Caitriona Balfe received her 4th Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Drama Series. Congratulations to Caitriona. I do wonder why Sam keeps getting overlooked however. Together they make the chemistry. It seems hard to imagine anyone else in the role of Jamie Fraser.

 

S04E06 Blood of My Blood

Oh my! This episode covered some good ground from the book....slightly altered as always, but good none the less.

The Fasers get company and who do you think just happened to be strolling by in the back woods, far, far away from where he says he's going???? LORD JOHN GREY!!!! Oh, yeah, and who do you think he has with him???? WILLIE, er excuse me, as he'd rather be called William now!!! Jamie's over the moon. Claire not so much. Murtaugh either at seeing his old prison warden show up for dinner. It's revealed that LJ is chummy with the Governor, duh, and during the dinner time conversation he interjects that the regulators are savages due to their behavior. Taxes again. Can no one speak of anything else? Murtaugh gets his hackles up and leaves, Jamie following close behind, reminds his god father that it was John's benevolence that saved his life back at Ardsmuir, but Murtaugh finally gets out of Jamie why he's really grateful to John. William's paternity is out but Murtaugh is a vault and the secret is safe. Jamie and John get a chance to play chess together once again too. awwwwww

The next day, John and Master William are getting ready to leave when Claire notices that John is burning up with fever. Seems he's picked up that pesky measles going around. She suggests that he stay in the cabin while she nurses him back to health and Jamie take William on walkabout until John is no longer contagious.

William doesn't want to leave his "dad" but goes out with Jamie anyways. He's a little bit of brat, but being who he's being raised to be (Lord Ellesmere) it's no wonder. Jamie has him in hand though and it comes out that he even remembers his old groom, Mac. Jamie shows him how to do a few things for himself out in the wilderness, like catch a fish...with his bare hands *swoon* no less, and gut a deer that he has shot. He also tells him to stay within the boundaries of Fraser land because it won't be good to stray into Indian land. Of course the kid doesn't listen and the Cherokee catch him fishing in their creek, stealing their fish....what things the natives are learning from their European neighbors. tsk, tsk. They're gonna draw blood but Jamie cries out that he's Williams's father so his blood should do nicely. OK then, but Willian bravely interjects saying that Jamie is not his father and he'll undergo the punishment instead. He doesn't take the "I'm his father" bit seriously, seeing it only as Jamie's attempt to protect him. The Indians are impressed however and only symbolically take Williams blood from a cut they make on his hand. Riding home, William asks "Mac" while he never looked back when leaving Helwater. Jamie tells him that he didn't because he didn't want to give the lad false hope as he thought he would never see him again.

Meanwhile back at the cabin, LJ is a little loose with his thoughts as he burns away from fever. He and Claire go at it over how each feels about Jamie and each other and who got to do what. I've never seen such a polite cat fight, lol. Eventually they call a truce because they find common ground. Claire may have Jamie but John will always have a piece of him by raising Willie as his own. John pulls through and the boys return. As LJ and Willie ride away, Willie deliberately looks back at Jamie.

Everyone gone, it's nookie time for Jamie and Claire, something they've had to put off cuz it's only a one room cabin and they've had company. Jamie gives her a bath and a ring with an inscription that he had Murtaugh make from some of the silver from his mother's candle stick. Then it's to bed and the episode ends.

*Jamie giving Claire a replacement ring bothers me a bit as it will have an impact on events that are about to transpire. The writers must have some changes in mind to the text. I hope they continue to keep it close however and not effect the drama to come too much.*

 

Images from episode 6, Blood of My Blood

 

I thoroughly enjoyed last night's episode, even though it was the first episode without Jamie and Claire. At first I thought, oh wow, Laoghaire has gotten kinder with age. Not!

purriwinkle, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the episode

 

Woke up this morning ready to watch and found out we're having a problem with our dish connection. Will weigh in as soon as I get to see it. I'll bet it was good!

 

Spoiler alert

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowb...l-left-leads-Claire-Jamie-latest-episode.html

 

Looks like the writers can't win with this one! The complaints of non book reading viewers as far as I see it. Unfortunately, as a bookreader I didn't like it as much not because of the absence of J& C but because they didn't follow the book more closely when it came to what happened to Bree when she went back in time. It was so much more dramatic in the book whereas this was rather hum drum. Would it have been so bad to include both Jenny and Ian and family? I can only figure that the writers were trying to paint Laoghaire in a more positive light.

It was the same with Game of Thrones. Some non book readers were disenchanted when The Stark family seemed to disintegrate. While watching the first season they thought the story was going to revolve around the Starks rather than realize the Starks were only an introduction to a much bigger story.

What non book readers have to understand here is that while the Outlander series is certainly about Jamie and Claire, the story will expand to include plots and incidences involving the kids (Bree, William, young Ian and their love interests). That's what keeps the story interesting and varied. It's a FAMILY saga. Some of my favorite parts are about Bree and Roger. If they had followed the book better, I think the viewers would have pulled behind Bree more. This version was watered down mush. No wonder they were missing Jamie and Claire.

One other miss was the casting of Lizzie Wemyss. She should have been a small actress whom Bree was going to protect. This one looked like she towered over Bree!! Lol I was shaking my head over that one...lol

On the positive side, I rather liked how we saw Tobias Menzes again in his role as Frank. Bree loved him and it was good for viewers to see their relationship building up to his fatal car accident. It will all give some context for future events concerning the evolution of Bree and Jamie's relationship.

I also liked how they showed more of Bonnet's bad guy side, as if the robbery didn't cement it already. Like Black Jack, his character is multi faceted....all bad unfortunately.

Will get to the recap Thursday.

 

S04E07 Down the Rabbit Hole

Bree has made up her mind to go back in time to help her folks as we saw last week. She makes it through with her PB&J sandwich, map and not exactly period clothes only to be slapped in the face that there is pretty much nothing in this area circa two hundred years in the past. No corner pub, gas station, Seven-Eleven...natch and she finds herself wandering in the Scottish highlands with only herself for company. Inevitably, like the woman who falls down when the monster is chasing her, Bree also takes a tumble down an embankment because she's not really looking where she's going. She hurts her ankle but keeps going. Eventually, she's exhausted and sort of lays down to what....die I suppose when she's rescued by who else but Laoghaire, of course.

She wakes up and finds that her host is a delightful woman who's hospitable as well. Wait, you say, are we sure this is Laoghaire? Seems she's made some attitude adjustments and is getting by with her youngest daughter Joanie, who gets quite attached as the days go by to their new house guest. Eventually the shit hits the fan when it comes out that Bree is Claire Fraser's daughter, who not only is a man stealer but a witch as well. All that old animosity comes bubbling to the surface and yep... that's the Laoghaire we know so well. Not saying I blame her exactly but Jamie and she had split before Claire came back so playing the same old song over and over doesn't really help with the healing process. Add to that that she didn't get her divorce settlement money and her head starts to spin 360 degrees. She locks Bree in her room and goes off to the authorities, at least that's where she tell Bree she's going. Meanwhile little Joanie lets her out and takes her to Lallybroch where Uncle Ian greets her with open arms. Huh. Just like that he believes her and says he'll help her get to America. Even gives her a trunk of Claire's old clothes. This is only doable I imagine because Jenny isn't home.

With the money Bree gets from Uncle Ian, she secures passage for herself and for a towering woman who she takes on as a maid servant named Lizzie Wemyss. This comes about because Bree was approached by a man as she waits in the station. He begs her to take on his daughter else she'll be sold to a man who desires her as a "concubine" and he'd rather see her go off to wild parts unknown rather than be dishonored. Frankly, this Lizzie is so big I don't know why she couldn't knock the guy flat on his back but evidently she's not a brawler and the man would have been, more than just an employer as she was indentured. So it's gonna be ladies night out as the two women venture across the sea.

Throughout the episode, at various times, Bree has dreams or flash backs of the last times she spent with daddy Frank. Probably a very natural thing as she gets closer and closer to meeting her biological father. It also fills in some of the blanks as to those last events leading up to Frank's fatal car accident. Also it was just nice to see Tobias Menzies again.

Meanwhile, Roger is planning to follow Bree, the love of his life, back in time to what....I don't know...look after her? Bring her back? I imagine he feels he must as it was his disclosure about the obituary that compelled her to time travel. Even though many viewers have formed a negative opinion of Roger, likening him at this point to a stalker, lol, he really loves the girl and those viewers will come to find out that she feels the same.

After he goes through the stones, he gets passage to America himself by hiring out as a crew member to none other than Capt. Stephen Bonnet. God, if Roger really knew what a creeper Bonnet was he would have tried swimming over first .Bonnet has times, like Leoghaire, when he seems almost sane but Roger witnesses first hand his cruel capriciousness when a young girl gets what everyone thinks is small pox. Personally, I doubt it was cause she didn't seem that sick to me, but Bonnet insists he'll take no chances and orders the girl to be thrown overboard. Just like that. In the middle of the ocean. Roger is aghast but Bonnet does it anyways, the mother jumps overboard after her daughter and Roger can do nothing about it cause the Capt. rules. Welcome to the 18th century and to a man who will come to haunt his dreams for years to come.He also meets some MacKenzies, who at least in the book, are his descendants.He hides the woman and her baby away from Bonnet cause the little tyke has a small rash on his face from teething and is in danger of a salt water grave himself. Oh, Bonnet finds them out but Roger is saved from being killed by a toss of a coin. Seems Lady Luck was with Roger that time.

 

Some images from Down The Rabbit Hole

 

I was really pissed they didn't do things the way it was in the book but I came across this in a recap from TV Line:

A note before we move on: In Drums of Autumn, Brianna shows up at Lallybroch first. That’s where she meets Ian and Jenny, and her first interaction with Laoghaire is decidedly different (read: Bree knows who she is right away, and she shocks everyone by announcing that Laoghaire was behind the business at Cranesmuir. In short, they yell at each other a lot). “We had plans to go to Lallybroch and do certain things,” executive producer Matthew B. Roberts told me, “and then through actor availability we were unable to tell the story exactly the way that we wanted to. So we had to revamp.”

Ok then. They're forgiven since they were smacked in the face with a whole lot of would have if we could have. I'll reprint the famous scene a bit later (I've misplaced my book of all things, lol) with another famous deleted scene alluded to in the previous episode.

 

If you've noticed, they always open the episode with something perhaps a bit cryptic or a nod to book readers. In the beginning of episode 6 Blood of My Blood where LJ and Willie come to the Ridge, they showed a snake being removed from the privy. For those who want to read a bit, it was in reference to an incident that happened at the Ridge during the visit. As a build up, young Ian was home, not away with the Indians and the boys got into a bit of trouble while the adults were visiting.....and Ian deduces the truth that Murtaugh was given on the show.

The Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

At this point, I noticed Ian, who was hovering in the doorway, obviously reluctant to interrupt but with a marked look of urgency on his face.
"Did you want something, Ian?" I asked, interrupting Lord John.
He shook his head, brown hair flying.
"No, I thank ye, Auntie. It's only---" He cast a helpless glance at Jamie. "Well, I'm sorry, Uncle, I ken I shouldna ha' let him do it, but----"
"What?" Alarmed by Ian's tone of voice, Jamie was already on his feet. ""What have ye done?"
The lad twisted his big hands together, cracking his knuckles in embarrassment.
"Well, ye see, his Lordship asked for the privy, and so I told him about the snake, and that he'd best go into the the wood instead. So he did, but then he wanted to see the snake, and...and...
"He's not bitten?" Jamie asked anxiously. Lord John, who had obviously been about to ask the same thing, gave him a glance.
"Oh, no!" Ian looked surprised. "We couldna see it to start with, because it was too dark below. So we lifted off the benchtop to get more light. We could see the serpent fine, then, and we poked at it a bit wi' a long branch, so it was lashin' to and fro like the wee book said, but it didna seem inclined to bite itself. And---and" He darted a glance at Lord John, and swallowed audibly.
"it was my fault, " he said, nobly squaring his shoulders, the better to accept blame. "I said as how I'd thought to shoot it earlier, but we didna want to waste the powder. And so his Lordship said as how he would fetch his papa's pistol from from the saddlebag and deal with the thing at once. And so---"
"Ian," said Jamie between his teeth. "Stop blethering this instant and tell me straight what ye've done wi' the lad. Ye've not shot him by mistake, I hope?"
Ian looked offended at this slur upon his marksmanship.
"Of course not!" he said.
Lord John coughed politely, forestalling further recriminations.
"Perhaps you would be good enough to tell me the whereabouts of my son at this moment?"
Ian took a deep breath and visibly commended his soul to God.
"He's in the bottom of the privy," he said. ""Have ye got a bit o' rope, Uncle Jamie?"
With an admirable economy of both words and motion, Jamie reached the door in two strides and disappeared, closely followed by Lord John.
"Is he in there with the snake?" I asked, hastily scrabbling through the washbasket for something to use as a tourniquet, just in case.
"Oh, no, Auntie, " Ian assured me. "Ye dinna think I'd have left him, and the serpent was still there? Maybe I'd best go help," he added, and disappeared as well.
I hurried after him, to find Jamie and Lord John standing shoulder to shoulder in the doorway of the privy, conversing with the depths. Standing on tip toe to peer over Lord John"s shoulder, I saw the torn butt end of a long, slender hickory branch protruding a few inches above the edge of the oblong hole. I held my breath; Lord Ellesmere's struggles had stirred up the contents of the privy, and the reek was enough to sear the cilia off my nasal membranes.
"He says he's not hurt, " Jamie assured me, turning away from the hole and unlimbering a coil of rope from his shoulder.
"Good," I said. "Where's the snake, though?" I peeked nervously into the outhouse, but couldn't see anything beyond the silvery cedar boards and the dark recesses of the pit.
"It went that way," Ian said, gesturing vaguely down the path by which I had come. "The laddie couldna quite get a good shot, so I gave the thing a wee snoove wi' the stick, and damned if the bugger didna turn and come at me, right up the branch! It scairt me so I let out a skelloch and let go, and I bumped the lad, and---well, that's how it happened," he ended lamely.
Trying to avoid Jamie's eye, he sidled toward the pit, and, leaning over, yelled awkwardly, "Hey! I'm glad ye didna break your neck!"
Jamie gave him a look that said rather plainly that if necks were to be broken...but forbore further remarks in the interest of extracting William promptly from his oubliette. This procedure was carried out without further incident, and the would-be marksman was lifted out, clinging to the rope like a caterpillar on a string.
There had luckily been enough sewage in the bottom of the pit to break his fall. From appearances, the ninth Earl of Ellesmere had landed face down. Lord John stood for a moment on the path, wiping his hands on his breeches and surveying the encrusted object before him. He rubbed the back of a hand over his mouth, trying either to hide a smile or to stifle his sense of smell.
Then his shoulders stared to shake.
"What news from the Underworld, Persephone?" he said, unable to keep the quaver of laughter out of his voice.
A pair of slanted eyes looked blue murder out of the mask of filth obscuring his Lordship's features. It was a thoroughly Fraser expression, and I felt a qualm go through me at the sight. By my side, Ian gave a sudden start. He glanced quickly from the Earl to Jamie and back, then he caught my eye and his own face went perfectly and unnaturally blank.


There's a bit more but you get the gist... I know many reader/viewers would have liked to have seen this play out. The writers knew that and hence we got the snake nod to let us know they knew but it was too much, no doubt, with all that had to be filmed in the hour.

 

Thank you for typing that all out. BAHAHAHAHAHA

 

I was hoping to see Bree meet Jenny, so yeah I was disappointed with that...

 

Oh, I don't mind the typing. I'm of an age where we had to take typing in Jr High (I don't think they even have those anymore, lol) and as a result I type very well. No need to even look at the keyboard so as long as I can keep my place in the book it goes rather quickly. I do have to scan for typos, but I hope I catch most of them. I'll be printing the scene of Bree going to Lallybroch that happened in the book that the writers were not able to do due to actor availability. Looks like the actress who portrays Jenny was engaged with another project and you couldn't do it like in the book without Jenny's character.

 

Well, here we go....Bree goes back in time. She doesn't walk but rides a horse that she bought when she got to Scotland and has arrived at Lallybroch. She's anxious as she doesn't know who she will meet first AND in order to facilitate her getting there she has been wearing breeks which from a distance, considering book Bree is tall like her father, gives the impression from a distance that she's a man. It's long so I'll do some skipping ....so there'll be something left if you read the book...

Excerpts taken from The Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

The man pulled up his horse for a moment when he saw them, then twitched a heel against the bay's side and came on, slowly..........He came up to her warily, nodding as he came within speaking distance. Then she saw him stiffen in surprise, and smiled to herself.
He had just noticed that she was a woman. The men's clothes she wore would fool no one up close; "boyish" was the last word one would use to describe her figure.. They served their purpose well enough, though......................
"Madame," he said. "Might I assist ye?"
She took off her own hat and smiled at him.
"I hope so," she said. "Is this place Lallybroch?"
He nodded, wariness now added to his surprise as he heard her odd accent.
"It is, so. Will ye be having some business here?"
"Yes," she said firmly. "I will." She drew herself up straight in the saddle and took a deep breath. "I'm Brianna...Fraser."
It felt odd to say it aloud; she had never used the name before. It seemed strangely right, though.
The wariness on his face diminished, but the puzzlement didn't. He nodded cautiously.
"Your servant, ma'am. Jamie Fraser Murray," he added formally, bowing, "of Broch Tuarach."
"Young Jamie!" she exclaimed, startling him with her eagerness. "You're Young Jamie!"
"My family calls me so," he said stiffly, managing to give her the impression that he objected to having the name used wantonly by strange women in unsuitable clothes.
"Pleased to meet you," she said, undaunted. She extended a hand to him, leaning from her saddle. "I'm your cousin"
The brows, which had come down during the introductions, popped back up. He looked at her extended hand, then, incredulously, at her face.
"Jamie Fraser is my father," she said.
His jaw dropped, and he simply goggled at her for a moment. He looked her over minutely, head to toe, peered closely at her face, and then a wide, slow smile spread across his own.
"Damned if he isn't" he said. He seized her hand and squeezed it tight enough to grind the bones together. "Christ, you've the look of him!"
He laughed, humor transforming his face. "Jesus!" he said. "My mother will have kittens!"

 

They arrive at the big house and Brianna takes it all in. Young Jamie tells her about how their grandsire made the doors of the house so high because Ellen was tall. The house is filled with people of course. Jamie is married with children of his own. YJ speaks with his son Matthew. As we continue....

"Where's Grannie, Matt?" his father asked.
"in the back parlor wi' Grandda and a lady and a man," Matthew replied promptly. "They've had two pots of coffee, a tray of scones, and a whole Dundee cake, but Mama says they're hangin' on in hopes of bein' fed dinner, too, and good luck to them because it's only brose and a bit o' hough today, and damned--oop!"--he pressed a hand over his mouth, glancing guiltily at his father--"and drat if she'll gie them any of the gooseberry tart, no matter how long they stay,"
Young Jamie gave his son a narrow look, then glanced quizzically at his sister. "A lady and a man?"
Janet made a faint moue of distaste.
"The Grizzler and her brother," she said.
Young Jamie grunted, with a glance at Brianna.
"I imagine Mam will be pleased for an excuse to get away from them, then." He nodded at Matthew. "Go and fetch your Grannie, lad. Tell her I've brought a visitor she'll like to see. And watch your language, aye?" He turned Matthew toward the back of the house and slapped him gently on the rump in dismissal.
The little boy went, but slowly, casting glances of intense fascination over his shoulder at Brianna as he went.
Young Jamie turned back to Brianna, smiling.
"That'll be my eldest," he said. "And this" --gesturing to the young woman, "is my sister, Janet Murray. Janet--Mistress Brianna Fraser."
Brianna didn't know whether to offer to shake hand or not, and instead contented herself with a nod and a smile. "I'm very pleased to meet you," she said warmly.
Janet's eyes sprang wide with amazement, whether at what Brianna had said or at the accent with which she'dd spoken, Brianna couldn't tell.
Young Jamie grinned at his sister's surprise.
"You'll never guess who she is, Jen," he said. "Never in a thousand years!"
Janet lifted one eyebrow, then narrowed her eyes at Brianna.
"Cousin," she murmured, looking their guest frankly up and down. "She's the look o' the MacKenzies, surely. But she's a Fraser, ye say..." Her eyes sprang suddenly wide.
"Oh, ye can't be," she said to Brianna. a wide smile began to spread across her face, pointing up the family resemblance to her brother. "You can't be!"
Her brother's chortle was interrupted by the swish of a swinging door and the sound of light footsteps on the boards of the hallway.

 

Now the fun begins but I'll continue to break it up in smaller sections....

"Aye, Jamie? Mattie says we've a guest---" The soft, brisk voice died suddenly, and Brianna looked up, her heart suddenly in her throat.
Jenny Murray was very small--- no more than five feet tall-- and delicately boned as a sparrow. She stood staring at Brianna, mouth slightly open. Her eyes were the deep blue of gentians, made the more striking by a face gone white as paper.
"Oh, my," she said softly. "Oh, my." Brianna smiled tentatively, nodding to her aunt--her mother's friend, her father's beloved only sister. ............................................................
Young Jamie bowed elaborately to his mother, beaming.
"Mam, might I have the honor to present to ye----"
"Jamie Fraser! I kent he was back---I told ye, Jenny Murray"
The voice rang out from the back of the hallway in tones of high-pitched accusation. Glancing up in startlement, Brianna saw a woman emerging from the shadows, rustling with indignation.
"Amyas Kettrick told me he'd seen your brother riding near Balriggan! But no, ye wouldna have it, would ye, Jenny---telling me I'm a fool, telling me Amyas is blind, and Jamie in America! Liars the both of ye, you and Ian, trying to protect that wicked coward! Hobart!" she shouted, turning toward the back of the house, "Hobart! Come out here this minute!"
"Be quiet!" said Jenny impatiently. "Ye are a fool, Laoghaire!" She jerked at the woman's sleeve, urging her around. "And as for who's blind, look at her! Are ye too far past it to tell the difference between a grown man and a lass in breeks, for heaven's sake?: Her own eyes stayed fixed on Brianna, bright with speculation.
"A lass?"
The other woman turned, frowning nearsightedly at Brianna. Then she blinked once, anger erased as her round face went slack with surprise She gasped, crossing herself.
"Mary, Margaret and Bride! Who in the name of God are you?"
Brianna took a deep breath, looking from one woman to the other as she answered, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
"My name is Brianna. I'm Jamie Fraser's daughter."

 

Oops, shit just hit the fan....

Both women's eyes popped wide. The woman called Laoghaire grew slowly red and seemed to swell, opening and closing her mouth in a futile search for words.
Jenny stepped forward, though, and seized Brianna's hands, looking up into her face. A soft pink bloomed in her cheeks, making her look suddenly young.
"Jamie's? You're truly Jamie's lassie?" She squeezed Brianna's hands hard between her own.
"My mother says sol"
Brianna felt the answering smile on her own face. Jenny's hand were cool, but Brianna felt a rush of warmth nonetheless, which spread through her hands and up into her chest......................................................................................................................................
"Does she, so?" Laoghaire had recovered both her voice and her self-possession. She stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "Jamie Fraser's your father, aye? And just who might your mother be?"
Brianna stiffened.
"His wife," she said. "Who else?"
Laoghaire put back her head and laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh.
"Who else?" she said, mimicking. "Who else indeed, lassie! And just which wife would that be, now?"