“Outlander” has undergone quite a shift in Season 2, with the action moving from the highlands of Scotland to the drawing rooms and boudoirs of France. We’ll be honest, it’s been a little boring. But not any longer. Warning: Don’t keep reading if you haven’t seen Saturday’s (May 14) episode and don’t want to be spoiled.
So, “Outlander” is finally getting good … or, less boring may be a better way of putting it. It’s not that “Outlander’s” first five Season 2 episodes haven’t been well done. They’ve been beautifully shot, with insane production value and the great acting and writing viewers have come to expect.
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But something’s been kind of lacking from the show. Claire (Caitriona Balfe) is doing her best to keep busy at the hospital, but Jamie (Sam Heughan) carries the storyline in Paris as he runs around pretending to help Prince Charles Stuart (Andrew Gower) when he’s actually working against the bonnie prince. It’s an important storyline to advance the plot, but it’s not the most riveting time in the book series and bringing it to life on screen didn’t really help make it more exciting.
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We’ve found ourselves counting down the minutes until we got to Jamie’s duel with Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies), which kicks off a slew of tense events that culminate in Jamie and Claire heading back to Scotland to try to save the highland clans. The duel did not disappoint and neither did Claire standing by helplessly as she continues having troubles with the baby. It was an emotional gut-punch that has us chomping at the bit for next week’s episode.
The only quibble with the duel is that it wasn’t filmed in pouring down rain with the two men shirtless. That’s one Diana Gabaldon vision that we were really hoping would make it into the show.
Props to the “Outlander” writers for condensing down the first half of the book as cleanly as they did, but praise be to Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ that the show has finally gotten to the meat of the book.
