Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

reviewing 3 Body Problem; Black Doves; Bosch; Citadel; Criminal Minds; Dark Matter; Dexter: Original Sin; Dune: Prophecy; 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, Day of the Jackal, Diplomat, Last of Us, Way Home; You +books, films, music, podcasts, politics

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

Sunday, December 29, 2024

Outlander 7.14: Prostitute Economics

An excellent episode 7.14 of Outlander up on Starz this week. I won't warn you about spoilers because there will be none -- nothing too specific -- in this review. [But if you don't want any hint of a spoiler at all, be so advised.]

My favorite scene in this episode is when Arabella (Jane) explains to William how she charges as a prostitute, breaking down her services into three options. I don't recall hearing quite such salty language, certainly not in this context, before in the now long history of Outlander on Starz. There used to be a time in cable TV history when HBO and then Showtime were the leaders in these kinds of scenes with that kind of language. (Network TV, of course, is too frightened about FCC bans to include that language in their shows, however necessary for the story. Those FCC bans, and the FCC itself, are unconstitutional, in my view, because they blatantly violate our First Amendment. But don't get me started.)

Anyway, the scene between Arabella and William is not only frank, but surprisingly tender (with excellent acting by both Silvia Presente as Arabella and Charles Vandervaart as William). But maybe "surprisingly" is unfair to the series, certainly this season, where there has been a mix of violence, and brutal honesty, and tenderness, many times. The relationship between Claire and John Grey is a great example, played out over a few episodes. It was very good to see Claire tenderly -- and not so tenderly -- patch up John's eye, whose socket had been fractured by Jamie's outraged punch in episode 7.12. Patching up the eye, I think, is symbolic for patching up the relationship of Claire and John, and I hope the beginning of doing that for Jamie and John, too.

Meanwhile, over in Scotland, it looks like Brianna and Roger are on the verge of crossing paths through time, with Brianna going back in time to look for her husband, just as Roger has realized that Jem their son may no longer be in the past. I hope for that family's sake that they don't get those wires too crossed in the episodes ahead.

See also Outlander 7.9: Powerful Separations ... Outlander 7:10: The Nature of Deaths on TV Series ... Outlander 7.11: The Rough Night ... Outlander 7.12: The General ... Outlander 7.13: Good Scenes, Ad Hoc Metaphysics

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