[ad_1]
Season 4, episode 2: "Do no harm"
The last time "Outlander" addressed the subject of slavery, Claire and Jamie bought a person. (They promised to release him – and did so, although Temeraire's manifest disbelief was the best note of this plot.) But it existed largely as a conspiracy, and the auction scene of The slaves were more concerned with Claire's feeling than with the slaves. The white-savior setting was a way for the show to recognize slavery without Jamie and Claire tackling it head-on.
Now they come to River Run to visit Aunt Jocasta and her 152 slaves.
Jamie is quickly confronted with his unmistakable family legacy because Jocasta wants him to inherit his fortune. He poses a condition: inheriting the estate, he will release all aunt slaves. He discovers, however, that the liberation of slaves is almost impossible because of North Carolina law. Shortly after, Claire rescues a slave hanged by a hook because he fights back against his supervisor, but then learns that she saved his life only so that it could be torn apart by the furious whites who were at the door.
It's a deeply frustrating episode. In the past, placing Jamie and Claire in a dead end situation has been a catalyst for character development, showing us the choices they make and the way they are affected by failures. But any narration centered on well-intentioned whites amidst something as heavy as American slavery has a lot of work to do. And most importantly, Outlander is committed to making Jamie and Claire heroes, not just protagonists. That will not let them go wrong – not with things like that.
He does not have this problem with everyone. Aunt Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy, skilfully walking a very thin line) manages to be both human and frightening. Her assurance that she buys slaves in family lots because they are more efficient feels totally caring for her, and we are just destined to find her awful. Ditto the family's lawyer, furious at the cost and danger that the family would assume by freeing slaves. They are smart and welcoming. Yet we know very well how appalling they look, not only for Claire (who defies Jocasta directly), but also for Jamie.
But the series' ability to place a critical distance between how we see these secondary characters and how they see themselves makes us wonder how it would frame some of these terrain points if the heroes were not Jamie and Claire. A white man takes up arms against a stifling government and then gives up the idea of freeing slaves after learning that there are laws against him. A white abolitionist woman represents a refined dress while the slave Phaedra (Natalie Simpson) praises her eyes, her chest and her skin. Neither one nor the other seems particularly comfortable, but neither did they throw their fancy clothes, pack their bags and leave.
There is an interesting story to tell in this configuration. This episode could examine how those who consider themselves good people can quickly become accomplices of terrible things. He is often seen in Jocasta, in Jamie, and Claire refers to this dress. The episode could, in the classic style of a period of time, use the past to ask questions about the structure of criminal law in the present. He might even ask us to evaluate how much we sympathize with the protagonists – and who becomes one. A version of this episode that followed Phaedre and Rufus (Jerome Holder) would probably give us a very different view of some of these events.
But despite Jamie and Claire's mistakes in the past – and the questionable decisions made here – "Outlander" does not want to cast a shadow over their essential heroism. Since they can not be aligned with the bad guys, they must be good ones. In this episode, it's at best a disturbing prospect.
No one can expect them to overthrow an institution during a weekend visit. The delicate party conversations between Claire and Ian prove how deeply this cruelty is rooted. The dissonance lies in the way this episode seems less interested in examining the impact of slavery on slaves than on Jamie and Claire. When Jamie thinks about growing rice, the episode does not suggest it's a slippery slope to help planting – it's just his intelligence. When Claire discovers that her heroism attempts have turned against her, the camera spends more time on her horror than on the ones she's endangered.
Plus, Rufus is hurt enough – and the horrors that await him out are pretty wild – that giving him a poison may seem merciful and not be a way to excuse Jamie and Claire for having him delivered to the crowd. Presumably, they would not have let him brutalize, but we'll never know it: this configuration saves them from making that choice. Even Rufus reassures Claire that all is well, slowly dying amidst sour and sweet memories. Holder does a great job with what he has received, but Claire and Jamie have almost as much time to mourn Rufus as to become a person.
"Outlander" is clear about the horrors of slavery. But this episode is not a meaningful look at slavery or our protagonists. We sometimes have the impression that the tribulations of the slaves are there only to destabilize our heroes, recalling the primordial question of the season, raised for the first time by the first episode: Why did "Outlander" bring Jamie and Claire in America? These problems would inevitably arise. Hope this is the beginning of a deep reflection on the soul. Otherwise, an episode about slavery that ends with a stroke of Jamie's rage and Claire's tears gives the impression of missing the target.
Other gossip:
• This episode did no favor to Claire or Jamie, but Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe did their best and they brought more nuance to those moments that history necessarily supports.
• We met John Quincy Meyers (Kyle Reese), who washes an unscrupulous Rollo, presents himself as an intermediary between the Frasers and Native Americans, and has a few things to say about "Indian women". that we could have done without.
• "The Indian sound of dinna is very different from that of the Highlanders". This is the second time in two episodes that the series offers us this undesirable parallel.
• Composer Bear McCreary did a wonderful job of this episode.
• If you hold your breath hoping that Claire would have a minute to deal with her assault of the last episode, you still hold your breath!
Source link
