Menzies imbued him with terrifying charisma and worked hard with line readings and expressions to suggest a complex psychology for his depravity. But I wish I understood Randall more than I did. He was himself again-and he belonged to Claire.įor those of us who come to Outlander without having read any of the books, Jamie’s rape wasn’t unexpected Moore took care over the first 15 episodes to establish Randall’s sadistic bona fides and obsessive interest in Jamie. Jamie sealed the deal on his salvation by having Randall’s brand cut from his hide. But ironically, it was a vaguely shaming guilt trip that roused Jamie from his spiritual stupor: Claire made it clear that if Jamie gave up on life, she, too, would do the same. It was a beautiful idea and profoundly touching sentiment. To “ransom her man’s soul,” per the title, Claire had to convince Jamie to let her inside his darkness and disabuse him of his shame. When Claire tried to show him tenderness, Jamie recoiled from it, and even lashed out at her for it, because it conjured memories of Randall’s “affections” toward him, and triggered his self-loathing for succumbing to it.
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By exploiting Jamie’s love for Claire in order to bend him to his will, Randall poisoned that love, and more so, their sexual connection, turning something vital to them into something painful. One bit of learning and growing strikes me now as oblique foreshadowing for the season’s climactic violence: Claire teaching Jamie the definition of sadism following their own unfortunate experience of it – he over-zealously spanked her as an act of marital discipline she subsequently took a sword to his neck during lovemaking and warned him never to do that again - in the season 1b premiere, “The Reckoning.” Jamie and Claire became better lovers of each other, gaining an emotional intimacy to match and enhance their sexual connection.Īll of this set the stage for a finale where the stakes were intensely personal. Jamie in particular was made to confront his personal and cultural attitudes about gender roles, understand how they impact Claire, and recognize the value to him of having a wife that was his equal in every way. The stories the show told during the second half of the first season deepened their bond and their need for each other. For me, Outlander is not all that compelling as historical drama despite its commendable authenticity – it requires a degree of interest in Scotland’s history, geography and Highlander culture that I simply don’t possess – but it works like gangbusters as a drama about a love story, the relationship between Claire and Jamie.
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The seven episodes that preceded the finale primed the pump for its power with a careful attention to theme and character. Randall played the part, which succeeded in arousing Jamie, and then took advantage of it. With Jamie’s dehumanization near complete- he was now Randall’s possession, his property – Randall sealed the deal by exploiting Jamie’s coping mechanism for his ordeal: Fantasizing about his true love, Claire (Caitriona Balfe), a time traveler from 1940s England. At one point, Randall coerced an increasingly disoriented Jamie into marking himself with his brand.
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Randall used various strategies to break Jamie’s resistance, to make him pliable. We watched “Black” Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies), a monstrous rogue officer in the British army occupying 1700s Scotland, ruthlessly pursue his goal of manipulating his longtime sexual obsession, Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), into making love to him. It was also exceptionally disturbing, making for a most unpleasant if necessary hour of television. Moore and his collaborators presented a rigorously considered portrayal of sexual violence and dote on the psychic impact on the victim.
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Bringing to screen the most provocative moment in Diana Gabaldon’s first Outlander novel, showrunner Ronald D. The Outlander finale, “To Ransom a Man’s Soul,” was shot many months ago, but it played like a response to rape glut concerns.