SassAndSnacks

Yes, but how do you REALLY feel? 🤩 Point taken and I agree. But also, there's trench warfare. But sadly, it's probably just one scene, which will make the show lose me pretty quickly. You just HAD to open that wound. Side note - can we get Scott Speedman on BOMB? #TeamBen BRB, I'm suddenly a teenage girl again.

I'm not a fan of the prequel coming out before the actual show is finished. However, I'm super intrigued about Claire's family and have been throughout my journey through the books and show. I was annoyed when I thought the prequel would just be about Jamie's parents - we know their story as it is covered in the books and the show. I want to know how / why Claire can travel. How are all of these travelers connected to her? (If they are...) In short, I was not into the prequel and didn't plan on watching it. Then, I heard the Beauchamps were involved. THEN I saw trench warfare in the trailer. You show me trench warfare, I give you an interested viewer. I don't know what that says about me as a person, but I am what I am. Plus, if it sucks, I'll just hate watch it and bitch about it here. You're welcome!

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.

Richardson to William - "Are you familiar with the Dismal Swamp?" Me - "Ugh, F... Are we really doing that?" But it wasn't that bad. Show definitely condensed a really dismal Buik plot. Bah dum ching! Did they do some shots in the Southern US? I'm also really happy with Show condensing the whole pirate, three ships fiasco of the Buik, whereby even after reading it multiple times, I still have no idea who is/was who, what ship was which, who was taken, who sliced Jamie, etc. Glad we didn't have to deal with that. The reason for Jamie and Ian joining the rebellion felt much more authentic and earned in the Show than with how Jamie and Claire found themselves at Fort Ticonderoga in the Buik. Speaking of Ticonderoga...um...no Show. You didn't get it. The aerial shot of the fort was wrong. Ticonderoga is famous for its location and shape, and this wasn't right. They couldn't fly a camera over the real fort? Backing up a bit in the storyline, Claire and Tom Christie. The tea scene was so good - just how I pictured it while reading. "I shall have no peace while you live, woman!" And the scene with J & C after, also enjoyable. So much of the dialogue is right from the page, and I love it. I struggled through the 1980s scenes, though I did gasp when they showed the writing desk, and I like the more realistic portrayal of what it would take to bring Lallybroch up to modern building codes. Charles is going to make me actually care about William, I can feel it.

Some Questions - Is this season really THIS good, or is it just comparatively good because we've had a long hiatus from the show and Season 6 was pretty meh? Do you ever wish you could approach this show with a fresh perspective? Generally, I love knowing the story ahead of time and seeing how it will be adapted and portrayed, but sometimes, I kinda miss that jolt I had during the pilot episode when I knew nothing of Outlander but thought the first sights of it were so compelling that I just HAD to read the books. Watching this last night early this morning, particularly the confrontation of the Bugs, I found myself feeling that the this all escalated rather quickly! We've barely seen them and now they've stolen gold, hid it right there in a very conspicuous place, and now they're betraying the Frasers. It all seemed more plausible in the books because we see it play over time, but I felt kinda slapped with it last night, and I found myself wondering if non-book viewers got all of it and/or if it seemed abrupt to them too. Anyway, that's a lot of lead in to simply ask, do you ever wish you hadn't read the books first? Did you catch Arch's Gaelic to Jamie? So good. Did you want him to be a little more choked up over his wife's death, because I did. I always picture him so incredibly menacing and dangerous. This Arch has been passive this whole time. Was the mini ball in Jem's wooden chest the one that hits Claire in Monmouth or is it one of the golden balls that Jamie, Ian, and Claire melted down? When we see it early in the show, I immediately thought "Monmouth!" but then they show the "bullet making" so could it be that? Was that in the buik? That whole scene was wonderful. Speaking of Jem's chest, I love how they weave in these storylines. As soon as the delivery man placed the chest on the Manse's front stoop, I got a little lump in my throat. Was it accurate for Roger and Bree to feel that they changed history? Because they didn't. Bree went back to her parents because she saw the obituary claiming a fire killed them. She made the matches that helped cause the fire. They didn't change history, they helped make history. The dates are insignificant, but I guess that was just in the buik, because the show smudged the date in the original obituary. Time travel and its consequences are confusing. I love Jamie and Claire loving on Jamie and Claire, so I was all in for the entire hour. The quiet moments in this show have always been so strong. The flashback of them pounding in the property stake was so good and such a nice addition. So far, my $20 STARZ subscription was money well spent!

In the 90's (gasp!), this is how my parents knew to pick me up from after-school activities. I would make a collect call, and when the operator would ask me to say my name, I would say "Come get me!" and then my parents knew I was ready and they wouldn't have to actually accept the charges for the call. Tricks my children will never need to know...

Truly, this happened to me at work today. I was leaving a message with a client. I completely panicked when I got to my phone number, and I frantically had to pull out my own business card to remember my office phone number. I've worked at my current job for five years. As of a few hours ago, my office phone number is now written on a Post It that is attached to my computer monitor. I'm a book reader, so I won't weigh in on the rest of this topic, but I am really enjoying everyone's practical speculation.

Yes - Donner and his pack show up for gemstones, but in the Buik, it is Ian that actually ignites the fire. I'm glad they changed that here.

PS - Born and raised in Appalachia and those were the largest "fireflies" I've ever seen. PPS - After the MacKenzies awoke from traveling through the stones, the shot of Jem's airplane in the sky with the real airplane emerging from behind it made me gasp. This show...

Amen. Watching her try to be Bree, makes me appreciate Buik Bree, so well done, Sophie...I guess. But awful with William and Lord John. That buik moment is so poignant to me. Here's this only-child who just met her sibling, and she was so excited with heart and mind racing a mile a minute. And this was all "Oh, hey." And then walking away with Lord John, gah, no good. Me too! I was surprised to dive in with Allan, and then the whole cold open was wrapping up that storyline. I'm guessing the Browns show up again. I kinda wanted to see Jamie shoot him, personally. That was my take because during his monologue they showed her throat being sliced. I don't think he flat-out said he did it, but it was heavily implied to the point of irrefutable. Was REALLY surprised they kept the ENTIRE monologue in, right down to one very graphic anatomical description. The look on Claire's face was perfection. Overall, I thought this was really well done, Sophie aside. Cait was a complete force this episode, from discovering Mandy's illness (my heart!), to saying her goodbyes, sobbing in bed with Jamie, and then the explosive ending. There was so much happening, but it felt relatively seamless. I could have done with a few more moments of breathing room between all of the emotional bits, and I wanted more out of the William reveal. I was a little disappointed by the interactions between Jem and Mandy. I wish that would have been heavier. I love their relationship and how they sense each other. I think that was probably impossible to convey at this point because Jem has been made younger than he was in the Buik. I found myself being really choked up through many of the scenes. Jamie with Mandy in the stable was heartbreaking. The firefly scene was visually lovely, even if it was unbelievable and the actors weren't well matched skill-wise. One of my favorite lines of the books - "For your sake, I will continue, though for mine alone, I would not" - was so beautifully delivered.

Ugh. It was unwatchable. Really hoping things don’t end up like that. I feel like she got a deal for a certain amount of books and was just biding her time for Book 10. Filler and rehashed storylines.