Outlander Both Sides Now Recap: Season 1 Episode 8 Review

Outlander Season 1 Episode 8 was almost a finale! Nooooooooooooo, we’re not going to get any more Outlander until April of 2015! Can someone put me in hibernation until the seven months have passed? Seriously, that was the worst part of this episode – knowing that after this, we’re not going to get any more until next year. Ugh. Starz, why you do this to us? Months without Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe – I don’t know if i can stand it!

Alright, enough griping, let’s get on to the actual episode 8 of Outlander itself. I have to say, I’m really, really loving all the additional Frank stuff so far, and I love that they’re actually taking time to establish his relationship with Claire and his despair at her loss. It makes it that much more heartbreaking when she almost gets reunited with him. I don’t even like Frank and I was tearing up at their almost-reunion at the stones. But I could have done without the weird lady at the bar and the people trying to steal his money. They were obviously trying to show that there was a bit of Black Jack in Frank, but it just felt like filler – and took away from more Claire and Jamie bonding time!

The episode was also much faster-paced than most of the previous episodes, and I want to thank Ron Moore for that. He wrote this episode, and it showed – the dialogue was crisp, the scene transitions were great, and there was a lot of heart. I also feel like Ron is secretly a Frank/Claire shipper, and after watching this episode, I’m starting to become one too. I know, most of you guys are going to scoff and say I’m being silly – my book reader friends totally turned up their noses at me and muttered, ‘You’ll see’. I’m sure Claire is going to end up with Jamie, since it’s been telegraphed from ten thousand miles away, and I’m sure she’ll have to make that big choice soon. But right now, I really, really don’t see how Jamie’s compelling enough for her to forget about her husband, hot water, nice clothes, and most of all, no rapes [and almost rapes]! Does anyone blame Claire for peacing the eff out of town and running to the stones after what happened to her? She’s been almost assaulted, what, 4 times since she went back in time? If I was here, I wouldn’t have cared how much of a magic dick Jamie had, I would have been like, ‘see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya!’

The honeymoon scenes between Claire and Jamie were appropriately adorable, even though I wished we got more. We got a brief introduction from some dude named Hugh Munro who tells Jamie that he could have the price lifted from his head – apparently, there’s a redcoat who saw what happened at Fort William, exposition exposition exposition, and in summary, this person can testify on Jamie’s behalf. Jamie’s all, ‘Claire, my wiiiifee, I want to take you hoooooomeeee’, and Claire’s all, ‘Shit, he’s super into this idea. Uh-oh. Also, he’s hot, let’s make out.’

There was also a cool little fight sequence where the highlanders finally got to show off how badass they were, and then the whole group taught Claire how to stab someone. Obviously, we could tell that this would be used later in the episode because um, Claire’s a nurse – she totally knows how to stab someone in the stomach. Anyway, she and Jamie then sneak off to have some sex, and it’s all very hot and sweet and I want them to just have sex all the time, and then some asshole British deserters come and try to rape Claire. For some reason, Jamie just stands there like a mute while Claire stabs the shit out of her attacker. Claire goes into shock and starts muttering to herself, and Jamie looks really, really worried. But apparently, not worried enough to stay with her. I’m sorry, this scene pissed me off. She was just attacked by a rapist soldier, and he LEAVES her in the woods with that kid to look after her? To go off to meet this deserter dude who maybe possibly can help him, but it’s probably just a trap? Um, no. You guys have been married TWO DAYS, and you leave your wife after she was nearly raped? I don’t know, I just didn’t feel like the Jamie that we’d met up till now would have done that. Maybe I’m wrong – does this happen in the books, book readers?

Anyway, Claire’s pissed, but she’s pissed for a different reason than me. She’s pissed because she let herself forget about her mission to get back to the Stones and get back to Frank, and her near-rape probably brought her back from honeymoon sex heaven with Jamie. And surprise, the stones just happen to be a walking distance away from where she is! TV coincidence land, dun dun dun. Her bodyguard [who looks like he’s all of 15 years old] goes off to pee, and Claire takes this opportunity to start running towards the stones. And then, what follows is actually really sad, you guys :( They made a very interesting story choice, and showed us Claire running towards the stones at the same time as Frank walking towards the stones in 1945. And he starts screaming for her, and she can hear him, and they’re both turning towards each other – she shouts at him to wait for her, he’s not sure if he’s imagining things because let’s be real, there are voices and echoes coming from Stones. I’m holding the edge of my seat in nervousness, it fades to black…. AND the redcoats have her. Ugh. I know I’m supposed to be rooting for redheaded McHunkerson, but man, I felt bad for Frank. And also, Claire – she was so, so CLOSE!

Unfortunately, the redcoats then take her back to that sadistic psychopath of a man, Black Jack Randall – also known as Frank’s ancestor times a bajillion. It’s a big jarring to see this asshole wear Frank’s face, which was just crying a few minutes ago. And then BJR being the epic douchebag pervert asshole that he is, is all like, ‘I’m going to torture the shit out of you if you don’t tell me what I want to know’. Claire tries bluffing her way out of it, and it looks like she’s almost going to succeed – but then she falls into a trap. Noooooo Claire, it’s basic lying/evading torture 101 – you don’t pretend to know more than you do! Black Jack kicks his lieutenant out of the room and then starts getting ready to rape Claire [ugh, two almost rapes in one episode, come on]. But guess who shows up at the last minute? JAMIE. Somehow, Jamie ends up at the window with a gun pointed at Black Jack, telling him to take his hands of his wife. And then Black Jack starts laughing like a lunatic… and AND SCENE.

NOOOOOOOOO. I refuse to wait seven months for this show to come back. Should I just give in and read the books? How did Jamie get up to that window? It’s like several stories up in the air! How did he find out she was there? Will Black Jack die? So many questions!

What did you guys think of the episode? Book readers and non-book readers? I know there were some strongly differing opinions among the people I know, but we want to hear from you guys – let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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