Discussion: Ten Profound Thoughts While Binge-Watching Outlander

The 2018 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts At Midnight

If you’ve been on this blog in the last few weeks, you might know that I’ve hit a bit of a shit pit in life. I haven’t been able to concentrate on reading. Or blogging. Or anything. Instead of staring at the walls and feeling sorry for myself, I decided to do something super important. I binge-watched the TV show Outlander.

What the heck is Outlander? The show is based on the book series by Diana Gabaldon. It follows a British nurse, Claire Randall, who tumbles through a magic rock and finds herself in 1700s Scotland. Since she’s stuck in a place with rampant disease and no Internet, she makes the best of a bad situation and falls in love with Jamie Fraser, a Highland warrior. Together, they get involved in the Jacobite rebellions.

Outlander isn’t normally the type of thing I’d watch. It’s a romance, complete with barf-worthy declarations of love and a lot of fumbling between the sheets. (And in random fields. And in prison cells. And on boats.) Outlander isn’t my preferred type of entertainment, but I was desperate for a way to mentally escape from life, and it certainly delivered.

Here are all ten profound thoughts I had while watching 42 hours of Outlander. Thar be spoilers ahead. Be cautious.

Ten Thoughts While Binge-Watching Outlander

1. It’s amazing that these people can’t survive for five minutes without nearly getting raped and murdered. 

I think Jamie and Claire hold the world record for making enemies. Seriously, everyone wants to kill them. I guess attempted murders are bound to happen when you’re trying to overthrow the government. Good thing Claire and Jamie are (usually) able to rescue each other right before the rapes and murders start.

2. “Wee” (meaning “small,” not “pee”) is probably the most excellent word ever. English is a mashup of different languages. Why did “wee” not infiltrate English hundreds of years ago and spread to the entire English-speaking world? It’s an awesome word! During my Outlander binge, I started referring to my dog as a “wee beast.” My fellow Americans just stared at me like I had brain damage. Maybe because a 70-pound dog isn’t “wee.” Or maybe my neighbors just need to climb on the “wee” bandwagon and stop being so judgmental.

3. On a related topic, I really want to visit Scotland now. 

Parts of the show are filmed there, and it’s beautiful. Also, I’d like to see a real castle. They don’t have castles in my neck of the woods.

4. What’s up with Black Jack Randall? Does anyone else think that this character is kind of . . . shallow? I know that stalking and sex addiction are real things, but holy crap, the dude needs a hobby. A nice, friendly, non-sex hobby. Like stamp collecting. Isn’t he in the military? Aren’t there enough wars to keep him occupied? His obsession with Jamie just seems way too over-the-top to me, especially because he lives in a world that’s teeming with prostitutes. If he threw a rock down the street, he’d knock ten hookers unconscious. Sex partners aren’t hard to find. Maybe I missed something, but I would have liked to see more depth to his character.

5. Speaking of the characters, is it weird that I hate Claire and Jamie? I was never a Claire fan because she’s technically having an affair. She’s married when she falls through the magic rocks. I know that her marriage to Jamie was forced, and she resisted at first, but she eventually cheats on her husband. After she gets with Jamie, she barely even thinks about her husband. While hubby is frantically searching for his missing wife, she’s having a sexy romp in a sheep field with Jamie. Not cool, Claire.

The wife-beating scene sealed my hatred for both of them. Claire gets herself into trouble (of course she does; that’s basically all she does), and Jamie decides to punish her. He whips her with his belt. Then she forgives him for hurting her. The show kind of makes it look playful and sexy, but it looks like abuse to me.

6. My mom’s reaction to the show: 

“I’m sorry to tell you this, but marriage isn’t all sex and plotting to save Scotland.”

7. For a pregnant lady, Claire sure drinks a lot. In the 1700s, it was safer to drink alcohol than water because alcohol kills the germs that live in water. People back then must have been hammered all the time. In the show, Claire always seems to have a glass of wine in her hand, even when she’s pregnant. Did real pregnant ladies drink that much? If they did, I now understand why the human race is so stupid.

8. If you’re going to plot the assassination of a prince, close the damn door! Since Claire comes from the future, she knows that Jamie and all her 1700s buddies will be slaughtered at the Battle of Culloden. In an effort to stop the battle, Claire and Jamie plan to assassinate Prince Charles. Unfortunately, they make their plans with the door open. Of course they’re overheard. Step one of assassinating a prince: close the damn door!

9. Underwear may have saved the world from overpopulation. 

Did birth rates in Scotland go down when people started wearing underwear? In this show, everybody goes commando under their skirts and kilts. Whenever they feel the urge, they hike up their bottom layers, whip out the necessary body parts, and have a go at each other. Do you think birth rates went down when pants became fashionable? Has anybody ever researched this? It’s important. 

10. The moral of the story: Let people explain before you stab them. If I had to take away a lesson from Outlander, it would be to let people explain before you blow up at them. There are so many times when a character is trying to explain what happened, but the other characters have already pulled out their daggers and are screaming at each other. So many problems can be solved by listening.

My ten thoughts about Outlander probably sound harsh, but I actually had fun watching the show. I’m not planning on reading the books, but I’ll watch the next season if I can get it for free.

Have you seen Outlander? What did you think?