Outlander 1×07 “The Wedding” Review

The Outlander Wedding lives up to the 20-year hype

The Outlander wedding finally arrived with the union of Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp in this week’s seventh episode of the series. The much-anticipated marriage between the two lead characters finally happens, and the episode is spent in the couple’s honeymoon suite rehashing the events the day as they get to know each other more intimately. The villainous Jack Randall will be kept at bay now that Claire has become a Scot, and the Mackenzie men were hard at work preparing for the day’s festivities. Most of the episode is spent with Jamie and Claire getting to know one another, discussing each other’s families, telling stories, and becoming more comfortable with each other in close quarters. It’s a well-paced progression of their relationship through the long evening after their marriage that is awkward, sweet, humorous, sexy, and overall beautiful. Let’s discuss the details of our favorite couple’s long-awaited wedding night!

Wedding time warp

It was a bold choice to start the episode about Jamie and Claire’s wedding off with a scene about Claire and Frank’s engagement. While it’s great to remind the audience that Claire is happily married to another man in another century as we head into a whole different wedding, a collective groan could be heard across social media platforms from the long-time fans who are tired of seeing Frank. The changes the writer, Anne Kenney, made from the source material to parallel Claire’s two weddings was actually much more plausible than original story that Claire married both Frank and Jamie in the same church in rural Scottish Highlands. To have Claire and Frank’s engagement and marriage be as spur of the moment and small as her wedding to Jamie was a nicer, more believable touch to the story, that also made it easier to understand what thoughts must be going through Claire’s head. To extend that parallel to cut from a shot of Claire and Frank off to get married to Jamie kissing the bride (still Claire) was quite a shock to the system.

“You married me to keep me safe?” ~ Claire to Jamie

Not only was it a shock to Claire to have both these husbands now (and in two different centuries), but a lot of the audience was wondering wait we missed the first half of the episode?! It took a few minutes to adjust to the format of storytelling for the wedding, since the rest of the series has been quite linear up until this point. The format proved to be quite a bother to those who were expecting the show to stick to the book in the strictest sense, but actually served a purpose in still presenting the story from Claire’s point of view. Since Claire didn’t remember a lot of her wedding day, it was quite romantic for Jamie to re-tell it to her from how he remembered it and provided us with such hilarious anecdotes as well as personal moments. The format also gave the story opportunity to leave the bed chamber where Jamie and Claire were holed up in for the night until confirmation of their union.

‘Bloody’ and ‘masterpiece’ are two words that should not go together

Seeing and hearing the whole wedding day from this flashback vantage point, we were able to see all the Highlanders come together and help with the preparations for the big day. Jury’s out on whether it was more amusing to see Ned Gowan (Bill Paterson) procure a wedding dress from a brothel (with a noticeably full purse) or watch Rupert and Angus bicker over the task of getting Claire’s wedding ring made. The comical talents of Stephen Walters (Angus) and Grant O’Rourke (Rupert) never fail to keep their scenes light and memorable, possibly making them the best Highlander sidekicks to steal the show. Dougal, on the other hand, was apparently that groomsman, who hits on the bride after she’s married, and his overall attitude throughout the episode was rather off-putting. It’s still hard to tell what Dougal is up to when his character is so complex, so kudos to Graham McTavish for keeping his portrayal of Dougal mysteriously intriguing. Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) maintained his godfather status by both hassling Jamie as well as warmly assuring him throughout the wedding day. It was nice to see those personal touches in Murtagh’s character come out in showing how well he and Jamie know each other and how Murtagh knows just what to say to the lad. By Sam Heughan and Duncan Lacroix being so in sync with each other, it really revealed how young and vulnerable Jamie was on that day as well as remind the audience that Murtagh is a Fraser, who will always be loyal to Jamie first. Their relationship gave us further glimpses into Jamie’s family life, which was really lovely to see through these two actors’ portrayals.

“Your mother had the sweetest smile. Warm a man to the backbone just to see it. Claire’s smile is just as sweet.” ~ Murtagh

Jamie’s storytelling gave Claire a better insight into who these clansmen she’s been traveling with really are (and what they’re saying in Gaelic), but the editing also left out a bit to be desired when it came to the actual stories. When Claire asks him to tell her about his family, he does, but the stories are washed over by Claire narration. It would have been nice to hear some of the things about Jamie’s family that we don’t know, since up until this point, we know very little about Jamie personally, besides the fact that he has a sister and he is an outlaw. Putting their getting-to-know-you moments into a montage glossed over some things that a lot of people wanted to actually see and hear about, so it was disappointing when that was skipped in favor of voice over. Not only did Jamie’s fellow clansmen help him prepare for the wedding, but they also provided some choice advice for the consummation of his marriage, which proved to be rather misinformed. The writing for this post-coital scene was absolutely perfect, giving both us and Claire the opportunity to laugh and almost pity these men who think women don’t enjoy sex. It goes to show that Jamie was really only acting on what he was told and how the men in this time period think. It was a great demonstration of how Jamie’s character works and thinks, and for him to discuss these things with Claire really advanced their intimacy greatly and we saw their characters grow together.

Let’s get down to business (finally!)

No one’s seen sexual tension until they’ve seen this episode. We thought we were prepared and well-versed in the heated, lingering stares between Jamie and Claire in the previous episodes, but the wedding night was a whole other ballgame. While it was a bummer to see Jamie and Claire’s first kiss at the beginning of the episode (with no warning!), the rest of their scenes made up for it in a big way. Claire had a definite case of cold feet sprinkled in through the wedding night, from giving clear signs of interest to turning around and walking across the room with a cold shoulder. It must have been rather confusing for the poor virgin Jamie to try to read what was going on in his new wife’s head, while she was dealing with the realities of now being a bigamist. The writer, Anne Kenney, kept in a lot of lines and scenes straight from the book to please the long-time fans of the novels, some of whom have been looking forward to these scenes for over 20 years. The dialogue and progression of their growing comfort with each other was very natural and realistic. Jamie’s awkwardness was endearing along with his overeagerness at certain times that Sam Heughan played to perfectly. It made sense to keep their first time rather brief and lackluster, because that’s pretty much exactly what would have happened. That feeling of that’s it? after their first go around, though briefly disappointing to Jamie and Claire, provided a gateway to discuss real expectations and to be more open with each other. Caitriona Balfe’s ability to show Claire’s enjoyment of the act as well as the almost immediate guilt in result of it was an incredible insight to the character’s inner thoughts, so much so that the voiceover narrative was only necessary in letting us know that she wasn’t lying to Jamie about liking it. Seeing Claire slowly open up to Jamie’s attentions and praise of her was really incredible to see, because it was like she was giving in to something she didn’t want to admit she wanted and knows she shouldn’t want, because she’s already married. Being able to infer these feelings just from Caitriona Balfe’s facial expressions is a testament to her performance and mastery of Claire’s character.

“They’re Scotch pearls. They belonged to my mother, now they belong to my wife. They’re one of the few things I have left of her. [They’re] very precious to me, as are you, Claire.” ~ Jamie

One of the best scenes of the episode was the morning after as well as the final scene of the episode. We see Jamie and Claire so comfortable with each other like they have been married for far longer than a few hours, flirting with each other and kissing like they have been doing this every morning for years. Claire’s other wedding ring (from Frank) bounces and rolls onto the floor into a crack in the floor. The reminder of her marriage to Frank is called back just like the start of the episode and Claire is suddenly hit with the reality of what she’s done. The cinematography is purely amazing in this sequence of shots from the slow motion of the ring rolling on the floor to the reflection of Claire bending down to pick it up in the reflection of the gold band. She then presents herself with both her wedding rings, one on each hand, and her face is lit with horror at the realization that she is a bigamist. Bookending the Claire and Jamie wedding episode with scenes about Claire’s marriage to Frank is quite a brilliant juxtaposition of trying to keep both the audience and Claire grounded in what has happened to her.

FINAL VERDICT

Quite a different tone from last week! Though I was extremely irked with the first 10 minutes of the episode where it felt like I turned the TV on half an hour late, the content of this episode was incredible. The cinematography from director, Anna Foerster, really shined this week, illuminating the important moments like Claire’s wedding dress being revealed and the post-coital talk between the newlyweds. With such an important occasion came beautiful costumes to go with it by Terry Dresbach and her team of costume designers who must have spent ages making Claire’s wedding dress shimmeringly beautiful under the candlelight of the church where they were wed. The characterization was wonderfully appropriate for everyone except for perhaps Dougal, who it seems no one can put their finger on. He is full of surprises each week from saving Claire’s life one minute and threatening her the next, that his additional scene of coming onto Claire in the taproom in the middle of the night was uncomfortable and strange, as was punching Rupert in the face. Though not all changes are bad, such as the scene Anne Kenney wrote about Jamie giving Claire his mother’s pearls, which definitely one of the best scenes of the entire episode. Not enough can be said to commend Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe on their stunning work together in presenting us with the most genuine and sensual wedding/wedding night I have ever seen on television. Their chemistry and trust in each other really shows in this episode, giving us exactly what fans have been dreaming of for years.

Questions, Comments, Concerns…

• Diana Gabaldon wasn’t lying when she said Sam Heughan had “one fine ass”
• Wanted to actually hear Jamie’s family stories! Hope we get some in future episodes
• Frank is still being thought about
• Dougal, man, what are you doing?
• Where are Jamie and Claire going on their honeymoon?
• Wonder if they’re going to dry clean that Fraser kilt before they return it to that widow…
• So Jack Randall is gone forever now, right? No more of him?
• Any other man is inadequate now in comparison to Jamie Fraser