Wire To Wire

Please, someone talk to me, I’m properly frustrated. I find this particular episode bitterly disappointing. For me it’s the weakest one of the whole show (plot-wise). I do understand when show-runners have no other choice but to change the original material (if it’s too complicated to put on screen unedited or too expensive to film). But with «Deep heart’s core» (respective book chapters) it was entirely possible to keep considerable part of vital dialogs without exceeding episode’s time limit, so everything would be fine. Nevertheless Starz chose to «reinvent the wheel». And look what’s happened. 

We didn’t get to see: a) How The Fraser’s learnt their way to be a family. We jumped almost right into the domestic bliss instead. While the story could have become more believable if we had seen that it took actual time and effort to establish the relationship, even when everyone was willing.   

b) How Jamie ached to be a Father, but yet Brianna wasn’t ready to meet his expectations. She genuinely tried to please Jamie, being fond of him, but at the same time she didn’t want to betray Frank. At the start Jamie & Brianna didn’t even communicate directly. Claire helped them. It would have been so sweet to see their small steps toward each other. 

c) How it was not Bree, who brought up Frank Randall a lot, but Jamie himself. Isn’t it a more interesting angle? Fraser can’t stop comparing himself to Randal, can’t let him go. He sees that Frank had a huge impact on his women and this feeling bothers Jamie. It makes us see that JAMMF is just a man, and not an irreproachable being (as he’s at least partly portrayed in the show). 

So «behind the scenes» of this episode contains huge chunk of small but important stuff that didn’t make it to the screen. And I dare to say, for a lot of people the special magic of The Outlander is right in these tiny details described above. Why all of a sudden Starz decided to leave them out? They managed to get through 3 seasons without unnecessary alterations well enough. I can’t remember any other episode violated so much (well, In fact I can, but as I said, if it’s impossible to shoot, I’m totally ok with shortcuts and changes). 

What I really don’t like about «Deep heart’s core» it’s how the first part of the episode is all about things going very wrong very fast (too wrong and too fast, if it comes to that) while the second part is awfully stuck in pointless «plastic» out-of-character conversations and behavior. 

They’ve even changed the way Jamie «found out» about Brianna’s pregnancy. That is another miss. From Jamie’s perspective his wife and daughter had betrayed him, keeping the rape a secret. He’s boiling with rage, but also helpless, heartbroken, and devastated. Still he keeps all these unpleasant feelings in. No matter what. ‘Cause he knows what it’s like to be raped, and he needs to be there for his daughter. It took all his strength but he was as gentle with Brianna as it was possible. Read this, you’ll enjoy the scene. And don’t forget to delete «Unwed-pregnant-daughter-can’t-be-what-you-hoped-for» bullshit from your memory. Such lame stuff belongs with cheap soap operas, which The Outlander is not. 

Also there’s Claire, who’s in deep distress. Torn between her love for Jamie and her motherly bond with Brianna. There’s no peace between her and her husband. And that’s the whole different level of the story, though let’s not get into that. @holdhertightandsayhername wrote it better here

What I’m trying to say is that for me reading these pages was like playing Minesweeper (do you remember the game?). Every next move is harder to make, because it’s more likely to cause an explosion. So by the time characters got into the huge «revelation fight» I felt like a tightly coiled spring myself. But watching this episode was nowhere near that. All we saw was Jamie’s injured hand in a «wee accident», and literary just one phrase «Your mother told me what happened». Followed by tonnes of incoherent shouting.  

And why make such an idiot of Ian? Whether we remember it or not, Jamie was a man of 18th century. That added up to the existing tension. He naturally saw things not like Bree or Claire. Even made several intrusive efforts to arrange Brianna’s future for her (including Ian’s proposal), which gradually infuriated his daughter more and more. All good intentions notwithstanding. 

But that part was also left off-screen. As well as other dialogs that showed Jamie’s perspective (his deep concern for Brianna’s reputation — because public opinion was a huge thing in 1700s — his wish for another child of his blood, etc.). So when Brianna hit (!) her Da screaming «You are self-righteous bastard», it did seem to me a little bit too far-fetched. But not as over-the-top far-fetched as when a second later Jamie lost his shit, sounding almost panicked «I’ll-make-it-up-to-you-please-just-don’t-be-mad». Man, really, what could be more out of character?   

Finally, the last third of the episode in general, the heck was that? Fellow bookreaders, am I the only one who doesn’t get it? And what all these long scenes with Roger walking nearly-dead with Indians were for? They could have cut it in half and still be able to make their point. The lad horribly suffered «for nothing» and was determined to escape. I want to hear more from Roger, but only when he really has something «to tell». Besides, dear Indians, why to buy a man only to exhaust him to death on the road? Doesn’t make much sense. 

3 more episodes are totally enough to conclude the season. But it depends on how to tell the story. So haters gonna hate, lovers gonna love, readers gonna read, and I just gonna hope the narrative gets better. The Outlander is a truly amazing story. It deserves to be directed accordingly. 

P.S. Please, forgive my messed-up grammar and overdramatic way of describing things. English is not my native language, I’ve never written such a long text before.

Also all these pretty GIFs aren’t mine. I took them here. Please follow @outlander-online for more amazing content.