Outlander: Wilmington

"A night to remember."

I loved this one – except for the last five minutes. Why do I say that so often about Outlander episodes?

For me, the best part of this episode was the amusing theater sequence, with Claire and Jamie working as a team to save Murtagh. Say, honey, you distract by performing emergency surgery in the lobby and I'll sneak away and jump into a coach with George Washington. Worked like a charm. Plus Fanning, the guy with the hernia, lucked out because he almost certainly would have died in short order without Claire's intervention.

Governor Tryon's reaction to Claire was amusing, too. He started out dismissing her as a doctor because she's a woman, but Claire was so persuasive and her skills so obvious that she got him to help her simply by continuing to insist, and sounding like she knew what she was talking about. The noisy reaction of the audience to what sounded like a rather pretentious, metaphor-heavy play was also fun – even Martha Washington said, "What a lugubrious performance" – but everyone seemed a lot more excited by the unexpected surgical interlude. They even applauded Claire at the end.

And I loved the bits with Claire reacting to Washington's presence in the lobby, and Washington giving Jamie a lift to their lodgings. And that Jamie, who didn't have time to do it himself, sent Fergus to warn Murtagh.

While I like the actors playing Bree and Roger, I'm totally frustrated with the characters. Why must they come across as so immature? While the handfast ceremony backlit by the fireplace was very sweet, they get into a humungo fight every time they're together. That doesn't make for future marital bliss. This is also the third time that Roger acted like a jerk, admitting he knew about the obit and decided not to tell her about it. I was so with Bree here. It was her decision to make, not his. And Roger, you don't tell the woman you just married that she's acting like a child and should do what you say. Little hint there.

If you compare their behavior to that of Jamie and Claire when they got married – they were comparable in age, although Jamie was the younger one that time – it's pretty clear that Roger and Bree need time to grow up. So I guess it's obvious that I am still not that invested in Bree and Roger. I found the love scene a bit embarrassing and it definitely went on too long. Plus, Jamie wasn't cool about the handfasting when it was Fergus and Marsali; how will he feel about Bree doing it?

How horrible that Bree's wedding night should end the way it did. I'm thankful that they didn't actually show Stephen Bonnet assaulting her; it was bad enough watching every man in the pub ignore her screams for help. I thought Sophie Skelton did a terrific job with the end of that scene with her expression and the way she moved, painfully bending down to pick up her discarded boots. I'm a bit pissed off that the lovely ring that Jamie had made for Claire drew Bree to Bonnet in the first place, and that Jamie doing Bonnet a good turn might have brought this all about.

One more thing. Claire and Marsali were talking about the strength of a mother's love and Claire once again pretended she had no children of her own, and I get that. Claire still thinks Bree is inaccessible, in the Boston of two hundred years in the future. But Bree is right there in Wilmington and bound to catch up with her parents sooner or later. How are Claire and Jamie going to explain Bree?

Bits:

— This week, everyone was in Wilmington, North Carolina at the same time, 1769. That was fun for a change.

— Fergus and Roger met at the Wilmington Gazette office and of course, didn't know each other. Fergus also didn't recognize the pastel portrait of Bree, who would be his stepsister. It was nice to see Fergus and Marsali as well as baby Germain. I would definitely like to see more of them in the series.

— During the operation, Governor Tryon offered Fanning a free house. "He won't remember what I said, will he?" Lol.

— Roger made a scene in the pub by hugging Bree in public, a real eighteenth-century no-no. And then Lizzie saw Roger grabbing at Bree through the window of the tavern and dragging her away, later referring to him as a man with "wanton morals." That can't be good.

— George Washington actually surveyed Jamie's land for Governor Tryon. Wow.

— Murtagh planning to rob the carriage reminded me of the similar set-up in France. Except he didn't have to dress up to do it this time.

— Jamie was wearing his Versailles vest and Claire, the cream-colored dress that Aunt Jocasta gave her. They both looked awesome, although I was worried that Claire was going to get blood all over it. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, shouldn't everyone operate while wearing a cream-colored formal gown with a flower around the throat, especially at the theater?

Quotes:

Brianna: "How could I say no to a man who pursued me for two hundred years?"

Jamie: "I fought at Culloden in '46."
Washington: "I do not recall that battle. I spent my youth in Virginia."
Claire: "Chopping down cherry trees."
(Everyone looks at Claire. Billie laughs out loud.)
Claire: "...is what a young boy would do. Figure of speech."

Claire: "George Washington. He will be, perhaps, the most famous American to ever live."
Jamie: "What does he do to gain such notoriety?"
Claire: "Well, he's the man who wins the war against the British, and he'll be the first leader of this country. But he won't be a king. He'll be called a 'president,' elected by the people. If Brianna were here, she'd have a hundred questions to ask him."

Brianna: "You didn't say anything. You just lay there like someone had hit you over the head. I thought maybe you were disappointed."
Roger: "No. No. God, no. Behaving as though you've had your spinal column removed is a fair indication of male satisfaction."

Doctor: "What hath hell wrought?"
Claire: "I've just begun to close the opening."
Doctor: "You've butchered him, madam! All he needed was tobacco smoke up through the rear."
Governor Tryon: "No need of you. The lady has it in hand."

Four out of four tickets to a really bad Colonial play,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

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