(This post contains spoilers  for the tv show Outlander . )

I wrote a post some weeks ago about the current TV show  I was watching and the book  that goes along with it. That  book  turned tv show was Outlander .  So I haven’t read the book yet still  but I will  pretty soon. And when I finish that book I will be writing about it.

 When I  wrote my first post about Outlander   I  heard   mixed  things about the TV show  and the book.  Some said they couldn’t finish neither the book  or the tv show. Some loved it. It’s because of all the violence and sexual  content  why people  couldn’t and  didn’t perceive it well.  Well I finished watching the whole tv  series ( well not season  6 because there is no season 6  until  2022)  and   I  have to admit  as I watched the  TV show  both some and most parts  were hard  to sit and watch .  

But as a writer and independent filmmaker I am used to sitting through numerous  movies  and analyzing even the worst  movies  you can imagine,  worse  than the Outlander tv show or series. I watched Outlander for so much more than that. I didn’t  love it or hate it. I will try to explain why in an objective way  . This will be solely my opinion .  You can take it for what  you want.  But here  goes.

When I first  came upon Outlander  tv show I saw  advertisements  about it but never watched  it or  knew  what it was  really about. Like I said in  my other post  I kind of have a soft spot for historical tv shows and novels.  So  I  was all  up for watching it  especially when I found out it was  a  time travel  show and book.  I have  read so many time travel  books  over the years  and  tried  to look for   good time travel  shows and movies  however there are very few . So when  I  found this show  I  was pretty  hyped .  

TIME TRAVELING 

Okay  here  is the thing .   In my opinion  the  show doesn’t  have enough time travel  for me.  Throughout  watching the  whole show  I wanted  Claire,  the main character  to  blurt  out to the ones that she trusted  or  felt  comfortable  around  and say   “I’m a time traveler dammit.” But every time I thought  she was going to say it . She didn’t  .  I  was  very disappointed  in that.   I  wanted  to see  their  reactions . Especially if she would have told Dougal.  Would  he  have used   her for his own advantage ? Or would he have tried  to  have  her burned at the stake as a  witch?  I’m  sure  not all of  the people  of that time would  have thought she was  a witch?  I also found that in the beginning of season 1,  Claire  gave up  easily on trying to get back home  to the 20th century. Even when she knew how to get back  home.  She  was kind of  cheating on her 20th century husband .  I  felt  bad  for him  in a way.   He spent three  years not  knowing  what  happened  to her.  Couldn’t  she have left a message in like a  book  or something  if she didn’t  want to go  back?   I  felt she  was  selfish   on that  part.   

Another  thing that  got me  about  the time traveling  was  when she   finally   did  go back to  the 20th century  three years later .   She  did the same thing  and  easily gave  up on Jamie  and assumed  he was  dead.  She knew  how to get  back  .   Her character  gave up too easily.  And I also thought with Jamie still being alive , knowing  she was a  time traveler, he would have left a  message sooner  than 20 years later.  But he didn’t .  He  wallowed in  his self-pity  hiding in  a cave.  I  also felt like  there was  going to be more  time travel lore  than it was  .  I  mean  I wasn’t  expecting a Doctor Who scenario  but  I wanted  to see more.  There were hints  of  other time travelers  but that is just  where   it   ended.   And the fact  that Claire  never really   got  to meet the  other  time travelers but only briefly besides Geillis .  I felt robbed.  

I wanted  more interaction  between them.  That moment   when Geillis revealed   that she was a  time traveler  when  she was about  to be burned at the stake    for being a witch was epic ! I was like  omg!.   I got  hyped  again.  But when  that part of the  story went nowhere   I was  disappointed. Especially  when she  popped  up  in later  seasons and had  only minimal interaction  with  Claire . 

I liked  the reveal  of how there was other  stones  and other  portals  wherever  they traveled ,   not  just Scotland.   But  I wondered  where those  portals actually went?   I wonder  once I read the book will that be  explored  in the book?   Or will  they  delve into that  in the  final  two seasons  of the  tv series?

Also the fact that Claire’s  daughter ,  grandson and son in law  can all travel through  the stones and portals  as  well . That was  pretty interesting.   But  once again I  wanted  more  time travel moments and lore on the show  at least.

TIME JUMPS

 Some of the time jumps in the show were  in my opinion  confusing.   In most tv  shows  I  hate  time  jumps  especially large ones  like the 20 year  time  jump they did in  the show.  I understand they tried to  do what  is  called the Fractured tandem Narrative  mixed   with a Portmanteau , a type   of frame  made   out of splitting  a plot in  two to bookends . They start using  this technique  a lot  in this tv show   where  the  third act is  in   the  first act  of    the 1st  episode of  the 2nd season.  In my opinion   I  rather would  have  liked to see  them just go  straight  to  France in the first episode  of season 2  instead of  her   coming  from the stones  on the  first  episode.   It was  very  jarring and I was  like  wait , what?  In then they  went into  the  France plotline  until  the end of the season  .

Where the twenty years’ time  jump starts  on season  3 .I didn’t  like them  filling in the missing time. I understand because of time  constraints . But  I  felt they maybe could  have done it another  way .

Like I said before Claire  shouldn’t  have assumed  that  Jamie was  dead  and waited  20 years . The same  with Jamie  .  He should  have tried to send her a message sooner.  

THE ROMANCE, ARRANGED MARRIAGE  AND  THE MAIN CHARACTERS

I felt  the first season of the tv show  was  its strongest .  Especially the interactions between  Claire  in the  other characters  she  met  in the past . She was more an observer and she compared  what she knew  as  history  from  what she learned  from the future.    One thing I liked  was  the buildup  between the two  characters  Claire and Jamie.  You didn’t  see him  all that much in  the first part of season1 . I mean he was  there  but he  was  just like in the  background as  Claire  navigated  through the time period trying not to divulge that she was a time traveler .  I ‘m not saying they didn’t interact  but  I  liked  how their  interactions  were pretty  platonic and  they  could have just as easily been  good friends  if  they  wasn’t forced  to get married.   That’s what it was  mainly  , a forced, against her will  arranged  marriage. 

The fact that she kept telling everyone that  she had a husband but  he was dead  didn’t   help matters   for the arranged  marriage . She should have just said, I have  to get back to my  husband  or he’s sitting dying  somewhere I  have to save him. If I  was  her I would  have tried to still get away.  Like I said earlier,  she gave up too easily. Even  though her and Jamie   were  cordial with each other .  And I understand the  only reason why he agreed to  marry  her was to save her life.  But  him  and his family  never really asked her  why she was there  in the first place.  They just  assumed  she was a spy  for the English.  And  when she tried  to tell them  she wasn’t and she  wanted  to go back home . They were like no  . You’re staying as  our  guest . But we all know she was a prisoner .  

If they were  so afraid of her  being a spy  why  didn’t  they kill  her ?   That aspect  of the show  kind of   threw  me .   I  wanted  her  to get back home  in the  early  episodes  of the  show .   And there is that one simple thing that Jamie knew  she  was already married . They  all knew  she was committing adultery,  infidelity , and  polygamy. But  no one seemed  to care.  Even she didn’t care after a  while . She  was like  oh well I’m stuck in this century . But she  wasn’t  stuck  there. She could go back anytime she wanted.  I mean maybe it was because of the fact  that her  husband  looked  like the  spitting image  of  the ancestor  Jack Randell  that changed  her mind   about  ultimately being  with Frank .   I mean I  would  have  indifference  too if I  had a husband whose  doppelganger  ancestor  harmed me.  

And  don’t  let  me start on the insta love . Oh well I am  .Because there  was  Insta love  between  Claire and  Jamie and  a lot of it.  Like I said before the relationship between Jamie and  Claire  was very platonic at first .  But as soon  as  they were married  , maybe  three  days into the marriage  Claire was so into  Jamie   that it was  nauseating to say the least .  I was  like  wait a minute , doesn’t she  still  want to get back home to her  husband?  She never said  she loved  him that quick but you  could  see it in her  demeanor. Yes  it was mainly  lust but it was  still there.  As  for Jamie   I think  for him  it was a love at  first sight  kind of  thing . She saved  him  numerous  of times  and  the woman took   his virginity.  Of  course  he was  going  to fall  in love with her.  

I didn’t like  how  his demeanor changed  as a  person once  he  got married to Claire .  In those  first couple  of  episodes  I  saw his character  as a  humble, courageous,   gorgeous young  man  of I  think 25  .   But after he  got married  to Claire  he was  still all those things  but he became  kind  of brutish.  Not altogether. But he was  like  Clare  is  his.   And  I’m not going to  forget about that scene where  he beat her  with a  belt.  That was  stupid . I  didn’t  understand that  scene . It  wasn’t really needed but then again   the fact that she took a  knife to him  to say if he ever  tried  that again .  She would  kill him  was a pretty  combat scene.   But then  she  just  poof forgave  him after  that .  I didn’t  get that and I wished  that was  slowed  down a little bit .  Maybe she would try to get  away  again or something.   

And  I  felt  like  he somehow  immediately  thought  he all of a sudden  knew  everything . I think  his  ego  got too  high  and mighty. And  he got too  drunk  on finally   being  married . He said  it himself, he thought no one would have him because  he was  a  wanted man.  He  just got too relaxed .   And  everything  was  immediately about  Claire  this and Claire that . The man was clearly   mesmerized  with Claire .

I  guess  you can call that good character development   But   I also felt  with Jamie he  was  weak.   He wasn’t much of a  warrior  or soldier like they tried to label him.  But  I can say this,  he sure  as  hell  was  a gangster when  it came to certain points in the series. When  it came to protecting his name  , and his family.   All  throughout   the show  I  had   these Al Capone,  Sopranos , Peaky Blinders, Godfather vibes. I was  like   yeah  you don’t mess  with Clan Mackenzie  and   Fraser.   I could totally envision  this  show  in another iteration  as  a Mafia  , gangster  tv show.   Believe it, it  would work .

So that’s my  thoughts on the show  . I got more to say about  it but  then  this article would be  longer  than  what it is supposed to be.  It’s not going to be until  2022  that season  6  will come out .  I’m  looking  forward  to it.   I ‘m  going to start reading the books  soon and I will give my thoughts  about that as well.  One quick thing. I did some research and the author  of Outlander  did  participate and write an episode  or two  of the tv show.

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