Droughtlander is over once more! The hit STARZ series returned today with its Season 4 premiere, which sees our characters in another new country! In Season 3 of Outlander, Claire returned to her own time after the Battle of Culloden and lived her life with Frank, while raising her and Jamie’s child, Brianna. 20 years passed until Claire learned that Jamie survived the Battle, and he certainly had a rough 20 years with essentially becoming an empty shell of person, to being imprisoned once more. He was also forced to lay with a woman who then bore his child meaning Jamie could not be a father yet again. However, Claire came rushing back into his life and within 24 hours, a man was dead and Jamie was in trouble. When young Ian is captured, the pair set off to Jamaica to rescue him, but Claire was held hostage on another ship to tend to the sick before escaping to an island. Thankfully Jamie’s ship had troubles and they wound up on the same island. Eventually they make it to Jamaica where Geillis has young Ian and plans to go after Brianna due to some far-fetched prophecy, but Claire winds up killing her. Then, to top it all off, they end up in a huge storm and find themselves shipwrecked on the shores of North Carolina….in America.
So with all of that and Claire being with Jamie again, we just know this season is going to have many more highs and lows from trouble with new characters, to Claire inevitably causing a scene in each episode!
Circles Upon Circles
The episode kicks off with the natives building a stone circle in 2000 BC in North America when they later begin their own dance, while Claire (Caitriona Balfe) narrates about how humans have always had an endless fascination with circles.
The scene then transitions to North Carolina in 1767 and it has been four months since they arrived in America. The beautiful Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) graces the screen and heads into a holding cell to say farewell to Hayes (James Allenby-Kirk) as he is scheduled to hang. Jamie has a plan where Fergus (César Domboy) will make a scene, but Hayes doesn’t want to see them all hanged. It seems Hayes was with a married woman while drunk, and accidentally killed her husband so now he must pay the price. He requests a spot of liquor, which Jamie offers and another man (who we later learn is Stephen) asks for a swig as well. Hayes also asks that Jamie smiles at him when its time, and he does just that. Lesley (Keith Fleming) is overcome with emotion and causes a ruckus, which allows the sentenced men to scramble and escape.
At a tavern, Jamie tells them they plan to visit his Aunt Jocasta at River Run while Fergus tells them the minister won’t let a convicted felon to be buried, unless they pay significantly for his sins. They plan to bury him that night, and they sing a song in his memory and they are soon joined by the rest of the tavern.
Burials, Blood, and Bad Memories
They plan to sell a gemstone they salvaged from the wreck to help them make it back to Scotland and they hope to find a buyer at the Lillington’s dinner. Jamie and young Ian (John Bell) dig a grave near the church, but Ian begins to have flashbacks to Geillis (Lotte Verbeek) as the Bakra since the grave reminded him of the blood bath. He tells Jamie what happened with Geillis and how she made him do things. Ian asks Jamie if he’s ever been with someone where he didn’t want to be with them, and he says yes and that “your cock doesn’t have a conscience, but you have.” After comforting Ian further, they go to fetch Hayes from the wagon when a figure rises up, but it turns out to be one of the escapees named Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers). They let him go, but Stephen hopes and begs that he can hitch a ride past the soldiers, to which Jamie agrees.
Later on, Claire and Jamie travel on with Stephen in the back and the redcoats inspect the wagon when the commander asks one of his men to stab the corpse in the leg. Thankfully, Stephen doesn’t make a movement or sound, however, it seems the venison caught the brunt of the stab and merely knicked Stephen. Claire tends to his wounds when he notices her wedding bands, and prattles on about his interest in rings and the notion of infinite circles fascinates him. Before heading off, Stephen warns them to watch out for thieves in the woods, while Jamie says they must camp for the night so they don’t make the redcoats suspicious.
Ah, clothes half off and Claire giving Jamie a bit of a wipe down, you just know what’s about to go down. They speak of death, time apart, and how they will always be together, and then things get s-t-e-a-m-y. The next morning, the pair are blissfully happy and Claire tells Jamie of what America will become, while overlooking a forest that is very clearly a green screen and unfortunately ruins the moment slightly.
Change Ahead
Jamie and Claire get ready for the Lillington’s dinner and Jamie gives Claire a ruby necklace where they used some of their gold coin to create a mount to hold the ruby in. The dinner is clearly very entertaining with talk of taxes and savages, however, Baron Penzler (Rainer Sellien) is intrigued by the necklace. Meanwhile, Jamie is asked if he is the nephew of the widow Cameron of River Run, to which he agrees as Jocasta Cameron is his mother’s sister. Upon hearing that Jamie hopes to return to Scotland, Governor Tryon (Tim Downie) wishes to speak to Jamie privately. Tryon speaks of land grants to those who would work the land and persuade emigrants to come and settle. Jamie isn’t very interested, but Tryon insists he considers the offer.
On a lighter note, they managed to sell the ruby and it means they can return to Scotland, except Claire is thinking about the offer that was made to Jamie. However, they believe Tryon is worried about the natives and Jamie would be perfect as he is an experienced soldier. Claire reminds him that there will be another war in eight years, a little war by the name of the American Revolution and that the British will lose, and that they will be on the wrong side of history once again. That being said, Jamie hopes he can do some good so Brianna can feel his presence.
Claire and Jamie run into Ian outside, who seems to have found a dog and he is clearly beyond happy. Apparently Ian won him with a lucky roll of the dice, thus the name Rollo, along with some money.
Jamie tells the group about him and Claire staying in America, and Ian desperately wants to stay with them. Jamie gives some of the money to Fergus so he and Marsali (Lauren Lyle) can return to Scotland, along with a little extra for Marsali’s mother. Lesley asks to stay with Jamie for a little longer, and Fergus agrees as Marsali won’t do well with a long journey…as she’s with child!
Down River
While on a (green screen) boat to River Run, Claire asks about Jocasta who initially wed John Cameron, then his cousin Hugh, and then Hector and she’s now a widow three times. Claire worries about the African-American steering the boat who goes by the name of Eutroclus (Leon Herbert). According to Captain Freeman (Grant Stott), Troklus used to be his slave until his cabin caught fire one night and he rescued the captain. He petitioned for his release, and now Troklus continues to work for him and be paid. Claire then tries her hand at steering the boat until Jamie gives her a present, which is a new medical chest filled with everything she may need. He apologises that he’s not been able to give her much except a ring and pearls, but Claire is thankful for Brianna and tells him she gave the pearls to her.
While everyone rests, Rollo begins barking when Stephen enters the cabin and they’re attacked by his band of thieves who take the remaining gemstones. A man attempts to take Claire’s rings, but Lesley stops him until another man slits his throat. Stephen yells at Claire to give her the rings and she tearfully takes them off and shoves them in her mouth. He manages to take out Jamie’s ring however and then departs after the men land a few more punches on Jamie. During this scene, Ray Charles’ rendition of ‘America The Beautiful’ provides the sound…
Overall Thoughts?
Well, it didn’t take long for our characters to find themselves in trouble, and with a death eight minutes into the episode and then later on, that’s definitely not the only ones we’ll be seeing this season. Unfortunately, while the episode is getting us all set up for the new location and characters we have met and are about to meet, it still had its issues.
One that has caused significant discussion among fans is that of ‘America The Beautiful’ playing while a robbery, beating, murder, and assault is occurring. While some found that it played perfectly, I felt it detracted significantly from what could have been a scary and traumatic scene. This is Claire’s first encounter with Stephen as a villain and while we see his ferocity, it would have been even better to hear how threatening and intense the man can be. As well, Outlander rarely uses songs, but when they have, they’ve belonged in the time period we are watching such as in Season 1 when Jan Savitt’s ‘Shuffle Rhythm’ plays while Claire and Frank drive around, to Season 3 when Joe Tex’s ‘Show Me’ plays when Roger arrives at the Randall household. It just didn’t fit, especially since that song wasn’t written until the 1800’s.
Another thing that irked me even more this episode was the visuals. Outlander has had its share of poor green screens (think to Season 2 at the palace), especially for a series that does rather well, but this episode went above and beyond what we’ve seen previously. The scene where they overlook the land was iffy, but then when they travelled down the river? Oh boy. Well, some people can overlook those kind of things and while it might not be possible to get real shots like that, it unfortunately lessens the experience for me.
I agree totally in the green screen shots… :/