Vicky’s Comments (group member since Jan 24, 2013)

Vicky’s comments from the Outlander Series group.

I cried so hard!

I was super excited when I realized the opening sequence was in the "present," it was a really nice treat to see a young Bree and I thought the heron tied in beautifully with the wings she sees when Master Raymonde heals her.

I thought I would be able to keep it together since I knew what to expect, but I was so wrong. I held it together for the beginning part, but I lost it at Claire's Homecoming (Suzette & Magnus, amazing!).

I was wondering how they were going to handle Fountainbleau, but I can see how it would have packed far too much into an episode. I thought the scene with Louise was absolutely beautiful, and I'm glad they gave her a part in it. We don't get to see their friendship as much in the TV show, and that moment really solidified their bond.

I think that they've shuffled it around a bit.

In the book Chapter 40 is titled The Fox's Lair, and Chapter 36 is titled Prestonpans.

The show has episode 8 as The Fox's Lair and episode 10 as Prestonpans, probably to keep the action building through the end of the season.

Amber wrote: "I don't know if I missed something in the book, but I'm guessing that was Jamie's ring in the beginning when she was looking in the grass at the stones? I don't recall that in the first season either, so was it just a ring he wore? Or was it a significant ring? It also looked like a stone was missing?"

I suspect this is something that they've moved around for the show. In Dragonfly in Amber, Jamie does have a ruby ring that was his father's wedding ring. I don't believe he gave it to Claire before she left, however.

A minor spoiler within the tag, I would barely consider it a spoiler, but tagging it to cover my butt since it's for future books in the series. ;)

(view spoiler)[In a later book, they find that the use of gemstones when traveling through the stones seems to give the traveler more control over when they end up but the gems are consumed in the process. I can't recall if Jaime's ring is actually used for this purpose at one point. I'm pretty sure a ruby was used, but not 100% that it's the same ruby. (hide spoiler)]

One of the things that I find really interesting about Frank is how polarizing he is as a character - some people love him, some hate him, some think he's a cheating jerk, some think he's a victim of a bad situation. I don't think TV Frank is going to be any different.

These opening scenes of Claire's return aren't scenes that we're privy to in the books, but as I watched them I absolutely believed that they were a plausible restarting point for Frank and Claire. Even though it's masquerading as a happy reunion for them, there will obviously still be a rocky road for them to travel. Claire will still be mourning Jamie, especially as she brings his child into the world. Frank will have to look at this child every day and even though he's vowed to treat it as his own, he will still know that it's not really his. Yes they've promised each other that they would put Jamie aside and focus on their new family of three, but that's much easier said than done. There is still room for the scale to tip for Frank and for him to become more distant. Did anyone else notice that when Claire exits the airplane she is only wearing the one glove on her right hand? Definitely an intentional move to hide whether or not she has moved on from Jamie at that point.

I had to watch it early, I couldn't stand the wait! I'll stay away from spoilers since I know most people haven't watched it, but it was so good!

I was a little worried when I read they weren't sticking with the 1968 beginning from DiA, but what they did instead worked really well. So excited to see how they thread the past and present through this season!

MJ wrote: "I almost caved and bought the DVD today. Why are they splitting a season in half? I know if I buy it at any point thru the series while still waiting for more to come... I'll go out of my head wai..."

The season aired in two parts, the first 8 episodes from August to September and the second half aired a little over six months later starting in April.

I suspect the release of a part one DVD was part of a marketing strategy to get more people interested (and subscribed to Starz) for the second half of the season.

Part two is listed on Amazon, but it has no release date yet. :( I'm not sure what to think in terms of when to expect it, it took them five months to release the DVD for part one, but I imagine they worked on some of the special features for part two along the way so it might not take as long for that release.

No spoilers, I couldn't wait until 9 to watch it, so I watched it this morning and just want to say that it was AMAZING.

Sam and Cait are amazing, as usual, but Tobias MADE this episode. I am constantly in awe of his acting abilities, not everyone could so perfectly play a villain as complicated as BJR.

For anyone worried about the content of this episode, I will say that I had braced for much worse. There's a good bit of violence and some suggestive moments, but the "rest of it" will likely be flashbacks in the finale.

At first, with the BJR scene I wasn't sure I had seen what I saw. I'm not sure if any of you have watched Black Sails on Starz, but there was some much more overt full-frontal nudity of the male variety in that one. It wasn't a sexual scene, but it was a I'm standing here completely naked and not trying to hide anything kind of scene, and Starz didn't hide anything. I've also heard that Spartacus (an older Starz original) had some full-frontal nudity as well, so I'm not shocked that they allowed it. I haven't listened to the podcast myself, but apparently Ron said in the podcast that it was unscripted and they decided to keep it in.

I actually thought it fit really well with the scene. It wasn't a totally overt here's my penis kind of moment, but it had this crudely invasive feeling that screamed BJR. I don't think I would have liked it if it had been Jamie, but I thought it really highlighted the pervasiveness of BJR in contrast to the sensuality and passion that Jamie and Claire have in their sexual encounters.

I've been really happy with the series so far, and The Reckoning was no exception. I think there's a lot to consider about what's important and what isn't when it comes to writing scripts and editing footage. TV shows are more restrictive in their format; each episode needs a beginning a middle and an end, each episode needs to have it's own cohesive theme and focus.

The Reckoning takes the two characters with totally different world views and focuses on how they reconcile their differences. It begins with an argument where they both think the other is wrong, the conflict comes to a head with the belting, and the conflict is resolved when Jamie offers Claire an olive branch in the way of his vow to her.

The rescue from Wentworth through Claire and Jamie's make-up sex is a solid arc for an hour long episode. It starts with the rescue, focuses on the conflict of the 18th v 20th century mindset, and resolves itself when Claire and Jamie make-up. In the book, the extra scenes through Claire's PoV help us to rationalize with her the reasons for Jamie's actions. Switching to Jamie's PoV in the show, we didn't really need that. We see what he goes through to rescue her, we see the reaction the men have to it, we see Jamie say that it's his responsibility, we see him struggle with the realization that this isn't the way to treat a wife. The audience sees his perspective and sees him admit to being wrong and we forgive him. Outside of that, it's left to us to fill in the spaces between the lines where he explains more of his point of view to Claire.

If they added more to this episode, it would have had to be split it into two hours. I think it would have been strange to see all this conflict build up in this episode only to end with them still mad at each other. Even with the extra scenes from the book two hours would be a stretch, so we'd be left with the make-up sex being in the middle of an episode and that would have further diminished the importance of it. Not to mention that it would cut even more into the time they have remaining for the rest of the book.


On the topic of the ring, I like that they've changed it to be part of the key to Lallybroch. The purpose of the inscription on Claire's ring in the books is to show that Jamie, from the beginning, had strong feelings for her. In order for readers to understand the inscription, it had to be explained. While it's explanation would not necessarily be long in TV form, seconds matter when it comes to editing. The ring being fashioned from the key to Jamie's home is a compromise of sorts; it keeps the meaning of the ring alive but it doesn't require the same explanation as Catallus would.

In 1776, the beginning of Echo, Jamie would be 55. Claire, I think, would be 61.

Well, I'm 0 for 2 so far, but I'm resilient!

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It was a side comment on Facebook from the mod of Outlander Addiction - like I said, TOTALLY unconfirmed. But the fact that something has been said makes me think that there have been talks with Fox UK, if nothing else.

I just heard a bit of an rumor, extra stress on unconfirmed , that Fox UK is picking up Outlander.

Here's an interesting tidbit about the International rights to Outlander for those of you who aren't in the US or Canada: http://outlanderambassadors.wordpress...

I did some looking into the L.A. Screenings thing and it's a yearly thing where upwards of 70 countries send program buyers to screen the upcoming US TV. The whole event runs from May 13th-23rd, but Sony Pictures TV (who owns whatever part of the rights they need to sell to international people) looks to start screening on the 19th.

There is still hope!! :)

Dee wrote: "Vudu is a pay one"

Vudu has Black Sails, so I would expect Outlander to be there eventually. BUT Black Sails is still a pre-order and only the first episode can currently be viewed, I suspect they will do a similar thing with Outlander.

A lot of people seem to expect that buying a season pass for the show from a site like Vudu or Amazon Prime will allow them to watch as the show airs (or with a few day delay). Judging from the way they are working Black Sails, I don't think they will be available until after the season airs - just like the DVD.

Diane wrote: "Don't you think that there will be bootleg copies out there?"

Oh, for sure. There are bootleg copies of EVERYTHING out there if you know where to look.

I would love to see a subscription plan for HBO Go and Starz Play OUTSIDE of cable companies, but it's likely that the channels have deals with the companies that will keep that from being an option - at least until the contracts start to run out. ;)

I would not hold my breath for Netflix OR Hulu.

Stars ended their streaming deal with Netflix in February 2012, taking around 1000 movies and 1500 episodes of TV off of the Netflix streaming service. It will probably be available on DVD through Netflix, but I would be shocked to see it streaming.

As for Hulu, premium cable channels don't use Hulu. As premium channels, part of their thing is to keep their original programming on lock so that it makes THEM money.

I also don't expect any streaming service (outside of Starz on Demand and Starz Play) to show Outlander during the TV run. Starz is certainly hoping to bring more subscribers to their channels with Outlander and having the show available in other ways is not going to bring them money.

Also, the Black Sails "season pass" through XBox was a preorder, episodes after the first are available "later this year."

No release date yet. :(

The BBC is moronic if they don't think there will be interest, maybe it will end up on another channel? There is still hope!

Jamie uses the fact that Roger is Protestant as an excuse, but even in the book Claire refers to it as pretext.

From Page 12 of my Hardback, towards the end of Chapter 2 for anyone with different page numbers:

Kenny Lindsay asks Jamie if he will speak, Jamie shakes his head and...

"Nay, let Roger Mac speak. If these were Dutchmen, belike they were Protestant."

Dim as the light was, I saw the sharp glace Brianna shot at her father. It was true that Roger was a Presbyterian; so was Tom Christie, a much older man whose dour face reflected his opinion of the proceedings. The question of religion was no more than a pretext, though, and everyone knew it, including Roger.

Burbanista wrote: "Can anyone explain to me why Roger was angry when Jamie singled him out to speak at the funeral of the Dutch family? I've read that bit over and over and can't figure it out."

I think it's mostly just the self-consciousness of speaking with his voice destroyed. It took him a long time to be comfortable speaking in front of people and Jamie knew he was uncomfortable with it.

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