BOMB Episode 105: "Needfire" (SPOILERS!)

Here are my reactions to Episode 105 of OUTLANDER: BLOOD OF MY BLOOD, titled "Needfire".

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

There are SPOILERS below! If you don't want to know yet, stop reading now.

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I had a very mixed reaction to this episode. Brian and Ellen's storyline was fantastic!! I've been waiting for that for so long, and they didn't disappoint. Very well done! I had a much more negative reaction to Julia's storyline in particular, and I'll have more to say about that below.

First, a few miscellaneous bits that I particularly liked:

Henry: "What's all this I keep hearing about a stone circle hereabouts, It might be significant in some way?"
Ned: "Aye. Craigh na Dun."

I laughed at that. Yeah, it might be.... (But Henry doesn't pursue it, which surprised me. I thought he would be curious, even excited that he might have found a way to get back to his own time, but we don't see any indication of that.)

I liked seeing the relationship between Ellen and her sister Jocasta developed a little further.

I loved the way Ellen's whole face lights up when she sees Brian at the dancing. Malcolm says, "You're glowing," and he's right.

The cinematography with the dancers and the torchlight and the arch on fire on Beltane was really beautiful, mesmerizing to watch!

The handfasting night was handled very well. It reminded me a bit of Roger and Bree's handfasting in DRUMS. I really liked Brian's line where he says he doesn't fear darkness because "the fire you've lit within me is bright enough to put the moon and the stars to shame, set this whole place aglow."

When they start kissing, Brian pulls away, concerned for Ellen's reputation if he takes her right then, no matter how much they both want it. "Ye'd be ruined," he says. But Ellen is not put off at all. "Ruin me!" she replies instantly. That line took me by surprise.

The handfasting scene absolutely took my breath away. Including the deliberate echo of the blood vow from Jamie and Claire's wedding! I thought it was just wonderful, all of it! I liked the fact that they had some time to talk afterwards, to let us get to know Brian for the first time.

"Is he as bad as they say, your father?"
"Worse."

That reminded me of what Jamie said just before he and Claire met him in DRAGONFLY.

"I’ve heard he acts like a terrible auld monster, but ye shouldna be scairt of him.” He smiled at me as I swatted at the deerfly with the end of my shawl. “I’ll be with you.”

“Oh, crusty old gentlemen don’t bother me,” I assured him. “I’ve seen a good many of those in my time. Soft as butter underneath, the most of them. I imagine your grandfather’s much the same.”

“Mm, no,” he replied thoughtfully. “He really is a terrible auld monster. It’s only, if ye act scairt of him, it makes him worse. Like a beast scenting blood, ye ken?”

(From DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 40, "The Fox's Lair". Copyright © 1992 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

We learn that Brian went on a pilgrimage to El Camino de Santiago. He wanted to understand why God created him, "the unwanted bastard of such a cruel man." Despite the circumstances of his birth, Brian is a good person. He wants to be worthy of Ellen, and I was glad to see that. I'm reminded of Roger saying much the same thing in DRUMS:

He relaxed just a bit when he realized the content of his prayer; it wasn’t the ignoble “Let me have her” he might have expected. It was the more humble--and acceptable, he hoped--“Let me be worthy of her, let me love her rightly; let me take care of her.”

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 18, "Unseemly Lust". Copyright © 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I liked Ellen's line:

"I haven't been given much choice in this life [...] but you, I chose for myself. If I'm only allowed one choice for the rest of my life, I would choose you, time and again."

The whole sequence was really well done and a pleasure to watch!

Murtagh is a tragic figure in this episode. You can see how devastated he is to see Brian in love with Ellen. And then to be beat up by Arch Bug -- as if things weren't bad enough already! Poor Murtagh! I liked watching him in this episode. But I didn't care for the scene with him and Jocasta, where they kiss and she turns away, weeping because she knows she can never have him. We had more than enough of this "Murcasta" business in OUTLANDER; I really don't need (or want) to see it here!

I liked seeing Maisri the seer. It's heartbreaking for Julia to hear Maisri talking about seeing a little girl "all alone". That would be young Claire, of course, who's been all but forgotten in the show until now. But I thought it was a clever idea to bring the Fraser Prophecy into this.

“It’s a prophecy concerning the Frasers?”

“The Frasers of Lovat, aye. [....] The prophecy states that a new ruler of Scotland will spring from Lovat’s lineage. This is to come to pass following the eclipse of ‘the kings of the white rose’--a clear reference to the Papist Stuarts, of course.” He nodded at the white roses woven into the carpet. “There are somewhat more cryptic references included in the prophecy, of course; the time in which this ruler will appear, and whether it is to be a king or a queen--there is some difficulty in interpretation, owing to mishandling of the original....”

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 61, "The Crocodile's Fire". Copyright © 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

No wonder Lord Lovat got so excited at the idea that this baby might be the one described in the prophecy! But watch Julia's face in that scene. She looks like she's about to throw up, realizing that there's no hope of escape now that Lord Lovat thinks her child is so valuable.

Lord Lovat's threat to Davina Porter near the end was just chilling. He orders her to take care of Julia, make sure the child is born safely. "But if you ever speak of this again [that Julia's baby is not his], the last thing you'll see is Balloch's dirk as it slides across your throat." Yikes!

Meanwhile, Henry has had no luck in trying to locate Julia. When Ned tries to help him, offering advice based on his own experience of how to move on after having lost the love of his life, Henry just brushes it off.

"I had a choice to make. Linger in my torment or start anew. I chose the latter and it saved my life."
"For me there is no choice."
"What if ye never find her?"
"I will."

I'm sure that was meant to come across as stubborn determination, but at this point it seems like he's deluding himself, unable to face the reality that he might never see her again.

All in all, I thought the good parts of this episode far outweighed the less enjoyable ones, and I was glad to see Brian and Ellen's part of the story moving forward at long last! But I want to address something that's been bothering me more and more with each episode.

I'm finding both Julia's and Henry's storylines increasingly tedious and depressing, to be honest. It feels as though they are both stuck in that "half a person" mode that Jamie and Claire endured during their twenty years apart, lonely and depressed, and I simply don't enjoy watching that for an extended period of time.

The contrast between Brian and Ellen's joy and love, and Julia's increasing despair and hopelessness, was really jarring in this episode. Julia's situation is getting more depressing and unpleasant with each episode, and this episode left me feeling as though she was caught in a steel trap, with no way out. My sense is that even if Henry finds her, Lord Lovat probably wouldn't let her go, or he would let Julia go but insist on keeping the child. And that is just flat-out depressing, in my opinion.

We're halfway through the season already, and I'm getting very tired of both Henry and Julia. I'm coming to the conclusion that I don't really care what happens to these two. The vibe I am getting from Julia's story in particular has gone (IMHO) from Grim to Grimmer to REALLY Grim to There's No Possible Way Out of This Grimness. It's just not enjoyable to watch. I'm looking for escapism and entertainment, and the unrelenting grimness is just making me depressed.

I intend to continue to watch the show for Brian and Ellen's half (which has suddenly gotten MUCH more interesting!!) but I may have to fast-forward through Henry and Julia's storylines in future episodes.

Look here for my reactions to the other BLOOD OF MY BLOOD episodes, and please come back next week for more!