Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

reviewing 3 Body Problem; Black Doves; Bosch; Citadel; Criminal Minds; Dark Matter; Dune: Prophecy; Fauda; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; House of the Dragon; Luther; Outlander; Presumed Innocent; Reacher; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Surface; The: Ark, Diplomat, Last of Us, Lazarus Project, Orville, Way Home; True Detective; You +books, films, music, podcasts, politics

George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Sunday, December 8, 2024

Outlander 7.11: The Rough Night

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Well, I told you last week that Jamie was alive -- almost always the case in a TV series in which there is no body, no scene in which the character's head is blown off, etc. But it was good to see Jamie walk back into Claire's life, anyway, and it was interesting to see how Claire faired, and what she did, when she thought the love of her life was really gone. The wedding scene with John, where she could barely speak, was very well done.

But I was surprised, for more than one reason, that she spent a night in bed with John, in every sense of that phrase. John's gay, and Claire is devastated. I get that they both were drunk -- John less than Claire -- and they both were heartbroken and desperately lonely and in need of some comfort. I could see them spending the night together in each other's way. But actually having sex? I don't know, I found that a little hard to believe.

I did like when Claire held John to account about his bigotry regarding his son's (actually, Jaime's son's) choice in marriage. One of the most admirable things about Claire is she always speaks her mind. And this exchange about Henry makes the revelation to Henry that he is really Jamie's son, at the end of the episode, even more momentous.

I also liked the time spent on young Ian and the Quaker love of his life. I even learned something about the Quaker faith -- that they leave the belief that there is a heaven after death to individual choice, because, as Rachel explains, no one has come back here from heaven to attest to its existence. Details like that are one of the joys of Outlander.

Meanwhile, back in the slightly more distant past, Roger's discovering things about his father, and in the present day, it looks like Brianna's having her hands full. But she handles herself well, as always, and I'm looking forward to see more of their story, as well everyone else's, in this excellent second half of the seventh Outlander season.

See also Outlander 7.9: Powerful Separations ... Outlander 7:10: The Nature of Deaths on TV Series

And see also Outlander 7.1-2: The Return of the Split ... Outlander 7.3: Time Travel, The Old-Fashioned Way ... Outlander 7.7: A Good Argument for the Insanity of War ... Outlander 7.8: Benedict Arnold and Time Travel

And see also Outlander 6.1: Ether That Won't Put You to Sleep

And see also Outlander 5.1: Father of the Bride ... Outlander 5.2: Antibiotics and Time Travel ... Outlander 5.3: Misery ... Outlander 5.4: Accidental Information and the Future ... Outlander 5.5: Lessons in Penicillin and Locusts ... Outlander 5.6: Locusts, Jocasta, and Bonnet ... Outlander 5.7: The Paradoxical Spark ... Outlander 5.8: Breaking Out of the Silence ... Outlander 5.9: Buffalo, Snake, Tooth ... Outlander 5.10: Finally! ... Outlander 5.11: The Ballpoint Pen ... Outlander Season 5 Finale: The Cost of Stolen Time