Outlander 2014

Outlander: The Garrison Commander, Episode 106 Review

By: Erin Conrad

If you haven’t been keeping up on world events, you may not know that there’s a huge, important vote coming up next week in Scotland, as the country’s citizens decide whether or not to stay part of Great Britain. And there is currently no distributor for Outlander in Great Britain. Officially, there is no link between the two – but honestly, if I were on the “no” side and had any influence over TV programming, this episode would be a great argument for why not to show this TV series until after the vote. And for the first 40 minutes or so, none of this is easy to watch.

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We now know the answer to last week’s big question – Claire told Lt. Foster that she was, indeed, the guest of the MacKenzies, and not in need of any assistance (and who thinks Dougal finally started breathing again at that), but when Lt. Foster insists that she accompany him to the garrison to reassure his commander, she obviously felt some sense of relief. But Dougal, unsure of what she’ll say, or, I’m sure, how she’ll be treated, tells the young “leftenant” “Well, if the lady goes, I go.” And good thing, too, Dougal.  The garrison, still on MacKenzie lands, may as well be an alien landing post, occupied by self-styled superior overlords. As Dougal passes on horseback, taking in the redcoats everywhere, he sees one spit on the ground at the site of him.

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This and the next few scenes are excellent examples of why the Scots are hoping to bring their own Stuart king back to the throne of England, as the English make no secret that they believe the Scots to be uncivilized, dirty, and irredeemable.

Claire is welcomed back to the bosom of the English military – a lovely English rose, forced to endure months of barbarous treatment at the hands of the savages. But as far as civilized behavior goes, they sure don’t comport themselves in a polite manner. Dougal is greeted with mocking – “The War Chief, eh? I’d say you look the part.” When Dougal responds to the question of what to call him, Lord Thomas, the garrison commander, turns to his fellow soldiers: “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I fail to understand a single word the creature said. Someone really ought to teach these people the King’s English.” Lt. Foster replies, “I believe he is speaking English, my lord. Or their form of it, anyway.” And Lord Thomas responds, “Well, it’s a form that’s damn offensive to the ear.”

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This scene is pure invention on the part of the Outlander writers – after stretching out last week’s rent-collecting episode by not including several scenes from the book (in the book, there was a great scene of Dougal and Jamie showing off their swordplay skills for Claire, that many fans were very upset to find had been overlooked), the writers obviously felt the need to stretch out this episode by making it crystal clear to Claire and to us why the Highlanders were rebelling against the English, by making the English as hateful and obnoxious as possible. “How are we ever going to make peace with such an ill-mannered people?” Lord Thomas moans. And Claire, having spent weeks with the Scots, gets herself in trouble, by saying what is probably still on the minds of Scottish citizens – “The Scots just want the same freedoms we enjoy – the freedoms that we take for granted.”

When she tells both Dougal and Lord Thomas to quit sniping at each other and stop behaving like children, Lord Thomas is delighted by her feistiness, saying “If I were brave enough, I’d commission you a colonel in one of my regiments. You do know how to order the men about!” And we see a little tenderness from Dougal, as he smiles slightly, and replies, “Aye, she does that.” He’s become fond of our girl, and truly wants no harm to come to her, and leaves her side only because he’s been convinced that she’ll be safe among these men, as much as he despises them.

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But he’s left the room too soon – Black Jack Randall makes his return, bursting into the room to tell everyone that Dougal MacKenzie is quaffing ale in the tavern below! He and Claire recognize each other – and we know that this can’t be good. He is interrupted in his loutish dust-removal  by a courier who runs in to say that there has been a skirmish, and one English soldier is dead and another gravely wounded. Claire, of course, rushes to tend the soldier, who has to have his arm amputated – was this necessary? It made what was already a justifiably difficult episode even more so, and has probably reduced the re-watchability of the episode by a huge factor. Why did we need to hear, and see (although honestly, I didn’t watch much of this) the saw going through bone? It didn’t further the plot at all, and felt like the writers said, “Well, we might as well make the whole hour tough to watch! Let’s remind everyone that Claire’s a combat nurse and not at all squeamish.”

Do you get the idea that I wasn’t too fond of much of the first 20 minutes of this episode? We get it. The Redcoats are bad – they killed the two men the Highlanders came across last week; in turn, the Highlanders left a soldier by the side of the road with his head in his hands. The two sides can’t play nice; they’re poor neighbors, suspicious, belittling, quick to judge and slow to understand. Ancient arguments and grievances; we’ve seen Rob Roy and Braveheart. The first five episodes have have their ups and downs – definitely more ups than downs, but fans have watched and rewatched. The first 20 minutes of this one may keep it from joining our rewatch list. And may keep the series from being shown in England and Scotland for a while longer.

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But then… Black Jack Randall has his turn with Claire. We know already that this is not a nice man. He tried to rape her within minutes of finding her in the woods; Jamie told us just a bit of his horrifying encounter with Captain Randall. And now he wants to reveal himself and his nature to Claire, in return for her honesty. He questions her again about who she is and what she’s doing there – she invents, on the spot, a story of a fickle lover whom she must escape. Claire is not good at lying – Randall can see through this invention. He wonders if she’s a prostitute, but she doesn’t “look like a woman who would rouge her nipples.” He draws her likeness on a napkin, and tells her he will call the sketch “Beautiful Lies.” But she knows what he did to Jamie – not in the excruciating, sickening detail he offers to her, though. “I understand flogging is something of a sport to you,” she sneers at him. “On the contrary, I assure you, I take it quite seriously,” he answers.

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Here is Outlander’s true villain. In another hard to watch, but much more necessary, scene, Jamie confronts Randall at the whipping post, in front of Dougal – and his father, Brian Fraser. Brian Fraser is shown in the credits, played by aptly-named actor Andrew Whipp, but has no lines (if you guessed Brian Fraser from my tease in the preview, you win all the points). His anger and sorrow for his son’s plight is clear, however.

brian fraser

Jamie is stoic and brave – when Randall comments on seeing Jamie shiver, shirtless, in the courtyard, and asks if he is afraid, Jamie replies, “I’m just afraid I’ll freeze stiff before you’re done talking.” Randall takes great pleasure in whipping the already damaged but strong young man. “Blind fools… all they could see was the horror. I… I could see the beauty. I saw the truth. That boy and I – we were creating a masterpiece. An exquisite, bloody masterpiece. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.”

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In the book, Dougal tells Claire about the whipping, but it so much more effective coming directly from Randall – we see so clearly, as does Claire, the truth of Randall’s black soul. She believes, mistakenly, that he tells her this in hopes of redeeming his soul, and expresses her belief that with his capacity for self knowledge and understanding, he could turn his life around and become anything he chooses to be. But when he takes her by the hand and then slams his fist into her stomach, and insists his attendant, Corporal Hawkins, kick her as she lay gasping on the floor, we know that he already is the man he wants to be. “I dwell in darkness, madam, and darkness is where I belong. I need no sympathy from you, and you’ll get none from me.” Tobias Menzies was fantastic in this episode – every vile thought comes through clearly on his face, and we know for sure he’ll be back again for us to continue hating.

The flogging itself was powerful, disturbing, stomach-turning – but necessary in a way that the earlier amputation was not. This was a transformative event for many  – certainly for Jamie, whose strength of character has allowed him to rise above the terrible thing that happened to him, and let him retain his basic goodness, when it might make others bitter. For Jack, he discovered in the act his basest nature, and his revelry in it (you can see in the shaving scene that he carries in him the basic core of sadism, that his aide was terrified just shaving him). And Dougal – watching this nephew he loves being beaten so badly crystallized his hatred for the English, and if he didn’t start him down the path of rebellion, it certainly cemented his need to do what he could to remove them from his country.

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Dougal rushes in and is allowed to take Claire away, but is told to return her to Randall at Fort William the next day. I started to breathe again (poor Claire, I’m sure it took her much longer to start breathing). Dougal offers her the only solution he can find – that she must become a Scot, because the English cannot compel the person of a Scot to appear without evidence of a crime – and the only way to do that, he says, is that she must marry a Scot. “Marry you, you mean!” she throws back at him. He admits that the idea of bedding her holds some appeal, but he’s looking to solve two problems with one broad stroke – he means for her to marry Jamie. What does that fix? He is still worried about Jamie’s appeal to the rest of the clan, outlaw or not, as a potential clan leader, and wants to eliminate that threat to his ambitions. Would the clan accept Jamie as leader if he’s married to one of the hated English?

Outlander 2014

And so, despite Claire’s misgivings, she considers the possibility. (Dear non-readers, this scene, and next week’s episode, are some of the most highly anticipated by us fans…) He’s not promised to anyone else, he considers himself a poor prospect, seeing as he has a price on his head… but he’s been in love with her from nearly the first minute he met her, although he doesn’t say that. “You’ve mended my wounds more than once, I owe you something for that. And what kind of a friend would I be if I left you to that mad bastard Randall?” he asks.

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I hear you, ladies – we all sighed in unison: “Doesn’t it bother you that I’m not a virgin?” Claire asks. Jamie replies, “No… as long as it doesn’t bother you that I am. I reckon one of us should know what we’re doing.” And with that, Jamie comes fully into his own in this series, moving from side character, friend, but not particularly important to Claire – to, as one of my readers says, “hunky love interest.” This is where Jamie belongs, where we expect him to be, front and center in this story. There’s been too little Jamie in the series so far – deliberately, I know, as up until this point, it’s been strictly Claire’s story, but every girl needs a guy, a big strong brave handsome guy – and Claire finally has hers. Next week’s episode is The Wedding – we may be the guests at this wedding, but Starz is giving us the gift.

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 Follow me on Twitter: @ErinConrad2

Watch Inside the World of Outlander at starz.com/Outlander

And don’t forget to look for Ron Moore’s great Outlander podcasts, usually available on Monday (link will be added)

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