S03.E09: The Doldrums

[QuinnM]

8 hours ago, gingerella said:

By the way @Anothermi, it hasn't escaped me that this episode is called The Doldrums, and we, as two new Viewers, find ourselves stranded with our newly expanded crew nowhere to be seen on the horizon

Wha?  So sorry I must have drifted off or had some kind of petit mal.  This was the most tortuous episode yet.  It was disjointed, like a collection of short stories.  And quite frankly the love making interlude seemed gratuitous.  Very little of what was presented was necessary to move the story forward.

Worse thing is that I can’t find the previously shown.  They have disappeared from Apple TV or something.

Edited June 12, 2021 by QuinnM

[SassAndSnacks]

10 hours ago, gingerella said:

By the way @Anothermi, it hasn't escaped me that this episode is called The Doldrums, and we, as two new Viewers, find ourselves stranded with our newly expanded crew nowhere to be seen on the horizon (except for @Camera One who is nearby!)...I wonder if @SassAndSnacks, @Beeyago, @Cdh20, @QuinnM & @Scarlett45 have all boarded the ship and are sailing away to Jamaica as we speak, or perhaps they're working for Sir Percival and are undercover...time will tell..

Sorry! I’m on vacation! And I hate responding to posts on my phone because I’m a bad phone typer. 
 

I will say this - I’m not a fan of Highlanders of the Caribbean. I approve of the outcome but the getting there is stupid. 

[gingerella]

6 hours ago, Cdh20 said:

Needless to say the back 1/2 of this season is not a favourite for me, I get seasick! I am still enjoying seeing you tying pieces together, and look forward to revelations & disappointments! 

Ruh-roh...I'm down for revelations, but enough with the disappointments already!

5 hours ago, QuinnM said:

Wha?  So sorry I must have drifted off or had some kind of petit mal.  This was the most tortuous episode yet.  It was disjointed, like a collection of short stories.  And quite frankly the love making interlude seemed gratuitous.  Very little of what was presented was necessary to move the story forward.

Worse thing is that I can’t find the previously shown.  They have disappeared from Apple TV or something.

Ha, I know, 'disjointed' is a very apt description of this episode. It literally FEELS like the Viewer is in The Doldrums, and I'm not sure if that's good writing or if it's bad writing! Do you have Starz or Netflix? I know the Previously Shown's are on Netflix because that's where I've been watching it, though they only have up through S04 so I'll have to get Starz to finish S05, and while I'm there watch Men in Kilts...

1 hour ago, SassAndSnacks said:

Sorry! I’m on vacation! And I hate responding to posts on my phone because I’m a bad phone typer.

I will say this - I’m not a fan of Highlanders of the Caribbean. I approve of the outcome but the getting there is stupid. 

Oh sorry! Go enjoy!!! Your comment is ominous but since we tend to like and appreciate the same aspects of this Show, I am hopeful that two of our Clan here have said that it does get better...at some point...It's just a matter of whether or not @Anothermi and I can weather this shit storm of bad story telling to get to the other side of this Highlanders of the Caribbean story line!

Edited June 12, 2021 by gingerella

[Beeyago]

12 hours ago, gingerella said:

I wonder if @SassAndSnacks, @Beeyago, @Cdh20, @QuinnM & @Scarlett45 have all boarded the ship and are sailing away to Jamaica as we speak, or perhaps they're working for Sir Percival and are undercover...time will tell..

Haha! No, haven’t sailed away but wish I could!! Lol. Life has just gotten busy for me. I took on a 2nd job a couple months ago which was bad enough, then we got a puppy last month, it’s my son’s but he still lives at home so we all know how that goes and who ends up doing everything😩. I realize now that i’m too old for a puppy!! So yes, I’m struggling to find a blade of grass to hide behind (Lol) to find time catch up on things. But hoping to read through all of the threads here that I’m behind on soon.  And I also agree with @Cdh20, 2nd half of season 3 isn’t my favorite either. Unless Lord John is in it. Right now I can’t even remember which episodes he’s in this season. Too braindead. Lol

[Anothermi]

 On 6/10/2021 at 11:44 AM, gingerella said:

Jamie: "To live as half a man and accustom yourself to live in the bit that's left..."

3 hours ago, SassAndSnacks said:

The show makes a point of showing us that Claire wasn’t entirely present in her Boston life. Joe and Bri both say it outright, and we see it for ourselves in her interactions with Frank and her less vibrant personality.

** I started this reply in First Wife but it ended up referring to this episode, so I've moved it here in order to avoid having to spoiler tag those bits. So the quotes above are from First Wife.**

Right. So the show has pretty much let us know that Claire and Jamie, BOTH, were unable to live a full life without the other. 

I'm finding it interesting that the portrayal of Claire's experience of this came from her daughter (my mother lives in another world) while Jamie  appears to be more self aware because he states it himself.  I'll give them both credit for  "accustom(ing) themselves to live in the bit that's left.."—mostly because of a phenomena I've had experience with during a relatively short bout of chronic pain. When the issue was resolved and the pain went away it was only then that I recognized the impact the underlying pain had on my daily life. So, I'll extrapolate that was true on an emotional level for both of them as well. Still, the show gives Jamie the credit for that realization and (kinda) gives the equally true realization to Claire that twenty years of a life (half) lived is still your life. And it has value and it helped form who you are now. (Why does it annoy when they have Claire say it?)

So Claire is starting to face what she couldn't imagine when she decided to return to find Jamie—and it's bound to take time to sort through what she's lost and what she's gained. Jamie seems to be willing to accept whatever he has to (regarding who Claire is now) because he spent most of his life painfully aware of Claire's absence and only recently has attempted to move beyond that stagnation—however unsuccessfully. That doesn't make his loneliness worse than Claire's. She was just a bit more successful in coping with it—possibly because of the sage advice of Mrs. Graham to not spend the rest of her life chasing ghosts. 

I'm now thinking the broader point of the Saga-of-Willoughby's-Life-in-China story was not just to save one man from a watery grave, but to give Claire and Jamie a reminder... 

Willoughby: I've been scribing the story of my life in China, so that it... will not be forgotten. A story told is... a life lived.

Claire: Would you tell it to me?

Willoughby: Not yet. Once I tell it, I have to let it go.

Everything that happened to them in the 20 years they were apart was the story of their lives to that point; and should not be forgotten. But—as @gingerella keeps stressing—they need to TELL it in order to let it go.  So that they can actually begin a new life together again. 

Neither of them has told the other the story of their life so far. 

 

 

 

[Scarlett45]

On 6/12/2021 at 2:20 AM, gingerella said:

By the way @Anothermi, it hasn't escaped me that this episode is called The Doldrums, and we, as two new Viewers, find ourselves stranded with our newly expanded crew nowhere to be seen on the horizon (except for @Camera One who is nearby!)...I wonder if @SassAndSnacks, @Beeyago, @Cdh20, @QuinnM & @Scarlett45 have all boarded the ship and are sailing away to Jamaica as we speak, or perhaps they're working for Sir Percival and are undercover...time will tell...

Howdy- I am here with you guys. I just forgot what happened in this episode. I will have to finish up season 3 so I can speak intelligently about each episode specifically. I will report back.

 

Edited to add- I will watch and wait for you guys to post, and then respond. I will pick up on this episode of season 3.