Outlander 2.1: Split Hour

Outlander was back for its long awaited second season last night, following the first split-two-part season with an hour that was split itself into two very different kinds though of course intimately related stories.

Once again, I'm reviewing this as someone who's more interested in the time travel than the romance in these stories - though the romance is good - and who has not read any of the novels upon which this television series is based.  I sometimes like doing that, because it enables me to see what's on the screen with fresh eyes.

It gradually becomes clear, in the first half hour, that Claire has been away from her present and Frank longer than the time that elapsed last season - two years, in fact.  This tells us an important part of the metaphysics of this time travel universe: so far, at least, the amount of time Claire has spent in the past stays in synch with the amount of time that has elapsed with her absence in the present.   It doesn't have to be this way, and often is not, in time travel stories, in which the time traveler can spend years in the past, but return to the present just a few seconds after she or he left in the first place.  Or not - with a proper time machine, the return time can be adjusted.

Of course, Claire doesn't have a time machine, she has that strange hill in Scotland, which has a mind or at least some inner workings all its own.   Frank and Claire's going off to America is thus an important move in this part of the story, because it prevents either from just walking or driving over to the site of the time travel - unless, of course, there's a similar hill in Cambridge, MA.  Hey, I've been to Harvard lots of times, and I may know some places ...

But, meanwhile, in the past, it's fun again to see Claire's knowledge of the future come into play as she tries to prevent disasters and bad occurrences in history. And the big question now, of course, is what she can do the prevent Jamie's death.   Should be some good hours ahead ...


See also Outlander 1.1-3: The Hope of Time Travel ... Outlander 1.6:  Outstanding ... Outlander 1.7: Tender Intertemporal Polygamy ...Outlander 1.8: The Other Side ... Outlander 1.9: Spanking Good ... Outlander 1.10: A Glimmer of Paradox ... Outlander 1.11: Vaccination and Time Travel ... Outlander 1.12: Black Jack's Progeny ...Outlander 1.13: Mother's Day ... Outlander 1.14: All That Jazz ... Outlander Season 1 Finale: Let's Change History

 
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