Episode 312 General Discusison ***SPOILERS***

[jo]

***WARNING: This post and discussion may contain spoilers for anyone who is not current with the Starz series Outlander (including seasons 1 and 2) or who has not read the first three books in the series.***

This thread is for discussing episode 312 of Outlander. Please limit your comments to what happened in the episode.

Episode 312 (December 3, 2017) -- "The Bakra" written by Luke Schelhaas, directed by Charlotte Brandstrom.

Synopsis: The Artemis finally reaches Jamaica bringing Jamie and Claire much closer to their goal. During a ball on the island, the Frasers encounter old allies, as well as former adversaries who threaten to derail their mission.

Have at it, people! Did you like the episode? Thoughts, impressions, quibbles, highlights and lowlights?

Comments

[jo]

You know what, people? I don't think I'm going to reread any of the books ever again. Certainly not while the show is airing. I will read new ones that come out, but from now on, I'm just going with the show because I honestly prefer what they've been doing to what was written.

So this ep, yeah? Geillis! Lord John! What can I say -- both Lotte Verbeek and David Berry are sooooo good in those roles. Geillis was in full-on unhinged witchy mode and it was brilliant. From the moment her leg popped out of the blood bath to her machinations to get her hands on the third sapphire in order for Margaret to do the prophecy, Geillis just stole every scene she was in. In the "Inside the World of Outlander" clip for this episode, Matt B. Roberts mentioned how great she is to work with and how they'd even tried to think of ways to get her into season 2 because they love how she brings Geillis to life. I totally get that.

Then the Jamie-Lord John reunion! First tho -- that LOOK -- the one Jamie and Claire exchanged while they were waiting in the receiving line to meet the Governor -- wow.... I mean... just wow... I felt like I was intruding while watching the scene. And it set up nicely for the look Lord John gave Jamie -- and Claire and Lord John's wariness of each other. I love David Berry in this role so much -- I really hope the series continues into the later books, where LJG has a larger role.

And the prophecy of the Brahan Seer (which is a real thing, by the way), I assume everyone clued in to what 200-year old baby we're talking about here? ;)

And hopefully, the garbled mumblings of Duncan Kerr back in ep. 303 make a bit more sense now too.

I really loved this episode. As I've been saying, the show is doing such a good job of taking Diana Gabaldon's often overly-convoluted (and often really nonsensical) plot lines and making them work without losing the essence of the story. This episode continued that beautifully.

Added note: if any of you are on Twitter at all, and if you love the costumes on the show, you really should follow Terry Dresbach's professional twitter account. She provides so much background on the challenges involved re: the costuming, plus history re: the evolution of women's fashion (in particular), and of clothes in general, shares production sketches, her idea books for the various characters, etc.

[anoyo]

These are pretty much exactly my opinions, too. Though I will add that the "I brake for crazies" look Jamie and Claire share while Geillis is talking to Lord John is equally fantastic, though in a different way.

[jo]

Yes indeed -- that was also great.

I will say that if there was anything I didn't like much in this ep, it was the Captain Leonard thing. I mean, just fuck off, dude. And I don't see how having Jamie arrested (again) adds anything to the plot (since this is a purely made up plot line and not book-related at all) given how much needs to happen in the finale. Based on the teaser for 313, Jamie obviously gets out of prison since we see him running around with Claire in various scenes, so why bother with this at all?

[anoyo]

I have no idea. I mean, it's sort of realistic? And possibly a ploy to just give LJG something else to do? Versus just being adorable. (God he's so adorable.)

[jo]

God he's so adorable.

OMG yeah. Best casting ever. If we don't get LJG spin-offs, I will cry.

[anoyo]

100% agreement.

[jo]

Also, I'm trying to find out if the season finale will be an extended episode like last season. If anyone reads/hears/sees anything, please post to let us know!

[suzy]

Hmmmm. See, I didn't like the Geillis stuff. Mostly because without subtitles I was much in a huh?! kinda state for all of it. I simply lost the plot so it was just a crazy mess going on that I didn't like. Which is probably unfair. So. I'm thinking I need to see it again and tie up all the weird little breadcrumbs they've let out throughout the season. I have myself thought of Bree as a 200 year old baby so yeah at least I got that but missed the rest of the "profency". I do hope this plot will have it's conclusion in the finale. Can we speak spoilers from the preview here? I am just wondering if those um... stones are in the book as well.

I love love LOVE LJG! He needs to be in it more. He's just so cute and adorable. :P

[jo]

The stones are in the book -- they're inside a cave (Abandawe), and not in Jamaica, but on Hispaniola. But they have the same time-travel powers as the stones at Craigh na Dunh (sp). It wasn't clear to me in the teaser if the stones were in a cave or in the jungle somewhere. In the book, they're in a cave (and think back to that scene earlier in the season when Claire is asked to examine bones found in a cave in Jamaica...

I can clarify the prophecy stuff for you if you want -- or some of it might be made clearer in the finale. Remember when Jamie gives Claire the pictures of the children just before Captain Leonard arrests him? I think that was likely done to remind viewers that these existed -- esp. the photos of Brianna. That was a key thing in the book, but not sure how the show is going to do it. But since they went out of their way to draw attention their existence, then I am thinking Geillis will fully explain things to Claire at some point in the finale.

[suzy]

Please, you can clarify if you want. I probably will understand it better on re-watch but it'd be nice to have your insight. I think this plot in particular will have a better flow for me when I binge watch the full season. Because it was just these little pieces here and there, a mystery that wasn't a focus for me at the time so I didn't pay it much attention other that I know I should have paid better attention. And so here we are now. And I'm a little lost. *lol*

[jo]

If we go back to ep 303, you remember Jamie was asked to interpret the words of a dying man, Duncan Kerr, who was speaking a mixture of French, English and Gaelic but had mentioned the Frenchman's gold. Most of what Duncan said sounded like gibberish, but his mention of certain names sparks Jamie's interest: MacKenzie, Colum, Dougal, Ellen who “married a silkie from the sea,” and lastly, a “white witch…seeking a brave man.”

Jamie initially thinks the white witch might be Claire, and escapes prison to go to Selkie Island to see if she is there. She isn't, but he does find the treasure.

In 312, Geillis explains to the Campbells that the treasure had been handed down in the Mackenzie family, until it got to Dougal, who hid it on Selkie Island. Hopefully it should be fairly apparent now that the White Witch in question is Geillis. It's not clear who the strong man is that she might be looking for -- Dougal is dead, but maybe it's a reference to a new Scottish King, since that has been her driving ambition from the start -- to see a Scottish King on the Throne.

The Brahan Seer was a Scottish "Nostradamus". Some of his prophecies have sort of come true (if you interpret them widely enough). I don't know if the real prophecies contain anything about the return of a Scottish king. There are differences between what the prophecy in the book is, and what the show did. Both lead to the same conclusion, however.

On the show, Geillis and the Campbells, have a conversation about the three sapphires in Dougal's treasure. The show decides to make the Brahan Seer's prophecy more of a direction than a prophecy: a seer must hold all three sapphires at once and then that person will know when the new Scottish king will rise. When Margaret holds the sapphires at the governor's ball, she has a vision and says, "When twice 1,200 moons have coursed, 'tween man's attack and woman's curse, and when the issue is cut down, then will a Scotsman wear a crown." Basically, it means that a child who is born 200 years after he or she was conceived must be "cut down" and then a new Scottish king will rise. Meaning that Brianna must die for the new King to emerge, but anyone could be king.

The prophecy in the book is different. The book version of the prophecy states that a new ruler of Scotland will spring from Lovat's lineage. You may remember Lord Lovat -- Jamie's grandfather, from ep. 208. It will come to pass after "the king of the white rose" is eclipsed, which is a clear reference to the Papist Stuarts (Bonnie Prince Charlie was a Stuart). The prophecy is why Geillis takes such an interest in Brianna when she learns that Jamie has a daughter. Apparently Lord Lovat's line had originally died out in the 1800s, but now that Jamie has a daughter, the line has not actually gone extinct. This is further confirmed in the last book -- Brianna finds a letter written to her from Frank where he explains this (he had been doing research into Claire's tale) and warns her that she might be in danger if she comes to the attention of certain people (including maybe MI5). So according to the book version, Brianna could be the new Scottish king, not that she has to die for someone else to become king (except by book eight, Bree and Roger have kids, so Brianna isn't the next in line, her son would be).

Either way, Geillis needs to get to Brianna -- either to kill her so the new king will rise, or if you're reading the book, because Brianna is the new king. Er, Queen.

[suzy]

Wow, thank you so much! I kinda knew all this (except the book version) but you put it into order for me and it all makes so much more sense for me now.


Right. And so now Brianna is in danger. Guess we saw some hints to that in the preview... and that they made it a point for Jamie to hand over the children's portraits to Claire...

[jo]

Should have added that I think "scottish king" likely means Scottish independence, and not that they'd get an actual monarch.

[jo]

I found a tumblr post that has the actual text from the last book of Frank's letter to Bree (as well as stuff from Voyager which might be a bit spoiler-ish for the finale). However, if you're interested in reading what Frank wrote, it's all there. Starts about mid-way down the page.

https://drunklander.tumblr.com/post/146526506895/hi-can-you-tell-me-more-about-the-fraser-prophecy