Outlander: In the Forest (8x08)

Exactly what I said was going to happen lol. Like, exactly.

Cons:

There were a lot of things to like about this episode, and I will talk about those things in a minute. But the stupidity of Fergus's death, and the whole Faith story-line, both taint the entire season at its foundation. We open with a scene of Jamie and Marsali talking about Fergus, and Jamie affirming that Fergus was the son of his name and his heart, and Marsali talks about taking Percy up on his offer in order to have money to rebuild the print shop. We learn that Marsali is, of course, pregnant. Eye-roll. And the thing is, this scene, in isolation, was lovely for what it was. I teared up a little when Marsali says she's so glad to have more of Fergus, in the form of this new child. I liked hearing Jamie and Marsali talk about Fergus and their love for him.

But, like, this whole thing still feels so unnecessary. Later, there's a dinner scene where William is there, and Ian and Rachel are back, and Roger has good news about his career, and they all toast to their future, and talk about how this is an auspicious day, and the whole time there are just alarm bells going on in the back of my mind like... hey! Jamie! Your son just died! As the episode continues, and a big part of it is about William and Jamie reconciling, I just kept thinking about how this story has not successfully integrated its choices with its themes. Does Jamie have... like... feelings about the son that he just lost, as he embraces his biological child who he had to leave behind when he was just a young boy? If this is a story about parenthood, about the relationship between fathers and sons, or just children and parents in general, why throw in Fergus's death like a footnote, and then not actually have Jamie processing that grief alongside the reconciliation with William? Why not have Jamie talk to William about Fergus, talk about how he has an unconventional relationship to his own status as a father? How his biological children were both raised by other men, and the only son he did get to raise was someone he met by happenstance in Paris? Why did Fergus die, if it doesn't matter, doesn't integrate with the larger themes of the season?

The same exact thing is also true of the Faith situation. As I'm watching Fanny talking to Roger, as I'm seeing Fanny so excited to see William, all these lovely moments, I'm thinking about how the Faith thing is just a distraction to what is already a full and lovely story. I'm distracted by the fact that William doesn't know that Fanny is his biological niece. And that JANE was his biological niece. Whoops. I'm distracted by Jamie and Claire ostensibly grieving for their dead son while also still reeling from the news that their stillborn daughter lived after all.

I think this is the bottom line: William matters more because he's Jamie's "real" son. And Fanny matters as a character because she's "really" related to Jamie and Claire. That's the message that the show has pushed, and I think it's garbage. If that's where you wanted to spend your time and energy in the story, then the least you can do is let Fergus live his life off screen somewhere. Yeesh.

A smaller note, but I really think Buck being here is just because they wanted to keep Graham McTavish in the show. The idea that he killed Rob Cameron and we get to see it now as a little flashback is just kind of silly to me. It feels like such a footnote, such an afterthought. The idea that Buck wouldn't have opened with that when he turned up: "oh, by the way, I killed that villain from last season, so we're good." I feel like we all just would have accepted that Rob Cameron was thwarted and wouldn't be turning up here in the past, you know? I like Buck as a character but there's just nothing for him to do. 

Pros:

Much like I said last week, I have to praise the performances even if I think there's a lot in the writing that doesn't work.  Lauren Lyle, who plays Marsali, is a low-key fave of mine from the whole run of this show. She takes a character I feel pretty neutral about in the books, and gives her so much life and texture. Her performance of grief as she talked to her dead husband was in fact moving, she's that good at what she does.

Last season when all the crazy stuff was going down with Lord John and Claire getting married and all that, I kept remarking on how lucky I felt, that all my favorite goofy melodramatic nonsense from the books was making the cut into the adaptation. They know they have a popular character in Lord John and they're going to milk it for all it's worth, and for that I continue to be so grateful. I love the way John speaks of William's capacity for forgiveness, to Amaranthus. Obviously he is hoping his son will find that forgiveness for him as well. And then that ending, where Percy betrays him and Richardson knocks him out! I was actually surprised, even though in retrospect I should have seen the whole thing coming.

So this is where we go into the realm of pure speculation, because this is lining up very much with stuff from the ninth book of the series. That book ends with John having been arrested, and William comes to Fraser's ridge to get Jamie's help rescuing his father. The circumstances are quite different. I only read the book one time and it was a couple of years ago so I'm fuzzy on the details, but I believe John has been arrested in part on suspicion of being a homosexual, but William does not know that it's actually true. Here, William is already at Fraser's Ridge, so I wonder how word will reach them that John is in peril, and if it will still be a quest to go rescue him. I would love that, for a penultimate episode of this show, honestly. Give it to me...

I know people find William annoying. They find book William annoying, and show William maybe even more so. And, yeah, he is kind of annoying, is the thing... but I actually continue to be so invested in his story on the show. I'm sorry, but just imagine being a young man coming into your place in the world, and discovering a grand conspiracy to hide the truth about your parentage. Imagine your father lying to you every day for your whole life! He's allowed to be salty and grumpy and unreasonable about the whole thing, in my opinion. And honestly, he isn't being that unreasonable? He doesn't hold the secret against Bree, and is instead openly affectionate with her. He feels a great deal of anger towards Jamie but honestly that anger manifests more as awkwardness and avoidance than anything else. When he is alone with Jamie, he actually is civil and the two of them reminisce about Helwater. Sure, he gets worked up about the John stuff, but he does listen to Claire and stick around to make things right with Jamie. Even though he's sometimes sulky about it, how can you not be endeared by him inviting Jamie to hunt with him "in the forest"? That made me smile so big! And the hug! Ugh, so earned. As I was watching all of this I was still quietly steaming in the back of my mind about Fergus, of course, but I was happy for William and Jamie all the same.

I do wonder, as I said, where we're going from here. William accusing Jamie of having been John's lover at Ardsmuir was so juicy, and obviously he was lashing out, but also it's not an unreasonable idea to have come into his head; it would explain why John agreed to raise him in the first place. I wonder if some version of this conversation is something Diana has planned for the tenth Outlander novel... and I wonder if we're going to get to see this rescue mission play out in a way that maps with what will happen in the book, or not! We're so close to the end...

I am so happy for Roger, in becoming a minister. It's very sweet the way his whole community supports him. In the book there's more awkwardness and tension with Jamie, who is of course Catholic, but even in the books Jamie is pleased for his son-in-law finding his calling. It was such a nice little subplot to see him actually being a minister, being a comfort to Fanny in a difficult moment, just as he is officially ordained into that calling. I love the innocence of Fanny's character, and I got choked up for the second time in the episode when Fanny asked if Roger could ask God about Jane, now that he's a minister. And Roger says that Fanny can talk to God directly, if she likes. I love that Roger offers that, and then we see Fanny talking... to Jane. Not to God. We're left on an intriguing moment of Fanny finding a gemstone and hearing the tell-tale time travel buzzing. Dun dun dun!

With just two more episodes left, I am going to try to forget about the Fergus issue, the same way Jamie seems to have forgotten about Fergus after that opening scene of the episode... and enjoy what time we have left with the rest of these characters!

7/10