44 thoughts on “Various Thoughts on Outlander Season 3

  1. What did you think about the re-purposing of Claire’s clothes for both her and Marsali?

    1. I thought it was a good nod to continuity/story, although that brown/turquoise dress that Marsali wore is sooooo clunky (back lacing, trim that doesn’t continue across the back neckline).

      1. THAT was because we are trying, perhaps not successfully to seek the idea that people were cobbling together bits and pieces of clothing and fabric. The side panels on that dress, for example, don’t match the rest of the dress. It is supposed to be awkward.
        Unfortunately, without dialogue support that tells the viewer that these things are happening, it doesn’t always read on camera. As much as I LOVE showing that bit of history, it may not read as what it is.

    1. Meh? Basically, Jamie has saved Claire’s wardrobe (plot point) and pulls it out when they’re en route to Jamaica. Luckily there isn’t THAT much fashion change between late 1740s and 1760s — I mean, there’s some, but it’s not massive. So they get away with it.

      1. Like, they didn’t even try to disguise it. Apparently they refused the ships which is kind of cool.

        I just have a lot of feelings re Black Sails several months after watching the last episode :'(

  2. The scene with Claire and Jamie washed up on the Georgia shore made me laugh hysterically, since I live on Savannah and Georgia’s coast is no where near that majestic and hilly.

    It would be nice if they actually filmed some stuff here for next season and I could trot out one of my 18th century costumes as an extra.

    1. I’ve read they’re still filming in Scotland (actually, filming right now!) even tho’ the next season is mostly in the U.S., I guess just bec. they have production setup there? Bummer!

          1. My vague memory is they go back to Scotland again soon-ish, but they definitely settle in North Carolina and most of the action moves there from here on out.

            1. Jamie and Claire don’t go back to Scotland until book 7. There are however scenes in Scotland with Bree and Roger.

        1. With the exception of the inside of the Govenor’s Ball all the Caribbean stuff was filmed in SA.

    2. The scene reminded me of thread of Shakespeare in Love where Viola washes ashore on a beach.

      BTW did anyone else want the feed nerdy lieutenant/captain to sharks after having Claire save his crew and still he wanted to arrest Jamie? Luckily LJG put him in his place.

      1. Yes and I loved how LJG put him in his place. Really looking forward to more of David Berry’s LJG.

        1. I also have an appreciation for LJG. Cannot wait for Season 4 with more him & I believe Jamie’s son as well.

    3. In the book, Claire wakes up in a house. I can see that they didn’t want to build a whole set for what is basically like, four pages. But they stay with that couple for awhile, in between book 3 and the start of book 4. But, yeah.

  3. Agree on those wigs – yikes! As to the fabric choices, all the interiors and some exteriors are in Scotland (except for the ship stuff). So linen/cotton would mean they would freeze? I also wonder if production was looking forward to Season 4 which will be filmed in Scotland and somewhere else cold (Czech Republic? Hungary?? I forget) for the mountains of North Carolina and the river scenes.

    1. Re: still filming in Scotland — not my fault they’re making bad choices! (Note: comment aimed at the showmakers, not you). I do know some of the Caribbean stuff was filmed in South Africa. Beauty is pain!

    2. Also, that’s annoying, because they’re going to spend a lot of time on the North Carolina coast, and so that should also be hot and humid.

      1. Not that much time on the coast really. They meet the governor and then head to Cross Creek/Fayetteville for a short time (a hundred miles inland) then the rest is pretty much in the mountains, with the odd trip back to Cross Creek.

        1. Ok! I remember lots of stuff with Aunt(?) Jocasta(?), but maybe just b/c that stuff was more interesting than the mountain-y stuff?

          1. There is probably more Aunt Jocasta in book 5 than book 4, though there is a nice few chapters at Jocasta’s in book 4 before they head to the mountains.

  4. Why don’t they just come to the actual North Carolina mountains?
    I would love the chance to be an (admittedly anachronistic – yay being chinese-american biracial) extra.
    :*(

  5. TBH I wouldn’t put it past Geillis to re-purpose a man’s wig just for the hell of it, but the extras have no excuse!

  6. I thought this season was an absolute mess…I enjoyed it (and full disclosure I haven’t read the books) but I think it really should have been split into two seasons, the first one ending with the Claire and Jamie reunion, and the second about Geillis and the Caribbean. I personally think the first half of this season was much stronger than the second, which was fun, but whiplash breakneck trying to cram in way too much plot.

    (Plus the Caribbean stuff was so “wacky”…the coconut guy and crazy Geillis, clandestine acupuncture on shipboard, as fun as it was, it was such a tone shift from the sensitive, operatic first half…and didn’t have time for more than lip service to sticky issues like slavery and mental illness…)

    But my suspicion is they were afraid of mutiny from Claire/Jamie fans if they didn’t get some screen time together.

    I love those colonists “Hey. Welp. Bye.” LOL

    1. Crazy Geillis is from the books as was the acupuncture (though they changed that, it was funny in the books). They added stuff that wasted time (basically most of The Doldrums ep) and left out whole story arcs involving pirates and the British captain pursuing Jamie on the high seas. I blame budget for those.

    1. And unfortunately, we do shoot in Scotland in the dead of winter. We don’t want people to die, so we didn’t spray them down with water during shooting
      So, it kind of killed the masses of people in cotton. We took the leap that we could keep the wealthy crowd in silks and linens.
      I don’t do hair and makeup, but my guess is that they also didn’t want to spray the crowd with water in freezing conditions.

      1. We know you do your homework! Great, then I am all thumbs up about Geilis’s française (and thrilled that it was a real française, too). That’s too bad about the cold — I know, I’m nitpicking! :)

        1. :) No, not really. I pulled my hair out over this season and the problems it presented. There was no way we had the time, not the money, to create hundreds of cotton costumes. Not that it would have been accurate to have everyone in the American colony to be in cotton. But there was just NO WAY we would have done it even if we had the time.
          We actually had to change the time of the story so we wouldn’t kill everyone dressing them for summer in the South, pointing out that they would be sweating, getting rid of layers, men in shirts and waistcoats, things we just could not do with a conscience in Scottish winter.
          But what was interesting and worth a read, is how much fabric choices were impacted by British trade laws in the US. Cotton had to be imported from India, and wealthy people dressed in silk and wool. The poor wore what they wore in their native countries…wool. Plantation owners were forced to import wool from Britain to dress slaves in, while they shipped the cheaper cotton back. One of the smaller reasons that Southern States finally agreed to join the North.
          Not sure if you have read Linda Baumgartens AMAZING book, What They Wore. Such a fascinating read. It really inspired my choice to repeat clothing we saw them wear 20 years earlier.
          Geillis’s dress is handpainted cotton. There are small demonic beasties hidden in the floral pattern, too much fun to create. Sadly we don’t see it close enough on camera, to see them peeking through the leaves and flowers.
          I am surprised you didn’t comment on Claire’s riding suit and it’s disassembly.

          1. Hi Terry!

            I just think it is just so cool that you interact with the fans of the show and the Frock Girls like this! It really helps me appreciate how much work is actually put into everything we see on the screen and all the thousands of considerations and decisions that go into every costume.

  7. I don’t know if Gabaldon took some heat for making Black Jack Randall the most evil person ever AND homosexual; I always assumed that Lord John’s sexuality was in some small way to show that she didn’t think gay men were evil, since he’s one of the most honorable people in the books. And, come on, big, pretty redheaded Scots? Who’s not into that?

    1. DG will tell you that BJR isn’t gay, that he’s an equal opportunity sadist.

  8. Personally, having been tried as a witch previously, I was surprised Claire used gaberdine for the god-awful Bat Suit. Surely wool would have been a) warmer and b) time period appropriate? I realise that she was being an onion, peeling off the layers as she felt more comfortable with her decision to go back to Jamie – but having that fabric – and in that colour – it really stood out and could have caused her a lot of problems. Also Jenny Murray would have already used and re-used those costumes of Claire’s from previously. The wigs Jamie wears are disgusting and vile, looks like a dead squirrel perched on his head. With the money obviously spent on costuming, perhaps they could chuck £100 at the wig department for something which is akin to the hair of the books for Jamie, which almost has a role of it’s own

  9. So … I’m binge-watching this season now, because I am insanely late.
    I just watched the governor’s ball episode (with the mannish Geilis wig), and I thought Claire’s yellow dress looked familiar.
    The show-runners were saying that they did in fact re-use several of Claire’s costumes from France (Season 2), for both her and Marsali.
    Which I thought was so lovely on many levels. The clothes were expensive, and the Frasers aren’t a family of spendthrifts. Jamie couldn’t bear to sell Claire’s things, so he kept them; when he tried to make a new life with Laoghaire, he gave her some of Claire’s clothes (which, even if Claire isn’t a clothes-horse, must have hurt to see another woman in her frock!). Illustrates old-fashioned Scottish thrift, is in perfect keeping with historical practice (one reason it’s hard to find extant period garments is because people often re-worked them as fashions changed) and eases some of the strain on the costume budget.
    I’d be curious to see if they made any changes to the clothes to “update” them from 1740’s to 1760’s.

    1. While Ian and Jenny’s family was starving in the hard times after Culloden (but at least they had potatoes) it would make sense that the fancy clothing would’ve been sold or remade into something useful. No way that Claire’s warm coat wouldn’t have been used by many Murrays and passed down in those 20 years until it was threadbare. Jamie wasn’t at Lallybroch for much of that time period, so it wouldn’t have even been his decision to make, as he was hiding in a cave or in prison or at Hellwater. Of course, the coat pops up looking pristine and with no moth holes two decades later so Bree can wear it. I’m not buying it.

      1. It’s because the whole costume is Dresbach’s flight of fantasy, virtually none of the Scottish clothing accessories was authentic. The only things were the arisaids (the woven cloth covers the women wear over their shoulders). Claire’s green, fur trimmed button up coat hadn’t been invented at that time, the knitted sleeves, the knitten wrap-arounds, and particularly Gellis’s fluffy angora throw she wears walking in the orchard with Claire… Season 2, none of the gowns Claire wore were authentic, other than the baby poo brown one painted with flowers and worn with Marigold gloves. Louise de Rohan’s gowns were more period authentic. Dresbach bleats that she keeps to the period, but then Tweets that the red dress was thought up between herself and Barfe – who was hired to be a clothes horse, because she sure as eggs are eggs cannot act. The Batsuit would have actually got Claire burned at the stake, the fabric and the colour were not available then, let alone the zip up boots… S4 – poor people cannot afford brand new gowns, and not three of them. The wrap around tops are not authentic, neither is Claire’s men’s belt. The whole costumery for S1 – 4 are not authentic. Let’s hope the new costume designer for S5 is better informed

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