Outlander 3.6: Reunion

Well, some things are worth waiting for.  And that would be an apt description of tonight's Outlander 3.6, in which Claire and Jamie finally get back together.

The hour+ took its time, in a reunion that moved at a winningly human pace.  They kiss pretty quickly - which is what they of course would do - but take their time before they get back in bed, which was realistic.  The two need to get to know each other again, or at least know that the love they had twenty years ago is still coursing between them.

Twenty years is a long time.  And this reunion, after all that time, is what makes Outlander unique in time travel stories.  Ordinarily in time travel  - which seems a little oxymoronic, because there is nothing ordinary where time travel is concerned, but - people can spend years or longer away from one another in different times, and then travel back to the original time, where one of the two people hasn't aged a day.  That of course can be strange, but what we saw tonight was even stranger - but, in some ways, more human.

The acting both by Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan was really sensitive and superb.  The expressions on their faces, their tones of voice, their body language was just right for a couple spending a night together after twenty years - on the way, one and they can certainly hope, to being this way, together again, for the rest of their lifetimes.

I almost wouldn't have minded if the season ended with tonight's episode, it was so satisfying.  But there are problems, arising not only out of Jamie's work, but Claire's ultimately not wanting to go without ever seeing their daughter again.

It took a long time to get there, but Outlander is back on track.


See also Outlander Season 3 Debut: A Tale of Two Times and Places ...Outlander 3.2: Whole Lot of Loving, But ... Outlander 3.3: Free and Sad ... Outlander 3.4: Love Me Tender and Dylan ... Outlander 3.5: The 1960s and the Past

And see also Outlander 2.1: Split Hour ... Outlander 2.2: The King and the Forest ... Outlander 2.3: Mother and Dr. Dog ... Outlander 2.5: The Unappreciated Paradox ... Outlander 2.6: The Duel and the Offspring ...Outlander 2.7: Further into the Future ... Outlander 2.8: The Conversation ... Outlander 2.9: Flashbacks of the Future ... Outlander 2.10: One True Prediction and Counting ... Outlander 2.11: London Not Falling ... Outlander 2.12: Stubborn Fate and Scotland On and Off Screen ... Outlander Season 2 Finale: Decades

And 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

 

It all started in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn Monroe walked off the set of The Misfits and began to hear a haunting song in her head, "Goodbye Norma Jean" ...