Television 

Five Thoughts on Outlander‘s “The Search”

By | September 4th, 2021
Posted in Television | % Comments

Come sail over the sea to Skye with us this summer, as we take a trip through the stones to the first season of the television adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander book series.  First published in 1991 with Outlander, Gabaldon’s multi-genre novels features the time traveling love story of Claire (Caitriona Balfe), a 1940s woman who finds herself out of time and place in Scotland in the era of the Jacobite rebellion. The U.S. pay TV network Starz debuted the Outlander TV series in 2014, with the show concluding its fifth season last year. In celebration of the ninth novel out this autumn and the sixth season of the TV series debuting in early 2022, we’re spending our 2021 summer vacation at Castle Leoch.

Jamie’s captured by the English (again), and Claire sets out on “The Search” for her missing husband – – and the reveal of his location is the worst possible thing that could happen.

It should also be noted that Outlander is very much an 18+ series, with graphic violence and sexuality throughout. Spoilers within for both the tv show and the novel series.

1. Steel Thistles

Claire is nothing if not a determined woman, and when we open up “The Search” she’s hastily making plans, not wanting help from anyone lest they put Lallybroch at risk from the English.  She reluctantly does accept some help from Jenny and Ian – – the former in the form of his knowledge, the latter in the form of her presence and firearms.  It should be noted that Jenny has just given birth, which makes Claire not want to accept her help.  But as we’ve seen in previous episodes, Jenny – – like her sister-in-law – – is a steel thistle (a Scottish twist on a popular play and film).  Indeed she is a woman, with all the feminine trapping thereto. But with that grace comes a lot of grit, honed in her years of having to grow up too fast.  And it’s that attitude that endears her to the steel English rose that is Claire, providing companionship and the reality check with Claire’s plans and the larger situation.  While women of this era do not have political and economic power, they make their power known in other ways.

While time is of the essence, it is important to Jenny to take time to bless and pray over the dead they find in their search, another reminder to Claire of the human cost of war, and the importance of ritual and faith to this community.

2. “Love Forces a Person to Choose” 

It’s been a while since Claire’s had to learn one of her Hard Scottish Lessons(TM), but one of those reality checks Jenny provides is one of them.  The women come across an English courier, and engage in a little bit of torture to get some information on Jamie’s whereabouts (he managed to escape his captors, but plans were afoot to have soliders at Fort William put on the hunt).  Information obtained, they now have to figure out next steps. While Claire the Compassionate wants to heal his wounds from their torture, Jenny counters with what a bad idea that is: keep him alive and he’ll talk, putting everyone at Lallybroch in danger.  “Love forces a person to choose,” Jenny warns Claire. And that choice is for yourself. Care about yourself and your loved ones before others that you don’t even know.  Put the oxygen mask on yourself before helping others, as the flight safety briefing tells us.

In light of our current pandemic situation, where the idea of caring for your community, including those you never met, by wearing a mask and getting a vaccine, this is a lesson that’s counter to those messages. But it can be also considered in the context of self-care, keeping an eye on yourself and making sure your needs are met before meeting the needs of others, because the latter will not happen effectively without the former.  Perhaps the idea of radical self-care came a couple of centuries early.

Claire hasn’t had many friends in 1743 Scotland.  The closest she got was Geillis, and we all know how that ended.  Jenny is the kind of true friend Claire needs here, one who knows to show kindness but also to intervene when her friend is on the road to danger.  We all need a Jenny in our lives.

Continued below

At least they don’t have to make any sort of decision on what to do with their English prisoner. Murtagh swoops in and does the deed, but not without a warning to the women to better cover their tracks next time. With Murtagh on the scene, he takes over for Jenny and comes up with a plan to find Jamie:  not to find him, but to have him find them, using Claire’s healing skills to draw attention to the pair as they travel in the Highlands.

3. The Prophetess

There’s two moments where Claire plays her hand of advance knowledge beautifully in this episode.  As she bids Jenny farewell on her return home to take care of her infant child, she provides advice: plant potatoes.  The crop is a hardy one, and will keep in times of war, which is coming.  Jenny isn’t sure how her sister-in-law knows these things, but knows to do as she’s told by Claire, because that’s what her brother the Laird has said to do.

The second is what leads to Claire’s new show business career.  Not getting much luck with Claire’s healing skills and Dougal’s dancing skills, they team up for a song and dance act with a Gaelic twist on the Andrews Sisters “Boogie Woogle Bugle Boy,” a song that Murtagh declares a “bonny tune” that just needs a Scottish touch.  Claire sings, Murtagh collects the tips and asks the questions.  And by golly, Claire’s having some fun doing it too!  Except for that time a rival entertaining group steals the idea. (Welcome to the earliest copyright suit!) This is a dangerous development. If Claire’s performances are to draw Jamie out from hiding, and there’s two Singing Sassenachs in the Highlands, he won’t know where to go.

4. Love Forces Murtagh to Choose

This Lallybroch Road Trip Rescue Mission hasn’t been the smoothest for Claire and Murtagh, as they bicker over strategy and direction.  It all comes to a head one night at the campfire as Claire takes out their failures on Murtagh, not realizing he’s in pain as well.  Jamie is like a son to him, and almost was: he was in love with his mother, Ellen.  With an apology from Claire, the two make peace and decide to start their search from the beginning.  Claire is a woman of her convictions, and as we saw in a flashback to her pre-war life with Frank, one of those convictions is a strong moral compass.  She will admit when she’s been wrong.

Perhaps the lifting of that conflict between them is what brings them some sort of success.  The gypsies that stole Claire’s act return and reveal that someone did mistake them for the Singing Sassenach.  They have a note with a meeting place.  Could all be right in Claire’s world very soon?

5. An Indecent Proposal

There’s a Scotsman at their meeting place for sure, but he doesn’t have any sort of red hair.  In fact, he’s bald.

Oh hey Dougal, nice to see you again, I guess.

There’s good and bad news from Dougal.  The good: Jamie’s alive.  The bad: he’s in Wentworth prison, and he’s condemned to hang in three days’ time.

And if that wasn’t shocking enough, Dougal up and drops a marriage proposal on Claire.  There isn’t hope for Jamie, so Dougal offers his protection as Claire’s husband. While Geillis was Dougal’s love, he knows that Claire will have no standing once Jamie dies, and she’ll be in danger. A marriage with Dougal will ensure that.  And it’s not just that desire for control and power that drives Dougal – – you might remember from “The Gathering” that Dougal took a fancy to Claire (although he was drunk).

Claire will not give up on her love, taking every possible chance that she can take.  Only then will she agree to marry Dougal. With the men that offered to go with her, everyone sets off to Wentworth Prison to (hopefully) bring Jamie home.

The Lost Papers of Black Jack Randall (Our Afterthoughts Section)

  • Like “Lallybroch” the title of this episode covers an entire section of the Outlander novel.  There’s only one chapter in this section, “Dougal’s Story.”
  • The song Claire sings is one Murtagh remarks that one Dougal used to sing to Jamie. Now that we know Dougal and Geillis were lovers, and that Geillis was a time traveler, this is something that makes you go hmmm.
  • Continued below

  • Murtagh’s comments about America being the “only place you haven’t sang that damn song yet” foreshadows a bit Jamie and Claire’s eventual home in America.

We’ll see you next week for “Wentworth Prison” and do let us know what you thought of the episode in the comments.

As of this writing, the first season of Outlander is available for viewing on Netflix, where seasons 2-4 are also available (except in the UK). In the UK, the show is available on Amazon Prime Video UK.  All five seasons of the show are also available via Starz (in the United States).


//TAGS | 2021 Summer TV Binge | Outlander

Kate Kosturski

Kate Kosturski is your Multiversity social media manager, a librarian by day and a comics geek...well, by day too (and by night). Kate's writing has also been featured at PanelxPanel, Women Write About Comics, and Geeks OUT. She spends her free time spending too much money on Funko POP figures and LEGO, playing with yarn, and rooting for the hapless New York Mets. Follow her on Twitter at @librarian_kate.

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