Again, we need to breathe a little. And what could be better for that than a little boat trip along Cape Fear before arriving at Jocasta’s mansion.
A little Claire's typical reflection on slaves which shows that despite the past years, she is always quick to say what she thinks, then Jamie's gift for their 24 years of marriage: The medicine cabinet.
In the morning, we find them happy, relaxed, in harmony with nature. Claire, again in her role as Cassandre, describes the future of the new world, but unlike the fate of Culloden which was sealed by death and frustration, she can paint a more distant, more promising landscape, in which they could finally find their place.
The second important scene is that in which Bonnet tells Claire about his dream of drowning. For those who have read the following books, it is easy to understand why this dream is not trivial. For others, this confession portrays a being tormented, ambiguous and intelligent whose betrayal will be less tolerable.
First the cemetery scene, when little Ian confided in his uncle about what he had experienced in Jamaica. Until then, little Ian was just a child. Even his abduction, an important event since it involves the departure of Claire and Jamie for Jamaica, is hardly treated from his point of view.
I do not know how to bring this without appearing roguish, but damn, this man with the perfect body, the face of an angel ... would give any woman the desire to jump on it ... but now he thinks, that he says, he speaks, he philosopher ... and it is his spirit that wins!
The tone is set. There is no doubt, we have indeed left Scotland and its green surroundings.
From Jamie's interview with Hayes to his hanging, what does this first scene tell us? First, that again the Fraser family has to do with the red tunics. Let us not forget that at that time, Carolina is a British colony and that the colonists, coming mainly from Europe, have no other choice, to hope to settle in these hostile lands, than to obey the drastic laws imposed by different governors.
We also understand that the Fraser have been stranded on these lands for several months. It’s the magic of cinema. These long months of waiting for viewers have been filled with a story that we are told. It’s a bit like if, in the same space-time, we took side roads and finally we redone common road. Moreover, when Jamie joins Claire, Fergus, Marsali and little Ian, we instantly understand that this day to which we are finally invited, is only the culmination of a certain number of past events which we have not you don't need to know the details to understand its importance.
It only took 8 minutes for us to be part of the family again. We are no longer in our living room, the television screen no longer exists. We are with them, for better and for worse. The magic is already working.
The following discussion between Tryon and Jamie is crucial and teaches us a lot.
First, it serves as a reminder that it was the same British who wiped out the Scottish clans and who today lead the American colonies with an iron fist. To claim to be a settler, one must be a believer and have pledged allegiance to the crown. Jamie reassured the governor that he, as a pardoned Jacobite, had no choice but to make this promise.
Admittedly, we see him struggling with Geillis during the bloodbath, and we also see him tied up in Abandawe’s cave, but he is only a secondary character at the center of a primary action. What he feels, what it means to him is not treated. In a way, he's just a stooge.
But at the cemetery, for the first time, his character is underlined. We take up the cause for what he experienced and what it involved for him. Only then can one become attached to it, and God knows that Ian is an endearing character. We knew Jamie had a special connection to his nephew, he said it, he proved it. But from this scene, we understand why.
In addition, it is also at this time that we understand that what he experienced with Geillis is nothing more or less than rape and that in this he shares a traumatic experience with his uncle, and later with his cousin.
- It's been 24 years since I married Sassenach. I hope I never gave you cause to regret it.
- I never had any reason to regret it, Claire answers.
And everything passes in their gaze.
It’s this happiness there… the very expression of their love that, at night, Bonnet comes to devastate.
Generic ... Let's go.
There follow two scenes which seem harmless but which, on re-reading, appear to be fundamental.
It is at this very moment, even if they are not yet aware of it, that America opens its arms to them.
In what looks like a second part, we find Jamie and Claire at a social dinner with Governor Tryon where they are going, to find a buyer of a precious stone recovered by Ian in the cave of Abandawe. The seemingly harmless conversations indicate a latent political tension. As during their stay in Paris, they know how to blend in with the decor and have no trouble exchanging their outfits for travelers with those of the wealthy.
We find our Jamie. Same look, same noble look, until the three-cornered hat from the time of his Scottish life. This scene where he walks among the crowd is a reminder of his strolling through the narrow streets of Edinburgh as he joined his printing press, a few hours before Claire's return to her time. However this time, it is not the Scots harnessed to their daily task which compose the surrounding crowd, but the American colonists who gathered there to attend an execution.
We are first carried away by the poetic philosophy of this introduction which evokes the symbolism of the circle as that of a continuity which escapes us… But very quickly, the traveling back on the noose of the gallows, slaps like a blow of whip, and takes us into the grim reality of the colonies of North Carolina in the 18th century
We suddenly accepted everything, time travel, Scotland, Claire’s return, the sinking, and now North Carolina. We are only consenting puppets in the hands of expert storytellers.
And hardly have we had time to sigh of well being when Bonnet, Outlander's new dark soul, comes in, as Black Jack Randall did in the first season.
Jamie whom we have seen since the beginning of the episode as a leader, responsible, determined, patriarchal… is like a little boy, frightened and shy in front of Claire and it is beautiful this way that they have, the one and the 'other, to rebalance their relationship over the situations. We know then that their couple is indivisible, that it will resist everything. We are far from the doubts that had persisted during Claire's second passage through the stones.
As in Paris too, they must quickly understand the political implications and the implicit rules so as not to alienate the powerful.
Jocasta Cameron, Jamie's aunt is mentioned again. We are beginning to understand that she will soon be an important character.
It is his courageous and upright soul that makes us love him! it’s his deep and cultivated thinking that makes us waver. It is her tenderness and infinite respect that make us melt ... (well ... of course, all of this is embodied by a perfect body ... but let's not talk about it anymore 😉)
From a personal point of view, something was obvious to me during this scene.
Until then, I had always felt that it was Claire who had transformed Jamie. She had matured and grew. Alongside Claire, he became less boorish, less warlike, more thoughtful.
But around this fire, while Jamie reveals that even death can not separate them by concluding: 'nothing is lost, everything is transformed' and that Claire, with its university announced it comes quote the first principle of thermodynamics, Jamie brings it back to the essential: 'no, it's faith' he assures him.
In a way, Jamie understood the essence of life and did not need to refer to writings. He does not betray his thought by connecting it to the thought of another. He lives, he said, he knows.
Only then does she kiss him and they make love. It is not this body that she embraces, but her spirit and convincing us of that, when we have Sam Heughan half naked on the big screen, believe me, it is great art! Because it is not just two bodies that join here, but also two souls. It is this completeness that expresses itself and that links them so intensely. It’s the very nature of their love through war and time that makes them more than lovers.
Claire, who is nevertheless prudent woman, seems charmed and personally, the first time I saw this scene (I read the book after seeing the season 4), I was convinced that Bonnet would be a friend, or at least an ally. And that is why it is definitely hateful.
We are 30 minutes from an episode with 60 and the events were chained at a crazy pace. The night is there, the forest seems inviting. Jamie offers Claire to sleep under the stars, she says she likes it… and I imagine we all needed it.
Outlander has accustomed us to this: to enter into the intimacy of this couple exceptions, to appreciate these quiet and tender moments that will rub minds and bodies with equal force.
This fireside scene is incredibly intense and breaks the rhythm in which we were rushed from the credits.
Tryon therefore poses as a sovereign and does not allow Jamie to ignore him.
Then, and therein lies the trap, when Tryon says, 'There is the law and there is the reality,' he suggests two possibilities.
- Reality can get around the law to favor ... for example, Jamie wouldn’t need to pay all the taxes to start growing his land,
- but just as much, he can ignore the law to force Jamie to fight his own, in this case, the regulators.
At the end of the strategy, Jamie knows that to sign with Tryon is to make a pact with the Devil, especially since Claire, always depositary of the future, knows that the next revolution will be this time against the crown. But both of them feel drawn to this wilderness, so the decision is made. They will stay here, but will not sign with the invader.
Everything is folded in the next scene where we learned in bulk that Marsali is expecting a child, that Leslie is afraid to be alone and prefers to follow her leader and that little Ian would like to stay too, but that Jamie is too fearful of anger of his sister to dare not send his son back to him by the first boat to come.
A bit sloppy scene, but we must move forward and there is so much to discover!
Especially since we are told about a visit to this famous aunt Jocasta whom we hear from time to time and who, there is no doubt now, is a character worthy of her nephew.
Thus, in a simple plan, in addition to reminding us of what she experienced, we are also preparing for the appearance of Dent de Loutre, the future journey of Bree and Roger as well as various allusions to come about time travel. .
Then Claire's voice is heard outside the field. She takes hold of this reality and invites us to take part in the events to come. This voice which had already accompanied the first seasons of the series, is a guide that we recognize immediately and which, like a sesame, gives us access to history.
