So, I've recently started watching #Outlander with @caitrionambalfe and @SamHeughan because lockdown and I wanted to write down what I think of the series here. Because why not ?

Writing this quick, since I'm in the midst of watching the fourth season. My thoughts may be scattered due to cabin fever. I firstly need to applaud @TobiasMenzies, because HOLY S***, this guy both warmed my heart and made my skin crawl.

I knew he was a good actor from his work on The Crown but, yet again, he's confirmed his mastery of the craft in so many ways, I don't even think I can count them. Bravo, sir.

The first season was a really good way of getting into the intrigue. I thought it was captivating and quick-paced. During the course of that season, I didn't find myself to be bored by anything, not even for a second. BUT.

There were scenes that were incredibly hard for me to watch. I did find myself blocking my sight with my hands like a child, because my stomach literally turned and I felt very nauseous.

Yet, I didn't mind that feeling because I know this was the intended effect. Things were just so well done that I really felt broken down to my core. It was not only heart-wrenching (it made me cry) but, in a way, cathartic as I think it could be for others...

... because I did find myself relating a lot to Jamie. I'd grown so attached to his character and Claire's character already that it was so painful for me to watch them go through what they went through at the end of that first season.

The love story is obviously what is holding pretty much everything together at this point and, although I dislike emotional/soppy stuff, #Outlander found the right balance between the lovey-dovey and the harsh reality of the time part of the series was set in.

I really didn't like Laoghaire. Every time I saw her, I would literally roll my eyes to the back of my own head. I guess that's another great work, this time from Ms Nell Hudson

Now for the second season : Jamie and Claire get to France (trying to contextualise stuff now because I didn't do it for the first season)

So Claire is pregnant which is great but Jamie is still trying to get over his traumas whilst trying to prevent a Revolution from happening. I told of them to rest about 250 times because they were about to be parents but nobody listened

This season was a lot slower that season 1. Not unbearable but it didn't have the same effect on me as the previous season did. I did enjoy the intrigue around Frank's ancestor because it showed a more human side of Claire.

I mean, the woman is torn between her 200 yo husband and her "dead" husband. It is a bit of a headf*** for her and it's good that we acknowledge that

Then ALL OF A SUDDEN, the season picks up in pace with the start of the Battle of Culloden and everything around it. My heart is still trying to get over it.

@caitrionambalfe and @SamHeughan you owe me about a week of therapy because the last episode broke me. AGAIN. But because I was already hooked, I forgave and just crossed my fingers for the third season.

Now for season 3 : Claire has left Jamie. She's gone back to Frank because Red Jamie wanted her to be safe. I get it. But I still wanted to throw my laptop out of my window.

The first part of the season was so hard for me to get through because the only thing I wanted was to see the both of them reunite. One episode in, and I was done seeing them apart. It pissed me off. I'm sorry, but it did. Maybe this was the intention. If it was, it worked on me

Claire decides to go back. Brilliant. But there is ONE minor detail that bugged me for about two seconds : how does she know how to get to Edinburgh ? After being slow, part of the plot flashes in an instant. I might fashing though

Also : WHERE THE HELL IS MURTAGH GOING ?

So, Claire comes back and it's great. The story could end here, right ? Well, no. Because Jamie decided it was a great idea to marry Laoghaire when Claire wasn't around. Unforgivable.

In order to get that pasty white parasite out of the way (I do not like her, I'm sorry), Jamie has to pay some alimony. Then we have this intrigue in Jamaica, the return of somebody completely unexpected and a start on the topic of slavery (basically)

Overall, the third season wasn't that bad. The beginning was rough but the sun finally came out after a while. I felt like Jamie at the beginning of season 2. I don't know where the heck Murtagh is. Neither do I know where my sympathy for Laoghaire is (if it even exists).

Now for the fourth season. Claire and Jamie SOMEHOW end up in America (I know how, I just won't tell ye). This is where the series begins to lose me a bit.

One thing I've liked so far : the way slavery was apprehended. There is an acknowledgement of the fault white people have in the slave trade. No myth about a white saviour. Just a woman ahead of her time (literally) who spoke her (and the world's) truth.

Aaaaand it's slow again. Claire and Jamie's daughter is in her own time and I'm more interested in her intrigue than her parents'. I want to see her life now her mother's gone. I want to see how it's impacted her. How she responds to the world she lives in knowing her origins

Seriously, the girl found out her dad is a 200 yo Highlander and, okay, she had a strop about it. But that HAS to change more than her choice of studies. Surely ?? And Roger needs to get a grip.

Then there's the Cherokee intrigue which was okay, I guess. I didn't feel offended by it and I do think it's important to include it because white people terrorised natives, raped and killed them, brought them disease and took their land. Remember that we were fine without you.

I am done with this thread for today. Tomorrow (and perhaps this weekend), I will carry on watching #Outlander

BUT WHERE THE HELL IS MURTAGH ?!

I am done with this thread for today. Tomorrow (and perhaps this weekend), I will carry on watching #Outlander starting season 4, episode 5. Laters !