S04E03 The False Bride

Nothing too horrible this episode, thank the writers cause we needed a little break after last weeks mayhem.

Jamie and Claire leave Riverrun and while Aunt Jocasta isna at all pleased, of course, she lets them go. Not before she gives Jamie his mother's candle sticks that she somehow has in her possession (did she conveniently pack them away in her bag when she went to visit Ellen, like a hotel towel? lol) but it provides a nice touching moment between Jamie and his aunt. Not so nice a good bye for Claire. Jocasta lets her know that she thinks Claire is holding back her nephew from being a great laird by leaving but Claire is not persuaded or cowed into staying. Ian also takes the opportunity to let his uncle know he's not going back to Scotland either so Jamie lets that one go too with the caveat that Ian write Jenny to let her know.

Off they go with John Quincey Meyers to guide them. Going through the woods proves peaceful. At one point Meyers needs to leave the group on some business and Ian begs to go with him. John promises to keep him safe so Jamie gives his permission. Now our couple go on alone. They have some heartfelt convo about what they'll do now. Claire wants Jamie to know that he should make decisions based on what he wants to do not because he thinks it will make her happy but Jamie tells her everything he does is for her and the other family members under his protection. He would lay the world at her feet but he has nothing to give her. Claire's all pshaw....but we know she's touched. Looked like a nookie moment but mother nature has other ideas.

Up comes a big storm and the mule breaks away. Claire rides after him but gets bucked off her horse when he gets spooked by lightning. The rain is coming down hard now so Claire takes shelter under the branch of a big tree. She takes off her shoes cause they must have water in them and while she sits there she finds, of all things, a skull! As one recapper put it, instead of throwing it away with a ewwww, our Claire has to look at it. She also finds a gemstone with the skull, a big ass opal (at least I believe it was in the book although they didn't really say on the show). Seems he was the victim of some violence since there's a big gash on the back of the skull. Then of all things, she sees an apparition of the warrior approach her and she knows it's the skull's owner cause the apparition has as gash on his head in the same spot and then he disappears. Next morning Claire can't find her shoes but there are footprints which she follows to a creek. Jamie who was unsuccessfully looking for her after she went missing has also followed footprints to Claire's shoes. She tells him she's never been to the creek and then about the "ghost" she encountered. While washing the skull, she discovers silver fillings in the teeth something that won't be invented for another 100 years. She tells her husband that this person must have been another time traveler like she is. Dum dum dum
I almost forgot but our couple end up looking out over a picture perfect postcard of the land and Jamie says this is where they'll build a home and a future. He'll call it Fraser's Ridge.

Fast forward 200 yrs and we see Roger has been pining away for Bree. He's going to the states for a Scottish festival where he's been invited to sing and she's going to meet him at the airport and go with him. It's been a long distance relationship with all the pitfalls that entails but the sparks fly again. They have a good time doing all the things you do at one of these things and we even hear Roger sing but trouble's a brewing. Roger wants to marry Bree and even proposes while she's all, whoa there buddy. She doesn't mind if they fool around but she's not ready to marry. He gets all high and mighty about if she doesn't love him enough to marry him than he doesn't care to sleep with her or some other male nonsense cause you know, his feelings are hurt.. They fight then Bree tries to make up but Roger's being a stubborn twit and they part company.

 

Images from Epi 3

 

I'm all caught up. I thought it would be fun to do a binge on Thanksgiving since these are the episodes about early America, but the end of the episode was SO HORRIFYING. Then the horror of Bonnet in episode 2. I knew he was playing them and I knew he was going to return to rob them, but I still couldn't watch it actually happen. So, with great trepidation, on to episode 3, and poor Roger got his heart ripped out.

I am going to stay away, because I am afraid of reading spoilers about Brianna and Roger. THEY BELONG TOGETHER. How does Brianna not know that? (Rhetorical.) Humph.

 

Did you see episode two with Aunt Jocasta at Riverrun? I found that one uncomfortable. I can understand what a strain it was on Claire.

Stay tuned for Bree and Roger. True love has a way of working out...eventually and in mysterious ways.

 

Whew!

Yes, I am all caught up. I was shocked at the Aunt Jocasta episode. I didn't know any place had laws severely limiting the ability to free slaves. This was local law or British law at this point? Anyway, it's an episode too upsetting to watch again.

What Jamie and Claire could have done, unless law prevented it, was go socialist. Release every overseer, put Ulysses in charge with the ability to appoint assistants, and say here's the work that needs to be done and everyone will share the profit. Ensure everyone (including oneself) has what they need from the vegetable gardens and fruit trees and chicken eggs, etc. Let them build proper shelter. Aunt Jocasta's house was gorgeous. She has to have plenty of money to start improving their lot and still be fine.

No one would even need to know the overseers were gone.

 

I found that episode disturbing as well. Without doing any research, I think the laws limiting the ability to free slaves may have been regional laws. They weren't states yet but the economy of the colonies of the south depended on slave labor,
It seems, created to discourage the very type of socialism you describe.

Going by what we saw in the episode, first off, you couldn't keep it a secret. Unless you murdered the overseers which would create it's own set of problems, lol, when they were let go they would spread the word that something non kosher, so to speak, was going down at the plantation. Jamie proposed keeping the former slaves on and paying them a wage but was told people "disappeared" for doing things like that. If you didn't free them but payed them, where could they spend their money? Slaves couldn't leave their plantations without the express permission of their owners, and that would be one or two at a time. What white shop owners would do business with them? Most, with few exceptions, were illiterate. (Ulysses could read, write and do mathematics. He really was a silent partner in running the plantation with Jocasta after Hector's death. In the book his backstory was that he was a slave to a traveling school teacher who would teach him in his down time so that he could properly assist him. I can't remember off hand how he came to end up in the Cameron household.) If word got around to other plantations that Riverrun slaves enjoyed exceptional freedoms it would foster discontent at those plantations. We're talking about an entrenched system of degradation and control here.

Aunt Jocasta, thought she was being particularly enlightened when she told Jamie that she treated her slaves well and bought them in lots so families could stay together. Did she do this because it was morally right? Hardly. I think I remember her telling her nephew that they were more productive that way so it boiled down to profit for her plantation which was her business. Sharing the wealth with her slaves would have cut into her profit and she wouldn't want that and her banker and lawyer and fellow plantation owners would notice even if she still had plenty of money for herself...or would she? She could have lost contracts with people she sold to, like the Brittish navy if word got around she was emulating Quaker ways.

So it's my opinion that there was no good way around our couple having to leave if they wanted to keep their sanity and maybe even their lives.

 

I must say, this season is my favorite so far. The writers are telling the story so well IMO. I watched last nights episode twice last night - back to back! I might watch again tonight lol.

A little lagniappe for y’all




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S04E04 Common Ground

Jamie decides to take the Governor up on his offer of land and off he, Claire and Ian go to take possession of what's theirs.They bid farewell to Fergus and Marsali who is missing her mom as she gets along in her pregnancy. Thing is, nobody told the native inhabitants. Such a pesky detail. The Cherokee aren't too thrilled that this ginger is cutting down the trees in what they consider to be open land and return Jamie's boundary stakes to him forthwith. Nonetheless the Frasers persist. Claire suggests they make some sort of peace offering to the natives and Jamie thinks that's a great idea but has no idea how to go about it not knowing the customs or language of the Indians. JQ Meyers offers to help by bringing the tribe tobacco he got from Aunt Jocasta on Jamie's behalf.

While all this construction and domesticity is going on they get a visit from what looks like a very angry bear. First their food is taken and a horse injured. On the beast's next visit, they find Mr. Meyers severely injured as well. Claire needs to do surgery on him and Ian stays to help her while Jamie goes after the creature. A fight ensues and Jamie is lucky enough to kill what turns out to be a native dressed as a bear right up to claws attached by twine to his hands. Now readers know that in the book Jamie kills an actual bear but in todays filming world that might not fly with getting a real bear to play the part and not injuring him in the process. So it's all good. While this is happening we see the natives are having some kind of ceremony related to his "bear" which has caused some problems for them as well. It's such a tense scene (I absent mindedly gobbled down a dish of candy corn left over from Halloween one by one, lol) and what really works is you hear the chanting from the ceremony in the background as it's all going down. Jamie drags the corpse back to the Cherokee village. The people acknowledge that they knew who this man was. Someone who had been expelled from their tribe because he raped his wife (it is not their way) and went mad living by himself deep in the woods. They could not kill him because to them he was already dead but are grateful that Jamie got the job done.

Later we see that the Cherokee visit Jamie at his cabin clearing and they sit down as friends. The Indians have given Jamie the name of Bear Killer which is how they will know him from now on. Two women also accompany the braves. One is a medicine woman and she tells Claire through her granddaughter that she dreamed of her and knows she has strong medicine which will only grow as she gets older. She also gives her a cryptic message that death comes from the Gods and it will not be her fault. Claire is like, um, ok then...let's have a cup of coffee or whatever.

Jump 200 years and we have Roger, poor love sick Roger, still thinking of Bree. He finds out some information about her mom and calls her long distance to tell her. They have a nice but awkward conversation while he tells her that he found documentation that confirms that Claire found Jamie and they settled in North Carolina. A bit later while Roger is picking up a few things that were left in the old rectory house that Fiona now lives in, she tells him she found something he might want to know about. Seems her grandmum helped the Rev. with his research and she came across an obituary from the 1700s that mentioned the Frasers had lost their lives in house fire. She thinks Roger should tell Bree but he doesn't think that would be a good idea, only breaking her heart. When he finally does decide to call he finds out from her room mate that she's gone to Scotland to visit her mother. Roger is gobsmacked to say the least but we know he's gonna be on it. Stay tuned.

 

Images from epi 4- Common grouond











one more:

 

Epi 4

 

So apparently there has been some backlash at casting Will Strongheart - the English speaking Indian. He was convicted of domestic assault in 2010 and some fans are upset...


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Huh. Maybe they should have cast him as the bear man who was exiled for domestic violence....

*Actually I looked into this. He doesn't deny what he did. He said he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol which fueled his behavior. He was convicted and served 18 months but he says he's been clean since 2010. He also issued a lengthy apology to those people he hurt as a result of his actions. IMO if this is so, then he's made amends to the extent that he can. If he stays clean and doesn't continue in those types of behavior there's no reason to deny him employment opportunities. Not being able to get work again seems to me to be the quickest way back to substance abuse and perhaps more women being hurt.

 

I agree. I did some looking as well and saw the pictures, and yes it was bad, very bad. He served his sentence and I couldn't find anything where he had repeated this behavior. I do understand these women were hurt badly and in no way am I trying to deminish that. I do not condone violence against any person, child woman or man. Or animals. However, if he has been clean and not repeated this behavior since 2010, he should be allowed to follow his dreams of acting.

Just my two cents...

 

S04E05 Savages

Another wonderful episode!!! I love how they can stray from the text, but give us enough to recognize it and still have a wonderful story! These script writers are top notch!

It starts out quiet enough with Claire and Adawehi sitting peacefully working with their herbs and talking. Would appear that they have become friends and are sharing knowledge of the healing arts. Jamie is preparing to go to town (we see the white sow gnawing on Jamie's hat, lol) to see if he can recruit Scottish settlers to work and live on the Ridge so our couple will be separated for a few days. Before he leaves, he asks Claire if Bree has as diamond shaped birthmark on her neck under her ear. Startled Claire acknowledges that she has but she doesn't remember telling him about it. Jamie tells her that he dreamed of his daughter and kissed her there.

Of course, all hell breaks out at home. Claire is going to the Muellers, German settlers, who live not far away to deliver a baby, which she does successfully. Along come the Indians who choose to water their horses in view of the Mueller cabin, and therefore on Mueller's land. Herr Mueller loses his shit and he and his son rush outside with rifles drawn to confront them.
Claire intervenes and diffuses the situation but before the Cherokee leave, they spread some substance along the creek bed which the Germans perceive as part of a curse although Claire tells them it's a blessing. Well and good. Claire goes home and we see her going through her daily routines, even taking a little break to down some whiskey, lol. Hey, I would if I were in her shoes, lol! Along comes the German preacher to tell Claire some bad news. The young woman, Petronella and the baby have died of the measles, Herr Mueller has gone crazy over it and is blaming Claire and he's worried Mueller might do something "regrettable." Claire tells him Jamie will be returning soon and she'll stand her ground. Now she's a bundle of nerves and sure enough, Mueller comes pounding at her door. She cautiously lets him in, gun drawn cause she's no fool, but he seems sane enough and not in anyways inclined to harm her. He plops himself in a chair to tell her about the measles that have killed his daughter and granddaughter. Claire tries to tell him the measles are a disease and that it's passed from person to person. Most likely he brought the germs home himself, unwittingly, from Cross Creek where he had gone and bought the new baby a doll Oh hell no, he knows that can't be it. It was that damn curse the Indians placed on the water and where there's curses there has to be a witch. Well, he's fixed the problem and he hands Claire a package. When she unwraps it she finds the scalp and necklace of Adawehi. She's horrified of course, and asks Herr Mueller to leave. Afterwards she puts the gruesome items in a small box with some herbs and cremates them in the fireplace. Herr Mueller returns home to find the Indians didn't take killing their medicine woman in stride. They have burned the cabin, killed his wife and then they finish him off with a couple of arrows hammering home the adage that what goes around comes around.

In town, Jamie is having trouble getting any of the Scots there interested in taking him up on his offer even though it's evident that many of them are farmers. He can't figure out why that is. Discouraged, he prepares to leave when Ian tells him the horse's bit is broken and it will need to be fixed in a hurry if they don't want to spend another night in town. Off to the smithy Ian goes where damn it all (I knew this was coming somewhere down the line) the smithy turns out to be MURTAUGH!!!!! I loved the scene of him and Jamie catching up in the tavern. Turns out he is the leader of a group of regulators who are agitating against the corrupt tax collectors of Gov. Tyron who have driven many of the Scottish famers to bankruptcy by illegally collecting money up and beyond what was due. Jamie and Ian are invited to a meeting of the regulators and Murtagh asks if his godson will join with them. Jamie tells him in good conscience he can't as he gave Tyron his promise upon receiving the land grant but he won't hinder them either. He tells Murtagh that he hopes he'll come find them on the Ridge when he's ready. So'nuf he does!!!! Claire is working out in the yard with her back turned away from him when he approaches the cabin. He starts to whistle the strain from Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and she turns and is ecstatic to see him!!! They hug and into the cabin they go!!!

Back in Scotland, Roger has tracked down where Bree had been staying. Told he had missed her the landlady gives him a letter that Bree left for him. Originally Bree told her to mail the letter one year from then but she can't see why she shouldn't give it to him now that he's here and all. In it he reads that Bree cares for him deeply but feels that she must go through the stones, if she can, to help her family. If he's reading the letter now she couldn't make it back. She asks him not to try and follow her. Yeah, right. Like that's gonna happen.....remember Roger is also the descendant of a time traveler and he could hear the noises from the stones at Craig Na Dun as well when they tried to stop Gellis from passing through. I promise you it's gonna get wild! Hang on to your seats!!!!

 

Images from Epi 5- Savages

 

I wanted to say how fine Murtaugh looked! That silver mane of his is certainly becoming! I hope they give him Duncan Innes role as we work through the seasons. I can see him marrying a certain someone and getting into that character's subsequent trouble.