SassAndSnacks

Holy Toledo! There's a lot to unpack here. Superficially, I'm pleased that I'm not the only one annoyed about snow on the ground during the Battle of Monmouth. FFS! Her dismissal of Claire's parents as not that important annoys me. But these are her characters, so... 🤷‍♀️ Count that as 7. I think this season would have really benefited from the Buik threads with Fergus and Marsali. I know the actors weren't available, but they were such integral parts of Book 8. I don't know about you, but I missed the Germaine / Lord John hijinks through the Continental Army.

Let's hope! I was a little skeptical about the prequel when I initially thought it was only the story of Jamie's parents. I've always been more curious about Claire's family and why / how she is able to travel. I was pumped when I saw that her parents are a part of this. And the trailer looks fab. Fingers crossed.

Team - I just don't know. Maybe I need to watch this one again, even though I don't want to. So many, "I'm sorry, what?" moments in this one. In no particular order - Claire is awfully mobile for someone who was shot in the guts days before, underwent surgery with no anesthesia, has no pain killers, and is using a sus script for Roquefort penicillin. I cringed when Claire pissed in the bucket Jamie was holding. Can't we give this woman SOME dignity? And also the actors. Do you think they got they got the script and Sam was like "Ok, I'm holding a bucket while Cait faux pisses in it." Just why? I know, she needed to check for blood. But there's another way to write this scene, I'm sure of it. Anyway, this is the least of my gripes, I'm just saying it to say it! I need to double-check, but the painting of Ellen showed a woman with dark hair, no? Also, they should maybe have had Sophie sit for that painting, so that we got the whole Bree Looks Exactly Like Ellen reference a little more. Completely unmoved by Rollo's death. I'm sorry. I have nothing against that Good Boy, but I do have major issues with anything Rachel and Ian. This was another scene with them where I was wondering if I should be invested or not, and I wasn't. Also, the eyes. WHY?! (Yelling in my best Nancy Kerrigan) I didn't post about the previous episode, but the Battle of Monmouth took place in the summer. It was outrageously hot. Thus, Molly Pitcher came to fame. I know we filmed in Scotland in the winter, but c'mon. Bree... As always, Bree... And finally, shouting in Nancy Kerrigan WHY WHY WHY!!!!!!!!! WHY did we go there with Faith / Fanny. WTAF?! I heard Fanny singing the seaside song, and I was like...no, do not do this. And they freaking did. In Bees, which is admittedly a giant stinker of a book, they almost where there with this crap, but even Diana, who has little to no restraint for shite, didn't go there. I hated it. I can't add anything more than what everyone said. But I hated it. We're going to spend the last season clearing this shit up. I hate freaking fanfic of this show. I have lots of my own fanfic ideas, this isn't one! PS - William slept with his niece. Awesome. We've officially entered VC Andrews territory, only she (and her ghost writers) did it better. Phew... I did love some things too. I promise. David Berry has carried the back half of this season for me. I'm not even a LJG fan, but I find myself strangely attracted to this man. Is it the eye patch? Rik Rankin anyone? I cared absolutely nothing about Buck MacKenzie. Now I want to lick Oban from that man's whickers. Loathe Geneva, but I loved Jamie telling William something positive about her. I enjoy the flashbacks to a simpler time, when the writing of this show was better. I just don't know. Do I dislike the whole "Faith Lived" schtick more than "Claire Is An Ether Addict?" It's a battle of worsts there. Pretty tough to beat "Claire Is An Ether Addict."

Possibly, which incidentally really peeves me about a lot of watchers. Gasp! Have a become what I hate?! Wow, speaking of historical hotties. Where IS he? We need to find him!

Still catching up. Still can't get behind Ian and Rachel. Still annoyed at Jamie and Claire (but I wasn't in the buiks at this point). Still fangirling over LJG. Still can't stand Bree. Her kids are more enjoyable. The absolute highlight for me, and really 7B thus far, is the dialogue / scenes with Roger and his father. I was choked up the whole time. So well done with those two. Heartbreaking. In All Hallows, Jerry DOES make it back to London just in time to see the bomb drop where Marjorie and Roger are, and then he is hit too. No one knew he had made it back and everyone continues to assume that he had died in battle / on a mission. I wish the show would have taken the story that far. Side note - a friend of mine bought an old colonial home several few years ago and completely restored it. I absolutely squealed during the last episode when William stormed out and broke up everything in his path, because my friend decorated her stairwell almost exactly as the set of LJG's Chestnut Street digs. Remarkable, down to the paint color and gilt mirrors. She painstakingly researched paint colors and decor to make her "old girl" look as authentic as possible.

I'm still catching up on episodes and threads. Everything is moving SO quickly. Book 8 is maybe my second favorite of the series, and while I don't mind missing all of the extraneous Grey family dramas - Minnie, Dottie, Henry, Benjamin et al - I do miss Hal. But also, we're missing a lot of the nuance surrounding Jamie's return to the land of the living. The timeline of this episode, and the previous episode, was really confusing, so I can see why our non-reader friends are doing some head-scratching. I was doing some head-scratching, and I've read these things at least 3 times a piece. I miss the Bartram's setting for the Jamie / Claire reunion. Jamie kinda sucks in this episode...and dare I say it...maybe overall. I'm particular sensitive to this right now - I'm doing some soul searching regarding toxic relationships and I feel like he's a wee bit toxic, no? Loved Ian and Rachel in the buiks. Can't get behind this pairing here, but I think it's because we haven't been given a chance to see the relationship progress because SPEED. Unpopular - I've never been a huge LJG fan, but man...Dave Barry is lighting this up for me. Real highlight in this episode. Same for William. Evidence that Jamie kinda sucks. He's pined for this kid FOR-EV-ER, and now he's free to finally be a father to him, and he doesn't have anything for him. Finally, this is not my George Washington. There needs to be a rule somewhere that when someone plays these historical figures, they are the only person that plays the historical figure. Ian Kahn IS George Washington. I will hear no arguments to the contrary. (PS - I have you SEEN that guy not as Washington? Yowza! It's the jaw, for me.)

It has taken me awhile to comment because my corneas are still burnt from the Bree/Rog sex scene that no one asked for and no one needed to see. And the soundtrack...so cringe. That song is an absolute timeless jam, but it belongs to Miami Vice and not one of the most uncomfortable and unnecessarily long love scenes I've ever seen. The moaning had me dry-heaving. 1980's Sophie doesn't bother me as much as 1770's Sophie but....blech. This isn't her best. But Buck...dah-yum. That was a feast for me, and I didn't even know I was hungry. He saved this episode for me. I felt like he was a bit of an ass in the book, but I was loving this guy. Was not expecting Show to pull the trigger on the Jemmy kidnapping plot just yet because we haven't met Mike Callahan, so I was surprised they went there so quickly. I don't feel like Show gave us time to process these new characters and set up the connection between Jem and Mandy or the reasons why Bree and Rog were comfortable letting Jem stay with Bobby. The timeline was longer in the book, so I wasn't like "WTF, you barely know these people and you're letting your kid stay with them?" when I read it like I was when I saw it. Roger finding Jem's scarf at the stones was a nice callback to Claire's shawl. Charles continues to actually make me give AF about William. He was great. Buuuuttttt...... Sorry, Show. This will always be Jamie and Claire's story, and the 5 minutes I saw of them wasn't enough. But I loved that they kept the line about the font size, bringing back Jamie's printer career. And Jamie in buckskins, yes please! I was thinking this! They got everyone else SO right (ok, maybe not Lizzie but it worked out fine), but this casting continues to be such a bad miss. YAAASSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!! I completely ignore Bree and just look at the scenery - the Loch, the fab decor of the Lallybroch redux, even the caravan. 100% Agree. Without Mike Callahan, the Richardson plot doesn't go as far as it could/should. Ooooh, good point. But I still love the slow-mo shots of him. Maybe if I only watch the Jamie and Claire parts, I'd really like this episode? It would save a lot of time anyway. I was disappointed with this one. I stayed up late to watch it and felt like it was a bit of a waste. But I think the Phil Collins sex is marring my overall impression of it.

Wigs?!

Providing an update because I know everyone was waiting with bated breath! After a nice long run to this episode, I feel kinda the same. The beginning with William riding back to the fort and the rebel civilians escaping through the forest did absolutely nothing for me. This was something I didn't think they would adapt for tv, always assuming they would hop into the story at Saratoga, and I'm left a little...unmoved...by it all. I hit pause and did a quick count of the people retreating from Ticonderoga. It was a little less than 30 (hard to tell if one boat had 5 or 6 people in it). When reading, I pictured closer to 100, but maybe I was way off on that. This whole situation still feels silly to me. But everything else was really solid. Full disclosure - I'm also catching up on the final season of Succession which is so incredibly intense. By comparison now, this felt a little flippant, but that's not fair to Outlander. And in no way am I advocating for Succession-level intensity every week. There are only so many therapy dogs and butterflies in the world to help us all cope.

Yes to all of this! I'm going to watch it while I run today. If I run faster and don't notice the time going by = great episode. If I'm distracted and run slower = meh episode. This is all very scientific!

Yes - he ended up going through the stones mistakenly (ala Claire) in Scotland and then made his way to Lallybroch. 100% this. And and a quick perusal of the Show Only thread shares a lot of confusion and annoyance with how that entire plot point was conveyed. Can absolutely attest to this. I was a history major and an unabashed history nerd, and I'm always shocked by how little people know or care to know. I should be used to this by now, but my soul does die a bit each time. I feel like you're writing everything in my head! As I was watching the episode my train of thought was "Oh, we're doing that? Ok..." But it was done well, so do your thing, Show. THIS!!!!! The show has continuously done Roger dirty from Season 4 onward. His character arc is so compelling in the books, but in the show he just comes across as whiney. I loved the book thread of him having to uncomfortably shrug away the rope scar when people saw it and that he had to live through modern people thinking he'd tried to kill himself. And his journey to getting his singing voice back was so heartwarming. I adore Rik Rankin, and he could have easily carried all of this off. I need to watch this one again because I have mixed feelings. I never pictured their retreat from Ticonderoga occurring during the day, so it was jarring for me to see that and took me out of the story. When I read this section of the book, it was so tense and scary, but this didn't feel at all like that. I just seemed like Claire, Jamie, and Ian were walking around the same circle of woods, which made it seem silly to me. I did really enjoy captive Claire (for like the 50th time), and her interactions with William were so strong. I was so pleased they included the "curly wig" comment.

I know we're like 10 years on at this point, but I'm still annoyed with how the Show softened Frank, as well.

Agree. She doesn't command a scene, let alone a work crew.

My dad was a plant inspector. He retired in 2019 after almost 50 years at the same plant. He had a high school diploma and started out as a mechanic at the plant in 1971. I'm no Bree fan, but I think her being a plant inspector is plausible, especially then. Of all of things I have to hand-wave to comfortably watch this show, this isn't one of them! 😉

THIS!!! Book 7 has a lot of viable fat to trim, and so far, they haven't trimmed the fat that I thought they would, with the exception of the pirate attack. Their storyline feels like a separate show. As does Bree/Roger/Kids. And I know the book is this way too, but it feels all disjointed. This is really my criticism of the overall story/Book 7, and not so much the show. Echo is my least favorite. Show continues to do Roger dirty. And I love Richard Rankin. 100% agree! YES! I'm "no a fan" of Buik William, but show William...yes, please! The song has always made the season unique and helped to move the show to next stage of the story. The chorale version of Season 5...my heart... This version is so cringe. And if they wanted to go this direction with sound, tone, etc. why not choose a Scottish or an American singer? Basically my chief complaint. I want Jamie and Claire.