#outlander 03x01

Frank Randall asked Claire to not talk about the past. He burned Claire's 18th century clothes - didn't ask her. Looked for and found Jamie Fraser, didn't tell her.

Jamie Fraser has always respected Frank's place in Claire's life. Never asked her to hide anything. Always gave her the space to talk about him.

We've known for YEARS that it's not the same.

This opening sequence really reminds me of 03x01 "The Battle Joined" - down to the people picking through the scene.

Though let's be real, the aftermath of every pre-modern battle probably looked the same...

...was NOT in the original script:

He is alone.

He has just lost Claire. His soul is adrift.

He only sees her in his visions; he is denied her healing touch.

And then - in Jamie’s final scene of Season 3, he has just - barely - survived another major trauma.

He wakes alone.

Fearing he has lost Claire. His soul is adrift.

But he finds her. She is alive. She is whole. They are together.

The highland army was completely exposed, and they then charged into the teeth of musket fire, cannons, mortars with nothing more than their broadswords, for the most part.

It was very, very quick and very bloody.The whole thing took less than an hour.

Jacobites lost something in the region of 2,000 men.

But the interesting thing is that in the years following Culloden, the estates of the Clan Chieftains were plundered, sold.

The government banned the wearing of tartan.

They banned the carrying of swords, even the Gaelic language.

In effect, Culloden marked the end of the clans,

and the end of the highlander way of life.

In 03x01, Claire arrives in America with Frank. She shrinks from Frank's touch. The episode ends with a ray of hope - Brianna, and a new beginning. But that ray is crushed with the nurse's question about the red hair. Jamie and Claire end the episode surrounded by others - yet incredibly alone.

Frank’s exact words are, “I didn’t force you to come to Boston, and I’m not forcing you to stay...Go, or stay, but please, do it because it’s what you really want to do.”

I *do* think he was being genuine - he’s right in that Claire chose to go with him to Boston (albeit under his condition to forget/never mention the past). Except that, pregnant with Jamie’s child and remembering her promise to Jamie that their child would be safe and loved, she didn’t truly have a choice. So she honors Jamie’s sacrifice by doing what Jamie wanted her to do - providing a father for the child.

This bit of dialogue between Frank and Claire just begs for comparison with the scene in 01x11 where Jamie takes Claire back to Craigh Na Dun. He says to her: “It’s your own time on the other side of that stone - you’ve a home there, a place, the things you’re used to. And Frank...There’s nothing for you on this side - nothing, save violence and danger. Now go.”

So - Frank’s words are about him (”I didn’t force you” and “I’m not forcing you”). Jamie’s words are about her (”Your own time” and “you’ve a home”).

Frank makes the choice ambiguous (”Go, or stay”) and makes it seem like he doesn’t care about the outcome. Jamie makes it very clear that there is no choice (”There’s nothing for you”) and completely removes himself from the equation.

Both men are genuine in their concern for Claire and their wish for her to make the right choice. Except that one selfishly wants to keep her with him - and the other selflessly recognizes that he can’t provide a life that is good enough for her.

To Jamie, there is no choice. So the fact that Claire does not heed his words makes her choice to stay with him that much sweeter - because it’s not an outcome Jamie had expected. So they rejoice in that choice, and celebrate just how difficult it was to make.

With Frank, there is a definite choice. And he knows that Claire is damned if she chooses him, because it brings her farther away from Jamie, and damned if she doesn’t choose him, because she would be homeless.

Lying on Culloden Moor, yearning to become one of the dead, Jamie sees a hare.

"The Celts believed that the goddess Eostre's favourite animal and attendant spirit was the hare. It represented love, fertility and growth and was associated with the Moon, dawn and Easter, death, redemption and resurrection." (thanks to IrishAbroad.com)

Easter Sunday was April 10, 1746 - 6 days before Culloden.

The hare is a symbol of the risen Christ - and Jamie's own impending resurrection from near-death.

It is only after seeing the hare - and then seeing Claire - that he returns to the land of the living.

For Claire is his salvation from sin and death. She brings him back to life, even when he wishes to die. Raises up his soul, and then his body.