Outlander Episode 9 “The Reckoning” – H’s Continuing Thoughts on Adaptation and S on the Art of a Good Apology

It feels like it’s been a long wait since the first half of Outlander’s first season wrapped up last fall. Certainly there’s been a lot of anticipation to return to our favourite protagonist, Claire Beauchamp-Randall-Fraser, and her highland adventures–not least from this particular viewer. I may have had reservations when the show first began, based on my experiences reading the book by Diana Gabaldon, but the series soon won me over thanks to stunning scenery, some marvellous acting from series lead Caitriona Balfe, and a few minor tweaks to the original material that seem to have balanced pleasing the book fans while also pleasing those more critical people like me.

Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Television

(Warning for discussions of rape and abuse under the cut. Also contains spoilers for “The Reckoning” and book talk)

Playing Spot the Differences with Outlander Key Art

The second half of Outlander season 2 is coming up in the next few weeks and Claire, our bad ass time travelling heroine, has been through a hell of a lot in the first half season alone. Based on the cliffhanger we’ve been left on we can expect there’s a lot more to come.

I definitely did a double take when I saw the new key art for season 1b.

New 2-Minute Outlander Trailer Shows Claire Kicking Ass

Based on the 2-minute Outlander trailer provided by Showcase and a little dose of head!canon, I’m inclined to believe that Season 1b of Outlander consists of Claire getting all bad ass, making lady-friends, lady-enemies, other enemies as a bad ass bitch like Claire will do, and setting off on a quest to save her pretty new husband resulting in a painful and also steamy reunion. 

Amanda Schull on Action & Adaptation in the new 12 Monkeys

We sat down with Amanda Schull back in December for an awesome talk about her work in the new series adaptation of Terry Gillian’s cult classic, 12 Monkeys. Even at the end of a long day, Amanda was bright and shiny and ready to tell us all about what makes 12 Monkeys distinct from the film, moving between action and comedy/drama, and how her dance background lends itself to action scenes.

On watching the movie “12 Monkeys” and comparing to the source material

I didn’t rewatch before I shot the pilot. I did not want to allow that determine my character, the choices I made, or anything because it’s its own thing and we’re our own entity. As much as we are an adaptation and we’re taking certain ideas and storylines we’re definitely expanding on things and starting new storylines and she’s a very different character from the character that was initiated by Madeleine Stowe. And so I didn’t rewatch it but after we shot the pilot I rewatched it and remembered how great it was. 

Haven “The Old Switcheroo”: Mara Still Hates Pancakes

If the body-switch wasn’t such a tried and true trope that Haven somehow hadn’t already got to, I’d think this episode was designed specifically to get under the skin of all the Audrey/Nathan die-hards out there. Did it work? Lucky for all of us, there was a lot more to “The Old Switcheroo”.

This was a meaty one and so much fun at that. The Gloria/Dwight switch is a stroke of genius! But before we get into that – let’s talk about Audrey.

“Still don’t like pancakes”. There’s no way that wasn’t written specifically to get folks all riled up. Kicking off the episode with another refusal of Audrey’s presence. But isn’t that part of the fun? The fight?

Mara is stubborn, strong and perfectly, coolly, evil.  The idea of force-feeding a person pancakes to perform what amounts to an exorcism – out of context – it’s hilarious, while at the same time somewhat logical, and so perfectly Haven.

Haven: “Spotlight” S is Troubled by Nathan’s Dangerous Obsession

“Spotlight” was appropriately titled, as the episode primarily focused on the Nathan/Mara/Audrey dynamic. This is the big forever love, and creating what is nearly a bottle episode where Nathan and Mara face off alone in a cabin is an incredibly powerful tool to use at this point in the game.

The claustrophobia of the cabin oozed off the screen. Lucas Bryant and Emily Rose were fabulous, circling each other trying to find the way in, and the way out. Mara luxuriates in being bad, teasing Nathan about his gal Audrey while stripping for him. She needles him (perhaps rightly so) about his affair with another Audrey doppelganger, Sarah. She tells him he should have met more of them, he would have fallen head over heels for each and every one. She’s right. Nathan feels her and he’s in her orbit. I dare you to tell me that kiss wasn’t coming from both directions.

Haven “Speak No Evil”: Duke Exercises the Power of Denial

Following “See No Evil”, which reoriented us into the world where Mara is back and the lighthouse has been destroyed for the umpteenth time, “Speak No Evil” does some heavy lifting setting up our main characters for the season.

Nathan is looking as badly as the make-up team can make Lucas Bryant look, having been shot and all. He’s suffering from a Mara inflicted bullet wound, and while that would be the thing hurting a normal person it’s the anguish of heartbreak that’s really causing Nathan’s pain. It’s likely that the only thing keeping him alive as he bleeds out on the beach is his unbreakable optimism that Audrey must be in there because she didn’t actually murder him.

Haven’s Lucas Bryant on Mara, Maple Syrup and Stan the Cop

HAVEN — Season:5 — Pictured: Lucas Bryant as Nathan Wuornos — (Photo by: Steven Wilkie/Syfy)

The Viewing Party had the chance to sit down with Haven’s Lucas Bryant at the Showcase offices in Toronto last month, while he was in town for Fan Expo Canada. We had some hard-hitting questions for him—all about Big Bad Mara, Nathan’s destructive devotion, Nova Scotia, pancake toppings, and our favourite Havenite—Stan the Cop.

Haven Season 5 Trailer & Why S is Jazzed to Meet Mara

Pictured: (l-r) Emily Rose as Audrey Parker, Lucas Bryant as Nathan Wuornos, Adam Copeland as Dwight Hendrickson, Eric Balfour as Duke Crocker — (Photo by: Steven Wilkie/Syfy)

Audrey Parker is the kick ass cynical, reluctant saviour we never knew we always wanted. We totally get the big-forever love thing happening with Audrey and Nathan and the crazy weird and interesting chemistry she has with Duke, and the even weirder complicated relationship she has with her own self, and her past. My heart breaks for Nathan (and Duke to a different extent) that Audrey continues to be out of their grasp. And we here at the Viewing Party, we quite like Audrey Parker.

That said,

H’s Confession Time: an Outlander review

This post does contain some spoilers for the first two episodes of Starz’s Outlander, as well as some references to the events that take place in the book.

 

So first things first, I have to make a confession: I hated Outlander.

Perhaps a weird place to start for a post all about the brand new and long-anticipated Starz series, currently airing on Showcase in Canada (Sundays at 10 pm), but bear with me a while and I think you’ll understand what I mean.