This is the episode everyone
was waiting for, whether she (or the occasional he) had read the book or not,
and the ratings reflected this anticipation: the highest for any episode. The Wedding was watched by 3.8 million viewers and broke ratings records for Starz. Pretty amazing for a station people either didn’t
know they had (yours truly) or subscribed to just for Outlander.
In the previous episode, Dougal extracted Claire from a vicious confrontation with
Captain Randall and told her he couldn’t protect an English citizen but even
Black Jack would not dare touch Claire if she were married to a Scot. Still stunned from being punched in the
stomach by someone who so closely resembles her lost husband Frank, Claire
reluctantly agreed to marry Jamie – after ascertaining Jamie didn’t
object.
This
episode begins with a flashback to Claire and Frank’s wedding:
she is about to meet his parents for the first time when he sweeps her off to a
registry office, and their kiss fades into Claire and Jamie’s wedding
kiss. Then the newly married 18th
century couple is alone at last in their wedding chamber, both nervous. Claire suggests a drink and Jamie makes a
gallant toast. Although he is clearly
very eager to consummate the marriage, he knows she is apprehensive and tells
her not to be afraid; he won’t jump her.
She tells him she has some questions and he warily agrees to answer
them. Claire asks why he agreed to
marry her. Jamie flashes back to Ned
Gowan and Dougal telling him this was the only way to protect her from
Randall. Dougal then made a lewd comment
about Claire (implying anyone would enjoy having sex with Claire) and Jamie said
angrily that if she becomes his wife, Dougal will have to refer to her with
respect. “So you married me to keep me
safe?” she asks.
“You
have my name, my clan, my family and, if necessary, the protection of my body
as well,” Jamie promises. Swoon! Claire is nearly as affected as I am, and sits
beside him and he is about to kiss her when she panics and asks about his
family as a distraction. Time goes by
while they get to know each other slightly better and Claire relaxes. Rupert
and Angus burst in to see whether Jamie has done the deed. Once Jamie has got rid of them (one hopes he
locked the door this time), Claire suggests they go to bed.
“To
bed or to sleep?” Jamie inquires with a meaningful look. “Either way” he offers politely to help her
remove her corset. He undresses her very
carefully and they kiss, accompanied by lots of heavy breathing.
“Where
did you learn to kiss like that?” Claire asks, surprised.
“I
said I was a virgin, not a monk,” Jamie tells her, with a triumphant smile.
Their first encounter is over
quickly, perhaps because Jamie is a novice (albeit very enthusiastic) or
impatient but also because they have both been told the marriage must be
consummated with witnesses nearby. Talk
about embarrassing! Jamie and Claire appear
very comfortable together afterwards but when she starts feeling guilty about
Frank and darts out of the bedchamber to get them food, she is caught off guard
by all the MacKenzies who are lying in wait and shout out all sorts of
inappropriate questions. She is barely
dressed and frozen with horror but Jamie gallantly guides her back into the
bedroom and takes the brunt of the abuse.
While he is gathering food, Dougal glares at him and says resentfully
Jamie hasn’t thanked him properly for his bride. Dougal is hating Jamie’s wedding night, which
is not good uncle behavior. He warns
Jamie not to rush back to Claire or she’ll have too much power over him. Dougal doesn’t realize Claire already has so
much power over Jamie that Jamie repeats the whole conversation to her! Claire secretly likes that but gulps down
some more whiskey anyway (she has been drinking pretty steadily since Dougal
told her about the wedding). Her hard
head for alcohol is one of the ways in which she fits right into the 18th
century!
Jamie, getting back into the
mood, leans over Claire and calls her “mo nighean donn” (my brown haired lass) for the first
time. More swooning. He tells her how he obtained a
Fraser tartan for their wedding (he had not been seen in one previously because
that would be advertising his identity and remember there’s a bounty on his
head). It may be hard for a modern
audience to understand how important wearing the tartan was for a loyal
clansman, but the English knew, thus banned it after Culloden so as to
completely wipe out whatever sparks of rebellion might be left. There is a flashback to a very improbable
chat with stern-looking Murtagh – Jamie says he wants to look his best at the
wedding to honor his mother. Murtagh was
sweet on Ellen MacKenzie who chose another man and died when Jamie was a child but when Jamie asks what his mother would have thought of Claire, Murtagh says, "Do I look like a gypsy?"
Jamie tells Claire he gave Dougal some
conditions about their marriage (Dougal in disgust, “It would be easier to kill
you both!”): first, that they be married by a priest (they are both Catholic); second,
that a special wedding ring be made for Claire from a key he’d been carrying
around in his sporran; and third, that someone find Claire a suitable wedding
dress. I could have done without seeing
Ned Gowan being “entertained” in the brothel where he locates a dress for
Claire, but he certainly found her a lovely gown, although much too low cut.
While Jamie was being so
thoughtful, Claire was hung-over, but both she and Jamie look resplendent when
it’s time for the wedding. It’s the
first time we’ve seen Jamie dressed up (his hair looks a bit odd) and he is
more stunning than she is! Overcome,
she says she doesn’t even know his name!
He looks into her eyes, and says, “James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie
Fraser.” The wimpy priest Dougal frightened
into performing the wedding without bans does his part and they are married in
a church we’d all like to visit, full of candles and clansmen in
attendance. At the end of the ceremony Claire
is startled when their wrists are slightly cut (by helpful Dougal) and bound
together so they can utter a Gaelic vow of unity. (In the book, Claire and Frank got married at the same church as Claire and Jamie, but London makes more sense.)
After they discuss their recollections
of the wedding, Claire is touched by the care Jamie took to make her wedding
day memorable and she expresses her appreciation by asking him to remove his
shirt so she can show that his scarred back is not repugnant to her. After a few minutes, Jamie asks her to
remove her shift and then gazes at her carefully.
“Have you never seen a naked
woman before?” she asks gently.
“Aye, but not one so close. And
not one who’s mine,” he says, and carries her to the bed. This time Claire uses their encounter to show
him what pleases her, to explain about orgasms, and stun him with oral
sex. Afterwards, Jamie falls asleep and
Claire ventures outside the bedchamber where Dougal is lying in wait. He reports that he visited Captain Randall
and broke the happy news that Claire had married his nephew.
“I commend you for doing your
duty but it needn’t stop you from sampling other pleasures. I find you to be the most singular woman,
Claire.” He caresses her chin.
“I’m Jamie’s wife!” she
protests. This is absurd! Has Dougal ever looked in a mirror? Probably not often, due to a general
scarcity. But, seriously, even if Claire
weren’t falling in love with Jamie, why would anyone want to sample
Dougal? In his dreams!
Luckily, Rupert
interrupts. Claire thanks him for
getting her wedding ring. After she
returns to the bedchamber, Rupert jokes to Dougal that Claire looks “well ridden”
– gross. This annoys Dougal so much he
slaps Rupert and sends him away.
Back in the bedchamber, Jamie
wakes up and sees Claire looking melancholy (well, you might feel guilty too if
you were a bigamist who enjoyed having sex with your new husband). He gets up and removes a string of pearls
from his handy sporran and drapes them over Claire’s bare shoulders, telling her
they belonged to his mother. They have
sex again and this time it shows that Claire really cares about him, and is not
merely doing her duty/saving herself from Captain Randall.
The next morning Jamie heads
down to breakfast ahead of Claire. As Claire
picks up her wedding dress from the floor, her Frank wedding ring falls out and
bounces across the floor symbolically, landing between floorboards. I was afraid it was going to disappear but
Claire pulled it out and put it on her left hand. She holds her hands out and surveys both
wedding rings as the episode ends.
What’s Important About This Episode:
·
This episode is primarily
eye candy for the loyal fans and was beautifully done. The sex scenes were broken up by flashbacks to advance the story (not to mention the dark bedchamber must have been challenging
to film in). There were some humorous
interludes in and out of the bedroom (but what was with the creepy cat?). My friend Carla complains that the miniseries
omits the humor that made the book unique, so it was good to see some laughter
that didn’t involve pervy clansmen crudeness.
·
Claire feels very
guilty about marrying Jamie when she is already married to Frank. Hence all the scotch. However, Jamie is sufficiently attractive
that anyone would forget Frank temporarily.
·
It wasn’t quite
as obvious in the book that Dougal lusted for Claire (he does have a wife *and* a girlfriend), although he did kiss her
on the night of the Gathering, and there’s another incident later on. But he is delusional if he thinks he’s
competition for Jamie.
·
Diana makes it
clear that she wants Claire to be perceived as very comfortable with her
sexuality, no matter what century she’s in.
Claire is confident about everything, however. People are attracted to her not just because
she is beautiful but because she is courageous and self-possessed – look at the
way she stood up to Captain Randall.
They don’t know she’s a time traveler but they know she’s not like the
women they know.
·
Will Claire’s
handsome husband make her forget her determination to return to the standing
stones?
Starz has just
announced that Outlander will return for its midseason premiere on April 4,
2015. Can't wait!
Images copyright to Starz
