The thing is, since getting back from holiday, I have been having a bit of a purple patch.  Hence no blogging.  I have been editing and rewriting the novel-in-progress allowing myself a little down time to binge-watch Outlander.  I have just finished Season 1.

Well … I don’t think I have seen quite so many exposed boobs and buttocks in one Series for years. Caitriona Balfe who plays Claire Randall, soon to become Mrs Jamie Fraser, after being transported back in time from 1945 to 1743, spends a fair amount of time in various stages of undress.  It must be very chilly for her in those Scottish Highlands.

For once, there is much male anatomy on display.  Tobias Menzies gets all his kit off.  However, his character as the vile, sadistic redcoat, Captain Jack Randall, rather takes the shine off seeing him in the buff and there are some very unsettling scenes involving Randall.

Early on in Season 1, he flogs the gorgeous Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan and another body to gloat over) … twice … and goes on to rape him in the final episode of Season one.  Yes, rape.  I have to say it is the most harrowing scene I have ever witnessed on television.  That said, if you can rise above what is actually happening, the acting is spine-chillingly excellent, albeit a challenging day at the office for the actors.

The TV series has been adapted from the prolific American author Diana J. Gabaldon’s Outlander series.  Her writing covers multiple genres and if you haven’t seen her before, I think you can be forgiven for being surprised that she writes about such disturbing goings-on in dismal Scottish dungeons.

Apart from the penultimate episode dragging a little, which is probably allowed as the last one was a real shocker, it is a rollicking good story.  It’s all there. A mix of historical romance, sci-fi, and fantasy.  Not for the faint-hearted.  Well, the final episode of Series 1 is not.

Filed under: fiction, TV, Writers Tagged: Diana J. Gabaldon, Outlander Series 1, Sam Heughan, Tobias Menzies