BOMB Episode 108: "A Virtuous Woman" (SPOILERS!)

Here are my reactions to Episode 108 of OUTLANDER: BLOOD OF MY BLOOD, titled "A Virtuous Woman".

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

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

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I had a mixed reaction to this episode. I'm not going to attempt a detailed recap, but here are some of the things I particularly noticed.

THINGS I LIKED:

I thought the long-awaited reunion between Henry and Julia (brief as it was!) was handled very well. I liked the way Henry reacted at first, thinking he'd seen a ghost. I also liked the fact that Henry said the baby was named after his grandfather. But in the end, after all that, Henry and Julia are separated AGAIN after just a couple of minutes.

My favorite line in this episode: The moment Lord Lovat leaves, Brian says he's going "to rescue my wife!" Very Jamie-like, and I loved that.

Second favorite line: Arch Bug saying sarcastically to Henry, "Such a pleasure to have you with us!" That made me laugh out loud.

I thought the scene between Brian, Julia, and Davina was excellent.

Malcolm Grant is becoming more likeable all the time. I wasn't really expecting that, but it was good to see. I was also glad to see that they've finally acknowledged in the show that Malcolm's father is dead. I was surprised that the messenger handed the letter to Henry, though, since it was obviously meant for Malcolm.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:

I didn't care for the way the pace slowed down to almost a complete stop in places. The characters spent a lot of time waiting around. Some of it was suspenseful (will Ellen crack under the pressure?) but not all of it. Even that very first shot in the episode, the close-up look at the medical instruments and so on, seemed to me to go on so long that I started to get impatient.

The idea that Julia is suddenly an expert on making an ancient centuries-old concoction made no sense to me at all. I thought that was very contrived. Is there ANYTHING she can't do?

I really disliked seeing Brian stuck in that cellar for such a long time. Hiding in a cellar sharpening his dirk when the love of his life is nearby and he came there specifically to rescue her? I expected him to at least make a try at sneaking into the main part of the castle and finding Ellen, regardless of the risk. That's the sort of thing Jamie would have done, and I hope we'll see something like that in next week's episode.

I definitely could have done without all that peeing, and all the discussion of "making water". All the emphasis on Ellen's bladder capacity made me think of this bit from OUTLANDER:

I couldn’t tell whether this delay was in hopes of unnerving me--in which case; it was working--or merely because he couldn’t decide what to do next.

The tension was slightly relieved by the entrance of an orderly, bearing a tray of tea things. Still silent, Randall poured out and offered me a cup. We sipped some more.

“Don’t tell me,” I said finally. “Let me guess. It’s a new form of persuasion you’ve invented--torture by bladder. You ply me with drinkables until I promise to tell you anything in exchange for five minutes with a chamber pot.”

(From OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 21, "Une Mauvais Quart d'Heure After Another". Copyright © 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

"Spare me the details", as my mom used to say. Yes, we know STARZ's new slogan is "We're All Adults Here", but IMHO that whole sequence just dragged on way too long. In an episode that was only 57 minutes long, they really spent an inordinate amount of time fixated on Ellen's urine and her ability to hold it in!

With only two episodes left in the season, I am starting to wonder if we will see Brian and Ellen's elopement at all in Season 1. I would be even more skeptical about that, if it wasn't for the fact that Diana Gabaldon wrote the script for next week's episode and co-wrote the season finale.

Finally, I continue to be absolutely baffled at the way this show has been marketed and publicized, including the official key art with Brian and Ellen embracing at the center of the frame and Henry and Julia separated on either side. The story of two couples? Not even close! So far, 80% of the way through Season 1, it's been mostly the story of Henry and Julia, with Brian and Ellen playing supporting roles, pursuing separate storylines that barely intersect at all with one another.

In this episode, I was disappointed that Brian and Ellen didn't even set eyes on one another. I'm still left with the same feeling I had at the end of Episode 107, with regard to Brian and Ellen's relationship: Get on with it already!!

I feel as though we've been misled by TPTB, led to expect a romance (or at least some sort of serious relationship) between Brian and Ellen that might not even materialize in Season 1 at all. I really hope I'm wrong about that! Yes, they're handfast, but they've barely interacted at all since that happened. Brian spends far more time with Julia than he ever has with Ellen.

I really wanted to see the story of Brian and Ellen TOGETHER, but the show writers don't seem all that interested in telling it. At least we will have their story in book form, eventually. In the meantime, I'm very much looking forward to next week's Episode 109, "Braemar", written by Diana Gabaldon!

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

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