Claire and Jamie
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Grading the Outlander Season 4 episodes

By Alexandria Ingham

Outlander -- Courtesy of STARZ -- Acquired via STARZ Media Center
Outlander -- Courtesy of STARZ -- Acquired via STARZ Media Center /
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Outlander — Courtesy of STARZ — Acquired via STARZ Media Center
Outlander — Courtesy of STARZ — Acquired via STARZ Media Center /

B- to B+

Moving into the Bs and there are another four episodes that sit here. This is a mixture of the start, middle, and end of the season, with episodes that are focused on Claire and Jamie and episodes focus on Brianna and Roger making the list.

  • “Common Ground” — B-
  • “If Not for Hope” — B-
  • “The Birds and the Bees” — B
  • “Wilmington” — B+

I know there are going to be some people scratching their heads at some of these. Again, my grading takes into account the whole episode, comparing each one with other episodes in the season.

“Common Ground” is another episode that is more average than anything else. I didn’t remember too much about it until I double checked which episode it was. While I loved the man-bear element to the episode, the parts in the 20th century felt a little too forced at times. I would have loved to see more on Brianna and Roger’s relationship, developing it better before moving forward with their story.

“If Not for Hope” continues the lack of development for Brianna and Roger, making it harder to believe that Brianna is so madly in love. Plus, I really hate the fact that Brianna blackmails Lord John Grey. Yes, this is part of the books but that doesn’t mean I have to like it!

“The Birds and the Bees” and “Wilmington” gradings are likely the ones people are scratching their heads about and I understand. They were some of the most highly anticipated episodes of the season.

OUtlander
Outlander — Courtesy of STARZ — Acquired via STARZ Media Center /

I’ll start with “The Birds and the Bees,” which is one of those episodes that works great when binging the whole season but isn’t the best just on its own. One of the reasons it gets a B is because of the ending. I despise that Jamie goes after Roger without even stopping to ask for his name. It’s a side of Jamie that I’ve never liked.

Ass much as I loved the family reunion, there were stronger episodes. It felt rushed in parts and moved onto other sections of the story way too quickly. I would have loved for this to have happened an episode earlier to give the episode more time to breathe.

The rushing is something that I’ve disliked from the start though. While I adore shows with only 13-16 episodes per season, part of me things Outlander should have cut down to doing half a book per season. Or find a way to switch around storylines to work better in the shorter time period.

Finally, there’s “Wilmington,” which was that traumatic episode that STARZ offers a trigger warning for. It was an important one that gave us Roger and Brianna’s handfasting, which is a moment that certainly pushes it up the list.

The theater storyline also showed Jamie and Claire working together for the first time in what felt like a long time! I loved that Claire never questioned Jamie’s actions and just got to work with the necessary surgery.

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