Outlander: The Birds & The Bees (4x09)

Finally! Bree and Jamie have met!

Cons:

Something happens when you take these behemoth books and adapt them into a TV show, something I like to call the Les Miserables effect. See the fact that Lizzie sees Roger and Brianna leave together, then later sees that Bree has been hurt, that Bree asks Claire not to tell anyone about Bonnet, that Lizzie sees Roger and tells Jamie and Ian about it... all of these things are from the book, pretty much. But these series of coincidences are cushioned by a lot of other moments, and spread out over several hundred pages of story. But here, all of these plot points have to happen one right after the other, and it starts to seem a little bit... silly. Brianna has sex with a man for the first time, and later that same night is raped, and then finds out she's pregnant. This is some soap-opera stuff, let me tell ya. I guess this isn't a flaw with the episode, more just a consequence of the story being what it is.

I like the actress playing Lizzie just fine, but I still don't really understand why they chose to go this route with the casting. Lizzie should be a tiny little wisp of a girl, one that Bree feels protective over. The change still seems like it's not really adding or enhancing anything, even though the actress is doing a perfectly fine job.

Pros:

Despite the above-mentioned overabundance of plot in this episode, one of the smartest things about it is that it really lingers over the important part. The most vital thing to get across in this episode is that Brianna has been reunited with Claire, and has met Jamie for the first time. The episode needs to linger on this, to really express all of the complicated emotions and relationships going on here, and I feel like it does that very well.

Bree and Jamie just warmed my heart so very much. They did the reunion perfectly. I loved Jamie describing how he always pictured Brianna as a little girl in his head, and Bree starting to cry, and they hug, and it's just... lovely. Later, they go on the bee hunt and get to know each other a little more, and we get the exchange from the books where Jamie tells Brianna she can call him "Da." It's not Gaelic, it's only... simple. I love that so much, and I'm glad it got adapted here. There's a lot of complicated stuff going on in these scenes, because Brianna feels like she's betraying Frank by starting to form a bond with this other father that she only recently discovered. Jamie talks about how grateful he is to Frank, and we can see Brianna coming to accept that she can hold love for both of her fathers in her heart. I think these complicated issues were addressed beautifully... and I love that "Bree" means "Disturbance" in Gaelic. Perfect. Probably the best part is when Jamie tells Claire that Bree called her "Da" and he talks about how she smiles in her sleep... he's just so in love, and he's such a good father. The fact that Jamie Fraser never got to raise a kid from infancy is just kind of heartbreaking, and I love that he surrounds himself with children to call his own (Fergus and Marsali, Young Ian, etc.).

Claire and Brianna have a really fascinating mother/daughter relationship, and I'm still sort of sussing out how I feel about it. In the books, they are quite close, but there are still plenty of instances where we learn that Bree always felt closer to Frank. In the show, I was initially disconcerted because Brianna and Claire have sort of a weird energy about them. They don't seem really all that close. I think they love each other, but I think theirs is a relationship that will develop into a deep friendship now that Brianna is an adult. I think sometimes this happens - children love their mothers and vice versa, but that magical bond isn't what you want it to be. Obviously, Brianna's mother kept a huge secret from her until she was twenty years old. That is bound to color a relationship, and I think we see the legacy of that here, as Claire remains pragmatic when thinking about Brianna's visit. She assumes it to be temporary. She is overjoyed to see her daughter, but assumes she will lose her again soon. That's fascinating.

I really liked the moment when Brianna told Claire that Frank knew she would come through the stones. Frank is a more fascinating character on the show, I think, than he ever was in the books, and the continuing dynamic between Frank, Bree, and Claire, even now that Frank is dead, is really cool to track. We know that Frank was unfaithful to Claire, but in the show's universe, he was acting with Claire's consent. We also know that before he died, Frank was aware that Claire would at some point return to the past to be with Jamie. Imagine living with that! And Brianna now looks back on her childhood and has this completely new understanding of the pain both of her parents have been in for her whole life.

Poor Roger pulls a Ron Weasley, leaving in anger and then trying to come back right away, only to find he's unable. I love that Roger and Bree, despite their terrible fight, both look to make up the next morning. It's only circumstance - and Stephen Bonnet - that prevents them from reuniting immediately and resolving their issues quickly. Again, setting aside the ridiculously coincidental plot, I like that we're seeing Roger and Brianna both as very flawed people who clearly love each other deeply, but aren't entirely sure how to deal with that in their complicated circumstances.

Other small things to mention: we don't get a ton of time with Brianna interacting with Young Ian or Murtagh, but I liked the hints that we saw here. It was cute that Young Ian just took it in stride - he's used to weird stuff happening around Claire. And Murtagh just says "what took you so long?" and instantly adopted her and it was perfect. I hope we get to see more of these relationships develop as we move forward.

That's where I'll stop. Obviously Roger is in a bit of a pickle as we move forward into next week's episode, and despite the silly coincidences leading him to that point, I can't wait to watch Jamie realize his mistake. What a way to meet your son-in-law, man!

8/10