#this post brought to you by rewatching the 'little brother I MADE YOU' promo

[unlikelywrestlingfan]

Nothing catches my attention faster than a wrestler cutting a "fuck you jay white" promo

[themackenzies]

Thoughts on 5.01 - ‘The Fiery Cross’

WARNING: This review is mostly negative, very long, and also contains spoilers for episode 5.01 and the books Drums of Autumn and The Fiery Cross. 

This episode was all just too sappy and cheesy.  I didn’t really get ‘Fraser Family Feels’ or even ‘MacKenzie Family Feels’ to the extent that I thought I would, or should, considering this was a very hyped premiere episode featuring the wedding of my favorite Outlander ship!  I finished rereading The Fiery Cross in January and was so excited for Season 5, but was underwhelmed with this episode.  Even though I was disappointed, I will definitely be giving Season 5 another chance and plan to keep watching.  (I didn’t care for the first couple of episodes of Season 4 either.)

First of all, I watched the episode with my sister and her husband.  She was a show-only fan and then started reading the books, and she’s currently reading Drums of Autumn.  So, she knows that I love Roger and Bree, but doesn’t really understand why...yet.  (I’m hoping she falls in love with Roger like I did when I read Drums, but she’s a very busy person and doesn’t have a lot of time to read, so it will be a while before her verdict about bookRoger is in!)  

Watching and discussing the show with her just makes it all the more obvious how much I mentally fill in gaps and inconsistencies in the show with my knowledge from, and love of, the books.  We also rewatched the Season 4 finale right before watching the premiere - the difference in tone between the two episodes, watching them back to back, was stark.  They really did a complete 180 from Season 4 in a lot of ways, which apparently worked for a lot of fans, but it did not work for me.  It’s like they took all my least favorite parts of previous seasons and crammed them all into one episode and magnified them.  I’m going into details under the read more about what I liked and didn’t like.  But, overall, I thought this episode was fussy and boring.

Costumes and Hair

Brianna’s wedding dress was beautiful and I loved it.  I’m simultaneously glad and peeved that they released all those wedding photos ahead of time.  It was nice seeing all the HQ images, so we could see details of the dress (Like the tartan underskirt, which is not visible at any point in the episode!).  But, at the same time, it would have been nice to be surprised.  This episode was kind of boring to me, probably because I had already seen the dress and other details ahead of time.  If I hadn’t, it would have been fun to notice all the details while watching the episode.  Roger looked nice, but I gotta say, I really miss the beard.  Rik’s face looks a little strange without it and my brother in law commented that he looked “cold” without it, haha!  Rik looks great in all the season 5 promo interviews and photos with the long hair and beard.  I’m hoping that he’s able to continue growing his hair out and doesn’t have to wear a wig for Season 6.

Speaking of wigs...I am so glad Jamie’s bangs are gone!  Jamie looks so much better!  I am finding him almost as attractive as he was in Season 1.  But, I feel like Claire’s and Bree’s wigs are worse this season!  Their curls are so defined and unnatural looking.  And I didn’t like Claire’s elaborate hairdo for the wedding, with it all piled up on her head and all these tight curls hanging down.  Claire’s wig looked much better in later scenes, like when she’s braiding it before bed, and when she’s in her surgery seeing patients the next day. 

The Wedding/The Gathering

I knew going into this episode, based on promo for this season, that they would be doing some kind of wedding/gathering combo at Fraser’s Ridge.  But, I felt like they did a poor job of explaining this, as well as the time jump, and setting it up for the show.

To prepare writing this review, I quickly jotted down a few notes, so I wouldn’t forget and one of my thoughts was:

Where did all these people come from?  They didn’t make it clear that this was The Gathering...it seemed like everyone was there for The Wedding, and then stayed for a couple days.  But, like, who are these people?

I don’t really feel like rewatching the episode, and maybe this was addressed in Claire’s voiceover at the beginning.  I remember her talking about the settlers helping to build the house, but this was a lot of people...strangers.  Was this an impromptu gathering?  Did all these people really show up just for Roger and Bree’s wedding and then stick around?  It seemed like Jamie’s decision to put on the kilt and do the fiery cross and call up the militia was a spur of the moment decision brought on by Tryon showing up at the wedding uninvited and expressing his disapproval at Jamie’s letters.  But if it was spur of the moment, how did they get not one, but two, elaborate crosses built?     

The wedding ceremony itself was fine, but I did miss the intimacy of the wedding in the book.  Maybe intimacy isn’t the right word, because they were surrounded by a ton of strangers at the gathering.  But, it felt intimate.  This did not.  It felt kitchy, kind of theatrical, and way too fancy!

The (Fancy) Big House

Speaking of fancy...The big house is way too grand.  It feels like a completely different show, and not in a good way.  Season 1 felt so down to earth and authentic and gritty.  And this is just pretty for pretty’s sake.  I had seen photos of the Big House in promo before this episode, and I’m probably on record in some DMs as saying that I didn’t really mind that the house was so big or grand, but actually seeing it in the episode?  It irks me.  The wedding was too fancy and the house was too fancy.  And it struck me, as Jamie is leaving the house the next morning, and is stopped by Tryon for a convo about militia stuff, that Jamie is wearing fancy clothes.  And I thought, “Book Jamie would be out there with those other settlers with his sleeves rolled up helping to build, or farm, or whatever.”  It really feels like the Fraser’s won the lottery or something, because I don’t get how else they could have accumulated so much wealth in such a short period of time.  There’s supposed to be this huge disparity between the way they live and the way Jocasta lives.  And the only way Jocasta lives the way she does is because she owns slaves.  I am just so completely irked by how opulent the Fraser lifestyle seems to be now.  It’s so nonsensical that it really prevented me from enjoying the episode.  Yes, it’s pretty, but pretty without reason, purpose, or sense.

L.O.V.E. and BROG

Roger is my favorite character.  I love him, and am rooting for him and Brianna to be happy and together in the show.  But, I think it feels a little strange to go from the drama at the end of last season to this nearly perfect couple in season 5.  I was really hoping there would be some flashbacks to show their reconciliation and all that really great relationship stuff that happens with them at the end of Drums.  But, I guess they really are sticking with this massive time jump.  I’m happy that they’re happy.  But, this wedding didn’t feel earned.  It kills me to say that.  I don’t think Roger needs redemption, but I do wish they had given him and Brianna a chance to hash everything out.  I think the time jump does a huge disservice to these characters and their relationship, and I think the writers needed to do a lot more legwork to get Roger and Bree from where they were at the end of Season 4 to where they were in this episode.  Their relationship doesn’t all of a sudden become more believable if you give them a fancy wedding.

I was looking forward to hearing Roger sing again, but I didn’t like the L.O.V.E. song.  I read or heard in an interview or article at some point that a couple of the songs Rik sang for Season 5 were difficult, and out of his register.  I think this was probably one of those songs.  I was not impressed by Rik’s performance and I think it was an odd, cheesy song choice. I also didn’t care for the love montage during this song.  It felt like something out of a completely different show.  My sister didn’t like this montage either, and commented that she wished they had kept the wedding night about Roger and Bree.  She also found it strange that Bree doesn’t mention to Roger what she overheard about Stephen Bonnet, and she feels it’s really hard to root for them because they’re still not communicating!

While reading the books, I always tend to chalk up this lack of communication to a combination of Bree’s private personality and a PTSD response, where she’s built up these walls and doesn’t share her feelings.  And in the books, when we’re in Roger’s POV, he notices when Bree is being a bit withholding, and so the reader knows that he knows Bree isn’t doing okay.  But, in the show, we don’t have any of this internal dialogue.  So, it just looks like Bree is hiding things from Roger, but we don’t know why.  I like the little comforting hug Roger gives Bree, I think he does notice something is off with her, but I think there needed to be some kind of dialogue here, where Roger asks what’s wrong, and he comforts her and sings to her after she’s confided in him.  This is one of those moments that wouldn’t have bothered me if I had watched it by myself, because I know these characters so I know what they both must be thinking and feeling.  But I can understand how a show-only watcher would be frustrated.

Blood of my Blood

I was so excited when I heard Roger doing the blood vow to Jemmy in that promo video, that I started drafting a post about how powerful this moment is in the book.  I was going to pat the show writers on the back for listening to all the Roger fans who were disappointed it was left out of season 4.  BUT...oh boy, this was just another disappointment.  Jamie has made, like, 3 or 4 disparaging remarks about Roger in this episode.  He’s the one person on Fraser’s Ridge who needs to see and hear this vow...and he’s not there.  Is Roger relying on Brianna telling Jamie what he did?  Or is Roger going to march up to Jamie in the next episode and tell him?  Brianna has been defending Roger this whole time, she doesn’t need to see this, but Jamie does.  This is yet another example of the writers shoehorning things from the books into the show in ways that lose their impact and meaning.  This is supposed to be a demonstration of loyalty and love.  He literally says “I claim thee as my son before all men” and yet, he does the vow in the privacy of their own cabin.  Jamie is all about duty.  When he makes a vow, he keeps it.  Roger, completely of his own accord, is speaking Jamie’s language with this vow.  This blood vow in the book is so powerful, because it’s Roger speaking directly to Jamie.

I saw Roger’s eyes shift from the baby to Jamie. Jamie stood beside Brianna with that utter stillness that so frightened me—straight and still as a stick of dynamite, with a lit match laid a hairsbreadth from the fuse.

The flame of Brianna’s head moved slightly, looking from one to the other, and I saw what she saw; the echo of Jamie’s dangerous stillness in Roger. It was both unexpected and shocking; I had never seen any resemblance between them at all—and yet at the moment they might have been day and dark, images of fire and night, each mirroring the other.

MacKenzie, I thought suddenly. Viking beasts, bloody-minded and big. And saw the third echo of that flaming heritage blaze up in Brianna’s eyes, the only thing alive in her face.

I should say something, do something, to break the awful stillness. But my mouth was dry, and there was nothing I could say in any case. Roger’s reached his hand toward Jamie, palm up, and the gesture held no hint of supplication.

“I don’t imagine it pleases you any more than it does me,” he said, in his rusty voice, “but you are my nearest kinsman. Cut me. I’ve come to swear an oath in our shared blood.”

I couldn’t tell whether Jamie hesitated or not; time seemed to have stopped, the air in the room crystallized around us. Then I watched Jamie’s dirk cut the air, honed edge draw swift across the thin, tanned wrist, and blood well red and sudden in its path.

To my surprise, Roger didn’t look at Brianna, or reach for her hand. Instead, he swiped his thumb across his bleeding wrist, and stepped close to her, eyes on the baby. She pulled back instinctively, but Jamie’s hand came down on her shoulder.

She stilled at once under its weight, at once a promise of restraint and protection, but she held the child tight, cradled against her breast. Roger knelt in front of her, and reaching out, pushed the shawl aside and smeared a broad red cross upon the downy curve of the baby’s forehead.

“You are blood of my blood,” he said softly, “and bone of my bone. I claim thee as my son before all men, from this day forever.” He looked up at Jamie, challenging. After a long moment, Jamie gave the slightest nod of acknowledgment, and stepped back, letting his hand fall from Brianna’s shoulder. — Drums of Autumn, Chapter 66, Child of My Blood

Lines that made me cringe and/or shake my head and/or roll my eyes

Please note that I haven’t rewatched the episode, and I haven’t seen the script posted online yet, so these lines have been reproduced from my memory, and may not be word-for-word accurate.

“I will always be your wee girl”

I feel like this line is infantalizing Bree and I don’t like it.  I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t like when Jamie infantalizes Bree.  I just don’t understand this aspect of their relationship.  Maybe because it’s so different from my own relationship with my father.  I feel like the show has really leaned into Bree being “Da’s little girl” more so than the books do.  Brianna’s had a baby, and I feel like Jamie should be somewhat excited about Brianna being wed because he thinks she needs a husband to provide for her and Jemmy (He tries to marry her off to Young Ian in Drums!).  Jamie has reservations about Roger, but not the wedding itself, and I just don’t understand Jamie being all like “Bree is growing up too fast” which feels like a very modern sentiment - wanting your kids to stay kids.   

“This is maybe not the wedding you imagined as a wee girl”

This line was actually adapted from the book, but it’s Roger who says it, not Jamie.  In the book it makes sense, because they’ve been living in tents at The Gathering for weeks, they’re all tired and ready to go home, it’s autumn and cold and rainy.  It’s a genuinely rustic, outdoor, fireside wedding.  Roger, feeling self-conscious about the fact that their wedding is not going to be a grand affair and its not going to be anything like a wedding would have been like in the 1970′s, makes the comment.  It’s a great call back to their handfasting in Drums. 

“Your aunt’s told Father Donahue he can hold the weddings in her tent. That’ll be a help.” “Brrrr!” Bree hunched her shoulders, shivering. “Thank goodness. It’s no day to be getting married under the greenwood tree.” A huge chestnut overhead sent down a damp shower of yellow leaves, as though in agreement. Roger looked a little uneasy. “I don’t imagine it’s quite the wedding you maybe thought of,” he said. “When ye were a wee girl.” Brianna looked up at Roger and a slow, wide smile spread across her face. “Neither was the first one,” she said. “But I liked it fine.” Roger’s complexion wasn’t given to blushing, and his ears were red with cold in any case. He opened his mouth as though to reply, caught Jamie’s gimlet eye, and shut it again, looking embarrassed but undeniably pleased.

In the show, it’s Jamie who says it.  Bree is a pragmatic person who, in the books, didn’t even want Roger to get her a new ring, so this wedding doesn’t feel like something Bree would have wanted.  Also, the line doesn’t make sense because the wedding in the show is FANCY.  There are flower arrangements, and a wedding band, and a reverend, and a hardwood platform for the ceremony, and it’s at their home, and everyone’s decked out in their Sunday Best, and where did all those wood benches come from, and how did Claire get such expensive jewelry.  This is just one of the many times where the writers shoehorn something into the show from the books in a nonsensical way.

“Like Father like Son”

I hated this line so much.  I read about it in the Radio Time’s review of the episode, and was hoping I wouldn’t mind it as much in context, but I still hated it.  It seriously seems like a mean tweet, and I can’t believe they had JAMMF say it, on screen, in canon.  And, again, it doesn’t make sense.  Because Roger hasn’t been complaining or crying or “wailing” at all in the episode.  I kind of wonder if Jamie is meant to be equating Roger’s singing to “wailing”?  I don’t know.  Either way, it’s mean, poor writing. 

A  Few Favorite Moments

I’ll end on a high note and give you a few of my favorite moments from the episode. 

Hands down my favorite moment in the episode was when Germain ran up to Roger, and did a little hop, and said “Congratulations Uncle Roger!”   And then when he says the line about hair ticks, it cracked me up because it looks like he glances behind Rik, probably to his parents or a crew member, for the line!  The kid they got to play Germain is adorable - I love his dimples!  I have a feeling all the kid actors are going to be a consistent favorite for me this season.  

I also really liked all the line dancing after the wedding - it felt very fun and jovial, and I liked the score playing during it. 

Finally, I loved how emphatically Claire defends Roger every time Jamie made one of his snarky comments.  Especially their conversation towards the beginning of the episode when Jamie says something about doubting Roger’s love for Brianna and Claire says “He’s here and he loves her.”

So that’s it.  Sorry this review is so negative.  I debated whether to post a review or not, but decided to go ahead and get these thoughts out there.  I’m hoping for a better episode next week.