Vive les Frasers: 8 Reasons You Should Be Watching Outlander

For a bit of context, Outlander, based on the successful book series by Diana Gabaldon, is essentially Game of Thrones without the incest, dragons, or blatant misogyny. It replaces those things with an amazing female protagonist, World War II nurse Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), who is ripped through time when on a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands with her husband Frank (Tobias Menzies). When she touches the magic stones at Craigh na Dun, she is removed from 1945 and transported to 1743, where Scotland is in the midst of war with England. She ends up in the company of the Clan MacKenzie and the gorgeous Scotsman, Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), as they make their way around the Highlands and deal with the Redcoats and the Jacobite rebellion. 

What did they just say? I don’t know, but I understood them better than I understood Leonardo DiCaprio’s grunts from The Revenant! (Obligatory DiCaprio insult.)

I love a show where people talk with accents, and I have the pleasure of hearing my mom complain about how she cannot understand what they’re saying. Those are the most fun shows for me to watch. Outlander is no different. The thick Scottish brogue permeates itself throughout the show as sassenach (integrating fun Scottish phrases into your vocabulary is one perk of watching Outlander) Claire becomes more comfortable amongst the Clan MacKenzie. And who doesn’t love a good accent? The person who watches almost exclusively shows where people have accents does! (Me. I am that person.)

“Screaming all my lines! Because I’m really intense. And the things I’m feeling are really intense! Because I’m a really intense actor!”

​On the subject of accents, and talking in general, I guess, the acting on this show is just amazing. Both Caitriona Balfe and Tobias Menzies were nominated at this year’s Golden Globes for their performances. Sam Heughan was robbed of his own nomination, but whatever. This Golden Globes was also when Lady Gaga beat Kirstin Dunst, so life is full of unexpected cruelties. I am especially impressed by Tobias Menzies, who has the challenge of playing Claire’s sweet (for the most part) husband Frank as well as garbage person, Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall, a despicable Redcoat, who, as we find out in the pilot episode, is a distant relative of Frank’s (which somehow explains how they look identical. Hey, I never said this show was perfect, just pretty close.)

He does such a fantastic job at being television’s most despicable villain. In one scene, he pretends to shake Claire’s hand, then punches her in the stomach, and proceeds to make another guy kick her as hard as he can. So yes, he is a monster. It really makes me wonder why he got to survive the bloodiest part of the Red Wedding. (Remember? He was Lady Catlyn’s brother who couldn’t even shoot an arrow into a dead guy’s canoe.) Anyway, the supporting cast is amazing as well. 5-stars all around!

Claire Randall/Fraser is the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. 

Simply put, Claire is awesome. Not only does she look exactly like a girl I worked with at Nordstrom over the summer, but she is always stirring up trouble by being a 20th century woman stuck in the past. She is always swearing and shooting her mouth off, much to the shock of the Scottish Clansman who are not used to such an outspoken woman. 

She is also an amazing nurse, and is always stitching people up or being a super medical expert. She often finds herself being integral in helping the Clansman in their fight against the Redcoats because she is from the future, and knows the outcome of certain battles. This comes back to haunt her, since some of the Clansman think she’s an English spy, but she saves Scottish lives in the meantime. Further, she is her own protector, but being from the future does get her into tons of trouble (and Jamie does have to save her kind of a lot). Yet, despite the fact that Jamie is constantly trying to control her, she won’t have him telling her what to do.

Let’s talk about sex, baby. Let’s talk about Claire and Jamie. (I am more proud of this than I should be.)

I do not think I am making an ignorant statement when I say that in 2016 people are still more bothered by sex on TV than the depiction of brutal violence. I am actually going to insert an appropriate anecdote here, because I am nothing if not a wealth of fun stories that are also enlightening of 21st-century attitudes towards sex. I was in 7th grade and we were learning about Ancient Rome and the Trojan horse and all that jazz. We had to bring home a permission form to watch the film Troy, an incredibly historically accurate movie starring Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, and Brad Pitt. My mother happily scribbled her signature on the Comic Sans-type and Clip Art-ridden form, and I happily returned the form to my history teacher. The entire grade gathered in the auditorium to watch the movie. Much to my surprise, the projection screen went blue right in the middle of the movie and a bunch of pubescent, pimply 7th graders turned around to see who had shut the movie off. Our teachers assured us that they were just fast-forwarding through the sex scenes.

Uh, what?

A scene in a movie, whose entire plot is literally contingent upon sex between Helen of Troy and the enemy, could not be shown to a room full of middle-schoolers, but yeah, no problem, let’s see someone get stabbed in the face.

This problem is no less prevalent in television consuming society today. People are really skiddish about sex on TV, because a lot of the sex on TV actually isn’t sexy at all. Lots of shows on TV depict really graphic sex, but most of them don’t depict sexual pleasure, more specifically, female sexual pleasure. Outlander has an incredibly thoughtful way of depicting sex that is not pornographic, or for the male gaze, but is almost solely for the pleasure of a woman (minus the really upsetting Jamie in Black Jack’s captivity stuff). It is not without nudity, male and female alike, but there is often a sensuality and pleasure involved, specifically scenes between Claire and Jamie (More specifically, episode 7: “The Wedding”). 

It is incredible to me that in 2016 it is shocking to see sex on TV that is depicted in the way it is on Outlander: loving and consensual. Beyond the sex and time-travelling stuff, a lot of Outlander is a sort of traditional romance (There are creepy YouTube videos with scenes of Claire and Jamie set to various sensual songs, as well as really kitschy Outander etsy shops. That’s how you now it’s real.) It also really helps that Claire and Jamie are genetically blessed and I am incredibly vain.

Bloodier than Game of Thrones. I sort of wish I was kidding.

​There is a scene on this show that makes me want to scoop my eyes out of my skull à la Myrtle Snow in American Horror Story: Coven. It involves Black Jack trying to bleed Jamie to death by whipping his back one-hundred times, even though it had already been whipped one-hundred times and is already oozing with blood. There is more flogging on this show than in the 50 Shades of Grey movie (I have so much 50 Shades material; I could literally have an entire stand-up set surrounding it.) 

Beside this one particularly gruesome scene, the show is rampant with lots of violence for the unsuspecting male viewer who will be dragged into watching this with his girlfriend. Someone gets their arm casually amputated, there is someone who gets stabbed by a boar and bleeds out of their intestines (sound familiar GoT fans?), someone gets their hand hammered into a table, a little kid gets his ear nailed to a wooden post; just lots of general bloodiness is happening on this show. It does take place during wartime in Scotland, so blood is bound to spill.

“It’s a German Scottish legend, there’s always going to be a mountain in there somewhere.”

Despite never having travelled, well, anywhere, I have a place in my heart for Scotland. I really love Ewan McGregor, plaid, castles, that terrible romantic comedy with Patrick Dempsey that takes place in Scotland, and verdant landscapes, so it only makes sense. I am also American with a complicated Western-Central European family history that could possible trace back to Scotland, who even knows.

Anyway, if you like really pretty landscapes that look like someone’s travel Pinterest board, this is really the show for you. Castle Leoch, home of Clan MacKenzie, is everything one dreams about when picturing an 18th century Scottish stone castle. When the Clan takes to the road, you get to see them riding around on horses betwixt lush green trees and rolling fields. There are whole episodes that take place inside someone’s bedroom or dining hall, but those are great too!

“I’m just mad for tartan!”

Am I the only one that wishes we still wore corsets? I am talking real corsets, not that nonsense the Kardashians keep trying to sell us. 

This show really makes me want to wear them with flounsey, feminine blouses, intricate pleated plaid gowns, and killer choker necklaces. Let’s not forget about the to-die-for knitwear. Yes, I said “to-die-for knitwear.” The costumes on this show are on par with another period drama, Mad Men (Pour one out.) 

With the show starting out in the 40’s, we get some great hats and pretty suit jackets, dresses, and major coat porn.

With the 1740’s, the women get fabulous corseted-gowns and the men get kilts. So many kilts.

I really appreciate the intricacies in the costuming, too; if you look closely, you’ll see that all the Clansman drape their kilts in different ways, which is a really interesting touch. There are also different style plaids, which represent the different Clans. The detail is just mind-blowing. (Even though it is just beginning, the second season costuming looks even more insane, as it mainly takes place in the courts of Louis XV of France. More Marie Antoinette, less Braveheart.)