Outlander featured both physical and psychological torture last night, and it was effective because it was non-gratuitous.
As we said earlier this week, “Book fans of Outlander realize what is coming…saying too much really spoils what is arguably the finest hour of television, thus far, this season. Outlander is setting the benchmark for what non-gratuitous violence is. It’s truthful storytelling at its finest, and in a brutal world where the law is frequently absent and unjust, violence is one of the many byproducts.”
So much of the violence that is shown on TV and cinema doesn’t touch on what those acts do to the victims. Over decades, viewers have become accustomed to scenes of battle and blood, and aren’t disturbed by it because the human, psychological toll has been removed. This isn’t the case with Outlander. We feel every moment because ultimately Outlander is a historical drama that gives us a rare, intimate view of the best and worst of humanity. Love, survival, and honor along with loss, terror, and desperation are interwoven and occur simultaneously in an intricate tale.
It’s worth saying again that last night’s penultimate season 1 episode was the best written Outlander episode thus far. Though a good deal of the dialogue was taken from author Diana Gabaldon’s source material, much was original. The pacing and juxtaposition of the scenes: Claire’s desperate struggles contrasting with Jamie’s humiliation and degradation was masterful. Kudos to Ira Steven Behr, the writer of the episode.
Let’s continue by reiterating what we mentioned in our recap last night, and that is that Tobias Menzies gave what was quite possibly the most terrifying performance of any actor this year. He’s not the villain that you roll your eyes at half expecting him to tie a fair maiden to the railroad tracks. His portrayal of Black Jack Randall is one that will, in Black Jack’s own words, “haunt your dreams.”
If Menzies performance last night does not secure him an Emmy nomination, we and many others will be duly stunned. While Menzies has been equally charming, menacing, and intense playing the dual roles of Frank and Black Jack all season, last night’s performance was nothing short of revolting, and we mean that in the best way possible. As brutal as watching Jamie’s hand be smashed with a mallet and then subsequently nailed to the desk was, what was harder to emotionally take was the mental destruction of Jamie Fraser at the hands of Black Jack Randall.
Make no mistake, the physical torture of Jamie Fraser was horrific, but witnessing his mental anguish was worse. It’s an easy mistake to think that violence is limited to the physical. As any survivor of abuse can tell you, it’s the mental scars that last longer and are far deeper than the physical ones.
Beyond Menzies’ performance, Sam Heughan’s performance of Jamie was equally heartbreaking and gut-churning. More than anything else, it was not what Heughan as Jamie said. In fact, Jamie said relatively little compared to Claire or Black Jack. It was instead the haunted and terrorized looks in Jamie’s eyes that emotionally drained viewers. Black Jack’s systematic tearing down Jamie’s psychological defense walls down stone-by-stone was terrifying. By the end of the episode, as a single tear rolled down Jamie’s cheek, we saw the starts of a man, whose internal strength we thought was impregnable, begin to crumble. We watched a giant start to fall.
Not to be overlooked in this visceral melee is the performance of Caitriona Balfe as Claire. Claire knows that the stakes are life and death. She is on a suicide mission. If she doesn’t succeed in rescuing Jamie she knows that her life too is over, and before death are fates worse than death. Claire fights with every weapon in her arsenal both physical and psychological. Even when completely emotionally wrecked over what Jamie has sacrificed so that she can escape, she pulls it together and doesn’t give up.
Catriona Balfe’s portrayal of Claire showed that in the face of violence women have the fortitude, intelligence, and determination to survive and persevere. “Tough as Claire Fraser, and damn proud of it!” should be emblazoned on t-shirts at Comic-Con this year.
Outlander returns for its season finale in two weeks at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Starz.
Join us on Monday night at 10:00 p.m. for Hangoutlander, our weekly, live, post-show Google Hangout that we do with the crew from That’s Normal. Use the hashtag #Hangoutlander to respond during the show on Twitter, or to ask a question/give a comment ahead of time. We can guarantee that we will have a lot to talk about this episode. Come and join in the fun.