Outlander fans?

[mnhtnbb]

I came to Outlander prior to Season 7, so a few years ago. I was immediately grabbed from the first episode of the first season. Binge watched episode after episode. Loved it all: story, setting (Scotland!), acting, sets, costumes...it became my favorite all time series, which previously had been The West Wing. I checked the books out of the library, then bought my own copies. Can't count how many times I've rewatched seasons or individual episodes. I've read the books four times.
I went to Scotland last year. I admired Sam Heughan's acting ability so much, that I promised myself if he ever returned to the stage, I'd go see him. When he announced he was playing Macbeth, that did it for me. I set up my trip to Scotland to end with seeing him play Macbeth at the RSC in Stratford -upon-Avon last October. After I returned, it was announced that the RSC was going to hold a fundraiser the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, featuring a panel with Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Sam Heughan and Lia Williams (who played Lady M to Sam's Macbeth) to discuss the productions of Macbeth played 50 years apart by the actors at the RSC, theatre, life as actors. Donors at the premium level were invited to meet the actors at a reception. I went back for the event, and managed to score a ticket to see Macbeth for a second time, and that experience blew me away. It was the ultimate theatre experience of my life--except for being on stage myself--and it all happened because I had been so captivated by Outlander.

All that said, the Finale last week had me in tears from start to finish. I loved how much of the dialogue from Diana's book, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, made it into the Finale. I am not a fan of the show created story line that Faith lived, and the elevation of Frances to granddaughter I find annoying. The writing of the Will, the scene with Claire and Jamie waking up to talk about the day and the bees, their last time making love in the tent before the battle, the battle itself, were all marvelous scenes, exquisitely acted. BUT then, the show deviated drastically from the book when Jamie was shot at Kings Mountain and how that subsequently played out. It makes no sense to me that they would have followed the canon of Diana's book for so many other scenes and then reduce Claire to an emotional, grieving wreck with no opportunity to use her medical knowledge and skills along with her blue light healing powers, to save Jamie from dying. It was very unsatisfying. I liked the Jamie as ghost footage and was not happy with the ambiguous ending, which has since been promoted by Matt Roberts, as well as Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe. I loved the clip of Diana post credits at a book signing of the original edition of the first book ( with all the Easter eggs). I had to watch the episode twice to see Claire open her eyes simultaneously with Jamie, and turn on close caption to understand they both gasp together. I had to watch five times to see the blue light between Claire and Jamie right before the ghost sequence. It smacks of ringing up the cash register on residuals for the writer--Matt Roberts-- to require fans to play the episode multiple times to catch all the details.

Anybody else a big fan? What did you think about the finale?

[oberle]

1. I'm a huge fan

I have all the books, the cds of the books, the dvds of all the seasons of the show, and the sound tracks of all the seasons of the shows. I did not like some of the things this last season did, that ventured too far away from the book. I was horrified by the ending of the show. However, I will now go back and read all the books again, just because it's a great story. I especially liked season 2 of the show, in Paris. They included lots of really good baroque French music, which I love.