Outlander Season 3, Episode 12: Revisit and reassess
Outlander Season 3, Episode 12 finally gave us the excitement of Jamaica. As old ghosts returned, new enemies emerged.
Outlander Season 3, Episode 12 was an episode of ghosts returning. Fans who hadn’t read the books finally learned along with the Frasers that Geillis Duncan had survived the witch trials. Meanwhile, Lord John Grey turned out to be the governor and had the chance to meet the mysterious Claire.
Not much of my opinion has changed about this episode since watching it the first time. However, as part of the revisiting and reassessment series for #ThrowbackThursday, I’ll go into the elements that I still enjoy and still dislike.
I still really love the bloodbath
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Call me sadistic and twisted, but I love the bloodbath scene. I’m an epic history fan and the story of Elizabeth Bathory has always intrigued me. In fact, when I was a teen, I spent hours researching who she was and what she did purely because I wanted to. I will add that I love criminal psychology and I wanted to research to try to understand more about what must have been going through her mind.
Now that explanation is out of the way, I was instantly pulled to the thoughts of Elizabeth Bathory while watching Outlander Season 3, Episode 12. Considering Geillis’ research into time travel and human sacrifice, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’d learned a little about Elizabeth Bathory, so this was a good hint towards that. Plus, it just added so much to the mental state of this character.
https://twitter.com/purpleiris13/status/938625468827254784
I still get infuriated with Claire
While I know this stuck to the books, Claire going off into the slave market and kicking up such a fuss still felt off. Had she not pushed the captain on the ship to stop allowing the superstitions taking over, this probably wouldn’t have bothered me as much. However, it was the fact that Claire didn’t listen and wandered off in a time that was extremely dangerous.
Considering the time she’s from, being against slavery didn’t surprise me. Her shock at the way the slaves were treated didn’t surprise me. However, she knew what the world was like. Later she explains that slavery isn’t abolished for another 100 years. Did she really expect she could change the minds of people in the slave market?
.Though I knew this was coming, I cringed nevertheless and wanted to throw up! *Tears* Glad they depicted the times as they really were. #Outlander @TheMattBRoberts @RonDMoore @TallShipProds #TheBakra pic.twitter.com/KZs6yEjcZs
— Blacklanderz® (@Blacklanderz) December 4, 2017
One thing I will commend the showrunners for is showing slavery as it was. It would have been easy to overlook the inhumane treatment.
I still adore Jamie giving Claire the portrait of Willie
When Jamie is arrested at the very end of the episode, I simply adore that he gave his portrait of Willie to Claire. It would have been easy to fear how Claire would have felt carrying the portrait of her husband’s illegitimate son. However, he trusted her. He’d only trusted her with the truth (except Lord John) and now only trusted her with the safety of the portrait.
This showed us more about this couple. They’d been to hell and back together. At one point it looked like they wouldn’t find their way back to each other, but Jamie still had this trust in Claire. It was loving and sweet in a moment of panic and horror.
However, what I did hate was Jamie being arrested yet again. Sure, this was to create a cliffhanger for the end of the penultimate episode but it was a little eye-rolling, considering he would have to get back to Claire. The only upside to this moment was the epic moment with Lord John Grey in the next episode.
Next: Outlander Season 3, Episode: Revisit and reassess
What do you think of Outlander Season 3, Episode 12 now when you look back? What did you think the first time? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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