Want to relive Outlander Season 4 Episode 8? We do a minute-by-minute reaction to “Wilmington.”
[8:00 p.m.] Nudity, violence AND rape? Baby JHRC, it’s two days before Christmas, people! Keep the good stuff, but spare us the trauma.
[8:02 p.m.] Poor Roger’s been zapped through the stones, tossed back in time 200 years, survived a journey across the pond with Capt. Bonnet and still the lad hasn’t found a full-length pair of pants.
[8:03 p.m.] Fergus, meet Roger! Roger, meet Fergus! My yelling at the screen for these two to meet and ride off together to write the next great bromance novel is about as fruitful as when I talk to other drivers in traffic with my windows rolled up as if they can hear me.
[8:04 p.m.] OF COURSE Ian couldn’t make it. He’s off [insert verb-led excuse of the week]. Hardest working man this side of 10,000 acres-on-a-string.
[8:05 p.m.] My heart was so full of love and fit to burst too, Marsali… but over that charcuterie board. Nothing brings people together with joy like a new baby or a plate full of cheeses and cured meats.
[8:05 p.m.] I’m relieved Claire’s memory for details doesn’t have as many holes in it as the Swiss cheese off Marsali’s cheese plate that mine has. Because I’ve lost complete track at this point of who knows what about Claire’s backstory (she knows we know he knows we know she knows… you know?), but she just caught herself mid-emotion from spilling about having a daughter to Marsali. Impressive.
[8:06 p.m.] “…You can’t protect them from everyone and everything.” Um, foreshadow much?
[8:07 p.m.] It’s her, it’s her! He found her! And she finally found a knitted neck shawl and something to warm that bare bosom! An equally exciting endeavor!
[8:08 p.m.] These two have their own particular style of banter that holds so much appeal for me. It’s playful, energetic and cuddly, but also full of stubbornness… oh hell, it’s a Beagle puppy. Their love for each other is like a Beagle puppy who cocks his little head to the side and snuggles in your lap one minute and the next chews up your favorite shoes and stands in the middle of the street howling at oncoming cars.
[8:09 p.m.] Is that a forge? If so, someone on the Outlander team has a thing for the blacksmith trade this season. First, Murtagh is the new Black[smith] and now Roger and Bree are reunited [and it feels so good] in a forge.
[8:10 p.m.] Festival, schmestival. Loved Roger’s disappointed look in hearing that Bree had remembered his rules for play.
[8:11 p.m.]
Roger’s mouth: “Do you know what hand-fasting is?”
Bree’s face: “Um, no… but buy me a drink first?”
[8:12 p.m.] Bree’s all, “Your story has far too many details, Roger. Just lose the culottes already; let’s do this.”
[8:13 p.m.] Not to be outdone, her dad’s all, “My wife’s a healer – now drop your pants.” At least she comes by it honestly.
[8:14 p.m.] Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, that’s George Washington!
[8:15 p.m.] Chopping down cherry trees. LOL! Smooth, Claire.
[8:16 p.m.] And again, I know that Claire’s offering a lot of important context to George Washington’s famous backstory, but all that’s cycling through my head this close to Christmas is “he’ll go down in his-tory… like George Washington!”
[8:17 p.m.] You think you’re supposed to kneel? Well that’s a heck of a way to usher in your first…. oh, sorry – you’re still on that handfasting thing. Go on.
[8:18 p.m.] Brianna Ellen……..sigh.
[8:19 p.m.] My dad: “I know they just got ‘married,’ but are they about to seal the deal in the blacksmith’s shop? That’s like doing it in a Pep Boys.”
[8:20 p.m.] Poor Lizzie. You’d think Bree could have maybe shot a quick text to her new friend to let her know, not to worry – she left the bar with the hot guy, agreed to a quickie wedding and don’t wait up. You guys, we don’t even realize how spoiled we are to live in the digital era during moments like these.
[8:21 p.m.] Dammit, Murtagh, I refuse to place bets and start an egg timer counting down to your demise so soon after laying eyes on your glorious self again. Do us a solid, sit this one out and do your part to stay alive. Mkay?
[8:22 p.m.] Ohhhh, curtain’s up! What are we seeing? Hamilton? Mamma Mia? Either way, Gov. Tryon’s just ruined the show for Jamie. Or as my dad so eloquently offered, “well isn’t that guy just a turd in the punch bowl.”
[8:27 p.m.] Dear Outlander friends, someone let me know if my heart stops. This whole scene. #OutlanderVapors (Side note: ‘Tis the season… I’m watching this with my husband…gulp…and my parents. We all find ourselves super thrilled to be sitting in each other’s company for this extended sequence. As I’ve said before, I have only myself to blame for sucking them all right down the Outlander rabbit hole.)
[8:28 p.m.] Remind me not to ever go see a movie with this bunch of rowdy hecklers. Unless they buy me popcorn, then I’ll reconsider. I love movie popcorn. For the record, I’m referring to the onscreen theater crowd, though this might also apply to the one in my living room at present.
[8:29 p.m.] Anyone else having immediate flashbacks to Jamie asking Claire the very same question after his first time? Like father, like daughter. Also, Bree’s other follow up question to the hairy-chested wonder of a man that is Roger: “Are you by chance related to John Quincy Myers?” Or maybe that’s just mine.
[8:30 p.m.] “Behaving as though you’ve had your spinal column removed is a fair indication of male satisfaction.” That’s an official measurement. Noted.
[8:31 p.m.] Ahem, like MOTHER, like daughter.
[8:32 p.m.] These fancy folks are like, now this is a show. We’re finally getting our money’s worth.
[8:33 p.m.] “I need you to take a long drink, and hope that it knocks you unconscious.” – Claire to Mr. Fanning. Also, me to myself on any given Friday night after a long work week.
[8:34 p.m.] George Washington famously said, “It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” I was really hoping he’d slide that in here in reply to Jamie’s half-baked surgical tools rationale to an early departure from the drama.
[8:35 p.m.] I love that these theater-goers are still just slurping down on their show cocktails all casual while Claire guts open a man like a fish and tickles his insides with two fingers in front of them.
[8:36 p.m.] What hath hell wrought? Apparently tobacco smoke up through the rear as a default form of treatment, that’s what.
[8:37 p.m.] FEET UP, MURTAGH – I WASN’T KIDDING. Stop doing you, please. I need you and your silver locks to stay whole for a bit.
[8:38 p.m.] Quick query – did one of these fancy pants ticket holders have one of those loose button sewing kits that come with new pants in their clutch? How fortunate for Claire that someone produced a needle and thread in a pinch.
[8:40 p.m.] Murtagh and Fergus! I thought I’d seen all the Murtagh reunions that mattered, but totally forgot about this one! Quick, Fergus – haul him off, plop his busy-body arse in a chair, pour him a dram and teach him more about the ways of women. That’s a safe place for him.
[8:42 p.m.] Oh hell, y’all, fair warning: the Beagle puppy’s about to eat your slipper and piddle on the new carpet. Again.
[8:44 p.m.] These two and their inability to argue competently make me want to bang my head against a standing stone.
[8:45 p.m.] Correction, Roger – you’re both acting like children.
[8:46 p.m.] Never trust a Virginian? Now that’s just silly – Virginia is for lovers!
[8:47 p.m.] My mom says this is Bree’s walk of shame. I beg to differ. It’s more like a walk of disbelief. Confusion. Sadness. D, all of the above.
[8:48 p.m.] I find it no coincidence that we still haven’t met our rape quota of this episode, we have eight min to go and boom – heeeeere’s Bonnet!
[8:49 p.m.] Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into his. And my stomach is turning in a way that I can’t blame on the continued holiday overeating. Commence fetal position rocking and thumb-sucking.
[8:50 p.m.] The physical mannerisms Ed Speleers uses to bring the monstrous Bonnet to life (notably, the twitch and continual smoothing back of his hair) are the stuff of which night terrors are born.
[8:51 p.m.] No one does anything?!? They’re laughing?!? Pouring more drinks?!? I don’t care what era we’re in, f**ckers! If you have never seen Jodie Foster’s Oscar-winning turn in The Accused, you pretty much just did. This is brutal.
[8:52 p.m.] I just… I can’t seem to… Words. I have none. All I can think is that to have experienced the extreme high of love and pleasure followed by the adverse bottom of violation and trauma all in the span of a single night, please find your mother soon, Bree. A mom hug can’t fix it, but it sure as heck can help on the very long road to comforting a brutalized body and heart.
Closing Thoughts:
Remember when I expressed my gratitude for the easy breezy episodes of the past three weeks and said we’d look back on them with longing? THIS EPISODE IS EXACTLY WHY I SAID THAT. Never get too comfortable, settled or content in your squishy Outlander glow. There’s always something menacing lurking around the corner just ready to extinguish that brilliant light. Yes, Roger and Bree finally found each other… and I mean, FOUND EACH OTHER. But it was short-lived and met on the other side by the greatest violation a woman (or man, as this show has reminded us as well) can endure, in my opinion. While I appreciated the decision to avoid showing Bree’s rape in its totality, I found the soundtrack of her panicked and pained screams for help alongside the jovial banter of a barroom full of bystanders who did absolutely nothing to be equally, if not more, hauntingly effective.
Somewhere in between there was also a cute baby, a delicious cheese plate, Jamie attempting diversionary theatrics, a bosomed Claire operating like a boss, Fergus and Murtagh emoting pleasantries in the dark woods and, who can forget, a spry George Washington!
But when I look back on this episode later, or even in the coming days, it’ll be hard for my brain and heart not to dismiss all of that and remember solely that this was the episode where Bree was promised a sweet forever just before losing it – and her innocence – for the same lengthy amount of time. And ho ho ho-ly hell, I’m not sure I needed that particular blend of episode dumped on me two days before Christmas. Yes, I read the books. Yes, I know that’s what was coming next. But still…
Thankfully, it looks as though we’ll get another tearful reunion, this time with Jamie and Bree, and that’s got me as giddy and maniac as an over-sugared, under-slept child waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve. Until next week, friends…
P.S., my dad’s closing thought: “This isn’t going very well for her. Maybe she should’ve stayed in Boston, don’t you think?” Astute, that father o mine.
If you’ve missed any of our Season 4 episode recaps, you can catch up with them here:
Episode 4.01: “God Bless America”
Episode 4.02: “Do No Harm”
Episode 4.03: “The False Bride”
Episode 4.04: “Common Ground”
Episode 4.05: “Savages”
Episode 4.06: “Blood of My Blood”
Episode 4.07: “Down the Rabbit Hole”
A complete library of recaps from Seasons 2-3 is also available here.
Well I guess I finally know where the saying ‘Blowing smoke up your a$$’ comes from. Love your blog…I laugh out loud.
p.s. Roger needs a better wig.
That was Richard’s real hair.
HA! Too true. I’m going to get specific (Outlander-style) next time I use that phrase. Then I’m going to claim it’s medicinal and I’m only trying to help. Also, I think that’s Roger’s attempt at growing his hair out for the role.
I so look forward to your commentary almost as much as the new episode itself!
Diane! Thank you for that!
Bonnet’s gesture of smoothing back his hair is a call-back to BJR (Shudder !!!)
Now wipe that from your short term memory and have a happy Ho Ho!
Love your recaps!
Peigi – ho ho ho right back! I took your advice and took a week off but in the process I missed your lovely comment. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Great read, Ashley! You’re terrifically talented, and make me laugh out loud, which isn’t easy to do. I used to read your recaps in real time, but am no longer able to do so apparently. My mind went to the same place with “hand-fasting”, and you did it WITH parents in sight. My own are Ghosts of Christmas Past, but doubt I’d have ever watched with them. Loving all things Outlander, here’s my one-way conversation with you of the week…
• Roger is scribbling something: “Note to self, if I do this time travel thing again, don’t wear Hobbit pants to this time period! Haven’t run into one single other man wearing them. What was I thinking?!” Yes, his clothes continue to distract me… But always remember, I love you, Roger!
• Love the future brothers-in-law meet! **In printing and typesetting, a “composing stick” is a tool used to assemble pieces of metal type into words and lines. Thanks for the heads-up, Fergus!
• Man, for two young kids starting out, plus bairn, Marsali and Fergus sure have some fancy digs! Don’t know that I buy it…
• Yes! Love confirmed! But why are they now headed to a barn/shed/whatever instead of staying at what is clearly an inn/tavern? At any rate, can Roger possibly keep producing any more adorable jeez-I’m-a-lucky-guy looks?!
• Oh, oh I am loving Claire’s choker necklace! Hear that Etsy? 😉
• Always enjoy the looks between Jamie and Claire when someone (a man) has relegated her to the “little lady” area in the scene, and Jamie is trying to remind her at least he’s an evolved man!
• Washington, the Virginian, was surveying in the Carolinas? This is a waaaay early introduction of the man, n’est-ce pas? I was in college in 1971, and I think we already knew the cherry tree thing was a myth, Claire. Sorry the writers did that to you.
• Okay, this whole play thing, sooooo boring to me. Like with all things Outlander, an ends to a mean, I get it. Just feels like with so few episodes to tell a thousand pages of book, and tv characters kept around (Fergus, Marsali & Murtagh) even though not in the book, this feels like I’m getting cheated out of some time between people I actually care about. A grand theater in Wilmington? Zzzzzzzz…
• Hand-fast Plus! So nice to see these two kids have some (soon to be found out) fleeting moments. Very sweet! This dialogue is pretty much book spot-on. Thank you, DG! Love all the parts and lines that are acted out, meant to be similar to J&C through the years. Nice touch!
• More Zzzzzzzz for me. Murtagh, in the dark, on the side of the road. With no one else I know or care about. What a waste of Murtagh!! 🙁
• Okay, I’ve looked at this scene a few times: Jamie gets that, “Gotta come up with something” look on his face. We’re focusing on his face. He’s about to do something! He’s eyeing Fanning! Then look! Watch his left shoulder jerk! Even though we don’t see it, he actually punches Fanning in his hernia to cause a disruption, a distraction! Hence Jamie’s utterance, “Christ! Forgive me!”, followed with, “This man needs a surgeon!” And, by the way, Jamie happens to know a surgeon who will take just enough time to save her patient (virtually blood-free) yet give him an opportunity to slip out to warn Murtagh of the trap! Brutal, yet effective, and oh so Jamie… BTW, I love you Jamie (still, always)!
• George and Martha feel as I do about the play, and they are so outta here! Freeing them to give Jamie a lift to what turns out to be… Fergus! Who then can go warn Murtagh, while Jamie quietly slips back into the ridiculous theater. Shoulda been lots more Fergus and Murtagh reuniting! Way more!
• Ashley, look again. Claire yells out in her “I’m a brilliant surgeon from Boston”-command, to some unassuming and random boy in the crowd, “YOU, go behind the stage and find me some needle and thread!” As in, you know, for sewing and mending costumes, I’m assuming…. Next door must be the sharp knife/linen store that the Brits like to build next door to theaters…
• You see?! This is what this episode is missing, Fergus and Murtagh together again!! Why would they not have had more of THIS?? My absolute concern, as evidenced by this episode, is that the PTB will have bothered to save Murtagh because he’s been such a fan-favorite since 2014, yet he’ll sit on a back burner or no burner at all, and that tease is almost worse than if he’d died at Culloden as in the book. Stop patting yourselves on the back for saving him, use him, or what was the point? IMHO…
• Roger, when you blurted out to Brianna that you learned of her “visiting your mother in Scotland” when you were on the phone with Gayle, why didn’t you tell her the reason you were even on the phone with Gayle is because you had decided she (Bree) must be told about her parents’ deaths? Would’ve saved both of you the heartache, and now once again, separation. Just sayin’…
• Jamie is comfortable letting Washington take the fall for Murtagh being warned, because after all, Claire already told him George will become Prez, and well Jamie’d like to stay on Frasers Ridge a lot longer.
• While I knew what was coming for Brianna in this episode, it was absolutely brutal to hear. And to see her afterwards. Her loveliest and worst of days. Period. Won’t need to revisit those last minutes again. And Bear McCreary does creepy, brutal and sorrowful music like no other. Does he ever get enough credit?
I think the writers were lazy on this episode. Apart from the bits that were pretty much straight out of the book, the rest felt convoluted, and a waste of characters I care about (Bree and Roger as exceptions). A stretch of the imagination, and that’s saying a lot for a story based on time-travel, which of course I know with great certainty is real. 😉
Thanks for indulging my weekly dish, Ashley. You continue to be good to me! Now I’m off for some laced eggnog and a long winter’s nap. Yes, induced by this episode’s theater, and Murtagh in the dark, scenes…
Er, end to a means… ?
Kimber, are we in the tree of trust? I believe we are. Yes, I’m certain. Sturdy branches and all. I had to cease doing them live during the holidays b/c life was too chaotic. That’s why you’re seeing them as true recaps but I do react in the moment of when I am able to watch the episode and post them as such. Hopefully, I’ll go back to live when the craze settles. Love your comments!
“There’s always something menacing lurking around the corner . . . “ and it’s always rape. Always. ? There comes a point where I cease to understand Diana’s choices. This is that point.
Kendra – I hear ya. As a book reader you know it’s coming. But even as a show watcher only, my parents were like “Again? Seriously, again?” I get that it was a rampant issue then (as it continues to be), but there must be other calamities that could befall them to throw in drama.
Yes, I LOL’d but for all the wrong reasons. To borrow another Weekend Update bit – seriously? No, seriously?
Also, when Claire said “Chopping down cherry trees?” I literally said out loud “For f*cks sake, Claire!” I’m gonna steal a weekend update joke and say I now need emergency surgery to remove my hand from my face.
Hi Ashley,
Great ideas and observations!
Let me just say, thank you so much for this today. Here I’m facing a pretty depressing Christmas Eve (first one without my mom), so this is a wonderful treat for me, connecting.
And connecting over Outlander–major bonus.
Loved seeing Fergus and Marsali. After last week with Leghaire and Joanie mentioning how much they missed Marsali, I really wanted to see them.
Poor Ian. Boy, this is starting to remind me of “Where’s Waldo,” it’s a longstanding joke that we never see wee Ian anymore. And I really want to.
Oh Bree and Roger: The handfasting was lovely, as was their sex scene. But honestly, Roger–as much as I love him, couldn’t he curb that male-chauvinist pig attitude that he inherited from Dougal?
Good God, he wasn’t doing himself any favors with Bree by coping that attitude with her.
Of course she’d be upset with him for keeping such knowledge about Claire from her. Just own it, Roger.
Damn, they were way too heavy on the foreshadowing: Any idiot could have forseen that Breee was going to be raped. Boy, the first real sex scene of Outlander’s Season 4 and it has to be marred by a rape?
At this point it wouldn’t be Outlander if there wasn’t one.
Wow, I have to say it was very powerfully done. It reminded me very much of The Accused, where the bar patrons didn’t do anything to stop what was happening to Bree.
Even though Bonnet considered it a kind of business deal, he still struck Bree until she bled.
They were not just turning it out as a defense mechanism: They were callous. They had an acceptance that made them hardened to the brutality. I got the chills when that guy lined up Bree’s boots outside of the closed doors where the rape was occurring.
I had a thought about this: I wonder if the writers were making another point about how brutal and wild America was (how it was built on violence).
I keep reflecting on “The Garrison Commander, “and the young soldier Corp. Hawkins who guarded the door for Black Jack.
It was obvious that this young kid knew what Black Jack was like, he most likely saw him terrorize many men and women, but it was also obvious that he was appalled by the man’s soullessness.
Hawkins even apologized to Claire in that episode. You really had the feeling that if the young kid could stop Black Jack he would have.
But in this episode with Bree’s rape, the gamblers and bar patrons did absolutely nothing to help. To them it might has well have been Marti Gras.
Scary stuff.
Poor Bree, she was such a fragile waif in that scene.
I was struck, when earlier in the episode how affected Lizzie was looking out at Bree and Roger, arguing.
She had leaped to the wrong conclusion, but she had been very affected and concerned for Bree.
Was anyone else reminded about Paris with the Murtaugh plot? It reminded me so much of Jamie and Murtaugh’s plot to fool the Conte .
Yes, I thought of when Jamie and Murtagh plotted to steal the Comte’s liquor shipment as well! Only I thought these “Murtagh in the dark” scenes were a waste of Murtagh being saved for the Series! Should’ve been more Murtagh and Fergus being reunited…
Dawn, I apologize for the delay. I took the week away from the blog to be in the moment but missed these lovely comments from all of you in the process. My heart goes out to you on your first Christmas without your mother. I can’t even fathom. I hope you found some light in the darkness, and if this blog helped at all then I feel honored. Sending you big hugs. Thank you so much for your astute observations and comments each week!
Ashley-You are hilarious! Viewed the Wilmington episode with my 20 something daughter on Christmas Day and we were just howling. Quite a gift! Thank you! Question for the blog: besides Roger wearing Smee’s pirate outfit from Peter Pan, aka the brown corduroy culottes, why does he seem to be shot at such unflattering angles? Does anyone else notice this? This man is quite attractive and I’ve seen him on other shows but not doing it for me in these most recent episodes.
Joanne, I love that you and your daughter watched it on Christmas day with my trusty blog post in tow. Merry Christmas to me! And I totally agree with you. It’s like they’re making him come off so “dopey doh, dopey doh” goofy and unformed. He has very definitive, striking lines to his features but the angles look like my 6-year old drawing a large round circle and simple dots and lines to illustrate someone’s face.
Great Recap! Truly enjoyed the “Pep Boys” comment from your dad!!
I’ve read / heard quite a few reviews and no one has brought up the thing that bothered me the most. At marker 24:34 Roger says to Bree “you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen” which is exactly verbatim what Jamie said to Claire in Episode 306 “A. Malcolm” marker 46:20. Come on writers! You could have done better than that! It so irritated me that I tuned out for the rest of that scene.
My dad. Sigh. He’s a keeper. You know, I think they drew so many parallels between father and daughter and their intimate encounters (ew, now I have to shower… that creeped me out to even write it). It’s either a win or a no-thank-you total loss.
This HAS been one of the best written shows on TV. However you (producers, directors, writers) think it makes more sense to write a tape into the script, and also continue the naive back and forth between Brianne and Roger?! So this dude travels back in time for her, risking his life, and all of a sudden walks away from her because she gets mad? I am officially done with this show and I hope you get cancelled.
Brian, say it ain’t so! Even teams have bad games and we still root for them, right? I think we do at least. If only I were as powerful as a show producer or writer to log your concerns in a place that mattered. But all I can offer on our humble blog in this tiny corner of the Outlander-verse is an ear to bend regarding your thoughts on the show. I hope you’ll come back.
I’m with you, Kimber. I was totally gobsmacked with the scene with Murtaugh and Fergus.
Can you say opportunity wasted? There was no warm reunion, not even any warm recognition between the actors. I for one as a fan really wanted Murtaugh and Fergus to reunite and bring back the lovely bonding, joking teasing/ jokingfather/son relationship they had in the past.
For what the audience received, the writers could have just sent in a day player to warn Martaugh.
What a waste! Such a slap in the face. So irritating.
Ec-zactly!! I mean come on, both Murtagh and Fergus are proven “huggers”, so the fact that we didn’t even get that, after all they went through together… Exasperating! Poorly written episode, IMHO…
I’m so hoping it’s coming! I guess in peril in the dark woods wasn’t the best place for it… but if we get short-changed and don’t see more of them, I for one will be ticked.
Thanks Ashley…great recap!! Curious if anyone found the Brianna/roger sex scene kind of boring??? Seemed like a couple of insecure teenagers…without much chemistry. Not very sexy!!!
I like their characters…but kind of unbelievable that Roger traveled through time to find Brianna, but behaves like a spoiled baby and leaves when she gets a little angry at him????
NEED more Jamie/Claire chemistry/intimacy!!!!!!
Tina, I’m with you on all counts! Poor Bree and Roger/Sophie and Richard… They’re on the show with the wonderful talents of Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, who from the get-go have had such amazing chemistry together that people continue to think they are a couple in real life even though she has a fiance! I’m afraid all others will pale by comparison. They are beautiful to watch. Hope Jamie and Claire will be the main focus for the rest of the season. It IS why I watch! And I’ve really been watching Sam’s acting become just exceptional this year. I believe his nuanced performances are carrying Season 4. What he does with an expression, a look, and not a word… If he doesn’t win scads of nominations next year for S4, I truly believe it’s because those who decide can’t get past his good looks, or the genre, or BOTH!
Agree with both of you. At first, I thought it was because I was watching with my parents. But upon replay, I found that I wasn’t attached to it like I’d hoped I’d be when they finally worked out their issues and got together. It just hadn’t marinated long enough for me to work. But let’s see what happens as the season goes…
Agree with those that wrote about the writing seeming lazy with no creativity. It pales in comparison to Diana’s genius at writing dialogue. They should be embarrassed. They need to allow more time to develop these characters as with J and C. They didn’t get together until E7. The amount of detail in the book is a major challenge to adapt and I think they tried too hard perhaps to “get it all in” at the sacrifice of exceptional work like in S2. T and B have no chemistry and Roger is a good looking man, but they made him look like an ass. Sorry. Brianna acts like she’s still in her own time period. She wasn’t a particularly stupid girl. I really like Marsali and Furgus. They have great chemistry. Ditch B&R quickly. Well, after the reunion with J. I don’t want to see them anymore. Have M and F carry on the tradition with J and C. I really cannot stand even looking at them together. Bearable apart.
Michelle – your points are very valid. As I just said to Kimber and Tina on this thread, I don’t think the R&B storyline had enough time to breathe before we got the payout. But to your point, there is far too much book plot to adapt into 13 hours so they’re fitting it in as they can. Some things will suffer, and this might be one.
OMG!! Loved this commentary!!
Great blogpost! I love your humor and your writing style.