Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

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

Sunday, December 15, 2024

Outlander 7.12: The General

Episode 7.12 of Outlander was one powerhouse of an episode, firing on all kinds of cylinders, in what is one wild ride of a second half of a season.

(And there will be spoilers ahead .... ]

There were many favorite moments and interludes, but the most momentous in terms of alternate history is Jamie appointed General Fraser by none other than George Washington himself. What could be in store here, in futures we'll see and not see, but certainly can imagine. Will General Fraser replace not Washington but Adams as President, and succeed Washington to become our second Command in Chief? In our reality, you have to be born in America, or have at least one parent who is a naturalized American, to be eligible to be elected President. But those restrictions are in a Constitution -- ours -- which hasn't been written yet at this point in Outlander.

Many of the other highlights concern carnal knowledge, which is the title of this episode. Among the best:

Jamie and Claire finally getting back together, after John tells Jamie he had "carnal knowledge" of Claire and Jamie comes home and demands an explanation from Claire. (I didn't like Jamie beating John, but I suppose that makes sense.) At least he didn't raise a hand to Claire, who gives Jamie a good, responsive explanation.
William sleeping with the prostitute was good to see, too.
John didn't have time to sleep with the doctor who alerted John that he had to get out of that American camp in a hurry, but all of that was good story, too.
And I liked seeing Rachel forgo her Quaker beliefs and slap William.

The show is really on a knife's edge now. A lot of lives hang in the balance. All we know for sure is that the Americans win the war -- because, so far, none of the alternate histories set in motion in Outlander have changed history on that level. So far, only personal lives have been changed.

I rather like that restriction, because it's one of the things that makes the Outlander narrative different from most time-travel stories. But with less than a season-and-a-half left, I reckon almost anything is possible. (I'm spending so much time watching life in the late 1700s that I'm beginning to write a little like people did back then, too.)

See also Outlander 7.9: Powerful Separations ... Outlander 7:10: The Nature of Deaths on TV Series ... Outlander 7.11: The Rough Night

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