Do you find yourself obsessively gabbing on about Outlander to your friends and family? Wishing your Saturday nights included a living room full of people with whom to watch, discuss, comment, cheers, jeers and well, experience alllllll the feels? Dinna fash, Obsessenach – you are not alone.
Good news – we can get new family and friends pour ourselves a dram and, through the magic of technology, enjoy it together! Each Saturday at 9:00 p.m., we’ll be LIVE blogging the episodes to bring you a two-screen experience into the world of Outlander. Like the Outlander Cast podcast, it will be SPOILER FREE for non-book readers.
So get all your post-18th Century gadgets ready and settle in, because the best things in life should be shared with a buddy. Hi, buddy.
[9:00 pm] It’s 9 o’clock on a Saturday night – do you know where your friends are? Banding together for another riveting hour of Outlander, of course! If not, find new friends. I kid, I kid. Mostly.
[9:02 pm] But seriously, I haven’t fully recovered from having to bid farewell to Angus last week. I might have slugged a couple drinks and chanted like Rupert in the grief process, so please go gentle on me this week, World of Outlander.
[9:03 pm] Weekly title card riddle: The Duke is back! Thank the Laird because Simon Callow and his comedic talent are exactly what I need after last week’s tear fest. But also, it’s time for Diana Gabaldon and her long-awaited episode! Mama bear is back to tend to her cubs . . . and tell them what to say.
[9:05 pm] Oh good, another battle strategy scene. Yaaaaaaaaaay. Did you pick up on the sarcasm there? Oh good, because I wasn’t going for subtle. But wait! I spoke too soon. This one is MUCH sharper, easier to digest and feels much more relevant.
[9:06 pm] I will never whine about going to the dentist again. I will never whine about going to the dentist again. I will never whine about going to the dentist again.
[9:08 pm] This is Bonnie Prince Charlie’s grandstanding Jerry Maguire “who’s with me? WHO’S WITH ME?” moment, and I’m cracking up. If only there was a goldfish he could snatch up in desperation.
[9:09 pm] Jamie’s leather coat – thank you, Terry Dresbach. Sharp! If we’re continuing on a Tom Cruise kick for a moment . . . and just a moment, I swear . . . this is his bomber-jacket-Maverick-meets-the-eighteenth-Century look.
[9:11 pm] “And you, Sassenach, I’ll see you safe no matter what.” – please in the name of all my unstable emotions, stop foreshadowing the buckets of tears we’re likely to spill as we head toward their imminent separation in the last episodes.
[9:12 pm] This is a definite departure from the ways we’ve seen Jamie interrupt Claire’s sleep before. *fans self, memory recall to “The Pricking of My Thumbs” and “The Devil’s Mark”, fans self again* But I must say, after the brutal weeks of warfare and “to sleep” only, this moment of intimacy is a much-needed oasis in the midst of an unending desert.
[9:14 pm] While the set designs of Paris were a visual feast, it still plays second fiddle for me to the majestic backdrop of Scotland we’re always treated to in their travels.
[9:15 pm] We’re still mourning Angus, so I’m relieved that they’ve smartly chosen to detail how Rupert is still struggling with the loss of his soulmate – even months later. Also, Fergus might get fewer and fewer words in these days, but when he does it’s always the last – “he didn’t have front teeth.”
[9:17 pm] Damn do these people look good atop a horse! Especially Murtagh, who is sporting Fergus in a baby Bjorn on his back. Those two. Greenlight the spin-off please.
[9:19 pm] “I decided to take a closer look at a musket ball.” You sure did, Rupert, and now I’ve got images running through my head of one-eyed Carl (Corrrrrrrrrrral) from The Walking Dead.
[9:22 pm] Anyone else having flashbacks to the last time we offered up English Claire to the English soldiers as a diversion? I don’t like this. Nope, not one bit. Then again, the last time gave us the brilliant “The Garrison Commander” episode, sooooo….. on second thought, please go on.
[9:25 pm] Claire’s headed back to high school drama club! Another week, another performance.
[9:27 pm] Talk about a role reversal! Last week Dougal skewered Lieutenant Foster like a kebab for him speaking candidly about the probable fate of the Highlanders. But sure, when you’re at the mercy of a Hail Mary plan to save your Highlander hide, by all means act like a pompous ass. GREAT plan.
[9:28 pm] “Jamie, when you find her – give her a wink for me.” I might not have ONE favorite line of the night because it’s a culmination of everything exiting Rupert’s mouth this episode. Then again, we haven’t seen the Duke on screen yet. . .
[9:29 pm] Hugh Munro! I’m so glad the actor wasn’t too busy with other projects to reprise his role from season one, thus changing the course of the story and altering the fate of other characters. What, too soon?
[9:30 pm] I’m impressed – and, more so baffled – at Claire being able to fall asleep in a room full of drunk men spouting off things like “you look like you could do with a warming up.” That’s an after school special waiting to happen.
[9:31 pm] “It’s a big house owned by a rich Englishman…” mhmm, see where this is headed? Also, by the looks of Balmont, there’s a chance it might be full of Crawleys and a spicy, aging Dowager.
[9:32 pm] Ohhhhhhhhhh, this is gooooooooood. Why? Because only Simon Callow and Caitriona Balfe can pull off this “my my, what do we have here” scene without it being hokey. Now that we know Simon Callow’s work has been submitted for Emmy consideration (shameless plug for Anne Gavin’s awesome Emmys post), let’s just go ahead and give him the gold statue.
[9:34 pm] “So now we’re traitors, murderers and horse thieves. Tell me, does it ever occur to you that taking Claire to wife might not have been the wisest thing you ever did?” Bloody well-played, Murtagh . . . as was Jamie’s perfectly simple “no” in response.
[9:37 pm] You know that clichéd ice breaker question about the one person – dead or alive – you’d like to have dinner with? The Duke of Sandringham is now at the top of my list. Or rather, Simon Callow as the Duke of Sandringham. But let’s schedule it for one of the three nights your cook is there, mmm-kay?
[9:38 pm] Mary is the Duke’s goddaughter?! Because he’s most definitely the influencing guidepost you’d want for your child. Was this in the book? Comment below.
[9:42 pm] I don’t know what I was expecting, but this isn’t the guy I imagined on the upper end of that marked arm. But geez, he and his skeezy drooping eyes are creeping me out.
[9:46 pm] “She’s even misspelled help.” – LOL. Jamie and Murtagh’s talking through how to decipher Claire’s coded Gaelic reminds me of my husband attempting to watch season one with our Highlanders without the training wheels of closed captioning. “What are they saying? I never know what they’re saying. How come you can understand what they’re saying?”
[9:49 pm] I’m so consumed by Simon Callow every time he’s on screen that I completely nearly forgot to keep writing. We’ve dropped the pomp and circumstance of wigs and properly set tables and all those wonky formalities, and I’m digging it. This is reminding me of that one scene from every light-hearted political movie that has the president downstairs in the kitchen eating chocolate cake in the middle of the night by himself . . . only to be busted and joined by others.
[9:51 pm] HE PUT THE WIG BACK ON FOR JAMIE. Bahahahahahahahahaha! Also, I love that this guy thinks he can take on Jamie. Jamie, THE KING OF MEN.
[9:53 pm] This scene has the potential to be like that sophomoric fight scene we endured post-Frasers dinner party, but thankfully it’s not. The sequencing, the dialogue, the actors – it’s effing fantastic.
[9:54 pm] “I kept my word – I lay your vengeance at your feet.” – Most literally, Murtagh. That was categorically the most gory thing I’ve seen on this show yet. At least, for me . . . maybe it’s because it was Murtagh and you don’t expect that. But whatever makes you feel better, buddy.
[9:55 pm] So, THAT happened. “I think we better go.” – Solid plan, Mary. Rosie Day delivered that send-off with just the right touch of shock and humor.
[10:00 pm] Not that you need a single lick of my amateur praise . . . but well done, Diana! That was a damn fun ride that forged ahead without some of the mid-episode stall-then-restart sequences that have plagued a couple of the past episodes. It felt more reminiscent of the adventures we were on season one and I loved it. It was full of Diana’s quirky sense of humor that the actors skillfully managed and also squeezed in a few nostalgic lines from the book that made me feel a strain of happy I can only describe as, well, squishy. Squishy and content. You know what didn’t make me feel squishy? The reminder that we only have TWO episodes of Outlander left. And now I’m back to slugging drinks and somber chanting like Rupert. Hey, it’s better than taking a closer look at a musket ball. Until next week, Obsessenachs!
Thanks for reading! Please be sure to catch up on all live blogs from Season 2:
Episode 2.01: “Through a Glass Darkly“
Episode 2.02: “Not in Scotland Anymore”
Episode 2.03: “Useful Occupations and Deceptions“
Episode 2.04: “La Dame Blanche“
Episode 2.05: “Untimely Resurrection”
Episode 2.06: “Best Laid Schemes…“
Episode 2.07: “Faith”
Episode 2.08: “The Fox’s Lair“
Episode 2.09: “Je Suis Prest“
Episode 2.10: “Prestonpans”
Episode 2.11: “Vengeance is Mine“
Episode 2.12 “The Hail Mary“
Episode 2.13 “Dragonfly in Amber“
Episode 2.05: “Untimely Resurrection”
Episode 2.06: “Best Laid Schemes…“
Episode 2.07: “Faith”
Episode 2.08: “The Fox’s Lair“
Episode 2.09: “Je Suis Prest“
Episode 2.10: “Prestonpans”
Episode 2.11: “Vengeance is Mine“
Episode 2.12 “The Hail Mary“
Episode 2.13 “Dragonfly in Amber“
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