Now that S5E1 is 48 hours old, it is now safe to discuss. If for some reason you have not yet watched the season 5 premiere episode, and don’t want spoilers, you may want go directly to the Shopping Emporium and browse a bit and come back to this article somewhat later.
Episode 1: The Fiery Cross was epic. It touched all the heartstrings. The costumes were beautiful. There were many cute, adorable, and tender scenes for all our friends at Fraser’s Ridge. There were several key moments that pleased the fandom.
The episode centers around Bree and Roger’s wedding. From Claire’s meticulous inspection of the wedding dress and mother/daughter pep talk, to Jamie’s careful gathering of something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and the six pence for her shoe, Bree couldn’t have asked for a more loving parents. Jamie voiced his concern for losing the daughter he only just got to know to a man of questionable skills. Claire and Bree talked of the modern day wedding that could have been and what one is willing to sacrifice for true love and family. I feel like a theme for the season may be “poor Roger”. Poor Roger, the heretic….. at least in his father-in-law’s eyes. Poor Roger, marrying only for the money….. at least that’s what nasty Aunt Jocasta thought and was proved wrong. Poor Roger, wrongfully accused…….. oh…. Wait…. That’s a spoiler. We’ll stop there.
Murtagh couldn’t attend the wedding because of certain wedding crashers in red coats, but that didn’t stop him from sweeping Jocasta off her feet in his woodland castle. The whole fairy king comment made me giggle. I guess if Jamie can be the king of men, Murtagh can be the king of woodland fairies.
Marsali and Fergus showed us their fun side by playing a tongue twisting drinking game and dancing. And then there was the moment when Marsali shared the news of another wee bairn on the way with Fergus. I’m glad that show Fergus doesn’t seem to be as moody and depressed as book Fergus. And I’m wondering just how far along you could be in an 18th century dress without anyone knowing you were about to drop another human being onto the planet. When Fergus put his hands on Marsali’s belly, it seemed quite the baby belly. I don’t think Fergus and Marsali sleep in separate rooms… although who knows since we’ve not yet seen their house on the Ridge…. But still. I feel like Fergus would have known before the belly got that big…. Him being so sensitive to the cycles of women from his years of living in the brothel as a child.
And Then there was the return of the KILT! The Kilt Daddy has returned! All hail the Kilt! What a moment!! From Jamie opening the trunk, running his hands lovingly over all his beloved Scottish things, picking up the dirk that saved his life how many countless times, and gingerly touching the plaid almost as tenderly as he touches Claire. Talk about All The Feels!! The Kilt is the all-powerful symbol of a proud Scotsman. And no one is more proud and more Scots than Jamie. But what might have been even better was Claire’s reaction to seeing Jamie IN The KILT after so many years. Now true, book Jamie wears the kilt all the time once reaching North Carolina. Book Jamie wears it because he can. The kilt isn’t outlawed in the America’s. It is only outlawed in Scotland. So Book Jamie wears it every chance he can around the English who inhabit the area Just Because He Can Be Scottish again. But Show Jamie hasn’t worn the Kilt until now. So when Claire looks up and sees all that delicious knee porn…. It is a perfect moment played out by our perfect cast members. Sam just stands there in the doorway, all Jamie and kilted and proud, knowing he is the King of Men. Cait looks up from her work and takes it all in: the stud of a TV hubby, the knee porn, the smolder of those blue eyes staring back at her, … the knee porn…. And Claire has instant flashbacks to the young Jamie she fell in love with who wore the knee porn, ….er….KILT, all the time and wrapped her up in that plaid, protecting her, warming her, and loving her how many times. The scene has no words and needs none. Our cast members portray it so well; we know what the silent conversation between these two is. “Hey honey, how do I look?” “You look like a Laird. Go get ‘em tiger.” “Ok babe. I’m going to go raise me an army.”
This episode is a mixture of several things from the book, namely the Gathering and the wedding at Mt Helicon and the harvest festival celebrated on the Ridge several months later. The episode was very enjoyable but there are some scenes from the book that I was looking forward to seeing on screen. Weirdly, among these were the maggots! I missed the maggots! When book Roger finally arrives back from the Mohawk to profess his love to Bree, he’s got a nasty infection in his foot. Claire skillfully inserts a few maggots into his infected foot and asks Bree to look after him. This gives Roger and Bree an opportunity to not only talk to each other, but touch as well. Bree needs to get used to a man touching her and Roger needs to learn how to touch his wife following a vicious rape and childbirth. The maggots allow these two love birds to mend their somewhat broken relationship. I missed that.
In the book, Bree and Roger can’t be married by a Catholic priest because the conspirators have arrested the poor clergyman. Jamie goes to the tent where they are holding the priest in an attempt to rescue/find out what is happening. In order to talk to the priest, he tells the men holding him, that he is overdue for a confession. Jamie than creates a wild story to confess.
Book Jamie and Roger still have their differences at the time of the wedding. And when book Roger learns that Book Jamie has hired Mr. & Mrs. Bug to run and maintain things on the Ridge in his absence, Roger is not happy. As son-in-law, it should be his job to run the farm while Jamie is away. When he confronts book Jamie and learns Jamie wants him at his side – not left behind – it is a game changer. By the time the harvest celebration comes around, these two have made up their differences and work as a team. Jamie provides Roger with a song playlist to get the crowd into the proper mood before lighting the Fiery Cross in the yard. Book Roger has a much more pivotal role to play in gathering the militia. I missed this teamwork and hope these two quickly become the Batman and Robin of the 18th century buddies that they are in the books.
The biggest surprise was Jocasta announcing that she has an offer of marriage from Duncan Innes. It had been previously assumed that, now that show Murtagh didn’t die in Culloden like book Murtagh did, that he would take over the Duncan Innes storyline from the book. A couple things were off about this: the fact that our Murtagh OBVIOUSLY didn’t suffer the medical issues that Duncan has in bed most notably, and Duncan isn’t involved with the Regulators. But now that Duncan Innes has been named on the show….. ??? NOW what are the writers doing???? Is Murtagh the new Herman Husband, leader of the Regulators from the books? Or does some other dark fate await our Murtagh? Can he hide as well as Jamie did for seven years in the cave following Culloden. Hhhhhmmmmmmm…… cave……. The Spaniard’s cave………….hmmmm……. We will just have to watch and see where this year’s tale takes us.
Outlander airs on STARZ Sunday’s at 9pm EST. But you can watch it early, midnight Saturday nights, on the STARZ app.
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