Happy Premier Day! Droughtlander is over 🎶 (to the tune of John Lennon’s Merry X-Mas).

Besides thinking in food analogies, I also think in song. It’s the curse of being a music teacher, and Christmas songs have sadly been on my brain for a while with having to prep the children for their concerts. But on to the 709 recap & review!

First of all, it’s so good to be back. This Droughtlander between 7A & 7B was pretty ridiculous. They should as well have just called them Seasons 7 & 8. Give me a bigger dram, and I could rant more about it. By the way, I’ve really been enjoying the Dalwhinnie lately. I usually like to try something new when I go to my local libation store. If you haven’t tried it, you should do so, although it is on the smokier/peaty side.

However, I can’t help but getting sucked back in to Outlander, and I loved this episode. After all, coming back to Lallybroch in the 1770s feels like home. I know some people don’t like this episode (mostly due to a new Jenny), and that’s ok. Was the pacing fast? Yes. But they probably have to be with how big Diana’s books are at this point. Are there book moments I missed?

Yes.

I love when Michael shows up and Claire sees his black arm band showing he is in mourning for his wife. She assesses the situation and just gives him a big hug. But I at least hope we get to see Michael and Joanie go on the boat to France. Plus we got Joanie’s line about praying for Jamie every day, and twice on Sundays. 😆

Would I have loved to see Leery come eat crow and ask Claire to go save Henri-Christian? Yes. After all, it’s a much stronger reason to leave Auld Ian as he is dying. But I’m so glad we got the line about Claire knowing Jamie needed her from the moment she saw him. Laoghaire & Jamie’s marriage is proof that even though they all had good intentions going into the marriage thinking they could help each other, it still wasn’t a good fit. Their personalities, love languages, and needs are too different. For Laoghaire, it’s realizing that she had Jamie so built up in her mind that she never took the time to really evaluate what they had in common. And it took Jamie this long to finally stop and wonder who Laoghaire had actually been kissing at Leoch to get in trouble. We know he felt bad for her getting humiliated in front of everyone at Leoch and was just trying to be nice. And it really impressed Claire. But (and not for the first time) I thought that taking the beating for Laoghaire was not a good idea. I wish we could have explored more about who Laoghaire was really kissing but again, there never seems to be enough time.

For Laoghaire, it’s realizing that she had Jamie so built up in her mind that she never took the time to really evaluate what they had in common.

I loved how the episode started with Jamie’s voiceover via letter to Bree and saying how she and her family was safe…but they aren’t! Some may not agree but I love Roger’s voiceovers. His voice is so much in my head in the books. It’s lovely to hear Rik Rankin’s rich voice say these things. It’s also a nice callback to season 1 when Claire had voiceovers. After all, Roger has traveled to the wrong time too! I love all the cuts between various times, as it keeps all of us book readers and non-readers on our toes. 

In some ways, I’m glad they didn’t drag out Jenny not forgiving Claire. It’s been long enough of them not getting along and in my personal opinion, Diana let it go too long in the books. Yet from personal experience, I’ve seen others hold onto grudges for much too long and waste their life over it. I think Kristin Atherton does a fine job stepping in as Jenny. It’s not the same as Laura Donnelly, but I think it lends to that feeling Jamie talks about in that Lallybroch is different. It’s home and yet not home. But I did feel like I got a wave of Old Jenny/Laura Donnelly, the way Kristin set her shoulders and mustered her stubbornness to tell Young Ian to go to Rachel. It felt very much like old Jenny. Kristin has a tricky job of not only interpreting Jenny at this stage in her life but incorporating what Laura did so that she feels the same to the audience. 

The only bad thing about watching so many interviews during Droughtlander and hearing my friends’ fan interactions with Stephen Cree is that it makes it hard to take him serious as Auld Ian. But seeing him in his Highland regalia and make his way downs the steps and then stand by the arch looking so old and frail made me cry. As Diana writes in her first book, Outlander, “A Highlander in full regalia is an impressive sight –any Highlander, no matter how old, ill-favored, or crabbed in appearance.” Jamie would have then appeared at Ian’s side and said “on your right man.” But maybe that will come next episode. Looks like their countryside chat is coming next episode. I loved the Murrays’ reaction to learning Claire is from the future. Although, I would have liked Ian to say, after Claire tells them she’s from the future, “so that’s why you told us to plant potatoes?”

“A Highlander in full regalia is an impressive sight –any Highlander, no matter how old, ill-favored, or crabbed in appearance.”

Outlander, by Diana gabaldon,
Chapter 14 – A Marriage takes place

The Lallybroch set is beautiful. I’ve been saying it for years but Sherwin-Williams needs to come out with Outlander paint swatches. 

I’m also glad for all the laughter mixed with the tears in this episode. That was very Diana-esque. She beautifully balances humor with hardship, and Lord knows we need humor to survive this world.

The episode ending with Roger and Buck going to Cranesmuir and seeing Gellis was fantastic! Obviously, this will be different than the book.  But I’m not gonna go screaming in the woods like Jenny because, well, I live in Eastern Montana, and we don’t have any woods. And it’s cold and snowing. I’m gonna be like Jamie and enjoy all my last moments with my bestie. I’ll always have the books with their richness. But damn, it was beautiful to see Scotland again.

What’s great about books 7 & 8 are all the callbacks to previous storylines, and it’s no different for the show. All the tiny ways they worked in little callbacks everywhere (the cave, Ned Gowan, Roger not sitting on his desk, being in the Laird’s room, Jamie wearing his leather coat and then seeing Brian in his leather coat, etc). I just wish Jenny had given Claire the vase from season 1 that she received with some flowers during Lallybroch’s quarter day. It would have been a beautiful way of saying “Lallybroch is always home and take this bit of home with you to the new world.” I know it’s not in the books, but I thought it would have been lovely. Don’t pelt me with potatoes book purists!

I do enjoy seeing Jamie and Claire teasing each other so much. The show has made everything so serious and often removes Diana’s humor that is so present in the books. It’s just lovely to see them having fun with each other. Of course, it doesn’t last for long as they are now separated, which never goes well. They’re like salt and pepper. They’ve got to always be together. 

Til next time…..Slainte. 

lick here for today’s comfort food,  Smashed potatoes.

This episode’s dram of choice: The Dalwhinnie.