Saturday, August 2, 2014

Parallel Lives Unbroken, Starz's Original Series, Outlander

During the first 45-minutes of the early premiere viewing of Starz's Outlander one would think that what happened to Claire Randall was due to her husband's war experiences, but this is not true. As a war nurse Claire had seen more war and its aftereffects than her husband, Frank Randall, who had spent his time during the war as a London intelligent officer shipping young recruits off to war, where to his daily torment, many of them died. To her credit, Claire is a harden warrior herself.

Nonetheless this could have been a believable scenario for Claire, and yet, from her beginnings her travels with her archeologist uncle she has led a very adventurous and active life. For Claire to come home from the second world war and settle for the reigns of a proper 1940s English woman would hardly do. As it was women in England had been unswervingly gaining their equal rights since the 1860s, unlike their American counterparts . One of the major contributors to their movement was author Virginia Woolf, whose books often brought on questions about the new roles of women and the station of working women in England. Three such books are is "A Room of One's Own, Three Guineas, and Orlando".

Sorry, I digress a little far down the path.

Caitriona Balfe

Outlander, the series gets its origins from the 1991 historical based novel of the same name written by Diana Gabaldon. The general story is that after touching one of the ancient and mythical stones of Craigh Na Dun, Claire Randall is quickly swept away two hundred years in the past. More precisely, she is sent to the year 1743 near the town of Inverness, Scotland after touching one of the ancient stones of Craigh Na Dun. She awakes three years prior to a major Jacobite uprising. However, not confused for long, Claire soon realizes that she has traveled to the past, and that she has ended up in the company of a small band of the Jacobites. Their main goal is to return James VII of Scotland and II of England to the throne of Great Britain.
author

Digressing! But, I do love history.

Tobias Menzies

The band of Jacobites call Claire a Druid because of her strange ways in
dressing, nursing wounds, and unladylike cursing. As she travels with them Claire does not realize that she is getting more in broil with the men and their cause. Neither has she notice that Jamie Frazier appears to have a growing interest in her that has nothing to do with dressing his wounds.

Further thoughts, questions, and points of interest on Outlander's first episode, Sassenach:

1.    Claire needs a sense of belonging but not a boring existence. What is her purpose in 1743 Scotland?
2.    Since her travels with her uncle at a young age, Claire is a natural nomad and a botanist.
3.    Claire believes she needs to rekindle her feelings for her husband, Frank Randall, a historian. Since the war she has been disassociated from him and his world.
4.    While Frank tries to reconnect with his families ancient past, he fails to see that Claire is

Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe

unfulfilled in her present life.
5.    Frank has a great interest in his genealogy, especially that of Jonathan Wolverton Randall (aka Black Jack Randall). Frank and Black Jack Randall could be twins if there was not two hundred years separating them.
6.    The castle and its grounds: did Black Jack Randall visit there? Was he a spy for the Jacobites? If so, what happened to him?
7.    Sassenach - means outlander
8.    Romance, intrigue, parallel lives, and at least two anicent wandering souls - this is the story of Outlander.
9.    Reference to Saint Odhrán a 6th century catholic martyr - a followed of Saint Patrick. Saint Odhrán asked to be buried alive to further the faith. Is this reference a clue what might occur or had occurred to one of Claire's love interests. Was there a sacrificial death of Claire's greatest love? Is Frank really her soulmate? Is Jamie her sacrificial love?
10.    Frank's and Claire's arrival in Inverness is during the season of Samhain and there is a festival

Sam Heughan

to celebrate the harvest and the coming of winter.
11. There are two lines in episode 1 which are very poetic and act as a potent to what happens to Claire. "... the war has taught me to cherish the present because tomorrow might not ever come to pass", and "What I didn't know at the time was that tomorrow would prove less important than yesterday".

Cast: Caitriona Balfe as Claire Randall; Tobias Menzies as Frank Randall and Black Jack Randall; Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser; Duncan Lacroix as Murtagh Fitzgibbons; Gary Lewis as Colum MacKenzie; Graham McTavish as Dougal MacKenzie, and Lotte Verbeek as Geillis Duncan.
Starz's New Original Series, Outlander is airing on Starz's 'On Demand' and their streaming network. For those of you without Demand or the internet (unimaginable) Outlander airs this Sunday tonight at 10 pm.

Update: A eelated must story.