‘Outlander’ recap: There’s no place like Lallybroch

The Frasers have returned to Scotland, and just like that a great weight has been lifted off the shoulders of “Outlander” Season 2.

They even redesigned the opening credits again, this time with imagery of a warring Scotland and WWII, coupled with a re-orchestrated theme song relying heavily on military percussion.

As visually stunning as the time spent in France was during the first eight episodes of the season, much of it was dramatically inert, underlining the idea that the show’s strengths aren’t found in matters of political intrigue, but rather in smaller character moments.

In returning to Scotland and, specifically, Jamie’s home, Lallybroch, “Outlander” instantly reorients itself as the show the audience grew to love in its first season. The rain, the roaring fires, the tartans all serve as a welcoming embrace for a season that has felt a bit far afield.

This is in no small part thanks to a slew of familiar faces filling the ranks as Jamie and Claire return to the homeland. Murtagh and Fergus have both made the trek with them, but more importantly, Jamie’s sister, Jenny, returns in full force, a testament to where Jamie gets his affection for assertive brunettes who refuse to cower to the men in their life.

Returning to Scotland is an opportunity for the show to catch its breath, if only for a moment. It allows Jamie and Claire to subtly process their grief over the loss of Faith, replete with a precious scene of Jamie sitting up with Jenny’s new bairn and speaking softly to the child as it sleeps, as well as grounding the coming war in human stakes.

After their return to Lallybroch, the Frasers get word that several Scottish clans have publicly sworn allegiance to the Stuarts including, unwittingly, Jamie. It would seem that Charles forged his name and Jamie and Claire have no choice but to openly join the fight and attempt to win the war for the Highlands.

To do so, Jamie decides to turn to his estranged grandfather, Lord Lovat, to ask for troop support. In the process, he runs into Colum MacKenzie, Season 1 father figure.

It’s when Claire and Jamie leave Lallybroch that “The Fox’s Lair” begins to lose its way a bit. While still surrounded by familiar characters, like MacKenzie and, surprisingly, Laoghaire (more on that later), the episode falters in the way that so many episodes this season have: by getting bogged down in political maneuvering.

MacKenzie wants Lovat to sign a neutrality agreement and stay out of the war. Jamie wants Lovat’s support and troops to actively fight. Lovat wants Lallybroch. It’s all a bit of a mess, honestly.

Also, Laoghaire is there.

For the uninitiated, Laoghaire was the woman from Season 1 who was in love with Jamie and, consequently, tried to have Claire killed for witchcraft. Perhaps unsurprisingly, neither Claire or Jamie were super psyched to see her again.

More interestingly, audiences may also not be as excited to see Laoghaire again and for good reason. Laoghaire didn’t actually appear in “Dragonfly in Amber,” the second book in Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series, making her appearance in “The Fox’s Lair” potentially the most significant deviation from the books the show has made so far.

Without spoiling anything major, I’ll say that I understand why Ronald Moore and company made the choice to include Laoghaire in this season. With a universe such as “Outlander,” it’s important to keep as many characters as possible in ready play and it seems somewhat unrealistic to expect a show’s audience to remember relatively minor characters for much more than a season after their last appearance. Which is to say that there will almost certainly be many more familiar faces as the second season plays out.

That said, for not trusting its audience to remember Laoghaire’s existence, “Outlander” sure has a subtle hand when it comes to depicting the passage of time. While the Frasers time in France was obviously built around Claire’s pregnancy, suggesting they were there for at least six months, it didn’t always feel as though that much time had passed.

The same is true for the pair in Scotland. It’s clear that some time has passed, making the wounds of Faith’s death not quite so raw, but it’s unclear just how much time it’s been, making it hard to pin down where to expect people to be in the healing process.

“Outlander” just hurtles through time to an uncertainly certain future with no sense of when it might arrive there, a curious problem for a show about time travel to have.

There are other shortcomings in “The Fox’s Lair,” particularly the fact that yet another plot comes down to Claire being a perceived witch and, again, nearly being killed for it. I mean, gosh, Claire, how mad can you be at Laoghaire for nearly getting you killed for witchcraft when you literally will not stop throwing in people’s face that you’re (supposedly) a witch.

There’s also more latent threats at Claire’s virtue, this time made by Jamie’s grandfather, so it’s even classier than usual. Lovat even goes so far as to tell Jamie that there are lots of men who would be willing to rape Claire, so, I guess Jamie has that going for him.

It’s okay though because Jamie tells Lovat that Claire is a witch so it would be a bad idea to rape her.

Fake witchcraft: the cause and solution to all of life’s problems.

But these are piddly complaints for a show that is clearly righting the ship. Though Lovat does sign the neutrality agreement with MacKenzie, he sends his men with his son to fight with the Frasers, in a brilliant tactical move aimed at saving his neck if it comes down to a matter of treason.

So the Frasers move forward into the fray. But they’re back in Scotland now. What could possibly go wrong?

More

The cast of ‘Outlander’ brings added dimension to fantasy series

Q&A ‘Outlander’ star Tobias Menzies talks trauma and time travel

‘Outlander’ recap: Claire loses Faith

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