romantique

I too felt bad for Frank and was glad he was more than capable of handling himself with the scammers - something of his ancestor in him. It was different to see Claire so vulnerable, but understandably so: to go from one horrible situation to an even more dangerous one with knowledge of who would be her tormentor. Despite this, she showed nerves of steel, especially when lying to BJR about the Duke. I am glad the episode did end with Jamie intervening. I was worried it was going to end with Claire in BJR's clutches with no hope in sight. April is too far away!!!!!

They split the last season of Breaking Bad - there was a 10 month break in-between! And what a glorious half-season it was - the episode "Ozymandias" alone was worth the wait. As others have posted, this is a quality show and needs time to be perfected. There are so many components to go into the show aside from the filming and it will be worth it in the end. This seems to be the case now for most shows, like Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones.

Thanks for starting this topic! I was just thinking about how I first got inspired to check this show out, and it was mainly because I heard that Ronald D. Moore was the executive producer. I am a huge fan of his Battlestar Galactica series on SciFi/SyFy and was curious to see what he would do with a historical literary fiction adaptation. It was only after watching the first episode that I read the book - and I finished Book 1 and half of Book 2 before I saw the second episode! I am now at the beginning of Book 5 :-). I do see the following parallels between Outlander and BSG (yes, I'm probably stretching things a bit): * Just as the fleet was surprise attacked by the Cylons, so too was Claire whisked away to 18th century Scotland. I haven't finished all the books yet but I suspect that the reason Claire went to that specific time in the 1700s is because Frank and she were learning all about Black Jack Randall...and the stones brought her to him, and eventually Jamie. * People were suspected of being Cylons...Claire is suspected of being an English spy. * The fleet is the only remnant of the 12 colonies left in the universe that they know of, and Claire knows that these Highlander clans will soon be decimated. * The fleet has to go low-tech in order to avoid detection by Cylons, and Claire, being in the 18th century, also has to go low-tech and use herbal remedies for medicine. * The fleet is searching for a new home, just as Claire is trying to find her way back home to the 20th century. * Political alliances shift and are as unstable among the fleet as it is among the MacKenzie clan * The president of the colonies has a terminal disease like Colum, Laird of the MacKenzie clan I am sure there are more parallels but don't want to venture too far into BSG for those who may have not watched the entire series. However, I think what made BSG so great is the focus on the characters and how each of them evolve in interesting and unexpected ways. This is what RDM does so well and will continue to do well in Outlander. It is great to see his versatility and attention to detail - whether it is in some old, decaying battlestar or in the battlements of an ancient castle, he stays true to developing characters and story with great care.

I was just going to post the same thing! I was wondering how they were going to handle commenting on that scene...and you could hear Claire's screams in the background...but they did a wonderful job, and I agree it was absolutely adorable. I read Terry's blog where she shares lots of details on the costumes as well as fun Outlander illustrations and images that have provided inspiration, so her comments in this podcast were not a surprise. But she does give a few more details here. I also really liked how she reminded Ron that he had originally wanted to shoehorn some BJR into this episode, but he had thought that he had wanted to make the wedding over 2 episodes. But he later conceded that of course she was right :-). They must constantly talk about the show at home (and Terry says as much in a blog post), but thank goodness it appears to be a labor of love. I am always so grateful they take the effort to do these podcasts, but I suppose Ron does it for the same reason he had done them for BSG: for the fans and also a way to explain the decisions made for each episode. Win win for all!

Just listened to Ron Moore's podcast on this episode and it was full of great tidbits. My favorites were the following: 1. The postcoital conversation was lifted almost exactly from the book because this is what they used for auditioning actors for Jamie and Claire. They hadn't yet written the script for "The Wedding " so they typed up sides from this part of the novel. Also, this was the scene they used for the chemistry test between Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe. 2. Ron had wanted to use a nail for the wedding ring. Thanks to his wife, they used a key, and this is one of several changes made to Jamie's wedding conditions (like making up the backstory of the dress so that it could be something amazing and never worn and the church location). 3. Also, commissioning Angus and Rupert to have the key made them a part of the wedding prep just like Murtagh sourcing the Fraser tartan and Dougal booking the venue. I am surprised Ron and Terry didn't just admit that they made Jamie into a groomzilla :-). 4. The ring drop shot at the end was not only actually shot like that without CGI, but it all happened in the first take! I did love hearing how the line about Claire being like the sun was a callback to a moment between him and his wife. Such a romantic!

I love the moment when he calls her "mo neighean donn" and how he tells her that her hair is like water in a burn, "the way it ruffles down the rocks"...it's so sexy with that Scottish burr and he can tell she is reacting well to it. And then he tells her that Murtagh thinks she has a sweet smile (awwww). Jamie is such a sweetie, how can Claire help herself? I did like how we got to see the flashbacks as a way to add dimension to the entire wedding night.

Of course I cannot help but think of the song when seeing this episode title, but of course Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins sang this song many years in the future of the show!

I felt exactly the same at the beginning of the episode, like how dare you deny us seeing the ceremony?! Then I realized that we were not going to see your standard TV wedding episode which usually tend to be season or series finales. This one happens to be episode 7. Of the first season of 16. Love that! Although I've read the books up to the 4th one (I am on 5...this will be the only way I will make it through the hiatus), I have been trying to see the series as a separate entity, a variation on the original text, rather than from a nitpicky purist POV. (I do this with GoT also.) And that is precisely why I get tickled with variations like the wedding ring story and this mysterious key. Of course I couldn't help but think it's the key to his heart, but maybe it's a key to something back at his home? He definitely downplayed its significance to Claire. His dirk and sword were part of his Highlander regalia, so I think he was just putting it away for the night. Didn't Dougal grab his dirk to do the blood oath? It did seem to be an aggressive entrance into the bridal chamber, armed to the hilt :-)

Murtagh was all sorts of adorable in this episode. He truly is Jamie's fairy godfather in not only first rescuing Claire from BJR but helping him get this wedding just right for him with the kilt and giving him a pep talk. I was curious to see how Murtagh looks without a beard and found this: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/ron-moores-outlander-enlists-game-625472?mobile_redirect=false Be still my beating heart. Beard or no beard, he is hot. Glad to see more Murtagh and hope we continue to see more :-)

It's like you read my mind....I loved all these moments too. As others have also said, the symbolism of the two rings was enough, and Caitriona is more than capable of expressing the conflict she feels won't out voiceover. I felt bad for Jamie raising his glass three times only to see Claire down hers instead of clinking his glass. But she made up for it later! Not that it hasn't already been obvious, but it is clear that Dougal has always been smitten with Claire, and that his one of the reasons he is willing to go to the lengths he has to protect her. He has never met anyone, much less any woman quite like she (none of them in the 18th century have), and he wasn't going to let her be victimized by the same bastard who nearly killed Jamie. I liked how he told Jamie about BJR punching Claire and how through this we find out that Claire hadn't even brought up this detail to Jamie or even Dougal (bough she may have assumed he knew because he helped her up from the floor). He recognizes that Jamie and Claire have this in common - silent pride and fearlessness in the face of adversity. But his inadvertent matchmaking still doesn't squelch his infatuation for Claire. And even though it should be creepy, Graham MacTavish's portrayal of Dougal actually evokes sympathy from me. I am repulsed AND I feel sorry for him. ETA: I thought of the cat fight in the background of last week's podcast when I saw the episode title credits...lol at Ron Moore letting his cat person flag fly. And from the looks of Caitriona Balfe's Twitter profile, she must have enjoyed the cat's appearance too. But it made me wonder...did people at this time believe cats were witches' familiars? They already think she is probably a witch because of her healing talents... I totally agree. I liked how Jamie gave her the pearls at the moment he did and not just before the ceremony as in the books. It made it a poignant and intimate moment. And with her wrapping the kilt around both of them, it was a symbolic acceptance of their union, a lovely callback to the night they first met, and how his tartan (his name, clan, body) will protect them both. I was reminded of the cloaking ceremony in Game of Thrones weddings, but in this case, she puts it on both of them instead of the groom putting it on the bride.

Your mention of sex in the Wire reminded me randomly of Lance Reddick's fine ass. Which can give Sam Heughan's a run for his money. Okay, both asses are highly acceptable!<br /><br />(Blushing...it's this episode that's got me gushing about asses!)

Thank you so much for sharing these! I love these picture recaps. This is my favorite quote so far from the "Rent" recap, but there are so many good ones!

In my efforts to distract myself as we await a new episode, I found this great article that features comments from Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, and Tobias Menzies about this episode. http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/outlander-106-sam-heughan-tobias-menzies-jamie-flogging-garrison-commander-1201305304/ Very cool to see that SH is such a fanboy about the BJR/Claire scene and also to read about how CB and TM collaborated with the director to heighten the tension of their scene together. They had originally planned for more movement and blocking, and am glad they shied away from that. It definitely had the feel of a play.

For a brief moment I thought you were referring to Elizabeth Gaskell's "North and South" - but I see now that you were referring to John Jakes. I enjoyed both Gaskell's novel and the BBC adaptation (Richard Armitage is so dreamy in it).

The music is so wonderful that when it is absent, it really stands out. I noticed how it was dead silent when BJR and Claire begin to speak after his shave in the dining room. The music kicks in once he starts describing the flogging and the music underscores the chilling scene so well. I have long been a fan of Bear's music since BSG and have his sheet music from the show (so glad they published it!) and I've already memorized the Jamie and Claire theme on the piano thanks to Bear McCreary so helpfully providing the melody lines in his blog. I'm sure we're going to hear many variations of it in The Wedding episode. Can't. Wait.