Outlandish Thoughts on Outlander – The Deep Heart’s Core

The Holidays definitely put us on a hiatus with travel and family shenanigans, we didn’t miss any episodes, just didn’t have time to do a write-up so we’ve got some things to catch-up on.  Here’s a quick breakdown of the big points from the previous 2 episodes:

1. HAPPY 50^TH EPISODE OUTLANDER!!!!
2. Brianna and Roger find each other in America and are hand-fasted.
3. Brianna and Roger have a huge fight and may or may not have executed the world’s fastest self-annulment.
4. Brianna runs into our villain Stephen Bonnett and it does not go well. Really not well.
5. Brianna finds and meets Jamie and is finally reunited with Claire as well. SQEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
6. Brianna travels to Fraser’s Ridge to hang with her new family after giving Jamie and Claire the news about their impending death.
7. Roger has to continue his travels with Bonnett (unaware of what has happened to Bree), and when the trip is done he only asks for some gem stones – ahem.
8. Brianna tells her mother about her violation at the hands of Bonnett and that she is pregnant.
9. Roger travels to Fraser’s Ridge, unfortunately Bree’s companion spots him and (still having the wrong impression of poor Roger) tells Ian and Jamie he’s the man who violated Bree.
10. Jamie nearly beats Roger to death (not a great first meeting of your in-laws) and sends Ian off with his half-conscious body and tells Ian to dispose of Roger however he sees fit.

Bonus: Claire meets George Washington! (Hamilton fans all together now “It must be nice. It must be nice to have Washington on your side!”)

And here we are.  Phwew.

Sophie Skelton is really starting to shine as Brianna and she’s becoming a wonderful addition to the Fraser dynamic. The scenes with Jamie and Bree are filled with emotional landmines and the actors are doing a great job charting a smooth course – well until this episode – KABOOM!

There are a lot of similarities between Jamie and Bree in the books and their temperament is one of the biggies.  Which can be good and bad.  It’s why Jamie knew exactly the route to take when Bree blames herself for being raped.  He doesn’t coddle her for long and realizes that he needs to make his point another way, but she can be as stubborn and obstinate as him so it may have been unorthodox and uncomfortable at first, with the way he taunts her, but in the end he gets the point across and Bree does take a moment to realize that maybe she needs to stop being so hard on herself. This is also why, when they throw barbed words at each other they cut quick and they cut deep.

So when Bree discovers what Jamie and Ian did to Roger she is less than happy and Queen Bree emerges and she is out for blood. While she may not actually call for some beheadings, she’s verbally laying them out.  We’re finally feeling the power of Bree starting to emanate from her.  You cheer her on, even though you feel she’s being a wee bit unreasonable.  After all, Jamie and Ian didn’t know who Roger was and Lizzy had been with Bree when she was attacked so why would they doubt Lizzy’s word?  Claire told Jamie what happened, but not who the culprit was, and Bree never did confide to Lizzy who had really attacked her so…while we get Bree lashing out because she’s afraid for Roger, she and Claire could accept a wee bit of responsibility here, no?

Poor Roger!  This man cannot catch a break!  First Bonnett and now having his father-in-law beat him unconscious and his cousin-in-law sell him to a visiting Indian tribe. Things have really not been going well for him.  Rankin has done a great job playing the dual sides of Roger – the sensitive charmer and the occasionally sexist brute (well the brute part is according to Bree’s companion anyway) – and this episode he really got to dig into the backbone of the character. There’s been a bit of…innocence(?)…about Roger, even when he’s being a bit hot headed, but you can see that is slipping away.  Out little Roger is becoming a man.

So now Jamie, Ian and Claire have gone off to find Roger and bring him back.  Roger has escaped his captors, found another ‘gateway’ stone, and may or may not be traveling back to his time.

And Bree has gone to Aunt Jocasta at River Run, as a pregnant woman without the father.  Well, at least we had one fairly happy episode in this set.  We all knew it couldn’t last.

Up next week: “IF NOT FOR HOPE”

Jamie, Claire, and Young Ian embark on a long and uncertain journey to rescue Roger, while Brianna forges a friendship with one of Jamie’s old friends as she fends off Aunt Jocasta’s attempts to secure her a husband.  Meanwhile, Murtagh enlists Fergus’s help with a dangerous task. 

So how did the last three episodes shape up for all of you?  Did everyone else get up and do a happy dance in their living room as well when Jamie and Bree finally met?  Or when they went hunting together? Or when they just smiled at each other?

Let’s just relive some of those moments: