Outlander’s season 2 premiere kept viewers captivated with the right mix of expected moments and surprises. Intrigue, high emotional stakes, and a gripping cliffhanger launched last weekend’s premiere.
Outlander, as we have pointed out before, succeeds where other book to screen adaptations fail. The show has utilized the best moments from Diana Gabaldon’s source material, but they are not slavishly captive to it. High notes that fans want are there, and there are some wonderful new twists that television’s expanded point of view provides.
As executive producer Maril Davis pointed out to us in our red carpet interview seen below, “We’ve had a great collaborative relationship with Diana from the beginning. She’s been so supportive and really enjoyed what we’ve done, and that’s very important to us, and I know to the fans. I feel like if she’s pleased, than I know we have done our job.”
In Outlander’s season 2 showrunner Ron Moore combined high stakes and surprises from the moment we found Claire deposited back in the 20th century. In the second Outlander novel, the opening scene takes place in 1968 rather than 1948. We don’t get to see first hand what Claire went through with Frank. Instead we get this sort of piecemeal, slow-burn explanation that pans out over the course of Gabaldon’s second and third novels.
Moore’s decision to let the viewer see first hand through Claire and Frank’s points of view made for an excellent season 2 opener. Within the first five minutes we keenly felt Claire’s anguish and Frank’s trepidation. Both new and old viewers were on edge wanting to know what would happen next. This is how you retain your season 1 viewers who have been pining through Droughtlander, and as the saying goes, “Get the new riders on the bus.” A novel can afford a slow-burn; a TV series in its season 2 opener can’t.
In the novels, Claire describes the events of her return via the cold distance that twenty years of introspection provides. Frank, the Reverend Wakefield, and Mrs. Graham are mentioned, but their interactions with Claire over this period of her return are barely touched upon. By contrast, the television adaptation lets viewers understand the relationship between Frank and the Reverend Wakefield, and how that relationship brings Frank around to believe the tale that Claire tells, not only believe it, but want to continue a relationship with her in spite of it. It also gives insight as to how, despite the best of intentions, that relationship will be ultimately doomed as the specter of Jamie Fraser will always be there.
Tobias Menzies pointed out to us in our exclusive interview with him that, “He’s [Frank] definitely not the villain. I see him as a guy who loses his wife under mysterious circumstances…He’s dealing with a very difficult situation. [Claire] returns, but she’s not the same person anymore. He’s got tough decisions to make whether he chooses to accept that or not. For me it’s an exploration of a different kind of love really. There’s a lot of romantic love in the show and in the books, but what’s interesting about Frank and Claire’s sort of flawed compromise is that it’s no less rich and heroic. That he chooses to make that sacrifice for her is rather remarkable.”
There were a couple of other changes that novel devotees will have noticed that also added to the mystery and the emotional stakes. The burnt ring that Claire holds onto is a bit of a mixture of information from the third novel. TV only viewers are left to wonder what the significance of this ring is? Why was Claire furiously looking for it? Why did it seem to have its stone missing? Who gave it to her? Why does she keep it? Fans of the novel will wonder how this piece of canon gets introduced in a different way.
Other changes included letting in Mrs. Graham and Murtagh in on the secret that Claire is a time traveler. Mrs. Graham serves as the mother figure that Claire has never had. If ever there was a time someone would want their mother to hold them and tell them everything will be all right, it’s after a trip through the stones having lost the love of your life. With Mrs. Graham, Claire has an ally, someone who believes her unconditionally because she’s a gatekeeper of knowledge. Will Claire still speak with Mrs. Graham as a confidante as time goes on? At the very least, having Mrs. Graham “in the know,” cuts down on Claire’s ever present internal voice-over monologue. It let Claire actively speak about what she is going through.
Murtagh, unlike Mrs. Graham, isn’t fully informed about what is going on, but the ground work has been laid. Jamie assuages Murtagh’s concerns about the deception they are all about to undertake because Jamie promises to explain in time. Murtagh is placated for a time because of their relationship based upon trust.
At some point, Murtagh will know Claire’s secret if the season’s trailer is to be believed. Murtagh is seen holding a document with a series of years in the future that Claire has lived through. He comments upon the burden of knowledge that those years represent, and being glad that he does not have to bear that burden. Gabaldon fans who have read the Outlander graphic novel The Exile know that Murtagh knows far more about Claire than he ever reveals. In the television version, both TV only viewers and novel readers wonder how Murtgh will come by this knowledge, and what will he do once he is fully informed? His life’s mission is to protect Jamie. Will he see Claire as a threat?
Do you need to talk about Outlander with other fans? Don’t miss our weekly, post-show, Outlander Google Hangout called Hangoutlander. Hypable’s Laura and Kyle join the crew from That’s Normal each week, where we talk about the recent episode in a lively, fun, funny, and slightly irreverent way. Make sure you catch this week’s show here. You can sign up for a reminder.
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