Season One: Episode 2, Castle Leoch

The second chapter or episode of our story begins with of course one of the best opening theme songs and pictures I have seen in quite a while. Together the music and song bring us back into this enchanting far away world and into our characters lives. Truly masterfully. 

Claire arrives in the extremely muddy courtyard of the castle. I take it the rain in Scotland is pretty much year round so this is to be expected. We get off the horses and meet a few of our people. Including Mistress Fitzgibbons who is the mother hen to the rest of the clansmen. Claire continues to be highly concerned about the wounded Jamie. She is first and foremost a nurse and tender caregiver. 

Miss Fitz is a bit annoying at first as she just stares at Claire and makes her explain as much as she can that she does actually know what shes talking about. Not a huge fan of her character but at least she is a warm and caring person to the people of the Castle. 

Claire and Jamie have their first real time alone here. Jamie has quite the sense of humor as is very evident when he talks to Claire. He tells her about his time in prison and being flogged. She sees his back which is badly and horribly scarred from the British. 

Jamie tells Claire of his encounter with Black Jack Randall at his home of Lallybroch and being taken afterward to Fort William. We see first hand the absolute wickedness of BJR and his apparent fascination with injuring and tormenting others for his own pleasure. I do have to love Jamie's remark to Claire about chickens being poor company. Even when recounting such horrible events, he still manages to bring about a smile. 

These tender moments as Claire thinks of Frank and begins to break down in sobs are the beginnings of Jamie falling in love with her. You can see by the way he looks at her that he cares deeply for her and wants to take care of her. He promises her he will watch over her in this dangerous place she finds herself now. 

We see flashes of time in the future with Frank and his Reverend friend searching the abandoned car and looking for Claire..... 

Alright Miss Fitz give the woman a little bit more time to drink her soup while getting her dressed and ready for the day. She does look great in just about every outfit she gets to wear. Such a different world where the people wore so much, its no wonder they had to have servants just to help them get it all on themselves. We discover she is getting ready to go meet the Laird of the Castle, Column Mackenzie. 

Claire quickly searches for a date... decades before the American Revolution. 1743! I am not a big fan of how Column presents himself, but I do enjoy all the birds in his room.

Flash back to the future when Frank gave Claire some guidelines for officer training which included telling the truth with altering facts only as much as necessary. 

-------------------

There is a lot to be said for the way Claire stands up on the top of the Castle looking down on the courtyard and watches Dougal playing with the children. For one you see the gathering storm clouds behind her while she watches from above. I do not buy a word of Column nor trust anything he has to say. Dougal is quite fatherly with the kids. It truly is an alien world Claire has stepped into, different from her own but in a lot of ways similar. Simpler might be the word for it. A world where honor, commitment, handshakes, and trust all had more meaning and significance. 

Claire arrives in the dining hall and invited to sit with Dougal, and Column and Column's wife. This is all just a trap again to see what Claire really knows and who she really is as non of them believe her story. She of course cannot be honest for the real story would have her strung up as a witch even if anyone actually believed her in the first place. Claire is fed quite a delicious meal and all the while Column is interrogating her without her realizing. Seems to be a good way to get information or at least trap someone in a lie which was the point after all. It is good Claire is quick on her feet, guess it does help having a historian husband, least she caught a few things in her days with him. 

What is the whole deal with Hamish anyway... so he is no the son of Dougal or he is and no one wants to talk about him.... guess we will find out more later. Oh dear Claire, never ever assume... you know it never works out that way. 

Enough with the old Uncles lets move on to the stables and get some more time with Jamie! Ah there he is with that smile....

Claire seems to turn the tables of interrogation around on Jamie and this time fills her stomach while letting Jamie tell her more about himself. We get a great moment here with the two of them simply sharing a meal and conversation. Again Jamie has some serious sense of humor that is evident with Claire.

Interesting how Claire is going by her maiden name to avoid being called Randall and Jamie is not using his real last name either because he is a wanted man. Both sharing trust. The price on Jamie's head is for murder which he claims he did not actually commit. This was all of course after Fort William so I do believe it would have been rather hard for him to shot anyone at the time. 

I just love the interchange between Jamie and Claire here. But even more funny is the one between Claire and Rupert. Soon we will see more of Rupert and Angus. At any rate Jamie makes it very clear he is an outlaw and tells Claire all about the story and we learn Dougal and Column are his Uncles. This is the first occurrence of Jamie calling Claire Sassanach out of affection rather than the usual insulting way the word is used. 

Claire comes upon Geillis Duncan while gathering herbs. Aye now she seems rather mysterious herself. It is amazing how much we learn about herbs from this show, probably more than we ever thought we needed to know. Geillis fills us in on a few things, like that everyone thinks Claire is a English spy, not too surprising since her appearance has no real good story. I am glad Claire at least seems to have a friend now.

Examining this whole scene with the hall of judgment and the Mackenzie's. We meet Laoghaire Mackenzie who comes to us at first being found clearly being naughty to the extent of needing punishment in public display. Our dear heroic Jamie steps in and offers to take her punishment and basically take the beating rather than Laoghaire. We learn Laoghaire is also the granddaughter of Miss Fitz.... I knew there was something about that woman.

There is something to be said for Jamie's strong will and willingness to give himself or another person, even one whom he hardly knows. I like that in a man, he knows its better to take the beating for the girl than to have the girl publicly shamed. The whole scene is difficult to watch. But hey Jamie gets to be nursed back once again by Claire so nothing wrong with that... worth the beating I am sure. 

I trust Murtagh. Looking forward to seeing more of him. With Claire attempting to leave her goodbye to Jamie here seems very disappointing. At least I can tell Jamie was disappointed. But in all reality we discover Column blocks Claire from leaving. I love the whole scene changes as she walks through the same halls she walked with with Frank before. One thing I love about old buildings and this show is the back and forth where we see what the Castle will be like in two hundred years and what it looks like now. 

Column manages to walk Claire right into the medical/healing room and tells her about how he would like her to stay as the Castle's new healer. 

And with that Column has caged yet another bird, our beloved Claire. 

We shall see what happens with our beloved characters in the next show but for now....

Oíche mhaith (goodnight in gaelic).