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Outlander: I Am Not Alone

"This isn't justice."

A too short season with a freaking immense cliffhanger? Insult to injury. Yes, yes, I know, pandemic, but still.

Richard Brown's deeply misnamed Committee of Safety again fulfilled the threat of their existence by laying siege to the Big House, destroying the Frasers' home, or at least every pane of glass in their windows. Claire and Jamie fought alone, fending off an obvious attack intended to simply kill them both in revenge for the death of Lionel Brown. Yes, it's reasonable to take someone suspected of murder to the authorities, but the circumstances of Malva's death will never result in a fair trial for Claire, and everyone knew it.

(Got enough gun cabinets there, Jamie? Yes, obviously smart and possibly prescient preparation on his part.)

What is up with Tom Christie? First, he saved Jamie and Claire from the siege and insisted on going along on the road trip to "justice" to protect them. He even made certain that they got one last night of rest in their own bed so they could make love a final time. While they were on the road, there was an intriguing scene where Jamie was staring at Tom, who was staring at Claire.


And after Brown managed to get Jamie away, Tom insisted on staying with Claire, which is exactly what Jamie would have wanted him to do. Tom even gave Claire money for her "maintenance" as she was locked in a cell, and squeezed her fingers gently in comforting encouragement. These are not the actions a man would take toward someone who killed his daughter. It's obvious that Tom knows Claire didn't kill Malva. Does he know who did?

(No book spoilers in the comments, please!)

For a while there, I thought Richard Brown wouldn't find "justice" at all. Telling the locals passing through that Claire was a murderous monster literally backfired when the convoy got stoned. Because of the war, there was no sheriff or circuit court in Salisbury. Wilmington was a mess. And yet, even while Brown's men were taking her to almost certain execution, Claire was Claire, wanting to give medical treatment to the man she had shot. When Brown took Jamie away, Claire pleaded with Tom to leave her and help Jamie, even though it might have meant her own death.

For me, the most enjoyable part of this episode was when Ian, John Quincy Myers, Chief Bird and company rescued Jamie from being transported back to Scotland. Those were some very enjoyable flying arrows. I also really loved Ian popping up in the dark when Jamie was about to piss in the trees. Too funny.

As Jamie and Claire were fighting for their lives, the MacKenzies had a nice family trip to Edenton, including an adorable, giggly sex scene with Jemmy's toy car, followed by a beautiful, surprise reveal (with lice) that Roger is Jemmy's biological father, after all.


Bree and Roger jokingly reminisced about their own time in a way that made me think they had finally adjusted to the eighteenth century. Maybe Roger finding his calling had something to do with that.

Book versus series

Just like the rest of the sixth season, this entire episode was straight out of Diana Gabaldon's A Breath of Snow and Ashes, even including Jamie always saying the Act of Contrition in French and the fortune teller telling him he had nine lives. The trip was on horseback, not in a wagon, but I'm sure they did that to accommodate Caitriona Balfe's pregnancy. And let me add that they did a terrific job concealing it during this too short season. If I hadn't known, I wouldn't have known.

I should add that they didn't finish the sixth book. There was a lot more, including Claire's issues with the law and the resolution of Malva's murder. It's my understanding that they're going to finish book six in the first few episodes of season seven.

Bits:

— The post-credit vignette was Claire's choice of her last meal: cheeseburgers with Bree at Carmi's, a diner in Boston that was mentioned before. That made me want more time travel. Not that I want Claire to go back to the twentieth, because I don't. Unless it saves her life, like it did before.

— Adso also had a hearty meal. Let's hope Lizzie is taking care of him.

— They didn't forget the obit. The Big House could have burned down during the siege, except it was May, not January.

— The Ardsmuir men did come to rescue the Frasers, but too few and too late.

— It's interesting how Claire's twentieth century hairdo is so visually effective in making her look like she doesn't belong.


— That gunshot set-up at the end, with the hole in the man's hand, was impressive.

— I love that Fergus has named his newspaper The New Bern Onion. And yes, right out of the book.

— Jamie has nearly died five times: the flogging, Wentworth, Culloden, Laoghaire, snakebite.

Quotes:

Brianna: "You almost drove us off the road."
Roger: "Because someone thought it was a good idea to kiss me at 75 miles per hour."

Roger: "Nary a Ford Mustang could wake him."

Claire: "I never thought that hearing a litany of your near-death experiences would bring me so much peace. Or maybe it's just the nearness of you."
I actually went "Awwww," and not sarcastically. Yes, I'm way too invested in this series.

Despite the cliffhanging frustration, this was a terrific, exciting episode. Four out of four vrooms. And now the long wait for season seven which, thankfully, is filming right now,

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

4 comments:

  1. I hoped your would give it four “vrooms” - and one more for just the joy of it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Waiting for your review to season 7 episode 1

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous, it should be up by tonight. Thanks for asking.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What?!?!

    How did you survive Droughtlander with that cliffhanger?

    ReplyDelete

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