> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Fug the Show: Outlander Season Two Premiere Recap
- URL: https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/fug-the-show-outlander-season-two-premiere-recap/
- Published: 2016-04-13T19:00:06.000Z
- Updated: 2016-04-14T17:02:52.000Z
- Author: Heather
- Tags: #wp, #wp-gallery, #slideshow, #Import 2026-10-07 07:46

## Thud

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bf/b9/bfb99790-924d-4e41-a7e6-5e3c6e04fe57/content/images/static-gofugyourself-com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-1.png)

We begin with Claire waking up at Craigh na Dun, a.k.a. nature's DeLorean. If for some reason you are reading this never having SEEN the show, Craigh na Dun is the mystical druid ritual site -- in Scotland near Inverness -- where Claire touched a rock and was zapped from 1945 to 1743 leaving behind her husband Frank and eventually landing right smack into the kilt of one Jamie Fraser. (She missed Frank very much for a brief period, until she and Jamie were "forced" to wed for very useful and soapy contrivance reasons and she realized that having sex with that slab of Scotch beef was a divine gift.)

## Emoting All Over The Place

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-2.png)

But today Claire is cranky. She scrabbles around for all her various wedding rings as she claws at the ground, screaming, howling, feral. Her deadly calm voice-over -- I have never been a fan of the Caitriona Balfe voice-over work; last season it was redundant, over-explaining stuff that the visuals and acting made very clear, and here and at other times it's just sort of sleepy -- informs us that she made a promise she has to keep, though it pains her greatly. It's never made clear EXACTLY what she thinks she lost, but I decided maybe she grabbed Jamie at the last second, hoping he'd come with her. That, or she can't find her driver's license.

## Scenics!

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-3.png)

And as she prowls this heinous vista that is not at all verdant, she is basically giving Scottish kids of this era a wonderful ghost story -- she's totally The Woman of the Moors who walks the paths moaning for her lost love, wringing her hands, rending her Highlander garments, and generally bewailing that all that time spent drawing a map to her G-spot is ALL FOR NAUGHT.

## Ahoy there

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-4.png)

Hark! Dr. Wikipedia pops by in his motorcar and asks The Howler what he can do to help. She runs up and gets RIGHT in his face and snarls, "WHO WON THE BATTLE OF CULLODEN?" (This, to any newbies, is the Jacobite massacre toward which Claire has told Jamie his people are hurtling.) Dr. Wikipedia does not seem to notice any ill-effects on Claire's breath or general hygiene after two years spent in the 18th century, and instead sputters with amazing total recall, "The British! April 1746! Every strong-loined man of mating age died! Three wore hats!"

Exaggeration: Yes. But it made me laugh that he knew IMMEDIATELY the month and year of the massacre, partly because I'll wager a lot of Americans can't actually name the year of the Battle of Yorktown (seventeen...sev-sev-seventeen-eighty-one); we're mostly coached to know 1776\. So, you know. Props to you, random man.

## So very much emoting you guys

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-5.png)

And Claire goes apeshit, because I guess she is a firm believer that you never need a second opinion when it comes to quizzing passers-by about history. She FULLY loses it and starts screaming in grief.

I haven't read the books, and maybe from a literary perspective this worked better. But for a TV show to begin from the point of Claire realizing she has failed to stop Culloden, and therefore that the clans died as history prescribed it, means that we are being asked to spend the season watching two likable lovers cheerfully pursue a futile plan. Not that I especially EXPECTED it to work, but doesn't that sound a bit exhausting? Better have plenty of sex to make up for it, Claire.

## Nice digs

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-6.png)

Claire is delivered to a hospital, where she sits sullenly in an ENORMOUS room all by herself and has plenty of time to dwell on all this. She is miserable about everything, complains about the noise outside in this modern world, etc. And listen, I get it. She's convinced she is never going to lick Jamie again in her lifetime. That is punishing. But I still think I'd be raising the roof a little for the existence of toothpaste, and tampons, and antibiotics, and Lawrence Olivier. (Unspoiled but for knowing that Claire turned up in the present again, I had speculated she'd gone back on purpose to have Jamie's baby in a more modern era of medicine and give them all the best chance of surviving, and then planned to nip back with the wee bairn when all was healed. Guess not.)

## THIS guy

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-7.png)

And poor Frank Randall -- unbeknownst to him, the dead physical ringer for the torturous brute Black Jack Randall -- comes in after two years of his wife being gone and is elated to find that she still lives and breathes. He is a bit LESS excited by her general distemper, but still gamely tells her that they'll be staying with their pal Reverend [Four Weddings and a Funeral](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0281424/?ref%5F=tt%5Fcl%5Ft2&ref=go-fug-yourself.ghost.io) while she convalesces. Claire interrupts to ask if his housekeeper Mrs. Graham is still there -- that lady being, as you might recall, something of a mystic herself. They watched her perform some wackadoo Druid ritual at Craigh na Dun so Claire is pretty sure Mrs. Graham can hang.

## Stately house

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-8.png)

The Reverend's name is actually Reverend Wakefield, and he's a bit persnickety and has a giant library, so it's immediately clear he's related to the Wakefield twins of Sweet Valley. Particularly Elizabeth. Also, I should mention that they changed the theme song a little, and toned down the bagpipes in favor of laying in some French-sounding instruments. I think I heard a harpsichord, but my harpsichord radar is admittedly not what it used to be.

## Crabby

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-9.png)

Reverend Four Weddings Wakefield does a lot of muttering. He doesn't like whatever Claire is up to, particularly, or maybe he correctly senses that his arc on this show is coming to an end. He's also not wild about the media report, however tiny, that Claire was "kidnapped by faeries," illustrated by a shot illicitly gotten by a photographer while she was in the hospital. He makes a remark likening the press to the devil, except *less* sympathetic. I TAKE UMBRAGE, Reverend. As would your great-niece Elizabeth, who, you might have heard, wrote a gossip column for her school paper that was read by at least four students and one professor with blond hair, blue eyes, and a crinkly-sexy smile. I'm just saying.

Frank has had a friend examine Claire's garments, and the friend believes them to be of incredible quality and authenticity and remarkably valuable -- not, in other words, something she could've bought off the high street. EVERYONE here is in agreement that nothing makes sense.

## Relaxing

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-10.png)

If I had hurtled through a portal to and from the past, I might also want to recover in this quaint garden. Claire is using her time to study every book in the library about Culloden to see if she can find a casualty list -- which, incidentally, she can't, and I'm not surprised. Wikipedia's best total is "1500-2000 dead or wounded," which is wonderfully nonspecific indeed. So Claire has no idea if Jamie died or not, and let me tell you, she's cranky. A plane flies overhead, and as Mrs. Graham notes that they're expecting a war with Russia soon, Claire spits "Always another FUCKING WAR." Then she laughs about the time she had to define "fuck" for Jamie, particularly when she used it to call him "a fucking sadist." Which was one of my least favorite scenes of last season. I am sure the temptation to make Jamie unrealistically but likably progressive about women was great, but having him SPANK Claire for a misdemeanor is swinging that pendulum too far the other direction. (Seriously. He did. It was... degrading to everyone. And yes, I know these were books first and don't blame the show etc. etc. but since I didn't read the books I can only reference how I experienced it.)

## Have you ever heard of the Enchantment Under The Sea dance?

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-11.png)

Claire has explained to Mrs. Graham all about the time a giant rock took her back to 1743, and Mrs. Graham was all, "THE ROCK TOOK YOU BACK IN TIME?!?" and Claire was like, "NO I WISH, it was just an actual rock, but I did meet some equally emotive thighs while I was there." Mrs. Graham has taken all the time-travel talk very well, I guess, as she and Claire gab comfortably about Jamie. She flatters Jamie's memory by pointing out all the nice things Claire has said, and then notes that if he swore to die with his men on that battlefield, then he most likely did, and oh well, he's toast. Which is why Claire likes him. The Brits LOVE their toast.

Claire is not super comforted by this, though she takes it well when Mrs. Graham suggests she lock her love for Jamie away in her heart to protect it and then move on with Frank, who still loves her and is not a ghost. I don't know why Claire didn't pop out, check on the battle, and then touch the stones again to see if she could pop back and give them all the BACK OFF IT DIDN'T WORK YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE hand signal.

They also give her a line about Jamie's hair, in which she sniffles, "It really was the most extraordinary mop of red," which... was it? I know it was in the books, but I don't feel like Sam Heughan's hair -- lovely though it might be in the heat of passion -- quite qualifies for that particular fetishistic compliment, so why put it in there? His is more... damply brownish-red.

## Fireside Chat

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-12.png)

Claire finally brings Frank into her chambers, in front of a crackling fire. And I do mean crackling. There were two scenes with blazing hearths in this episode, and in both of them, the sound effect for Logs Burning was turned up to 11\. Anyhoo, this is not to get frisky, as Frank might have hoped. Instead, she sits him down and tells him the entire tale of her whereabouts. When she's done, in the wee hours, he paces nervously and then says that if she's made this leap of faith, then "it's a leap of faith I'm prepared to make as well." Claire goads him by spitting that she knows his rational academic brain must be screaming that she's insane; it does seem like she's picking a fight, a little, or punishing him for not being Jamie. But he's actually being kind of groovy in not condescending to her, and accepting her madcap story as potentially true.

## Way harsh, Tai

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-13.png)

However, this is her facial expression for most of this conversation. That could in part be that Frank shares a face with the man who raped her husband and almost raped her, in addition to torturing and beating a whole lot of people. But she only has one flashback -- maybe two -- to him being Black Jack, interestingly, and it's unclear whether she relayed that part of the story to him. It doesn't SEEM so, but it might be a bit relevant to her jumpy reactions whenever he tries to touch her. I mean, if he's going to walk down the Craigh na DeLorean path with her, she might as well take him all the way.

## Weepies

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-14.png)

And then Tobias Menzies kinda gets me. I said recently that I was never into him as a viable love interest on this show, and he was SO cruel and creepy as Black Jack that it had kinda ruined him for me as anything else. But he's wonderful in this scene -- not at all over the top, yet also extremely emotional, as he discusses just how it felt for him. He notes that everyone kept whispering in his ear that Claire had ditched him for another man, but he was never truly able to believe it in his heart, so seeing her and hearing this story confirms what he always dearly wanted to be true. And because she was torn from him, it somehow makes the Jamie situation okay: "As for this other man, Jamie, I will not say that I understand your feelings for him. How could I possibly. But I can accept them. I can accept that you did feel that way. That you had this... experience with this man. And that leaving him broke your heart. I can accept it." Because he loves her unconditionally, he says, and so long as her leaving wasn't by choice, it has made her alternate life bearable to him.

To which Claire very coldly adds, "I'm pregnant." And for a moment poor Frank lights up, amazed, until it catches up to him that his sperm is not bionic, and cannot slow to a two-year crawl in her birth canal.

## Black Jack is BACK

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-15.png)

Frank leaps up and leans over Claire as if, instinctively, to menace her; he clenches his fist at his side. Then he retreats and goes outside and beats the shit out of Reverend Wakefield's shed. It's okay, though, because he cam blame it on Jessica. Everyone knows that twin is a slob.

## More FEEEEELINGS

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-16.png)

And the feelings do not stop coming, This episode's first half felt VERY much like a short play, actually. Lots of scenes between only two people, played dry (but for the fire that sounded like a thousand bowls of Rice Krispies drenched in milk), and oozing with Important Sentences and Emotions. Here, Frank tells Reverend Wakefield that Claire is pregnant by another man -- he declines to give specifics, except that the man is really most sincerely dead -- and that it's complicated. He adds that he and Claire had tried so hard to have a family and he had begun to worry that he was infertile, so for one brief shining second he thought maybe his dream had come true, until it crashed down on him that his wife is having another man's baby. (Also, this is a bit revisionist... back then I don't know if much was known about male infertility, I don't THINK, and in season one Claire specifically tells Jamie that she can't get pregnant as if she KNOWS it is her issue, which suggests to me that Claire and Frank had believed it to be her equipment rather than his which was struggling. Anyway.)

Frank does get off a great line here. Reverend Wakefield limply tries to connect the dots between his situation with Claire's child and the Baby Jesus. Frank replies, "'I am not Joseph, she is not Mary, and I'm fairly certain the father is not God Almighty. He was a man, who fucked my wife." Great line, except that if he'd seen Jamie naked, he might be a little more convinced of Jamie's godliness.

## Missing those skirts and corsets

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-17.png)

The next day, Frank tells Claire he has a job offer at Harvard, and would like her to join him in America. He'd also like to raise her baby, but with a condition: They never tell it about Jamie. "Raised with a lie?" she says frostily. "No. With a father," he says. "A living, breathing man, not the echo of a memory they can never catch." And on that note he also requires Claire to stop scouring texts for information about whether Jamie lived or died. She has to move on, the child has to move on, they all have to move on. Claire decides to accept those conditions.

I call MILD bullshit on that, because she has already said in VO that this is a life she doesn't want, and Black Jack Randall TOTALLY TRAUMATIZED her and/or her loved ones on numerous occasions. And now here she's going to go back to a life with a man who has his face? No. I get that she probably is trying to protect her child, but I also feel like Claire is feistier than this and also Black Jack Randall was REALLY EXTREMELY RAPEY, you guys. Get that genepool out of your life.

## Coats

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-18.png)

"I miss all my glorious French fashion that we haven't shown you yet," she thinks, while Frank burns her period garb. FRANK. Your friend said it was invaluable. SELL IT. Sell it and take that cash.

## New York, New York

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-20.png)

Outlander surely spent a lot of money on this F/X shot, so let's all enjoy it. The Randalls move uptown, and Claire learns to live with the unimaginable. (Actually, they don't stay in NYC; they're headed to Boston. But I couldn't resist the Ham ref.)

## Oh girl no

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-19.png)

Claire gets off the plane in a coat that can only be described as shrunken. Her outfit is as shambolic as I imagine her mental state to be, but still, she reaches out and takes Frank's hand...

## Lustyface

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-21.png)

... and we cut back to her taking Jamie's in Le Havre, in 1745, as they disembark from the ship that carried them from Scotland. The difference in Claire's carriage is striking. She's warm, happy, in love; in Boston, she's reserved, chilly, and tentative.

Okay, I have a question, though. Let's pause. I was under the impression she left Jamie on the eve of Culloden, which is months from this point. Which means... shouldn't she be a lot more pregnant in Present Day than she seems? Hasn't enough time passed that she'd be showing a lot? Or am I incorrect about when she zapped back to the future? I guess we'll find out. Most of you already know. If it was clarified in this episode, please do share.

## $$$$$

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-22.png)

And, we have another very pricey shot and set. All I can think of when Claire prowls the docks is whether she'll bump into Anne Hathaway and buy a lock of her hair.

## Ah, costumes

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-23.png)

Caitriona Balfe looks great in all this stuff. I actually like her better thusly -- loose curly hair, little makeup -- than when she's all dolled up for a premiere. I was recently told that the Scottish light is ABSURDLY flattering and that filming up there might be contributing to how freaking great she has thus far looked onscreen (not in a way that's meant to devalue her own genes' contribution to that, though. I hope that's true, and look forward to my wrinkles disappearing when we're in Edinburgh.

Jamie is SUPER skeptical of Claire's plan -- namely, a) find Jamie's cousin, a Jacobite named Jared; b) use him to infiltrate the Jacobite movement; c) use THAT to THWART the Jacobite movement so that the war never happens and Scotland never falls. He can't see the logic behind sabotaging the cause, but she points out that she doesn't know enough detail about the battles to give them actual tactical help in beating the British. Mostly, this is exposition for people who don't understand how Bonny Prince Charlie fits in (he, as grandson to James II of England/VI of Scotland, believed he had a claim to the throne and supported the Jacobites, and led the uprising at Culloden).

## AHOY MATEY

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-24.png)

This requires Jamie to lie to his godfather, Murtaugh, also his buddy. So he walks up to Murtaugh and is like, "We're going to Jared"...

## Wha?

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-26.png)

... and Murtaugh is like, "You're going to JARED?"

## Yep

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-25.png)

And Jamie's like, "Aye, lad, and on my tombstone it shall be carved, 'HE WENT TO JARED.'"

He can't tell him the whole truth about why they're seeking cousin Jared and his overblown jewelry. Murtaugh feels a bit betrayed by this, but Jamie promises to tell him the absolute whole truth when the time is safe and right. This is good enough for them to shake on it and speak no more of deep secrets.

## Stomp

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-27.png)

Murtaugh stalks away grandly in his Highlander garb, which I deeply appreciate, and is no doubt thinking about how he totally IS the Danny Glover of this situation, and how Chasing Around After Those Fools While They Get In Trouble And Keep Secret From Me And Bone is item No. 1 on history's first Murtaugh list.

I also cherish Murtaugh for getting off the boat and complaining immediate that France stinks like frogs, just like he knew it would. When Claire points out it's a fishy smell and that all seaports tend to have that odor, he's essentially like, "I AM HATE-WATCHING THIS COUNTRY. STOP HARSHING MY BUZZ." He is a delight.

## I know y'all love buildings

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-28.png)

They went to Jared.

## Ow

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-29.png)

Cousin Jared is like, fine, if you don't want one of my chocolate diamonds, then at least tell me why the hell you're suddenly so interested in politics: "While the cause has many friends, only a few are called brother, and they are the ones with the fire of righteousness burning in their hearts. Tell me now, what is the fire that burns within you?" Jamie responds by stripping off his shirt, which takes FOREVER, by the way. Claire has to go help him. I think for a second there Cousin Jared thought he was in for a kinky show.

## Ay, the torso

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-30.png)

THIS is the only shirtless Jamie shot of the entire episode. Thank you to the director and editor for making sure there is ONE, at least.

"Does any man need further reasons to rise up against a king who'd allow such horrors to be committed in his name?" Jamie purrs. Cousin Jared is so moved by the brutality of what happened to Jamie that he not only accepts him as "brother" into the Jacobite ranks (don't his other "brothers" want a confab about this?) and then -- conveniently -- notes that he has to piss off and do some shit elsewhere, and could Jamie please run his wine shop? Why has NOBODY in my life reached out and said, "Hey, Heather, your Math SAT scores were good. Can you run my French wine merchant while I go away and leave you with free lodgings and also a fat cut of the profits?" I'm not living my best life.

## The Enemy

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-31.png)

Ahhh, but it wouldn't be Outlander without a shadowy, sinister enemy. In this case, it's Le Comte St. Germain. He owns a ship that comes into port with sailors that are being smuggled off on gurneys, covered in blankets. A small hubbub ensues, and Claire's "healer" erogenous zone pings so she follows and gets right up next to the man and identifies it as smallpox (which she can't get). Word starts to get around because of her brazen warnings, and the harbormaster won't let Le Comte cover it up. They must act in accordance with the rules and burn his ship and everything on it. Le Comte is not amused.

## Le MEAN

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-32.png)

Indeed, they could not have shot Le Comte St Germain more cartoonishly. He all but ties Claire to the tracks and demands the rent. Had he a mustache, he would twirl it with zeal.

## REVENGE!

![](https://static.gofugyourself.com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-33.png)

Le Comte even thoughtfully pauses to single out Claire and Jamie for his REVENGGGGE. So, basically, second verse, same as the first: No one will be safe while vengeful St. Germain/Black Jack walks the streets in search of Jamie and Claire, etc. Cousin Jared looks SO AMUSED by all this. I might be a tad more annoyed at being dragged into a revenge scenario, especially if it would affect my precious precious wine business, but cousin Jared is all, "WHAT HO, SUCH A FINE JAPE! I LOVE A SPOT OF HIJNKS." I also love a spot of hijinks, Cousin Jared, assuming it involves Jamie's muscles. Episode Two, you'd best DELIVER.

[Fug the Show: Outlander Season Two Premiere RecapWell. The show Vulture lauded for having the best sex on television came back from a break... with no sex. But I will bring you the one shirtless glimpse we got, plus some smoldering, gorgeous landscapes, a kilt, tears, and EVIL. And we'll hope for some loins next week. \*\* A note about spoilers: Since a lot of people watch the show but not the books, things in those novels could be considered spoilers, so let's make the comments a Safe Zone and refrain from previewing anything specific that's coming. In other words, you are welcome to discuss the places the series has already diverged from the books, but please try not to discuss things that are upcoming. Thank you! Speaking of next week: I know it's not the best foot to get off on here, but Jessica and I will be traveling abroad for two airings of the show and I don't expect I'll be able to stream it over there. This means the episode 2 recap will likely have to wait and then fold into the one for Episode 3, which I can run on GFY the week of April 25\. In other words, don't give up on me just because I disappear on you briefly. And while we're on a housekeeping note: The Fug Madness winner announcement is coming. I know we're all aware who won, but given the relative anticlimax of it all, it felt wrong to announce it without "One Fugging Moment." And regrettably, our in-house editor and master of visual hijinks was working essentially 24/7 at his actual paying job and couldn't cut together our contest-ending montage. HOWEVER, I have it on good authority that he's working on it RIGHT NOW as I type, so. That's still coming, I promise. NOW ONTO THE STRANGELY SEXLESS SEXY SHOW.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bf/b9/bfb99790-924d-4e41-a7e6-5e3c6e04fe57/content/images/static-gofugyourself-com/uploads/2016/04/outlander-recap-season-2-episode-1-1.png)](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/fug-the-show-outlander-season-two-premiere-recap-04-2016/)