The Small Fries

Sing me a song of a lass that is gone, say could that lass be I?

It’s finally here and gone. The Outlander season one finale, “To Ransom a Man’s Soul,” premiered on Starz this weekend, and no amount of preparation will help you cope with such an intense episode. Each actor did an outstanding job in their performances, especially Sam Heughan, who portrays the dashing James Fraser. The finale was full of graphic and emotional scenes for both the characters and the viewers. I will warn you now, if you have not watched it yet or read the books, do not read any more. SPOILER ALERT!

Last week Claire was forced to leave Wentworth Prison, leaving Jamie in the clutches of Black Jack Randall. She devised a plan to save him, and luckily was successful. Murtagh and company ran through the halls of Wentworth Prison with a herd of Angus in front of them, trampling Black Jack in the midst. Though they may have saved Jamie’s body, his soul was still in danger. During his time in the prison, Jamie was tortured and raped by Black Jack himself. Eventually he was broken and ashamed of everything Randall did to him, including branding his initials onto Jamie’s side.

Allow me to clear up a common misconception about Randall; he is not homosexual. According to the author of the series, Diana Gabaldon, he is a sadist. He feels a sense of sexual pleasure from causing pain to others. This explains why he calls Jamie’s scars on his back a beautiful work of art. Randall is obsessed with bringing pain to anything he finds attractive, because it gives him pleasure and power over his victims. One thing he wants from Jamie is for him to break and succumb to his will, which Randall succeeds in doing. He uses Jamie’s deep love for Claire against him, as we see in one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the entire episode.

Jamie is keeping all of this from Claire, because he is ashamed of what he let Randall do to him. He believes that she won’t forgive him, considering Randall broke him using Claire against him. He tells this to Murtagh in a scene when the two are conversing in Gaelic. We see Murtagh grow angry with Jamie, and we later learn it is because Jamie wants to kill himself. I think throughout the entire episode, on top of everyone else’s feelings about the situation, Murtagh is overshadowed. He loves Jamie just as much as everyone else and canna stand to see him go through this pain and torture. He even tells Claire that he loves Jamie, but “I’ll not watch Jamie waste away. Die like an animal in the woods with his foot caught in a trap, and if it comes the time where he’s past the point of healing…” we assume he means to help Jamie.

Claire fights for Jamie though. After going easy on him the first few days, she becomes infuriated when she learns that he wants to give up and die. She goes in and forces the truth out of him. However, Jamie tries to convince her to let him go. “I lie here feeling I will die without your touch, but when you do touch me, I want to vomit with shame,” he tells her, “I canna be your husband any longer, and I will not be less to you.”

Of course, our hard-headed Sassenach does not give up that easy. “Randall had your body, but I will be damned if he has your soul as well.” Claire tells him that she knows they’re meant to be together and nothing will ever change that. This entire scene shows the viewers just how powerful their love for each other is. If they can overcome this, they are definitely going to be able to overcome what the future has in store for them. She continues to get it through Jamie’s head that she is not going anywhere despite what Randall has done, and if he takes that away from her, she will die with him. As broken as Jamie is he asks her, “How can you love me like this?” To which she replies, “I’ll have you anyway I can. Always.”

With the Frasers on the mend and now fleeing for France, they make plans to stop the Jacobite Revolt in the not so distant future. Bonny Prince Charlie just so happens to be in France, and they plan to start with stopping him. Hopefully they get there in time to stop him from crossing into Scotland, otherwise it will be the end of Highlander life as they know it, which is not a world they want to raise their little baby Fraser in.

Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, along with Tobias Menzies, gave phenomenal performances in the season finale. Heughan’s performance, in particular, was the strongest of the three. He had to play a tortured and broken Jamie, one that we have never seen before. Menzies gives us the same Black Jack Randall, but bares all of the darkness that is in him. We see him as the sadist he truly is. Heughan actually brought tears to my eyes each time he was on the screen. I could feel how broken Jamie was and could see into his tortured soul. The flashback scenes between Randall and Jamie were not only extremely graphic but also highly emotional as we see Jamie begging Randall to kill him on top of Randall coercing Jamie into branding himself with the letters “JR.” It brings forth subjects that the media tends to overlook -- the violence of rape. We read and hear about terrible things that happen similar to this, but never have viewers been shown such violence. Outlander broke down some of those barriers people tend to put up when thinking or talking about such violent acts.

Of course, rape in television has been a highly discussed topic for quite sometime, especially considering the amount of rape that occurs in the hit TV series, Game of Thrones. It bothers many people to see rape occur so often in a show that it appears to be a social norm and people in Westeros tend to overlook it. So, naturally, as a book reader and knowing what to expect, I worried how this pivotal scene in Outlander would go over with viewers. I feel that the show did not use rape the same way GoT does. It showed the violence in the act and how it can truly damage a person to their core, to their soul. Jamie was a broken man who needed someone to follow him into the darkness and lead him back to the light.

Balfe’s performance made Claire a bit self-centered albeit powerful. However, I can’t blame Balfe for this, because she had to work with the story changes. Now, here is where I am going to pull the “I read the book and that is NOT what happened” card. In the scene where Claire saves Jamie from himself, she basically gives him an ultimatum that is impossible for him. She is basically asking him to get better and be apart of their marriage again, or she will die. As emotional as the scene was, I was highly disappointed in how the show handled it. It made it more about Claire instead of Jamie.

In the book, the scene is much MUCH different and more powerful. SKIP PAST THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU PLAN ON READING THE BOOK. Claire actually dresses up like Randall and basically reenacts the rape with Jamie, but he is allowed to fight back this time. And boy does he fight back; he almost kills Claire. But this, along with pretending to be Jamie’s mother in this horrific but powerful role playing, allows Jamie to slowly heal from his wounds that Randall inflicted on him. Which then leads to a beautiful reunion between husband and wife, where she reveals that she is pregnant, thus showing the Frasers are going to be alright. Honestly, this could not have been something they could easily film for the show, so I applaud showrunner, Ronald D. Moore, for trying. This scene between Claire and Jamie could have been so much more.

With that being said, Balfe did do a great job portraying Claire’s pain that she was going through as well. Not only is Jamie suffering from his personal demons, but Claire is having to watch her husband suffer; she can’t do anything to save him. Balfe worked will with the script she was given for the tough scenes between her and Heughan. I just wish it was more true to the beautiful ending of the first book.

One actor who also did an outstanding job was one I briefly mentioned earlier. Duncan Lacroix plays Murtagh, and his character has been with Jamie and Claire every step of the way. He helped Jamie acquire the means to marry Claire; helped Claire search and ultimately rescue Jamie from Wentworth Prison; and now he is with Claire, watching Jamie suffer. He loves Jamie like a son and watches over him, protects him. Lacroix plays the Murtagh that I wish I got to know in the books. Show Murtagh compared to Book Murtagh is very different, and that is because of the talent Lacroix. As much as I loved this character in the first book, I grew to love him even more in the show, because his characteristics were more prominent on screen. His clever one-liners from the book come across just as sassy in the show, but Lacroix takes this character and brings him to a new level. He gives the character even more depth, and in this episode in particular, shows how important Jamie is to his godfather.

I did love this episode and found it to be one of the most powerful episodes on television I have seen. The performances by the actors shows how talented they are and how much they trust one another while filming these very graphic and emotional scenes. Heughan is by far the best James Fraser out there, and based on this episode alone, is a very talented and versatile actor. He has given such strong performances all season, but in these scenes he has given his best so far. I cannot wait to see what he brings to the table in the seasons to come, and that goes for all of the actors and writers. They have set the standard bar fairly high with this season, and I hope they can match it or exceed it next season.

Miss this season of Outlander? Catch up at http://www.starz.com/originals/outlander/featured

Don’t forget to catch up with the Frasers in book 2 of the series, Dragonfly in Amber.

--Kasey