So close...yet still...so far
After getting married to Jamie Fraser, Claire has grown accustomed to her newfound life in 16th century Scotland. Unfortunately her comfort turns to discomfort as a startling event reminds her of the life that she once had. The life that she used to dedicate herself to want to go back to. Meanwhile in the 1940s, Frank is being convinced by everyone around him that his wife probably left him for another man. But only one woman holds the answer to Claire's disappearance. And if he heeds her words, he may be reunited with his wife again.
Claire is in a place of comfort. A lot more comfort now than she had been from the beginning of her time travel. She is married to Jamie, someone who has been there for her since this whole thing started. Two lost souls finding each other. And it is a love for one another that started as friends, but after their marriage it has become so much more. It is so believable that any memory of her previous marriage seems to have disappeared all together. It would just be acceptable to see this as a love story finally reaching its climax with them living happily together. But as this series goes. Nothing lasts forever. When Jamie learns that there is possibly a witness who can clear his name, he takes his chance of meeting this witness. Claire and the usual MacKenzie bunch join him to ensure that things go down smoothly.
Things don't go down smoothly. When Claire and Jamie try to have some alone time away from the MacKenzie Bunch, they are attacked by two Red Coat deserters. As Jamie is forced to watch as one of the Red Coats rapes Claire, she takes the initiative of using a concealed weapon to kill her rapist. Jamie then takes the opportunity to kill the Red Coat who has him held at gunpoint. While Jamie is feeling a strong amount of guilt for not being able to stop this from happening before it got to the point that it did, Claire is feeling anger. And surprisingly not anger towards her getting raped. Because at that moment while being raped she remembers the one who matters to her the most. Her husband, Frank. While she does still feel the emotional shock and trauma of what happened to her, she is clearly more disturbed by the fact that she might die in this time period knowing that her husband will never know what happened to her. This is the moment that she remembers what her mission was in the first place: to return to Craigh na Dun, the stone circle that flung her through time. She didn't care about Jamie at the moment. She was thinking of Frank.
And indeed, what is going on with Frank? In this episode we finally get to see him dealing with Claire's disappearance. It is interesting that the show has not spent any time showing his present predicament, as all of Frank's appearances in previous episodes except the Pilot have been flashbacks. And of course, we do see Frank in the past in the form of his ancestor, Captain Black Jack Randall, but that guy is a completely different animal than Frank. And this is where I praise Frank and Black Jack's actor, Tobias Menzies. This guy really is a scene stealer as Captain Black Jack, but what is heartbreaking is his portrayal of Frank who is in the midst of despair. It is a huge contrast of what the show has displayed with Frank because again most of Frank's scenes are flashbacks. And in those flashbacks he has always been portrayed as subdued yet loving with small sparks of spontaneity. But now we really see that he is going through hard times. It is a testament to Menzies great ability of switching back and forth between these two completely different characters that make him one of the most compelling cast members of this show.
Everyone has pretty much reached the conclusion that Claire has left him for another man, a highlander Frank claims to have seen watching her during a stormy night. That highlander just happens to look like Jamie Fraser. Or at least the sketch does. But back to the point. Frank has been thinking of every possibility and comes down to the conclusion that everyone else has. Except for one. The palm reader from the Pilot reveals that she is aware of the legend involving Craigh Na Dun's notoriety for sending people back in time. Of course for Frank, this sounds crazy, but because of the desperation we see his thought is, "why not?" And by some act of fate or pure coincidence, as Frank approaches Craigh na Dun, Claire is not too far away in her time period. It is the most heart wrenching scene in the entire series so far and while it is cliche, because of the nature of the show, you want to believe that the two of them will be reunited. But again, because of the nature of the show, we know that there is no way they'll be together at the midpoint of the series.
And so it ends with Claire being captured by none other than Captain Black Jack. And her predicament escalates from pure depression to pure terror. A very bitter way to end the episode. Especially since the season returns in April.
This was definitely a way to end things by bringing the audience back to a place where we remember that Claire and Frank are still married but she has genuinely accepted that she's in love with Jamie. This is probably the most weakest we've seen Claire from the series so far, but she has grown as a character. And this was the moment when she had to be weak, because we've reached the point of despair. We'll have to wait till April to see how she gets out of Captain Jack's grasp, but till then, this is definitely one of the best new shows of the season.
SCORE: 8.9/10 - Claire was a victim in this episode a little too much, but necessary for story
STATUS: Continue to Watch - Let's hope the mid season premier can live up to the first half
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