My husband found Outlander on Netflix and being of Scottish heritage was immediately entranced. When I walked in during the third episode he said he'd be happy to start it again so that I could catch up. Since then it has been a part of our evening activities. I believe it is a major hit so I won't bother setting out the plot.
What intrigues me is Claire's marriage in the 1940s to Frank, a dashing but rather reserved and removed man who Claire entices back into an emotional life with her after their estrangement during the War. But, when she suddenly finds herself dropped down into a life 200 years earlier on the Scottish moors, entangled in a skirmish between Redcoats and Scottish highlanders, it is Jamie Fraser who rescues her time and time again from evil men and dangerous situations, and from her own actions and decisions as well. The two of them will find great joys in marriage; a union designed to try to keep her safe. Those sexual scenes on their honeymoon are delicious fare. Yet, given a choice, Claire continues to want to return to her own life in the twentieth century, to Frank.
The sadistic and evil 'Black Jack' Randall, a forebear of Frank who looks just like him and speaks just like him is quite fixated with our Claire. He wants to question her, yes; part of his job you might say, but it is so much more than that. Those scenes where he messes with Claire, punching her in the solar plexus so that she can't breathe, or cutting away at her clothes to reveal her breasts, or threatening her with malevolent intent, really do make me hold my breath. You can feel the evil oozing out of his every pore.
I felt sick to my stomach during the scene where the bastard whips Jamie unmercifully trying to 'break' him. It was unbearable to watch. I listened, remained in the room, but I drowned it out, disassociated with it. It is Randall's explanation as to how intimate he finds the whipping process that had my skin crawling. Such scenes remind me that evil really does exist in the world and that some men truly believe that by harming someone else they can find beauty and solace. To a healthy mind, that makes no sense.
It is at just the moment when we are in morbid fear for Claire that there is relief. Jamie appears at the window and demands that Randall take his hands off his wife. Dashing, pure and exuding goodness and honour, yet sexy as all get out, we feel safe again knowing that Jamie will somehow save the day regardless of more trials that he will no doubt have to endure before he can save Claire. (This is where we are up to in the series.)
I do wonder how the writers can resolve the dilemma that has abounded from the start. Claire loves Frank who is the descendent of this tyrannical bastard who emotionally and physically torments her, and she is growing to love Jamie as well. Who could not? How does she choose between them?
Somewhere, deep in my psyche and from the youngest age, there has been some innate understanding that there are good men who love and care for women, the 'Jamies' of the world, and there are men who narcissistically want control of women for their own reasons. When I married my husband I knew I was marrying a Jamie and with that understanding clear in my mind, I know I will always be married to him. I'll always choose true love. But, Claire's dilemma is even more complicated. Frank is no 'Black Jack', but nor does he have the deep sense of loyalty and innate need to protect a woman that comes so naturally to Jamie. Would Jamie have decided to return to Oxford without finding Claire first? Hardly. I'll be fascinated to see what comes of her.
What intrigues me is Claire's marriage in the 1940s to Frank, a dashing but rather reserved and removed man who Claire entices back into an emotional life with her after their estrangement during the War. But, when she suddenly finds herself dropped down into a life 200 years earlier on the Scottish moors, entangled in a skirmish between Redcoats and Scottish highlanders, it is Jamie Fraser who rescues her time and time again from evil men and dangerous situations, and from her own actions and decisions as well. The two of them will find great joys in marriage; a union designed to try to keep her safe. Those sexual scenes on their honeymoon are delicious fare. Yet, given a choice, Claire continues to want to return to her own life in the twentieth century, to Frank.
The sadistic and evil 'Black Jack' Randall, a forebear of Frank who looks just like him and speaks just like him is quite fixated with our Claire. He wants to question her, yes; part of his job you might say, but it is so much more than that. Those scenes where he messes with Claire, punching her in the solar plexus so that she can't breathe, or cutting away at her clothes to reveal her breasts, or threatening her with malevolent intent, really do make me hold my breath. You can feel the evil oozing out of his every pore.
I felt sick to my stomach during the scene where the bastard whips Jamie unmercifully trying to 'break' him. It was unbearable to watch. I listened, remained in the room, but I drowned it out, disassociated with it. It is Randall's explanation as to how intimate he finds the whipping process that had my skin crawling. Such scenes remind me that evil really does exist in the world and that some men truly believe that by harming someone else they can find beauty and solace. To a healthy mind, that makes no sense.
It is at just the moment when we are in morbid fear for Claire that there is relief. Jamie appears at the window and demands that Randall take his hands off his wife. Dashing, pure and exuding goodness and honour, yet sexy as all get out, we feel safe again knowing that Jamie will somehow save the day regardless of more trials that he will no doubt have to endure before he can save Claire. (This is where we are up to in the series.)
I do wonder how the writers can resolve the dilemma that has abounded from the start. Claire loves Frank who is the descendent of this tyrannical bastard who emotionally and physically torments her, and she is growing to love Jamie as well. Who could not? How does she choose between them?
Somewhere, deep in my psyche and from the youngest age, there has been some innate understanding that there are good men who love and care for women, the 'Jamies' of the world, and there are men who narcissistically want control of women for their own reasons. When I married my husband I knew I was marrying a Jamie and with that understanding clear in my mind, I know I will always be married to him. I'll always choose true love. But, Claire's dilemma is even more complicated. Frank is no 'Black Jack', but nor does he have the deep sense of loyalty and innate need to protect a woman that comes so naturally to Jamie. Would Jamie have decided to return to Oxford without finding Claire first? Hardly. I'll be fascinated to see what comes of her.
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ReplyDeleteDaisy: It seems that 'Black Jack' is an "equal-opportunity sadist". I'm not sure why viewers would have focused on his sexual orientation, since his sadism and perversions are far more compelling than his sexual orientation could ever be. http://www.hypable.com/outlander-gabaldon-jack-randall-isnt-gay/
ReplyDeleteKeeping out of harm's way of such men strikes me as the best survival instinct one could have!