Outlander
Year of release : 2014
Run time : 58-60 minutes,could drop to 50 minutes.
Genre : Romance / Drama / Adventure / Tv Series
Starring : Sam Heughan ,Caitriona Balfe ,Tobias Menzies
The series are based on a series of books by Diana Gabaldon .They are very well researched and I appreciate that .With that in mind,let me just state first of all that everyone or almost everyone gets r*p*d in these series .These series are a r*p*fest .The writer was quoted as saying that in those times r*p* was very common and she wanted to capture that in the books and I get it,she wanted people to get the vibe of those times but this is just too much!
I liked the attention to detail,the clothes,the way the characters were really immersed into their time frame,the recount of history,the medicine used in the movie,the usage of old names or expressions when it came to old diseases like diabetes - sugar disease — and how they had to taste people’s urine as a test,and the knowledge of herbs and potions when it came to anything.
"Outlander" is what Jamie calls Claire in Scottish, sasanach,which is a Gaelic word meaning "foreigner" or a less than kind word for an English.
Claire Randall,a former British nurse in the 2nd World War,goes on a 2nd honeymoon with her husband Frank,an MI6 officer turned historian .Visiting the stones in Scotland by herself,Claire is transported to 1743,a tumultuous time,where and when she meets the dashing Scots warrior,Jamie Fraser ,whom she marries in order to stay alive .Out of this ensues an incredible love story which crosses over oceans of time.
Tobias Menzies was amazing! I loathed him as Randall and loved him as Frank. His ability to change into another person is amazing!
Caitriona Balfe was good too she was able to carry the movie as the lead.
What I don't like in movies or books is when the lead already has a perfect romance and they pull them out of it and into another. That being said..
SPOILERS AHEAD
Season 1
Claire almost gets r*p*d by Randall, an army officer who looks just like her husband.
Jamie gets r*p*d by Randall .The last episode of the series is a quite explicit r*pe scene which I could barely watch and never want to rewatch in my entire life!
Season 2
Claire almost gets r*p*d ,Mary,Frank’s ancestor, gets r*p*d..the kid gets r*p*d by Randall.
Mary was a virgin when she was violated .Even the rapist said it .I keep on wondering how could he see it,considering it was night,dark,and he didn’t stick his head into her privates.
Randall is the villain with a 1000 lives as he can’t die.
It just seemed everything was handed to the leading characters when it came to getting revenge or even a small payback on the enemies by a higher power .It was too convenient.
In the 1st season Jamie gives himself to Randall to save Claire,in this one,Claire lets the king of France have his way with her to get Jamie out of jail .Now they’re even.
In the first part of the season they try to stop the Jacobites rebellion,that’s why they move to France,and in the 2nd part,starting with the 8th episode,they actually try to make the rebellion happen!This movie is ridiculous,it honestly bores me.
The first part at the French court was really a joy to watch,Jamie spends all his time with politicians trying to stop the rebellion,and drinks a lot,just like all the other characters.
In the 2nd part is just battle after battle or preparing for battle and it just bored me,I honestly was doing something else while watching it.
It feels like an action movie packed with action scenes and fighting scenes.
The acting was great. Certain characters have quirks and I like how the author spent time on every character giving it depth.
Season 3
One of the things I hate about this movie is the fact the author took the leading character out of a love story and put her in another. A love story in which she loved the man she was with,and he loved her.
In this season they put her back with Frank and a year after she’s back,if it’s even been a year,she starts being intimate with him,because “she wants her husband back”,this right after we see her masturbating thinking of Jamie,I guess she's one of those women who need a man,if you know what I mean,wink.Some women need it all the time. She is intimate with Frank and closes her eyes thinking of Jamie.
Jamie ,on the other hand,six years after he helped her go through the stones back to Frank,is a hermit,alone alone.
This just makes the lead unlikeable.
You know,I watched these series years ago and stopped after season 2,for the same reasons I already stated here,season 2 bored me. I’m glad I did,I should have stopped there and never reprised it, as I don’t like seeing the characters with other people.
A servant hits on Jamie,at first he refuses her but then accepts,and it just ruins everything that came before,making it cheap.
Ok,glad I didn’t stop watching after this disappointment,as the series got better. Claire and Frank agreed to have a facade marriage while he’s being discreet in his extra marital affairs,and she plays the good wife.
She goes to school and gets her doctor degree,becoming a surgeon.
Jamie asks his family to rat him out so they could get the ransom money as he’s sick of hiding. He ends up in prison,where he’s seen as the leader of the Jacobites ,and befriends the man ,now the head of the prison,whom he let live as a kid in the uprising.
Jamie is let out of prison,and is sent to work for an English family. He there is blackmailed into sleeping with the annoying daughter of the family,by her. And she has his kid.
Roger finds Jamie as Alexander Malcolm and Claire goes back to him. The episode is 1h14minutes long and half of it is just them talking and sexing. It’s episode 7,I think,for those interested,wink.
Jamie now lives in a brothel and is a printer..and unknown to the authorities a smuggler of alcohol,hence the brothel ,that’s where he hides the alcohol.
Back to Lallybroch ,Claire discovers Jamie is married to the woman who tried to have her killed by accusing her of being a witch. Trying to get the hidden treasure,Ian gets kidnapped by pirates and we discover Geillis is alive and crazier than ever.
The series don’t have a moment of respiro ,something always happens,I don’t know why people say these are like Magic Mike or something like it,it has very few sex scenes,like in season 2 there were 2 sex scenes in the entire season,of probably one minute each,and in the third one maybe double that amount but in the same few seconds or minute. Season 2,part 2,really felt like a war movie,not a romance.
The series has so much knowledge of how life was back then,how they named things and diseases,what they wore,the superstitions,the use of medicine and how they treated patients ,that I can only imagine how much the writer worked on bringing the books to life. The season introduces many interesting characters,each with their own corks which is what I like about it,each character feels real. If in the 2nd season we were taken to France,now we go to Jamaica when the slave trade was in bloom.
Season 4
..finds the leads in America,after being shipwrecked on its shores. They decide to make a life there,and go visit Jamie's aunt. At River Run she has slaves and Claire and even Jamie find it hard to deal with it. Seeing the law doesn’t allow the slave owners to free them easily,nor the slaves to free themselves without having saved a white life,they leave the land the aunt wanted to leave him as inheritance.
Jamie agrees to settle the land given by the English king,10 acres.
The series is fast paced,something always happens,there’s no moment of boredom. In the first episode,they help a man who was convicted to be hanged. At the end of the episode he repays their kindness with evil,by taking all they have and killing their friend. No good deed goes unpunished,as always. Whom you don’t let die won’t let you live.
In the 2nd episode they deal with the way the slave owners treated the slaves,and how they acted like a pack of animals towards one of them.
In the 3d episode there’s a storm and a lightning strikes a tree, Claire has a ghost encounter who seems to have been a time traveler himself,and Brianna and Roger make a comeback. I have to admit,I don’t like Brianna so far,as she doesn’t seem to have anything of her mother and father’s inner feelings.
I like Roger,he loves her and proposes to her,but she only wants a fleeting thing with him,telling him she doesn’t believe in marriage as her mother met the love of her life,her soulmate after marrying the one she considered most of her life to be her father. Roger has the same beauty within as Jamie and Claire and I really liked his speech. I also liked Jamie’s speeches and I want to say I want a man like Jamie too.
Brianna finds out her parents die in a fire,so she goes through the stones. Roger follows her. She ends up with the woman who tried to have her mother killed for witchcraft. She wants to do the same thing to Brianna. Her daughter helps her escape and takes her to Lallybrook. Roger reaches America before her and finds her by chance. They get married and on the same night have a fight. The very same night Brianna is r*p*d by the man who Jamie helped escape and after robbed them. After raping her he gives her mother’s ring back to her. Roger can’t get out of the deal he made with the same man,r*p*st and thief,and has to follow him to Philadelphia. With pure luck,Brianna finds her parents and joins them to Fraser’s .
In a misunderstanding Jamie beats Roger up thinking her was the one r*p*ng Brianna.
I have to admit I’m glad I gave the series another chance,as so far I’m enjoying it. There’s never a dull moment,something always happens,and the episodes are pretty fast paced. It’s the kind of series one learns something from,and I have to give props to the writer as she’s really done her research.
Season 5
The first episode starts with a wedding. Brianna and Roger’s wedding. This seems to be the wedding season ,as another wedding takes place,Jamie’s aunt.
Like we were used to,no episode is boring or dull,every episode is action packed. Jamie is forced by circumstances to join the governor’s militia to catch the rebels who complain about the high taxes and the English soldiers who take all their savings as taxes. Even a small battle takes place.
The 8th episode is built halfway like a silent movie and I appreciated the gesture. I loved how this was put in scene by the fact Roger was almost killed and he lost his voice,and the silent movie played in his head for us was maybe due to his lost voice.
I like all the information given to us about how things were back then,the medicine used,the instruments people had back then,the way they colored clothes and made candles…
I liked the way Caitriona looked with her 60’s haircut and makeup,i liked how she looked with a few pieces of gray hair. I also like Claire and Brianna’s hair in this season,as it gets curlier and longer and they look great. I love their house,the interior design and decorations. I also love the gray cat.
The acting is great,all actors give their best,it’s a joy to watch.
The r*p*fest is back with a vengeance. In the last episode Claire is kidnapped by a drunken wife beater -whom she healed-and his militia who beat her up,kick her with their filthy boots in the face and belly and then take turns r*p*ng her. I can’t take this anymore!
I did like the dream sequences,the way they were shot,the visual effects..the works..
Rating : It's so money !