WatchrTina

I totally agree. I'm doing a re-watch today in the run-up to the new episode and when this one started I was filled with dread, but I think most of what I was dreading was in the book and NOT in the show. The Bonnet/Jemmy/Brianna plot-line is without a doubt my least favorite through-line in all the books. I'm so glad it's over.

My re-watch in the run-up to the new season continues. Woah, I had forgotten how rough this episode was to watch (even though I knew that Jamie would survive.) And somehow I had forgotten that Claire brought Jamie back from death door with some sexual healing (bow-chicka-bow-wow), though I suspect non-readers don't necessarily interpret that scene that way.

I am SO enjoying my binge re-watch in the run-up to the new episode. I had almost forgotten this plot line -- Ian and Roger, both emotionally wounded, struggling to find a way to live in their new circumstances. Such a nice, quiet, character-driven contrast to the non-stop action of the battle episode that preceded it.

I just tuned in to the marathon in the run up to tonight premiere of new season and caught this episode. Oh. My. God. This episode is just so GRUELING. Murtagh killed, Roger hanged, and Jamie forced into a red coat (for a while at least.) I know the story of course. I've read the book and watched this episode before more than once. But it's been a while so I had managed to forget some of the most torturous aspects. Fasten your seatbelts for tonight!

Aaaaaaand here's a video that Sam posted on Twitter with "friend" the journalist Josh Horowitz. Never mind. Once again I can't remember how to embed a tweet. Just go look for it on Sam's Twitter feed.

Caitriona posted a video on Twitter of her chowing down on a Reuben sandwich (apparently Jimmy Kimmel encouraged her to try one because she says "Thank you Jimmy") and NOW I am craving a Reuben sandwich so much it hurts. And since I now live in Texas and not NYC, that is a craving that is going to go unsatisfied. Sigh. That corner deli that was mere steps away from my old NYC apartment building . . . I am SO missing it now.

This is extremely minor but it was a funny surprise to me. I've been watching YouTube documentaries about British stately homes and their owners, and today I started one about "The Complicated Life Of England's Most Famous Lord -- Lord Montagu." (I have to note that I -- an avowed Anglophile -- did not recognize that name at all so how famous could he be really?) Anyway, imagine my surprise when a very young Sam Heughan showed up on my screen. It was a clip from the movie "A Very British Sex Scandal," which was based on an incident in the life of Lord Montagu. Small world!

This is lovely. Bear McCreary posted a Gaelic-language version of the Skye Boat Song on Facebook. The accompanying video shows lovely views of Scotland intercut with scenes from past seasons of the show. https://fb.watch/bwFqQwYGI9/

Sam is now promoting a brand of tequila. Make of that what you will. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/8439328/sam-heughan-cowboy-hat-tequila/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=scottishsuntwitter&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1645012586.

John Bell has been nominated for an "Offie" (awards given for "Off-West-End" live theater performances.)

I just watched an episode of "Rick Steve's Europe" in which he visited several Scottish islands including Iona and Skye (as in " 🎶. . . over the sea . . . to Skye🎵," from Outlander's title music.) I don't think the sights I saw were specifically of locations used in Outlander but there were many, many times when I found myself thinking "Hey, is that where _____ scene was filmed?" That was especially true of the views of the main harbor towns, which have buildings that could totally pass for 18th century construction. (Some of them probably ARE 18th century constructions.) And of course the wind-swept, treeless countryside -- with its many, many sheep and very few signs of human habitation -- is timeless. The show also reminded me how much I enjoyed binge-watching the TV Show "Shetland", which stars Outlander's own Doug Henshall (season one's Taran MacQuarrie). It sure will be nice when Shetland -- and Outlander -- come back with new seasons.

Well . . . I think the opposite can be argued. As a blacksmith Murtagh comes into contact with other farmers MORE frequently than if he were himself a farmer. Blacksmithing is an essential service at this time and through providing that service Murtagh would probably come into close contact with every farmer in the area in settings that allowed for private, one-on-one conversations (as opposed to the big crowds he might encounter at market days or other, very-public gatherings of farmers.) I find the radicalization of Murtagh entirely plausible due to his being well-positioned to hear about the many injustices suffered by the colonists and his being well-positioned to privately share information with those of his customers who were like-minded.

Thank you! It's been a while since I read the books but I was sure I would not have forgotten such a significant plot point.. Ditto! It's one of the best character evolutions in the series. She and Claire are like oil and water when they are first thrust into each other's prolonged company (on board the ship, after Marsali runs off with Fergus) but by now Marsali and Claire are firmly united in protecting The Ridge and all of its inhabitants (but most particularly Fergus and Marsali's children). And woe betide the character who faces off against the two of them when Marsali and Claire present a united front.

Entertainment Weekly has announced (via Twitter) that Barack Obama, Oprah, and Sam Heughan are "among the finalists for this years's Audie Awards," which are awards given for notable audiobooks. ETA: Found the link to the actual article: https://ew.com/books/2022-audie-awards-finalists/?utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly_entertainmentweekly&utm_content=manual&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=61fbe02517ce5a0001660a99 The nomination is for: Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other Written and narrated by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish (with a foreword written and narrated by Diana Gabaldon) Published by Hodder & Stoughton

Diana has been honored with a "Great Scot" award by the National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA. https://twitter.com/nts_usa/status/1484225307439775745?s=20

I'm watching this ep now and I just had to stop and come here to say, "Oh my God! That's Machete!" From your mouth to God's Disney's ears!

Pausing in my re-watch to come here and say that the scene when the raiders waste all that water (that they had just captured from the raided train) made me crazy . . . at first. Then it made me think of the book/movie "Dune" where the ritual of "wasting" water is a power move that demonstrates the wealth of the person pouring it out on the ground. Then I realized that Tuskan Raiders have no use for a tank car full of water. What would they do with it? They might fill up a few containers as spoils from the raid, but they have adapted to living off the moisture that they can harvest from the sands. As such, to them the tank car full of water is not "riches" -- it is proof that the people who run the train do not belong in the Raiders' desert lands. I'm aware that Bedouins wear black in the Arabian desert so I did a Google search asking why that it is and it came back with this: "Abstract : The amount of heat gained by a Bedouin exposed to desert heat is the same whether he or she wears a black robe or a white one. The additional heat absorbed by the black robe is lost before it reaches the skin and drives convection under the black robe, making it more comfortable than a white robe." Hmmmm. I think it is interesting that you think the shots fired at the Sand People were to warn them away. My initial reaction was that people on the train shot at sand people in the same way that westward-bound white settlers shot at buffalo from the train during their journey. Those buffalo "hunters" didn't do it to eat or even to harvest the skins. (The trains didn't stop.) The passengers just enjoyed killing things as a means of breaking up the monotony of the very long train ride. So the shooting of the Sand People by the people on the train made me think first of THAT parallel. It would be interesting to know which came first -- raids by the Sand People on the trains or people on the train shooting at the Sand People?

Once upon a time I spent six weeks touring New Zealand and one of the highlights was attending a Maori cultural performance that included a demonstration of ritual spear/staff fighting. I can't help but think that the Sand-people's fighting style, as depicted in this episode, was informed by the Maori style, in homage to Temuera Morrison's Maori heritage. The fact that Sandpeople used staffs as weapons was established in the original movie but we never really saw them in use. We only saw one waved menacingly (and briefly) overhead at Luke before its "easily startled" owner was scared off by Obi Wan. So -- if I'm correct -- I enjoyed seeing the homage to Temuera's Maori heritage in the now-more-developed Sandpeople fighting style.

I enjoyed that but I have to say that I was taken aback at how gruesome it was. So. Much. Blood. I realize that they could pour it on (literally and figuratively) because it was animation but . . . it was a lot. That being said, I did enjoy learning Vesamir's origin story and the tale of his lost love, as well as getting some insight into the geopolitical landscape (including the bias against "low-born" women who marry up.) This explains why the Witcher stong-hold/refuge/training camp is in such a wrecked state when we first see it in The Witcher. You don't need to see this but if -- like me -- you greedily binged season 2 of The Witcher as soon as it came out, it's nice to have a wee tale containing some back-story to top off the meal.

This is just a guess but could it be that the Witchers have simply done a good job of cleaning the monsters out of their world? If so that would explain why the monsters that came through the portal were of a scale we haven't seen before. And damn, didn't she just get her revenge? I mean she didn't manage to kill them all but she killed at least two of the Witchers, right? And when you consider how few Witchers are left in the world and that they still don't have RELIABLE means of making more -- (because it's not clear if Cirilla is going to agree to let them use her blood, or even if it works since we saw a bad outcome using the stolen blood) -- the loss of any Witcher is a tragedy. Yeah, that WAS a red herring. (Heh. The big red stone was a big red herring.) Oooh that reminds me -- I was convinced that the big reveal at the end was going to be the revelation that the "white flame" was . . . Jaskier. Yeah, I know. It makes no sense. But that's where I thought they were heading. So when they revealed someone else (I didn't recognize him as Cirri's father), it was a bit of a let down for me. Sigh. I'm definitely going to have to re-watch because NOW I can't recall what Yen did to piss off Geralt. I have to say that sh*t was DARK. I guess that level of retribution makes sense to the elves because baby elves are so rare and the death of a baby in the elven royal family is thus SUPER tragic. But, damn. I think the prior season was also easier to watch because they were basically monster-of-the-week stories that stood on their own so you didn't HAVE to remember the prior episode (you didn't necessarily have to have even SEEN it) to enjoy the current episode. This season was much harder work, requiring more attention and the retention of much more information from one week to the next.

I didn't understand this AT ALL. Can someone explain it to me? Did . . . did I just see a house grow legs and walk?

Fair point. But it's a fantasy based on a video game so it's within the realm of possibility that there is a cheat code in this universe by which a non-powered individual can disable spells (by wielding an magical item for example). I'm not saying that's what happened. I'm just saying if there's a will (and plot necessity) there's a way.

Oh my God! They killed Roach! You bastards! Weren't Siri and Geralt supposed to be in a "safe space"? He felt comfortable setting aside his weapons when they arrived so I assumed that location was warded against things like portals. As such, I cry foul at the burned-faced villian getting in. Unless . . . did Yen somehow circumvent the magical safeguards in place to LET him in? Is she a baddie? I know she LOOKED like a baddie to Geralt when she followed Siri through the portal but as others have noted, she may have simply been following Siri -- who had already fled -- in order to ensure that Siri would not be on her own at the other end of the portal. I have to say at this point I have NO clear understanding of what Yen's motivations are. And that is a weakness. Double-crosses are boring when they are over-used. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I'm watching this now and I had to pause to come here and share that there was cheering and unbridled joy in my house when Yennefer did the fire-spitting trick to rescue Jaskier. I just got to Genralt's line "Yen's alive?" Whoo hoo! More cheering in my condo. Well, I've seen the whole thing now and -- like many of you -- I'm confused. Remember how Game of Thrones opened each episode with a map that highlighted the areas that would be featured in that episode? And you know how there is a detailed map of Middle Earth at the back of the Lord of the Rings books? And remember the tactic of kicking off each episode of "Lost" with a short, "previously on . . . " segment that helped the viewer recall key plot points from earlier episodes? We could use something like that here. But I guess the theory is that these days -- with content that is streamed on-demand and thus available for binge-watching and/or repeated viewing -- TV writers don't need to "help" the viewer quite as much because they can count on us to view the episodes more than once. And now I'm off to watch this AGAIN before watching the next one (so as to increase the odds of the next episode making sense.) One comment on the episode in general -- damn, this show is pretty to look at. The sets and costumes and hair and make-up are all stellar. (Geralt is also pretty to look at, but you all knew that.)

Here's a link to a lovely interview with Sam Heughan available on SquareMile.com -- conducted by his good friend and fellow actor Tom Ellis. Diana just posted the link to it on her Facebook feed, so I'm posting it here for those who don't follow her on Facebook. https://squaremile.com/features/sam-heughan-interview-outlander-tom-ellis/?fbclid=IwAR2EnIBprkPYxnxHTUuzpRTRcEszGbiRFcN7vBykniDcJ57vc0OfxYZnIIY