Outlander: Mercy Shall Follow Me (5x10)

I am of two minds about a lot of things in this episode, and we should probably just dive straight in.

Cons:

I am profoundly grateful for the way the Stephen Bonnet story has been streamlined in the show, as it stretches on into the sixth book in the novel versions. Bonnet is not a fun character to spend time around. He's... well, Black Jack Randall was so chillingly evil that he was interesting to watch. Bonnet never achieves that level of evil, or at least he does not do so consistently.

My biggest problem with Bonnet here is that he is shown to be unhinged, to have some sort of damage in his heart, to want more out of life. There were moments, when Brianna was teaching him how to eat properly, or when he was reacting to the ending of Moby Dick, where he took on a sort of child-like aspect. I was seriously not a fan of any of this. It was like they were trying to give him some pathos, to make us think maybe he really did care about making a family with Brianna and Jemmy. When in fact, it would have worked just as well for his motivation to be purely monetary, as he tries to get his hands on River Run.

And while I enjoy the way story-lines were combined for efficiency, one consequence of this is that the parts where Stephen is being... solicitous and "kind" to Brianna, and the parts where he's trying to sell her as a slave, get kind of mixed together and don't actually flow naturally. In the book this all takes a much longer time to happen, so it doesn't feel quite so strange and disjointed.

Then there's the final moment. You can tell the show-runners just thought they were being so fucking cool with this. In fact, they talk about it at the end of the episode in the "behind the scenes" segment. Brianna shoots Roger, saving him the slower death of drowning. And then Roger asks if she did it to be merciful, or if it was to be sure he was really dead. Okay, two things. First of all, that's a bungled line. It should be a contrast between mercy and revenge, and instead Roger made it a contrast between mercy and reassurance. Secondly, the line itself should probably not have been said. A much, much stronger ending is Brianna shooting him, saying "goodbye, Stephen" like she does in the book, and then walking away. We don't need to have the interesting question of why Brianna did it spoon-fed to us. We can figure out on our own, as viewers, that her motivations for killing him are complicated and messy. Roger speaking at all felt very stilted.

I also can't forget that Jocasta is a slave-owner and Ulysses is her property? While there was a sense of comedy and even triumph when Jocasta gets Forbes to break and reveal his true nature, I don't really get much out of the rest of the scene. Forbes flies into a mad rage and tries to kill Jocasta, and then Ulysses shows up, snaps Forbes' neck, and tenderly kisses Jocasta's hand, relieved that she's alive. It's not a compelling relationship, though, because the power imbalance is so disgusting. Also, Duncan has been turned into a nothing of a character, just doddering around in the background. Jocasta seems impatient with him. That sucks. I really like Duncan in the books.

Pros:

While there are so many problems with Bonnet's story-line over the past couple of seasons, I am relieved to be done with him, and I like how things were streamlined. The plan to kill Bonnet is incredibly stupid, and it goes wrong for Jamie and Roger because of course it does, and meanwhile Bonnet shows up and finds Brianna and Claire. This is all straight from the books. But instead of escaping and then having Bonnet show up again later to kidnap Bree, the kidnapping happens now and we can fast-forward to his demise. Thank goodness. I think it's important to clear this character off the board at this point, as there are better things to focus on for the last couple of episodes. So I do appreciate the way things have been tightened in this way.

I also like that we're seeing the consequence of Roger and Jamie's improving relationship. They really have each other's backs in the fight against the smugglers, and are united in saving Brianna. Jamie agrees to let Roger kill Bonnet when they're waiting for the meeting, and they each promise to avenge the other if one of them is slain. Jamie even compliments Roger's fighting skills in the end!

It was cute to see Brianna and Claire get some bonding time on the beach, before Bonnet shows up. The equivalent scene in the book includes a whole gaggle of people, including Marsali and her kids, and Jemmy himself. Streamlining makes sense here, and also allows them to play and have fun together on the sand, racing along the waves. It was a cute image.

As I mentioned, I did like the way Jocasta coaxed the truth out of Forbes. That was a good use for her character, as you can see she's playing the long game, and Forbes is completely incapable of staying silent and playing it cool.

Claire convincing the prostitute to help her find Brianna was another great scene. Claire uses her medical knowledge to give the woman some advice, and then encourages her by saying that helping someone in need is always the right thing to do. I like how this technique mixed Claire's medical prowess and her compassion, and led to favorable results! She couldn't stop Stephen from taking Bree, but she could find the way to get her back.

While I'm annoyed with the way Stephen's character was changed here, I did like Brianna having to play nice, eat dinner, and read him a book. It was all very chilling and intense. In particular, Brianna "reading" Moby Dick to him was really interesting. Obviously the book itself is still a century away from being written, but there's something timeless about it, and I was getting sucked in to Brianna's earnest retelling just as much as Stephen was.

I think I'll stop there. I enjoyed aspects of this episode, and I was profoundly relieved to see the shortening of the Bonnet plot in this way. But at the same time... I'm not sure how to feel about several parts of this installment.

6.5/10