Outlander Series discussion

Jamie struggles to overcome his past; opportunities arise following a fortunate meeting with Prince Charles; the Duke of Sandringham's presence causes complications.

I loved it! Jamie's flashbacks to BJR are very engrossing. Sam Heughan was wonderful. He is a great actor.
I loves it when Claire was waxed, that was one of my favorite parts of the book because he didn't like it. I'm glad they included that in the episode.

Well I got to say they picked a straight up creepy looking feller to play the Bonnie Prince Charles. They did a good job with casting. I pictured him quite similar...just a frivolous, flighty, childish little man. Murtagh as usual was hilarious! I agree about the waxing. I would have been upset if they had left that out.

They did a great job...yes, the waxing, for one example....showing Paris in all its simpering, ridiculous decadence. I could certainly see why the French Revolution was only a few years off! Loved Murtaugh in the brothel and the palace; he wanted to grab his dirk every two minutes, but still managed to hold it together for Jamie. Is it just me, or does anyone else breathe a sigh of relief when Murtaugh follows Jamie into any situation?

my review http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2016...

Murtagh is such a hoot! I love the authenticity of the series.

I love this!!! We were introduced to so many characters this week really setting up the series. The costuming is just exquisite and the new intro just really shows the high quality and attention to details that this series deserves. Bonnie Prince really pulls off that spoiled twit entitled attitude. I also loved the whole " eat parritch every morning" scene - so funny. And Alex ah... he is was not in much but already I feel for him. I wonder if it is because I know what is to come in the series or is it how he is portrayed?

I loved every minute of it but I thought Jamie's flashbacks were particularly well done. He must be suffering from something like PTSD which wasn't known about even in Claire's time. On a less serious note, I am utterly fascinated by the gowns. Did women really wear such revealing dresses at the French Court?

I love the first two episodes and think the direction Ron Moore and his creative team are going is a great interpretation of the book. Murtaugh's expressions and lines are hilarious. The costumes are so wonderful. The red dress and nipple dress are incredible! My only very small complaint is that I just wish they would bring up the baby a little more. It goes without saying that Sam and Caitriona's acting is superb!

Sonya, I am so glad to hear you say that!
I feel exactly the same way. Clair's pregnancy was such a spotlight in the book and I believe it's been mentioned only once so far and it's such an important part of their story. Other than that, I have loved the episodes as well.

Nancy, I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who has missed the mention of her pregnancy and the interaction between Jamie and Claire during her bouts of morning sickness. Hopefully we will get to see some of that soon.

The next episode after this one promises a ton of book stuff. Fergus and Mother Hildegard both promise to make their appearances, and with the appearance of the former, I hope we also get the infamous sausage scene only described after the fact in the books. The show is moving so very quickly through the book material set in France, but that gives me great hope that we won't be waiting the duration of the series to see more scenes set in Claire's "modern" Scotland.

Silverblades wrote: "The next episode after this one promises a ton of book stuff. Fergus and Mother Hildegard both promise to make their appearances, and with the appearance of the former, I hope we also get the infam..."

Thanks Silverblades! That is great news. As someone who 'discovered' the Outlander books via Starz, I am so glad I took the time to read the books even while it was in the middle of season 1. I have read up to Drums of Autumn so far. That has added to my enjoyment of watching so much and I think while it's sometimes frustrating to not 'see' things you want to in the series, it still helped me appreciate and understand so much more about what is happening in the show. So...for those of you who still haven't read the books, I would so encourage you to do so! Just a thought!

They are doing an incredible job, in how they portray the aftermath of Jamie's ordeal. I appreciate how they aren't glossing over it to "move the story along" which is what I imagine a lot of movies and TV might do. I am still stunned that Sam and Tobias didn't win Emmys over this storyline.
Since I can't see, I didn't get much out of the costumes and pageantry of france this week, but I am still hoping Outlander will be on described video someday soon.
But by far, my favorite thing out of this week was Murtag!
He . just . wins!

Question: Are discussion on each episode's thread open to discussions of that part of the book as well? Can we compare the TV show scenes to the same situations in the books and how they differ? Or do those need to be marked as spoilers? Please clarify mods! I feel like it should be open to discussion without spoilers but I wanted to check what the rules are. Thanks!

I think it is fine as long as you do not reference something in the book that takes place later than the current TV episode. Making comparisons is natural like when they changed the wedding ring thing or the ending of season 1 compared to the book.

Ok thanks Diane. I just wanted to make sure I understood how this group was working :)

The PTSD that Jaime experiences in the show... I always missed that in the books. I felt like it was too glossed over in the books and everything was fine after "Claire and her lavender fight" cured him! I am really, really glad the producers/writers, etc. decided to include it because he most likely would've had long-term effects and I think it adds to the depth of Jaime that I missed in the written story.

The red dress. Since the description in the books of the red dress made it seem like a pretty popular thing to have outrageous dresses I was always picturing many of the women would have similarly scandalous attire. I was a little disappointed that there were not more. Yes, the nipple snakes (Is that what they were?! LOL) dress was pretty jaw-dropping but I thought there might be more. Most of the dresses were muted, normal colors. My imagination got the best of me as a book reader :)

I think Louise de la tour is going to be great. What a great scene. I wanted Mary's stutter to be a bit more prevalent so that Claire could help her because that was such a great way to blossom a friendship. BUT, I guess looking at another person's lady-bits is a good way too!!!!

I felt the same way about the red dress. Claire seemed to be, other than the nipple dress of course, the only standout in the crowd. But our Claire is a standout in any attire, what with her height and twentieth century beauty.

Maureen wrote: "Ok thanks Diane. I just wanted to make sure I understood how this group was working :)

The PTSD that Jaime experiences in the show... I always missed that in the books. I felt like it was too glos..."

HI Maureen! Your imagination was spot on! There is a great vanity fair article posted on April 16 on Diana's facebook page about the dresses from Terry Dresbach. It's a great read and explains why she specifically chose to ONLY have those 2 dresses in the scene.
I couldn't figure out how to post the article here otherwise I would have!

Nancy wrote: "Maureen wrote: "Ok thanks Diane. I just wanted to make sure I understood how this group was working :)

The PTSD that Jaime experiences in the show... I always missed that in the books. I felt like..."

Ok, thanks Nancy! I will look it up!

Is it just me, or do the camera angles in Episode 2 seem to make Claire look really tall? It was especially noticable in the scene where she is in Monsieur Raymond's shop. I didn't think that the actor Dominique Pinon was that short! I also noticed it in some of the other scenes set at Versailles - Claire seemed to be towering over a lot of the other male characters.
cheers
Andrew

I thoroughly enjoyed the episode, but I kinda feel Jamie and Claire's connection missing. I know Jamie is suffering, but I watched an extended scene for the new episode Saturday and Jamie is still being sort of cold and standoffish toward her. I just miss that spark they shared in season 1/book 1. Otherwise, I loved it. Taking in all the new set designs and costumes, I'm hoping they'll be recognized during 2017 award season. Seriously, the sets, acting, directing etc. is SO phenomenal. Keeping my fingers crossed we have another wonderful season!

The PTSD that Jaime experiences in the show... I always missed that in the books. I felt like it was too glos..."

It can seem that his PTSD is glossed over in the books, but Jamie does experience horrible nightmares all the way through. (I don't consider that a spoiler) The books are mostly through Claire's POV. The screen version can show the problem through Jamie's POV. Explaining a nightmare, and living through one are two separate animals!

Andrew wrote: "Is it just me, or do the camera angles in Episode 2 seem to make Claire look really tall? It was especially noticable in the scene where she is in Monsieur Raymond's shop. I didn't think that the a..."

HI Andrew, I thought that same thing!

Andrew, that's because Caitriona is 5'10" tall (Claire in the books is 5'7" to 5'8"). Master Raymond is also very short which makes Cait's height more obvious.

Arlene wrote: "The PTSD that Jaime experiences in the show... I always missed that in the books. I felt like it was too glos..."

It can seem that his PTSD is glossed over in the books, but Jamie does experience ..."

I guess you're right Arlene. Since it was Claire's POV we would never "see" the nightmares or directly what was happening to Jaime, except through her. I hadn't thought of it that way.

BTW they were nipple swans just in case everyone was wondering. Just read the Vanity Fair article Nancy told me about earlier this week. Seriously. Nipple swans XD

There are so many things which happen, particularly to Jamie, that we only learn as he retells them to Claire in the books. I look forward to the way the show is not confined to one character's perspective.

Maureen wrote: "BTW they were nipple swans just in case everyone was wondering. Just read the Vanity Fair article Nancy told me about earlier this week. Seriously. Nipple swans XD"

Wasn't that a great article Maureen? It helped me understand that scene and why they focused on those 2 dresses. Brilliant really!

Great episode and i loved the dress. I visited Versailles years ago so enjoyed those scenes. Would love to hear more about Claire's pregnancy.

Murtagh rules

Loved the episode but really didn't like the waxing scene. They did it the opposite. Book Jamie didn't like Claire bare and I loved that.

What woman isn't going to love a man who loves a hairy woman? lol