Episode 311: "Uncharted" (SPOILERS!)

Here are my reactions to Episode 311 of the OUTLANDER TV series, titled "Uncharted". I really enjoyed this episode. An excellent adaptation of this part of the book!

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

There are SPOILERS below! If you don't want to know yet, stop reading now.

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The opening shot of the turtle underwater is beautiful. Gorgeous creature!  I can only assume that's a hawksbill turtle, foreshadowing of later events. <g>

I love the way they filmed Claire floating in the sea, half-underwater, half above. She's very lucky that her pack of supplies came ashore with her!

I liked the way Claire sucked the moisture from the leaves and fashioned a crude shelter for herself. She has good survival skills!

Notice the way she touches Jamie's ring, making it clear she's thinking about him.

The scenery throughout this episode is gorgeous!

I liked the way Claire went about lighting a fire. It's not easy -- this is a skill she'll struggle with even years later, when she's had plenty of practice -- but she managed it!

The insects -- ants? -- crawling all over her legs made me shudder with revulsion. Ewwwww!!

Making her way through the trees, Claire literally stumbles across a coconut. And there are more, up in the trees high overhead. But what good is a coconut if she has no means to open it?  Frustrating!

On the second night, she lies awake listening to the jungle sounds, not bothering with a fire. But maybe that was a mistake, considering what she found when she woke the next morning! The huge snake took me totally by surprise. Yikes!! I couldn't help thinking that it's a good thing our Claire is not prone to panic attacks. <g> I was impressed by the way she managed to stay still until the thing slithered away. Maybe she was too frightened to scream, given her dehydrated state?

Finally, she reaches civilization, hearing what must be Father Fogden's voice, preaching in English. And she collapses, only to be found by the dog, Ludo, a short time later.

She wakes in a bed. There's a glass of water on the bedside table, but she can't reach it, because her hands are tied.

Mamacita, played by Vivi Lepori, looks and acts very much as I imagined from the book. It's difficult to know what to make of her at first.  She seems to be holding Claire captive. Why? Does she mean her harm?

"This was the only way to keep you from scratching. You need to rest," Mamacita says, in Spanish. (It's not clear if Claire understands her or not.)  That may well be true, but the initial impression of menace and barely contained hostility lingers.

I liked Mamacita's reaction to the zipper. <g>  If she was hostile and suspicious before, now she has even more reason to be!

And here's Father Fogden! Nick Fletcher is very good in this role, though he doesn't resemble my mental image of Father Fogden at all.

Despite her dehydration and physical exhaustion, Claire has her wits about her. "I'm a doctor," she says, and when Father Fogden reacts with astonishment at the idea of a female doctor, she explains, "From the American colonies. It's more common there."  That was pretty quick thinking!

"The island of Saint-Domingue" - Hispaniola, in other words.  From Wikipedia:

Saint-Domingue may be used to refer to all of Hispaniola, or the western part in the French colonial period, while the Spanish version Hispaniola or Santo Domingo is often used to refer to the Spanish colonial period or the Dominican nation.

And just when you think Father Fogden is reasonably lucid and talking sensibly, he starts taking advice from a coconut. <g> "Coco says it is far too dangerous."  The bit where he scolds Coco for staring made me laugh out loud. The man may be a nut, but he's a harmless and lovable nut. And very funny!

Mamacita may have a bad attitude, but she does provide a hot bath -- possibly the first one Claire has had since she came back through the stones -- so she can't be all bad.

So Father Fogden keeps goats rather than sheep. I don't mind the change, especially since the producers evidently could not find sheep in South Africa.

"The English invaded Cuba the very day we fled. It was impossible for Don Armando to locate us in the chaos which ensued." Those of you who have read Diana Gabaldon's story, "Besieged", in SEVEN STONES TO STAND OR FALL, will recall that Lord John was nearby at the time, though that story makes no mention of Don Armando, Father Fogden, or Ermenegilda.

Ermenegilda's story is tragic, but Father Fogden doesn't let his mood be dampened for long. I'm not sure what "yupa" is -- evidently hemp or marijuana or something similar?

"I am a doctor, for Christ's sake! I think I know when I am fit to travel."
"Madam Physician, blasphemous language is not permissible in my home."

Oops! Claire's mouth gets her in trouble once again. <g>

I liked the argument between Father Fogden and Mamacita. It gives Mamacita's character a little more depth.

Meanwhile, Claire wanders into Ermenegilda's room and pockets a small looking-glass.

"The agony of losing a daughter haunts her still." And of course that hits Claire very hard, thinking of Brianna.

"When you love someone as much as I loved Ermenegilda, it never leaves you."
"No. It doesn't."
"You have loved someone so much that you would risk everything for them."

And this, finally, is what convinces Father Fogden to help her -- on the condition that Coco agrees. <g> So the next morning, Claire makes a point of being overheard talking in a loud voice to the coconut, and apparently listening to its advice.

A Chinese sailor killed Arabella? That can only be one man, of course.

I liked the way Father Fogden handled Arabella's remains: very gently, as though she were a close friend or family member.  The scene with the beetles crawling all over Arabella's skull is based on a bit from the book, but in the book it was maggots. Either way: Ewwww!

"Voracious little fellows. From a sacred cave called Abandawe."

So does this mean that Father Fogden knows where Abandawe is?  That's good, because evidently Lawrence Stern isn't going to be there to show Claire how to get there.

The mention of the Chinaman runs through Claire like an electric shock, and all of a sudden she has a million questions. But it's Mamacita who tells her where to find the ship, and I suppose we should be grateful to the old woman for that.

Finally, here's Jamie! I thought the way Jamie and Fergus described what happened to the Artemis was a little awkward. I suppose it's tricky to recap events that the audience didn't witness without falling prey to the "As you know, Bob," syndrome, where the characters discuss things they already know.

"Now [Raines and Warren] lie at the bottom of the sea with Mr. Murphy."

Awwww, I'm sorry to hear that Mr. Murphy, ship's cook aboard the Artemis, didn't make it! That's a change from the book, of course.

"I fear the Lord's wrath for my unholy thoughts." That surprises me a little, coming from Fergus, who doesn't strike me as a very religious person.  Jamie's reaction was pretty mild, IMHO, considering that Fergus is having "unholy thoughts" about his stepdaughter, Marsali.

I love the way Hayes rolls his R's when he says, "Plenty of rrrrrum and rrrrrations!"

Claire runs pretty fast through the jungle, considering that she's going over rough terrain!  Careless of her.  Still, from the point of view of the TV production team, it's far simpler, and cheaper, to have her injure her arm this way than going to the considerable trouble and expense of filming a pirate attack, so I can see why they did it this way, and it doesn't bother me.

I thought Claire's signaling to Jamie with the little mirror was a clever idea.

That scene with Claire and Jamie running toward one another and holding each other tight is wonderful!  It's almost like a dream, a fantasy that they both must have imagined, longed for, many times in those twenty endless years apart.

Lesley: "Mac Dubh's wife turns up in the most unlikely of places, does she no?"
Hayes: "Aye. She just drops in out of nowhere."

I liked that. They're trying too hard to make these two into Rupert-and-Angus redux, though.

And just like the book, Mr. Willoughby is the one who stitches the wound in Claire's arm. Fortunately for her, the gash is not nearly as long or as deep as the one she suffered in the book!

"Dinna fash, Sassenach. I was a wanted man when first we met."
"Yes, well, I didn't like it much then either."

Good line!

So Mr. Willoughby takes the blame for Arabella's death, and his sincere apology (and gift of a chicken) is enough for Father Fogden to forgive him. This isn't in the book, but I think it works pretty well here, as a way to get Father Fogden to officiate at the wedding.

I liked the scene with Claire and Marsali very much. It's very close to the book.

"I think [you and Jamie] enjoy being together." Understatement of the century!

Fergus and Marsali's wedding is wonderful!!  And hilarious, almost as funny as the book version.

"Not as though he's lost his c*ck. Um, he hasn't, has he?"
"If ye'd hurry up and get on wi' it, I could find out."

LOL! Good line from Marsali!

"Fraser.  His name is Fergus Claudel Fraser."  Awwwwwww!!  This is perfect, just perfect!  Both the way Jamie looks when he says it, and the way Fergus reacts, are just as I always imagined from the book. Wonderful!!

Fergus was the only name he had ever had--bar his original French name of Claudel. Jamie had given him the name Fergus in Paris, when they had met, twenty years before. But naturally a brothel-born bastard would have no last name to give a wife.

"Fraser,” said a deep, sure voice beside me. Fergus and Marsali both glanced back in surprise, and Jamie nodded. His eyes met Fergus’s, and he smiled faintly.

“Fergus Claudel Fraser,” he said, slowly and clearly. One eyebrow lifted as he looked at Fergus.

Fergus himself looked transfixed. His mouth hung open, eyes wide black pools in the dim light. Then he nodded slightly, and a glow rose in his face, as though he contained a candle that had just been lit.

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 52, "A Wedding Takes Place". Copyright© 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

And as Fergus bends to kiss Marsali, he says, "Je t'aime, ma femme." I love you, my wife. Awwwww!

Later, on board the Artemis, Claire is eating turtle soup. <g>  This scene is so iconic that many fans practically have it memorized, and Sam and Cait did a wonderful job with it!

"You know, turtle is supposed to be an aphrodisiac."  Ha. As if they needed any help! <g>

I love the way Claire practically crawls across the desk to get to Jamie. Both of them are just terrific here, throughout this whole scene, and I really appreciate the fact that the writers kept so much of the dialogue from the book.

Willoughby's interruption is not nearly as funny as Stern's was in the book, but still, it's impossible not to giggle through this whole scene. What a way to end the episode!
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I hope you enjoyed this recap. Please come back next week to see my reactions to Episode 312.

Look here for my recaps of all of the OUTLANDER episodes so far.