Lassies of Lallybroch - NO SPOILERS

[hudyerwheesht]

Ok, like our sister thread for those who have read the books, this is for discussion of Outlander Series 2 but for those who have not read the books and/or don't want any spoilers.

[snozzlemaid]

And this...

[pixieg1rl]

I'm glad we're not the only ones to love the knees.

BTW the lovely Kelly is being very coy, she's the one who stalked met Sam Heughan the other day. She completely failed to dry hump his knees though.

[snozzlemaid]

Hello Kelly. You very lucky lady.
Feel free to keep telling us about your meeting Sam. Have you come back down to earth yet?

[Drywhitethanks]

I'm still perplexed about the woman holding the baby? Who is she? Never seen her before .....why would they put the nanny in a photo with c,j and j? Very odd.
Funny pics.

Not long to go........

Vikings is going well, I've been working hard and am onto season 3....very brutal, lots of KNEES, not much love though......no Jamie.......helping me deal with Outlander obsession.

[Verbena37]

Hi Kelly.....how come you met Sam? Met as in walked past, or met as in met?
Is the woman with baby, the cook?

[Verbena37]

Does anybody know the soonest time that Outlander appears on Amazon Instant Video?

I checked last week at just after midnight and it wasn't there but at 7:30 on Sunday morning, it was.

[snozzlemaid]

I'm in the UK and it appears about 5am on Sunday morning.

[Verbena37]

Aha ok, thanks snozzle. That doesn't help solve my problem of whether to stay up late or get up early to watch it..
Going out for the day early about 9 so not sure I'll have time to see it in the morning. Having to wait the whole day will be torture!

Unless I get up and watch it at 5am

[MistressFraser]

My Amazon Prime ran out 24 hours earlier than I thought, so my plans to rewatch knees all my favourite bits were foiled. Enjoy the next episode, all - it will be a little while before I can watch it.

[AKAmyself]

So I'm reposting here an edited version of what I have posted on the other thread, where hopefully i've removed all spoilery references. Let me know what you guys thought about the latest episode!

-

Are we ready to discuss the Fox's Lair?! in which Claire and Jamie go a'pimping for the rebellion

not that i woke up early to watch it or anything like that, you understand smile

Just finished watching. I'm gutted they had all of 45 seconds (I timed it!) of Lallybroch feasting, with not even a glimpse of the much anticipated shagging by the fireside potato feast. The scene of Jamie cradling Jenny's babe were precious. Very understated work there from the writers: claire's voiceover would have been totally unnecessary as it was so obvious what would have gone through her mind and heart. Beautiful stuff.

I didn't care much for the Looghaire sub-plot, which on the whole is quite unnecessary. The whole Dame Blanche was verrah heavy-ended imo, didn't remember being so unsubtle in the books.

There were things I loved about this episode, however. Old Simon was deliciously wicked and twisted; Jamie and his hair was mighty powerful and commanding - we really get the sense of what he is at the core, a leader of men, a soldier, a general; all those scenes in the pouring rain really worked in changing the tone of the whole story: this is Scotland, but not as we know it from season one - the clouds of war are definitely gathering.

Loved the shot of Jamie leading the Fraser army.

Brilliant work, as well, in all the scenes with Colum.

And finally - knees! lots and lots of wonderful knee shots.

Now for a totally stray observation - did anyone else notice the massive changes in SH's body between seasons one and two? it is really obvious now he's back in kilts. he has really bulked up a lot - I like him less this way, however, it really fits the story arc wonderfully: he is a man now, all muscles and tension, all traces of the youthful exuberance of season one gone.

[Drywhitethanks]

AKA SHs body looks the same to me ...season 1 still fresh in my memory.

My summary;
Knees
Bare chest
Kilts
Rain
Scotland
Murtagh
Jenny
Jamie and baby
Jamie and baby and Gaelic
All back YIPPEE. Loved it!

[hudyerwheesht]

I agree with Aka, actually - I thought he looked more manly. I also noticed he's gotten rid of the bandage thing he wore all the time in Paris on his left hand. I think quite a bit of time is meant to have passed but because they shrunk it down to 45 measly seconds they had to emphasise the fact that he's grown up/grown stronger and is taking on the challenge. He's manned up in every sense.
Great analogy re the gathering storm clouds of war,too. Ive realised however that while s1 was very much about C&j this one is more about Scotland in general, or rather it's future and I think that's what I'm finding slightly less appealing, if I'm honest. I do find it all slightly pointless since we saw right at the start what is inevitable. Am I the only one watching these scenes about thinking " but none of this is going to make any difference, we know how this ends!"? For me there's too much emphasis on that plot, knowing as we do how its going to go anyway and not enough on C&J's re-settling back into life.

I did enjoy playing the "ohh haven't heard that word for ages" game for the first time this series now that they're back in Scotland. Previously forgotten words: bisum, birling,stramash, keek and one of my favourites - glaikit.

Was also delighted that they've brought Fergus back with them. Was good to see Colum and Jenny again too. Hated the wig on what's his name, J's cousin (Simon?) and didn't much care for that whole storyline.

Sorry, that was a ridiculously long post. Will attempt a list in the style of drywhite next time.

[TheHiphopopotamus]

I do find it all slightly pointless since we saw right at the start what is inevitable

Exactly! Even without all that, we know from history that they don't change the outcome of the Battle of Culloden. This was my original bugbear when reading the book.

I said on the other thread that there wasn't enough pottering about at Lallybroch, just being content. They have no time to just sit back and have sex and enjoy being together.

On another note, Jamie suits Scotland sooo much more than Paris. And his hair looked tons better too.

[Drywhitethanks]

I agree Hudyer and HipHop , the politics bores me tbh, I'm more interested in the relationship. Was excited to see them being affectionate early on. If I'm honest the whole French trying to change history was a bit ridiculous and pointless as you say.

[Verbena37]

Just finished watching and actually got a bit bored in places. Not sure why....I guess less suspense (no JBR, no sex, not much of anything) but think that such a lot happened last week that whatever happened this week wasn't going to be the same.

Obviously I still loved it....loved the knees shot when they're riding towards Lovat's men st the end.

I thought they may have focussed more on Jamie and Claire's relationship more post baby sadness.

Looking forward to next week.

[AKAmyself]

I'm enjoying the Highlands politics and finding it so much more rewarding than the pointless French intrigue.

And as to why should we care when we know it all ends in tears... Well, Claire knew too when she had the chance to go back the first time and yet she chose to stay... For Jamie, for Scotland. I think the same applies to us or at least to me - I care because I love these characters!

[hudyerwheesht]

I know what you mean aka but with that the emphasis was more on her relationship with Jamie being the reason for her staying.
What I mean by the inevitable is the flash forward we saw at the start, meaning we know that they aren't going to change anything making this plot line and all the time it's getting seem a bit pointless. I'd rather it was the other way around with J&C's relationship the main focus and the subplot being the changing history thing.
I don't know how the book goes, obviously, though I know from peeks that it differs at the start, but that scene was like a spoiler for the end of the series. I'd have been up for following the storyline the whole series through, wondering if they would succeed in changing anything.

I read 11.22.63 by Stephen King which is about a man from the present trying to stop the assassination of JFK and what kept me hooked - apart from it being well written - was wondering if he would succeed and change anything. I'd like to have had the same intrigue with s2 of outlander so I guess the inevitability of it makes me wish they would focus more on the relationship of the characters, as others have said.
Interesting to discuss though.

And J is looking so much better in Scotland!

[TheHiphopopotamus]

I said on the book thread last year (there will be no spoilers in this post, I promise!) that one of my main reasons for not liking DIA, was because I knew they weren't going to stop Culloden. Therefore, I skipped all the political intrigue stuff to get to the more character based bits.

Is it supposed to be poignant because we (as the reader or viewer) know that it's ultimately futile? The books weren't written well enough for that, in my opinion, as others have said, it just becomes utterly pointless. And as hud as pointed out, we're watching this for Jamie and Claire, and they've become a secondary plot in this season.

Instead of trying to stop it, they should have had a plan b (like Claire's idea of going to Ireland to wait it out). But that's never exciting enough, is it?

[AKAmyself]

I can't believe I'm going to disagree with my outlander soul sister Hip, but it would be contrary to everything we know and love about Jamie to go for plan b involving Ireland or the colonies!

Jamie is a soldier and a leader; his loyalty is to his land and to his men; and - having just received a royal pardon and therefore finally not on the run after years of being an outlaw, he is not going to hide and run anymore. If he dies he'll die a free man, in Scotland, with his men around him and his honour intact!

He's Jamie Fraser FFS!!!

Ahem. Right. I feel strongly about this, it would seem :D

[AKAmyself]

I do take the point that we got so spellbound by the magic of Jamie and Claire's relationship in season one and they are now being swallowed up by history, which makes it hard to objectify care for them. I find that rewatching key bits of season one in between epis really helps, as it reminds me of who they are and why.

And in separate notes, I saw this on Reddit and it cracked me up

"That time Laoghaire was all of us... Smelling Jamie's shirt"

[TheHiphopopotamus]

aka

I know exactly where you're coming from and the whole point of it is that Jamie wouldn't run away. I do understand that that, honest. But he also has a duty to his wife and family, yes? I just think I needed to see more relationship stuff this season, all they've done so far is fight!

That's not to say I haven't enjoyed this series, it's just that J & C have been swallowed up by historical events and there hasn't been enough 'togetherness.' Loved the sumptuous-ness of Paris, but I missed Scotland so much and I think they did too.

[AKAmyself]

I agree completely that it felt unbalanced and we need more J and C tenderness. Even at old Simons, they could have snatched a few minutes of intimacy. Honestly we needed at least 10 minutes of bliss in lallybroch to catch our breath.

I think they blew their budget on the French stuff and that's why this series is shorter. An extra episode or two would have made all the difference :(

[Verbena37]

How many episodes are there in series two?

[AKAmyself]

13 vs 16 in series one

[Verbena37]

Hmm, this week did seem like a filler almost, budget- wise.