Review of Outlander 3.7

A rip-roaring, excellent episode 3.7 of Outlander last night, in which Jamie reveals a secret — to us, the audience, at this point, and not yet Claire — and his life as A. Malcolm the printer goes literally up in flames.

First, I should say that I find this show much better — more interesting, exciting, more everything — when it's back in the past, in the 1700s. When Claire returned home to Jamie, Outlander returned home, too.

My wife and I also began watching Outlander with subtitles on — this makes the Scottish easier to understand. I mean, I know what ken means, but sometimes it's hard to get when conveyed only as sound. And the conversations were especially significant in last night's episode — of course, they always are — as we get the fine tunings on Jamie's relationship with his nephew Ian and Fergus, what Fergus has to tell Ian about women, etc. It's also a nice touch to hear Fergus throw in some French in his conversation, including the French pronunciation of "catastrophe."

Jamie and Claire are always on the verge of catastrophe, both Jamie on his own, and their newly recovered relationship. Claire is inevitably of the 20th century, with values that sometimes don't add up to Jamie, and vice versa. But that's what makes their story so much fun.

So it looks as if Jamie and Claire will be leaving not only the printshop, but the brothel, as they're both set to leave Edinburgh. I like Edinburgh -—a lot — in our own time. My wife and I went up there from London in the 1970s on our honeymoon and loved it. I'll miss this big city by 1700s standards in Outlander.

Jamie and Claire never seem to get a chance for an extended honeymoon. I'm looking forward to seeing some of what fate has in store for them next week.