MovieChat Forums > Outlander (2014) Discussion > Season 3 Ep 3. Goodbye Frank, hello Lor...

Season 3 Ep 3. Goodbye Frank, hello Lord John

posted 7 years ago by Lovfilm (3)
9 replies | jump to latest

So this is the last episode for Tobias Menzies. Looking back over the first two seasons and S3 to date, he has been such a significant and talented asset to the series. We hated him as Black Jack and were at times indifferent to him, or pitying him as Frank, just as it should have been. He made a major contribution and I hope he continues to get the roles and recognition he deserves.

The other big development is the debut of David Berry as Lord John. On the surface one might think no, he's too tall, too big, not blonde enough; but in the way of a truly skilled actor, from the moment he appears, he IS Lord John. This man can act! Waiting for the big scene where Jamie tells him to remove his hand I wondered how it would go as this would be a key moment for fans. He was subtle, nuanced, the pain and regret almost palpable. That one small tear - heartbreaking. Superb, and as i choked baxk my own tears, I was sold.

Other big news is the surprise survival of Murtagh. In the book he didn't survive Culloden. Keeping him around doesn't Impact the integrity of the story, and pleases the many fans who have come to love the TV version, who is rather different from the wizened little character from the novels.

One aspect of this episode sort of threw me. For Jamie, no matter where he is, he is a natural leader. He is the man that other men look up to, he has charisma, a strong and calm demeanor (unless provoked), standing tall both physically and figuratively. Sam Heughan doesn't have all the well known physical attributes of Jamie Fraser from the novels, but he doesn't need them. He has been bringing Jamie to life to the great pleasure of fans for over two seasons. But in this episode he seemed cowed, hunched, not making eye contact, all in all, not behaving like Jamie. Maybe we are supposed to see the impact of 3 years at Ardmuir, but if so I don't know why. At that point he was the men's leader. He had no problem saying confidentially to LJG no thank you, he wouldn't be his interpreter. His natural confidence which could be taken, at times, for arrogance should still come through but it didn't. I really hope we see the strong Jamie return, the Jamie who has natural good posture, stands tall, exudes strength. It was the first time, and I hope the last, I didn't see Jamie. I saw the actor and the performance was, in my view, lacking.

Last thought, re the jewels. In the novel Jamie says honestly that aside from the one he saved the rest of the stones were at rest in the sea. That way, he did not lie to Lord John and the stones remained there for future use. The way it was handled in the episode, either the writers had Jamie lie and break his word (I hope not) or the stones have no part to play later. It would have been easy to stay with the original dialogue so this one is a head shaker for me.

Well, regardless, this is my favorite TV series, and there is much I adore about ithe. Looking forward to Sunday.

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

Great review, Lovfilm.

I really like David Berry as Lord John as well. My first though was "Oh, wasn't he blonder?", but that's superficial stuff. When we talk about the actual performance, I have not complaints. With so little time /one episode/ they did a good job at showing the development of LJ and Jamie's relationship, I think. I don't remember how much time was devoted to LJ's feeling towards Jamie in the book, but _that_ scene showed them in a condensed and subtle way. And there were many levels to it for both characters in my view.

I was wondering what they were going to do with Murtagh on the show. I'm glad he's alive! I really enjoy both the character and Duncan Lacroix in the role. After the BIG reunion coming up, it gives a second one to look forward to as well. Especially for us book people, who know more or less what's to come, it's nice to have some surprises as well, right?

As for Jamie in the episode, I wasn't that bothered by the way he was shown, written or acted. I have a slight problem with book Jamie, because he's just so damn perfect. I like the more human Jamie here /I like both really, but appreciate the differences is probably what I mean/. 3 years in heavy chains would have an effect not only on a person's body, but on a person's psyche. The inability to move freely and comfortably, realistically speaking, would affect a person greatly, regardles of their strength of character. Still, I think Jamie managed to retain his commande and presence, despite all that.

to be continued...

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

...

One other thing. He might be the leader of the men in the prison, and have some sway with the wardens, but he is still a prisoner. He is smart enough to realise his position and role in this situation. He is already a threatening man, just by sheer size and reputation. Now, I'm just trowing this out there, but could he have been play-acting just a little bit? An intelligent person would morph into the circumstances, they wouldn't expect the circumstances to morph according to them. So being hunched and not making eye contact would make sense, if you don't want to draw anymore attention to yourself, that you already have. And that's besides all the physical stuff I mentioned above. That's my 2 cents anyway :)

Finally, a goodbye to Tobias Menzies and Frank. I'm not that interested in Claire's story this season so far, but I was sad for Frank. I do wonder if we still get to see him in some flashbacks in future episodes, though.

Oh, I nearly forgot. No annoying, startling narration out of nowhere this episode! Hooray for that. Wish they'd drop it completely.

[–] Lovfilm (3) 7 years ago

Thanks Mina! Interesting comments regarding Jamie's mannerisms in Ardmuir. I hadn't thought of that. And also regarding the voice over, I didn't even notice until you mentioned it. I have a feeling there will be less of that going forward. It never bothered me but I know lots of people don't like it.

So much good stuff yet to come this season. I know it will be over all too fast. 🙄

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

I could kind of stand the narration in season one. It's now become so sporadic, that I don't see the point of even including it. And it's always about things that I don't feel need to be narrated. Anyway, sorry for the mini-rant lol.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FROM THE BOOK BELOW!

It must have been a nightmare adapting Voyager! So much happens in the book, that I don't know how they're going to manage covering even half of it in 13 episodes. Not everything needs to be included of course, but all that time spent with Jamie in the cave and at the prison and at Helwater I think was needed to make the reunion with Claire all the more... satisfying /I can't find the right word/. His loss of Claire, and the baby more importantly, his opportunity to be a real father, all those lost years, were so heartbreaking /there is little Willie at Helwater, but we know what the situation was like there/. You talked about Jamie as the strong, confident leader above, and missing that. What I miss is Jamie, the father figure. He was that to Fergus, and to Jenny's children in a way. His need to be a father was palpable in the book for me. I'm not really feeling that on the show that strongly. We might get some of it in the next episode at Helwater. But I think they're going to cover that in one episode? On IMDB it says they reunite in episode 6. For me, 5 episodes is too little time spent on that part of the story.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. It's true, it's going to be over way to fast.

[–] alycat32 (133) 7 years ago

It really does seem like they are covering years very quickly in an episode. Baby Bri to 18 year old Bri all in one episode. I guess it's the only way to get through so much.

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

Yes, it is too much. I almost wish they'd cut the book into two seasons, with the reunion as the season finale.

Cramming 20 years into 4 episodes is going a bit too fast. For me anyway.

But it seems like people want their reunion as quickly as possible, so I might be in the minority here.

[–] beauq81 (1019) 7 years ago

Yeah, but there are nine books. If they intend to do them all (and I hope they are), that's nine seasons. And this is a British series, not American, so it has less episodes per season.

[–] Ziggy (1569) 7 years ago

Now that I've seen the first 5 episodes and can look back, I think they've actually done a really nice job with the Jamie portion of the story. I think they really made it work by making each episode about one period of the 20 years - Culloden, the Cave, Ardsmuir Prison, Helwater. I'm sure it wasn't easy to boil down each of those segments into one episode. There was so much that they left out. Still, I'm very impressed that they managed to hit all the important points and really tell Jamie's story.

Each week the Claire, Frank, Bree, Roger portion of the story was a bit of a mystery. They definitely took scenes from the book, but most of what they showed was not in the beginning chapters of Voyager. As Claire shares bits and pieces of her 20 years with Jamie, we, as book readers, learn them as well. The beginning chapters of Voyager were mostly Jamie's story with a little bit of Claire, Bree and Roger doing research and trying to find Jamie in the past.

I'm actually very impressed with how the show has chosen to handle the book so far. Now that Claire is back in the past, I'm really looking forward to the adventures that will follow.

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

I'm also impressed with how they handled it, to be honest. It's a lot of book to put into 13 episodes. Maybe I'm just greedy lol.

The years of Jamie being appart from Claire are some of my favourite parts of the whole story, so maybe I just wanted to spend some more time with it. But I do acknowledge that they did a fine job of showing the most important bits.