absnow54

He could have at least performed his Scottish Sword Dance on top of the door, just to make sure Randall was good and flattened.

I think he and Tobias both have a pretty easy attitude about it. Paleyfest was after they wrapped season 1 and they were all making a lot of jokes about those scenes. Sure, it's different now that it's aired, but the actors have been receiving nothing but praise from what I've seen.

Doesn't Dragonfly in Amber open in 1968? We're still in 1740's Scotland, but the time jump technically takes place in book 2 with her returning to the "time jumped" Scotland in book 3. Also, I don't think these are spoilers.

I actually don't mind. I thought Claire's return to the 40's was kind of glossed over because of the 20 year time jump, and I'm hoping that will be explored more, but with a shorter episode order and a longer book than the first, I can see why people would be upset.

I'm grateful that they didn't go with the opium induced pseudo rape, but I think that it was important to see Jamie and Claire overcome the darkness, and I think the levity of that scene as it played on the show was heavily under minded by cutting back to the dungeon. We should have stayed at the abbey with Jamie and Claire through that scene, and her bargain should have been more than "I would die without you."

I don't know. The show had 16 hours to explore the first book and it chose to dedicate an hour to Jamie's flogging and two hours to his rape. There was time to explore the lighter side of things to balance out the darkness, but the show runners were obviously more interested in telling the story they did, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just going to isolate the general audience. Ron Moore promised he was making this show for the fans of the book, and looking at the contrast between the readers vs non-readers, that's exactly what he did.

Personally, for me, this was the scene that I found most contentious, and I think that most negative reviews are highlighting this scene in particular, and it is for the exact reason you stated. I know the phrase "torture porn" is being thrown around liberally, but I found the blocking of that scene to be frighteningly similar to the sex scenes in the Wedding, and that was incredibly disturbing for a rape scene. I preferred the way the book relayed it second hand and this Mad Max meme encapsulates my feelings on the subject perfectly.

To be fair, I felt the same way while reading the book. The first half was such a fun adventure, and then, suddenly I started to hate every direction it turned. Although, I agree that the pacing of the second half didn't do the story any favors. I'm still not over Claire's abrupt "Frank who?"

I agree. I thought the opening scene implied everything you needed to know. Everything else felt gratuitous. Sam's performance was breath taking, but it was all way too much for me. And I really can't speak much for things that I've never experienced, and I'm eternally grateful that I've never experienced it, but the rape scene played off as really erotic, which made me really uncomfortable. I know the book says that Jamie responded to Randal's touch, but I never thought he got off on it, but I have a hard time reading those passages. I'm looking forward to the return of the time traveling exploration and political intrigue!

For a writer who has written some dubious scenes of sexual consent that are so controversial, people are still debating them twenty years later, DG is really tone deaf when it comes to "educating" people.

Okay, during the campfire scene when everyone is saying what they're doing after graduation, what does Lilly say about her future? It got one of the biggest laughs in our theater, but we missed it because the people next to us were trying to figure out where Guatemala was.

I laughed at the "jalapeno business" joke way more than I should have. My husband and I have been saying it to each other all morning.

I really loved the light hearted interlude of Claire and Murtagh's travelling roadshow. Lord knows we need it for what's about to come. The growing extravagance of their performance was hilarious. I almost wish they cut away to Jamie on the run just to show his reaction to the various Sassenach and Fraser taking Scotland by storm.

I really hope they find a way for Murtagh to survive Culloden, because Ducan Lacroix is the best thing about this show.

Also, the bulk of Han and Leia's love story was in Empire, which Lucas had little part in. I think it helps that Irvin Kirshnir wasn't out to make a kid's movie, and was able to capture a natural relationship progression without being blinded by the Lego opportunities. That's not to take away from Ford and Fisher's contribution, Han and Leia would be nothing without their sparking chemistry, but Hayden Christensen's chemistry void wasn't much competition.

I can't remember if it was explicitly stated, but during The Gathering when Claire is hording food to plan her escape, Gellis asks her if she's with child and Claire shuffles around the confession that she can't have them.

I was thinking the same thing and had to keep reminding myself that Duncan Lacroix wasn't in the credits. I really liked this episode, I thought it was probably the best character study of Jamie yet. I do feel like Claire is getting lost in the shuffle, but I felt the same way during this portion of the book. Every scene I found myself begging for a voice over from her, until she finally did have a voice over in the end and it was completely pointless.

You know, I barely noticed Murtagh and Rupert in the book, but I've missed the clansmen something fierce on the show. They've done a great job giving those characters life, and I can't wait to see them pop up again next week.

This bothered me so much. I've read theories that the choking did kill her, but because he used the force, there was no bruising, so the robot doctors overlooked the symptom. But, hello, Obi Wan witnessed the strangling and was right there when she was being treated. I didn't understand why they killed her and why she didn't just go into hiding on Alderaan as was originally implied in Jedi. If they could send Luke to live at Anakin's step brother's house with the Skywalker surname still attached(!!!!!) they could easily hide Padme too.

The fact that the people behind Broad City are developing the spinoff makes me really excited.

This really is becoming the most prestigious "yeah, whatever, hand over the money" cast ever assembled.

I agree. The original cast had an amazing chemistry while the prequel cast never really gelled. The only time I can recall the actors working well together was in the opening scene of Revenge of the Sith when Anakin, Obi Wan, and R2 go to rescue Palpetine, and it made me so excited to finally see Star Wars be fun again, but then it was quickly back to business as usual.

I'm bummed that Jon Hamm isn't hosting this season. I figured with Mad Men ending in a few weeks, he'd be an obvious choice. I feel like he was supposed to host the episode after, and the attitude amongst the crew was "Well Reese just did it, why can't you?" Marci Klein goes off on him at length in the Live From New York book.

I'm really curious to see if they'll incorporate Leia into this movie since she's the one who ends up with the plans, and therefore, is ostensibly involved in the plot.

That's a really good point! I never thought of it that way. Claire spent a lot of time in the first few episodes piecing Jamie back together. If the dislocated shoulder didn't get him, I'm sure the bullet wound would have. Jamie didn't just need a woman, he needed a proficient healer to keep up with his reckless lifestyle.