury that happened long ago. I'm pretty happy with adult Fergus so far. He's still one of my favorite characters!

Okay. Now to Jamie and Claire. Man, there was a lot of amazing stuff going on in this episode. The moment of reunion is so... it's awkward. That's the main thing that struck me about it. There isn't an instant reconnection for them. They're shy around each other, and it's glorious and totally makes sense.

The scene where they discuss their children is so glorious. Claire shows Jamie pictures of Brianna, and he's utterly overwhelmed at the sight of his daughter. Claire is a little put off by the news of Willie, but she sees how proud Jamie is of him, and affirms for him that his son is a part of him. The conversation about Frank is also lovely and subtle and ties back to how we left things between Jamie and Claire. Jamie had said that he'd be grateful to Frank for caring for Claire, but he'd hate him forever... and that's basically where things pick up. Jamie wants to know if Claire left Frank in order to come back, and he wants to know if Frank took Claire back and loved her and cared for her. As much as the idea hurt him, he really did want happiness and security for the love of his life, and for his child.

I also like Claire's jealous behavior. When she sees that Jamie has a room in a brothel, she naturally makes some assumptions. She tells Jamie that she knew he'd have a life, and she rationally knows she can't be angry about what he's been up to for the last twenty years. But it's fun to see her a little unsettled by all of this. She took a big leap in coming back to find him, not knowing if he'd have moved on and found someone else. It takes her a bit of time to settle down and realize that Jamie has pined for her just as surely as she did for him.

Okay. So. The sex scene. Was perfect. The best this show has ever done. The whole thing is a parallel to Jamie and Claire's wedding night. They spend time getting to know each other again, and then when it comes to the sex part, they're both very nervous at first. It starts off with this long, protracted, mostly silent undressing scene. Jamie and Claire are just drinking each other in. When Claire is finally naked, she's bashful and shy. Jamie says "you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," which is just adorable. Earlier Jamie had been a bit sheepish about needing glasses to read, and Claire had assured him that he's just as dashing as ever. It's so cute to see them both so entirely in love with each other.

They need a minute to reorient themselves, and Jamie manages to head-butt Claire by accident, which sort of breaks the mood but also breaks the tension considerably. The fact that they can laugh in bed, and be comfortable around each other in the surreal aspects of this situation, really helps to get the sex going. And of course then it's super hot and intense and all the stuff that we've been waiting for!

Jamie and Claire fall back into a teasing, flirty rhythm right away, as Claire gets information from Jamie about what he's been up to recently. His print shop is only part of his career - he's also a smuggler on the side. This will obviously come into play moving forward, but it was good to get some key plot information in to these scenes as well. Jamie and Claire are torn between being desperately happy to be reunited, and also being undeniably curious about what each has been doing for two decades.

The cheesy dialogue works really well in this episode because it's sort of played for laughs, and it's sort of sincere at the same time. Jamie keeps going on about Claire's perfect ivory skin and all of this stuff, but it's while the two are relaxing and happy after sex. Both of them are marveling at each other's bodies - the changes, the things that have remained the same. It's the perfect wind-down for their series of scenes.

Honestly, this is everything I could have hoped for. The long awaited reunion has happened, and we still have quite a bit of exciting and adventurous stuff waiting for us in the rest of the season! I'm all in!

9.5/10