Sorry Dramers, Readers, and Eaters! It’s been a while because my main gig is teaching music. My last post was in March, and spring for music teachers gets nuts between all sorts of festivals, concerts, and graduation. On top of that, my family moved the day after my school year ended. A lot of things happened that I wasn’t planning on…much like our beloved characters in 707 & 708. However, my unplanned break was still shorter than the break between 7A & 7B. Sorry Starz…
After I finish episode 707 & 708, I’m going to review Season 1 of Outlander in anticipation of Blood of my Blood starting this summer. I canna wait!
Meanwhile….on to wrapping up my rewatch of 7A.
Episode 707 reminded me of rhubarb crisp, delicious and yet can have some very sour bites.
First, we see that Jem got his Tufty Club pin. I think us book fans know what’s coming. Meanwhile, Buck, the witch’s son, has time traveled by accident to the future. More data for Roger’s Hitch Hiker’s Guide to Time Travel.
I love seeing Wills and Sandy joshin’ each other in the general’s meeting. I feel like they are the lucky interns that somehow got to go to the CEO’s party. Later, they are talking young soldier shop, ladies, wanting to fight, and peacocking with cutting apples in half. Although Williams does take good care of his horses like someone we know. Sandy is too adorable. He’s totally not surviving this episode.
Meanwhile Captain Spy Doofus Richardson wants William to be his errand boy and miss the battle. Williams finally steps up like a big boy and says “No thanks. Me want to fight.” Thank goodness William is figuring some of this out. Captain Richardson is like biting into a raw rhubarb stalk.
Meanwhile, Buck is getting the meal of time traveler champions, (him especially since he went forward first, not backward), PB & J. Roger drops the bomb that Buck is his great-great granddaddy (we’ll skip a couple of the great for time). As the enormity of the situation hits him, like any good Scot, he asked for something stronger than coffee. Roger digs into the family tree and realizes that Buck doesn’t go back. But before they can do anything, Rob annoying-face Cameron shows ups for dinner. I do love though that Roger references whisky as the water of life. However, Roger is also the person who says there would be plenty in the office to preoccupy Rob. This is gonna end as well as a rhubarb crisp with no sugar.
Sure enough, as the evening goes on, Roger and Bree can’t settle and keep looking at the priest hole. And Rob Cameron wants to stay forever. Worst house guest ever Rob. Read the room! You’ve overstayed your welcome. Nothing is worse than someone who doesn’t know when to leave.
Back in the past, Jamie brings Claire a present of a book, only to help Claire discover the sour news that she aging and needs cheaters. Jamie promises to buy Claire two pairs of glasses. Claire promises to come looking for Jamie if he doesn’t return. Oh man, something’s gonna go down.
Meanwhile at the enemy camp, Sweet Sandy & Wills are struggling with their rations. Any Lord John Grey book reader will love the shoutout to the Beefsteak Club! Cousin Brigadier General Fraser is walking around, preferring the camaraderie of the soldiers to the fancy food tent of Burgoyne. Williams takes his shot (yes, Hamilton reference on purpose) and asks Fraser if he can fight instead of being Richardson’s messenger boy. Yes William! Take hold of your destiny. You said you were no errand boy! But me-thinks there will be a cost…
Back to the future, Rob Cameron shares about his son. It’s sad and sweet yet he still won’t get the hint to go. Bree should have made rhubarb crisp without sugar to get him to go. Finally, he leaves, and we find that Buck is not in he priest hole but in the caravan with Mandy & Jem, watching sci-fi on the telly and getting his beard combed with a Barbie comb. Cousin Buck (not Uncle Buck any John Candy fans), may have been a jerk in the past but being in the future has brought out a whole other side to him.
Bree gets stuck with bring-your-time-traveling-in-law to work day. While he’s amazed by the dam, poor Buck realizes he’s lost all his people, and might be scared to go back. Maybe though they’d be better off without him? Buck also notices Rob Cameron has the hots for Bree. Methinks he’s right about this. Buck warns Roger that Rob likes Bree. And Roger tells him that he dies in 1778. There’s no sugar to be found right now in this section of the crisp. None!
Then again, there’s some sugar between Bree & Roger. It’s a lovely intimate scene, including some banter with “I can feel it coming in the air tonight” playing in the background. A+. Their apple rhubarb crisp has won best in show! The MacKenzies are just on fire in the future. As a book reader, I’m glad to see the Bree & Roger I know from the books come out more on screen.
But Bree & Roger’s sweetness is swapped for sour in the past. Young Ian finds Sandy’s lost messenger/deserter. Ian’s got his war paint on and ready to go. Jamie and Claire get one kiss, and he’s off to battle. Jamie feeling like he has so much to lose creates quite the contrast to Sandy & William starting off the battle with locker room talk. William admits he likes Rachel, and poor Sandy is shot. William is in shock until General Fraser tells him to pull himself together. William does and the angry Fraser in him comes out as he rushes the field.
The sour trend continues into the future. Roger can’t sleep. He goes to the office and notices something is wrong with the box. He’s interrupted by Mandy screaming. She then says Jem isn’t here anymore and that the bad man took him. They find out there was no movie with Bobby and that Rob had been retconning them all to take Jem with him thru the stones. They don’t find anything but Jem’s scarf with his tufty club pin.
Back in the pst, the first battle ends. William is overseeing the burials of the fallen. He rips the men a new one when they want to do a shoddy job. William drops the coat and joins in helping, much in character with both of his fathers. He earns major extra credit with General Fraser. But William has seen the ugliness of war now. It’s not glorious like he thought. And what Burgoyne toasts as sweet victory leaves a bitter taste in William’s mind after losing a friend.
However, this episode seems to skip the sugar at the end and almost heaps on salt as we see that Jamie is injured and still on the field.
Overall, it’s a really great episode. As my students would say, everything is cooking! Rob Cameron is causing trouble. Cousin Buck makes everything timey-whimey. William gets some character development. We get some sweet moments with both Claire & Jamie and Bree & Roger. But of course, in true Outlander fashion, it all goes wrong. It was a great build up to episode 708 the first time and still doesn’t disappoint. While some might complain that this episode is plot heavy, I think we get some great character development with William. He’s easy to hate at first in the books because we really want him to be like Jamie but he’s just a teenager trying to find his way in the world. I think the show is doing a great job of letting us see him more objectively. We also see both Bree & Roger and William struggle with knowing who to trust, and knowing when to stand up for ourselves. We’ve all had those moments where we’ve trusted the wrong person or waited too long to speak up for ourselves. Sometimes ignoring our gut has little consequence like having a stomachache from eating too much dessert while sometimes ignoring our gut instincts costs us dearly, like Roger and Bree losing Jem.
But hey, we can’t deny that the best music choice of the night was Phil Collins. Til next time…Slainte!
Dram: Dewar’s since it had a hint of apple. I’d give a second runner up to Western Cider Co’s Whiskey Peach Cider. Local to Montana, it’s a favorite of mine and very wonderful to have in the summer.
Song: In the air tonight by Phil Collin’s. Classic!
Food: Rob Cameron’s Apple Rhubarb Crisp. He’s sweet, then he’s sour. No wait, that’s Sour Patch Kids.
No insights in reflection to the season 7 overall. The Greedy Outlander fan in me just wishes there had never been a break between 7A & 7B. We were finally getting the full three-course meal, and it felt like the restaurant closed abruptly, kinda like when your favorite restaurant randomly closes for good, and you don’t know why.