Outlander

I don't see any threads here about Outlander, so I thought I would begin one. Season 3 just got started, and yet again I was impressed with the way the show handles what can be very heavy material. The Battle of Culloden Moore was treated with just the right blend of hopelessness and determination.

I like anything with a historical tinge to it, so I started watching the first season shortly after it came out. I watched a few episodes when I was visiting my parents, who have Starz, then decided to read the book. I finished the book before finishing the season, then started in on the rest of the books as the second season was airing. I've now read all the books and have been anxiously awaiting season 3 for months. Now it's finally arrived. I can't wait until we meet some of the new characters (or grown-up versions of characters we already know *cough* Fergus *cough*) in the next few episodes. They'll take us through the rest of the series.

At first glance, I'd expected a light or maybe faintly moody, atmospheric romantic drama, a la Poldark, but Outlander is really more of an adventure story. There's romance, but it becomes a very expansive story. Do the books have flaws? Yes. The show actually does a good job correcting some of those, though, of course, it has some flaws of its own. But overall, it's very thoughtfully done and well-crafted, and the acting is great, especially from the leads.

I quite like the actress, actually (Catrionna Balfe). She's not significantly different from how I imagined Claire, but then I never do get particularly clear *images* of characters when I read. The only casting choice I haven't liked is Bree. Too delicate for the kind of person Briana is supposed to be. I wasn't sure about Roger, because he doesn't look much like the descriptions of him in the book, but the actor is very charming and very Scottish. Jamie is cast well, though in the books he's described as being a very imposing figure and Sam Heughan does a wonderful job but isn't imposing. [Young] Fergus is spot-on. Tobias Menzies works for me--I'm not wild about him, but he does a good job.

In any case, I enjoyed last night's episode more than the first episode of the season. More happened. Pretty much everything from the first episode could have been inferred from the end of season 2; it was all just an elaboration, a filling-in of gaps that *maybe* didn't need to be filled in (though I can see how it was necessary for the show versus the book; in the book, you can drop little bits of dialogue and exposition to clue the reader in on what happened in the past, but you have to show it on TV). And I knew what was coming for Fergus, but it was still pretty hard to watch. The best part of the episode for me was the conversation between wee Fergus and Jamie when Fergus is in bed ("There you are, milord.").

I didn't mind the narration, and I think it was handled about as well as it could have been, once it was decided that's what they were doing. It works sometimes and not so well other times.

Black Jack has a lot to do in both seasons 1 and 2. I don't recall Claire to make him good. He's basically Public Enemy #1 for her, especially by the end of season 1. But she doesn't want him to die because that would mean her husband, Frank, who's his descendant, would never be born (time travel, man). So she has a vested interest in trying to keep him alive.