Outlander: Better to Marry Than Burn (5x06)

I am legitimately not sure how I feel about this rendition of Jocasta's wedding.

Cons:

First of all, and I cannot stress this enough, Jocasta is a motherfucking slave owner. The show would really, really like us to have sympathy for her, but even if the acting is compelling, and even if it's a tragedy that her young daughter was killed right in front of her, I can't really get past that teeny tiny little detail. It's even worse when a whole episode goes by where slaves are just out and about helping to set up a fancy party, but there is no textual acknowledgment of it whatsoever.

I'm also not really thrilled with this interpretation of Duncan Innes' character. In the books, I'm pretty sure he's not terribly older than Jamie, and while he and Jocasta are not in love with each other, they actually do have a great deal of tenderness for one another. It's very much a marriage of convenience and protection, but Jocasta is the pragmatic sort of person who accepts that at this stage in her life, and is well content to be with Duncan. That is, barring the fact that she does have another lover. But it's not Murtagh, it's [spoilers redacted]. I just don't feel great about him being this doddering old nobody who Jocasta seems to find vaguely irritating.

And the romance angle here... I'm sorry, but I am just not compelled by this at all. I know I yo-yo back and forth all the time as to whether I'm glad Murtagh is still alive in this story, but here I found myself firmly in the "no" column. He declares his love, and Jocasta is all weepy about marrying another. It's this heightened, dramatic romance stuff that I should care about but with the two of them, I just seriously do not. It doesn't feel true to Jocasta's character for her to be behaving this way. She's a pragmatist of the highest order.

I'm really not the kind of viewer who's going to sit here and complain about changes from the books. I actually really liked Roger and Bree's plot thread back at the Ridge. But that said... what it replaces is a shit ton of stuff at River Run, and I'm really curious as to why they decided to trim so much of the plot there, only to replace it with something that wholesale didn't even appear in the novel whatsoever. It's just an interesting choice for them to make, I guess.

Pros:

Like I said, I don't mind changes from the books. For example, Lord John was not in attendance at Jocasta's wedding in the novel, but I am of course beyond thrilled to see him, as per usual. He, Jamie and Claire talk to Governor and Lady Tryon at one point, and I just like the fact that the three of them find each other the way good friends at a party do. There's a sense that most of the conversations they're all having are as much out of duty and propriety as they are out of enjoyment. but Jamie, Claire, and John are actually real friends - a hard-won distinction. Am I over-analyzing the little bit of Lord John that I'm being given? Uh. Yes, of course I am.

I also thought the Wylie story was done very well here. They trimmed some of the fat from the book, including a really weird nighttime visitation that I'm super glad they removed, as it always really freaked me out in the book and never gets properly explained, as far as I can remember. As it stands, Wylie is creepy and predatory, Jamie gets to be macho-man protector, but at the end of the day, Wylie is an important step into finding Stephen Bonnet. I like the drama over the rings. Jamie and Claire are one of those couples that become overwrought about everything. It's a really big deal for Jamie to ask Claire to let him gamble her wedding ring from Frank, and Jamie absolutely should have been more sensitive to that. And also, Claire taking off both of her rings and angrily storming away was probably overkill. What I like about them as a couple is that you know they're going to blow up at each other, and then have angry sex in a barn, but you also know that they'll snuggle afterwards and Jamie will place both rings back on Claire's hands with reverence and love. They are a couple like no other.

And now... we're one step closer to Bonnet, who appears in a sinister small scene right at the end, where he finds out that "his son" is now the rightful heir of River Run. That seems like motive for getting Jocasta out of the way... dun dun dun...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (uh - Ridge, I mean), Bree and Roger are caring for baby Jemmy, who has a cold. Roger is "in charge" of the Ridge while Jamie is away, and still feeling insecure about his father-in-law's opinion of him. Cue: a plague of locusts! A swarm is heading for the ridge, and if they don't act fast, vast amounts of farm land will be destroyed, and families will starve. Roger is at first uncertain what to do, stopping the other residents from burning down the Fraser farmland, but not sure how else to save the day. In the end, he has the idea of smoking out the locusts, and the whole community comes together to make it work. The swarm comes, and while some small amount of crops are ruined, the majority are saved thanks to Roger's quick thinking and leadership skills!

This is a pretty basic setup and payoff, and it didn't really offer any surprises or new insights, but I thought it was fun. One of my favorite aspects of the Outlander books, especially the later ones when they're in the colonies, is seeing the life on the Ridge, all of the work that goes into it - Claire gardening and gathering and practicing medicine, Mrs. Bug making food, Jamie repairing the house. The larger considerations of family squabbles and community composition. This story was something that I'm pretty sure didn't happen at all in the books, but it fits right in with the kind of thing I love most about the series. It was cute to see Roger get a win like this, and Brianna, Fergus, and Marsali were also all there to help!

That's where I'll stop for now - while I had some big qualms with regards to Jocasta's part of this story, I did ultimately enjoy the rest!

7.5/10