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*SPOILER ALERT*
Last week Starz released its first hint at what Season Two of Outlander holds in store for us in a trailer that had TV-only viewers shaking their heads in shock at the last image. This weekend, someone somewhere in the Starz marketing machine made a Big Mistake and leaked the Season Two trailer that had been originally released at the Television Critics Association winter press tour Jan. 8. It was only up for a few hours on Vimeo (never on the official Starz site or YouTube) but what a few hours it was. Having watched it a few times before it disappeared — thank you Outlander-Italy — we can say this much is absolutely clear: Toto, we’re not in the 18th century anymore. Like touching the stones, click through for more details at your own risk.
The original trailer opens with a stricken Claire, dressed in 18th century garb, walking down a road — as in a paved road. A car follows. A man stops and asks Claire if she’s all right. She asks him what year it is. “1948,” he answers.
From there, we move to the hospital scene featured in the official trailer. Claire is in bed and Frank walks down the hall. “I’m back,” she says. And Frank says, “I’m so grateful.” (That head-shaking shock moment for TV-only viewers that ended the official trailer and had book readers saying, “Really?” But I will say no more about that!)
Flash to Claire getting off a plane and Frank at the end of the ramp reaching for her hand. As he reaches out to grab Claire’s hand as she walks down the plane steps, we hear him say in a voiceover, “What truly matters is not where you’ve been but that you’re here now.” Claire does not look happy. As her hand, in slow motion, moves to grab Frank’s hand, the hand grabbing hers morphs into Jamie’s and we hear her voiceover say, “Not where. When.”
From there the trailer moves to much of the same footage as the official trailer that was ultimately released. The main missing moment, which I loved but which blew my mind in the official trailer, was the bit where Murtagh says,” You lived through all these years!” WHAT?
I can see why this original trailer got tweaked, especially after Starz released this week the titles of the first two episodes, “Through a Glass, Darkly” and “Not in Scotland Anymore.” Bible readers may recognize episode one’s title from 1 Corinthians 13:12: “For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
Indie film geeks will recognize it as the title of an Ingmar Bergman film. Think it’s just a coincidence? Diana doesn’t really deal in coincidence. Here’s a synopsis of the film and a quote which strikes a familiar chord:
Karin (Harriet Andersson) hopes to recover from her recent stay at a mental hospital by spending the summer at her family’s cottage on a tiny island. Her husband, Martin (Max von Sydow), cares for her but is frustrated by her physical withdrawal. Her younger bother, Minus (Lars Passgård), is confused by Karin’s vulnerability and his own budding sexuality. Their father, David (Gunnar Björnstrand), cannot overcome his haughty remoteness. Beset by visions, Karin descends further into madness
That episode title has so many hints of Claire’s impending struggle, which the original trailer played out more suggestively than the official trailer ultimately released to the public. (Book side note, because I can’t resist: The title of part one in the book, Dragonfly in Amber, is “Through a Looking Glass, Darkly.” Classic Diana Gabaldon to play off a biblical reference and classic Ron D. Moore to tweak the book. Oh, we are in for a ride this season!)
But I digress. Given these episode names, I can see why the original trailer was likely considered a little TMI. It takes the shock out of the Frank moment in the official trailer, especially for TV-only Outlanders — which are the people Ron D. Moore et al really do need to satisfy. Yes, book loving purists (hand is raised) want every frigging detail to be exactly the same in season two. But reality check, folks. TV is one medium and books are another. You can’t do the same in both. It doesn’t work as well.
And so Moore is clearly playing a bit with how Season Two unfolds so that the many fans who first experienced Outlander in Season One keep tuning in and, more importantly, that more join the Outlander Starz cult, ensuring a Season 3 and 4 and….you do know there are 8 books right? Now that is an ending we can all get behind.
So what do you think? Was the original trailer TMI? Are you worried about how Season Two is going to be adapted?
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