Cons:
I don't like Ian and Rachel again. I keep flip-flopping. But this episode adapted one of my least favorite book moments, where Ian suddenly gets all intense and passionate, and Rachel is all confused and torn about her feelings. It feels like the ramp-up for this romance is very sheepish and cute, and then suddenly it's this burning passion. It doesn't vibe right with me. Also, we end with Arch Bug showing up again and leering threateningly at Rachel, having identified her as someone Ian cares about so he can exact his revenge. Eh. I really could take or leave that whole plot thread, if I'm being honest.
This is a little hard to quantify, but there's a lot of over-explaining in this episode, I feel? Moments that were powerful on their own but then get just a bit too much in the way of belaboring, thus diluting their power. Benedict Arnold, for example. I wish we didn't have the moment where Claire is given an opportunity to sway his opinion away from resentment. The implication that she might have said something in that moment to alter the whole course of history is a little silly. I wish it could have been left more subtle and unsaid.
Or, and I know this is a book moment, but when Jamie gives William his hat, I wish we hadn't had that moment where Claire asks him directly "why did you do that?" and Jamie explains about wanting to talk to his son as a man. Let the acting choices speak for the power of this moment, you don't need to spell everything out so directly!
For the first time all season, the 20th century plot thread felt a little shoe-horned and rushed, there just wasn't a lot of focus on them. I think a stronger choice would have been to see Roger and Buck back in time, actually spend a beat with them where they end up, end the mid-season on a more definitive cliffhanger.
Pros:
I did like the shot of Mandy and Brianna staring at the stones after Roger and Buck went through. That was an effective moment of tension and grief. I can't wait to see the rest of the 20th century stuff play out in the second half of this season, there's a lot of crazy moments coming.
We spend most of our time in the midst of the Revolutionary War. Jamie fights in two battles, nearly gets himself killed in one, nearly kills his son in another. I was a little sad they left out the part about Claire taking one of Jamie's fingers off, from the hand that's been mangled since Jamie's experience with Black Jack Randall back in book/season one. But I also understand that they don't want to have to deal with the SFX of that on their leading man for the rest of the show. I loved Claire fending off the scavengers from Jamie as he lay injured on the field, and tending to his wounds.
The initial scene with Benedict Arnold I did really like. I love that Claire has these experiences where suddenly she's bumping up against history she knows from the pages of a textbook, and she has to interact as part of the world that had once seemed so distant to her. She and Jamie are here in the midst of this fighting in part because she knows the outcome and what they're fighting for. Claire and Arnold have a whole exchange about the philosophy of striving for more or knowing one's own limitations, and then when he finally and belatedly introduces himself, it's such a fun moment. Claire tells Jamie what she knows about him, but realistically enough, she can't say she remembers the exact timing of when he'll betray the Americans. I love that Claire knows a lot, but not conveniently everything.
William and Jamie's brief exchange was a highlight, despite my wishing they'd been more subtle in the aftermath. It's just such a poignant, rich tension, this father and son on opposite sides of a war, even with William not knowing his true father. At this point, William has a genuine rapport with Claire, they've had many conversations, and Claire even does what she can to console William about the death of Simon Fraser and the losses in battle. And yet Jamie, for reasons of protecting William's future, can't develop any sort of real relationship with him, for fear of discovery.
I was also genuinely moved by Jamie's moment with his cousin. Simon Fraser is a real historical figure, and not really a character we know from the show beyond a few scenes. But the point was that in the final moments of his life, Simon was comforted to see a kinsman. Their connection to Scotland is important to both men, and now Jamie can help seal the British surrender and also do right by his cousin by bringing the body back home.
As we enter another hiatus, Jamie and Claire and Ian are finally back in Scotland, where we've been wanting to see them for so long! Can't wait to see the second half of this season. I've been more into Outlander in season seven than I have been in a long while.
8.5/10
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