Outlander

Over the course of the last couple of months, I’ve become immersed in a TV fandom that is not Doctor Who.

 

One Sunday afternoon, I stumbled across a marathon the Starz cable channel of a TV series I had heard about before, Outlander. Intrigued, I found myself watching 1 episode then another followed by another. These episodes were from the latter half of season 2 so I had to do some piecing together of what was going on which was a bit tricky as I had not seen episodes from season 1 or the 1^st half of season 2. But that lack of knowledge did not impede me in my enjoyment of what I was seeing. Indeed it just fed my desire to know more about this show. It’s been a long time since I’ve entered a world like this fresh and uncertain.

 

The marathon was leading up to the debut of Series 3. I watched the season premier and I’ve followed every new episode since.

 

So what pray tell is Outlander?  

 

It’s a historical drama. It’s a tale of war and hardship. It is an epic romance. It’s an adventure laced with humor and heartbreak. It’s a story of time travel and mysticism. 

 

Outlander is something beyond the sum of its parts. 

 

Outlander begins with a woman named Claire Randall in 1945, a nurse who served in World War II on a much needed holiday with her husband Frank in Scotland. There is a circle of stones, Claire finds herself cast back in time to 1743. There she meets a highlander named Jamie Fraser who she winds up getting married to as a matter of convenience and protection. But Claire and Jamie fall in love, deeply and passionately. 

 

There are efforts underway to lead a rebellion, an uprising of the Scots against the British. Claire knows the history of this endeavor, that it will lead to a battle on the fields of Culloden where all the Scotsmen will be killed.  Sharing with Jamie this knowledge and her status as a visitor from the future, Claire and Jamie do what they can to stop this uprising.

 

But history must have its way which is where I come in midway through season 2. The web of destiny ties itself in tighter and tighter knots as the battle at Culloden becomes unavoidable. With Claire pregnant with his child, Jamie sends Claire back through the stones to her own time where Claire and their child will be safe. Then Jamie heads towards his destiny, to die on the moor at Culloden. 

 

Except…

 

OK, as Amy one said on Doctor Who, “this is where this gets complicated”. 

 

Claire reappears in Scotland in 1948. Frank Randall is a bit weirded out by Claire’s time travel story. But he agrees that he and Claire will raise the child as their own.  The Randalls move to Boston where daughter Brianna is born (with Jamie’s red hair). After being a nurse in World War II and a healer in the highlands of Scotland, Claire grows restless in her domestic role in 1950s America so she goes back to school to become a doctor.

 

On the home front, things between her and Frank are not so good. Still devoted to Jamie, Claire cannot bring herself to fully be Frank’s wife. It is a situation that Frank tolerates for he is committed to being a father to Brianna. 

 

By 1968, Frank is dead, Claire is a respected surgeon and Brianna is totally flummoxed by the news that Frank was not really her father and that her father was Jamie Fraser, a Scottish highlander from two centuries ago.

 

Meanwhile (more or less), Jamie does not die at Culloden though not lacking for several opportunities. Jamie is a fugitive living in the woods, a prisoner in a British prison, an indentured servant on a British estate (where he fathers a son named Will) and then…

 

Well, who knows? Back in the 20^th century, Roger Wakefield, a descendant of one of the clans Claire met back in the 18^th century has been researching Claire’s story and discovers Jamie did not die at Culloden as Claire thought. As “recently” as 1765, Jamie appears to be alive and working as a printer in Edinburgh.

 

With some unexpected encouragement from Brianna (who seems to be on board with her mom’s tales of time travel), Claire returns to Scotland to go back through the stones to reunite with Jamie. 

 

And that brings us to halfway through season three. 

 

Whoa. 

 

And then…

 

Claire and Jamie have a very sexual and very protracted reunion. But uh oh! Jamie’s up to no good including smuggling and sedition. A bad guy comes along looking for trouble, finds Claire, attempts to rape her (apparently, people threatening to or trying to rape Claire happens a lot in Outlander) but she kills him. Then another bad guy sets fire to Jamie’s print shop. Jamie and Claire head to Jamie’s old homestead at Lallybroch where Claire gets a chilly welcome back. People are bugged she was missing for 20 years and didn’t bother to send anyone a note which is tough to explain when trying to avoid discussing that whole time travel thing.  Also upset with Claire being back: Jamie’s current wife who shoots Jamie. But Claire saves the day with her surgeon skills plus the 20^th century surgical tools and penicillin she brought with her.  Then Jamie’s cousin Ian gets kidnapped by pirates (Yes, PIRATES!) so Jamie and Claire hitch a ride on a boat to pursue. THEN a British warship stricken with typhoid shows up. Claire with her 20^th century immunizations (she is immune to typhoid!) goes on board to save who she can. But the British ship takes off with Claire still on board.

 

And then…

 

Well, as Claire might say, Jesus Roosevelt H. Christ! I’m exhausted just going over all this. 

 

This past Sunday saw Claire trapped on an island in the West Indies where she’s eaten by ants and has a giant snake (A GIANT SNAKE!) crawl over her. Then she meets a kindly but deranged priest (his best friend is a coconut named “Coco”) and then is reunited with Jamie whose ship has run aground on the same island, (Really! The same island!) Then Claire gets drunk on turtle soup (really!) after which she and Jamie get laid. I mean, really, really laid.

 

And then….

 

There are just two episodes of season 3 left.  I came to this party late so I didn’t have to endure a wait between seasons before (known by fans of the show as “droughtlander”).  Maybe I can use the upcoming gap between seasons 3 and 4 to catch up on the episodes from seasons 1 and 2 that I missed.

 

I haven’t been this psyched to delve into a new mythology since I was a young man discovering Doctor Who for the first time.

 

What really makes this show distinctive is not just the pastiche of genres but it’s indelible female perspective. It would be easy to make Jamie Fraser the hero of this saga with his flowing red locks and his chiseled chin. My god, you could cut a diamond with that chin. Yes, he is the very dashing figure of many adventure and romance fantasies. But the protagonist for this series is clearly and emphatically Claire. She is the “Outlander” in the series’ title.  It is her perspective that shapes this narrative, not just as a person out of time but as a woman in worlds and times dominated by men. Even in the 20^th century, Claire finds herself at odds with men due to her sex. There’s this sequence in episode one of season 3 when Claire is in labor with Brianna in 1948.

 

Doctor: Mr. Randall, how far apart are the contractions?

Frank (shrugs): I don’t know.

Claire: Contraction are 3 minutes apart. 

 

Not to mention the condescending tone of the university chancellor who questions Claire’s grasp of politics. Or the cold glares that greet her as the lone woman in her first surgery class.

 

Life in the 18^th century isn’t much better but there does seem to be a greater deference to Claire’s wisdom and skill when she proves she knows what the hell she’s talking about. 

 

Outlander is based on a series of books written by a woman. I’ve noticed that women’s name appear frequently in the credits as writers and directors.

I suppose it may be a bit odd for me to be so caught up in Outlander as I guess I'm not the target demographic. But I think that's what makes this show so appealing to me, that it's something I recognize but not made for me, it makes the experience of watching Outlander more interesting to me.