Thursday, September 8, 2016

TV Series: Outlander (Starz) (Seasons 1 & 2)



                           WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD.
 Having nothing to watch while I was waiting for the 2nd season of ‘Narcos’ to come out, I decided to give Outlander a try. I read a few things about the story, it seemed kind of interesting, and the fact that it had to do with Scotland and it was filmed in the highlands made me watch it. I am obviously not a Scot, but I have been to this wonderful country, and spend almost one week in the highlands, in several places actually. Despite it was August, everything was so green and beautiful that it took my breath (and mind) away. Well, up to a point I could bet that this series wasn’t filmed there! I don’t remember seeing so much grey and brown and faded yellow colours in the Highlands. (Later on the landscape becomes more “Scottish”). Maybe I’m wrong, so don’t take it into consideration.
Better take a look a closer look to the series itself:
  Outlander is based on a series of books, which I haven’t read, nor plan to do it. (Especially now). The main story is about Claire Randall, a young woman serving as a nurse in the 2nd World War, who has somehow travelled back in time and found herself in 1743 in Scotland. So far so good… There, she tries to adapt herself, having at the back of her mind to find a way to return “back to the future” and to her husband Frank. But things become complicated when she is taken by a Scottish clan, and at the same time she is hunted down by Jack Randall an officer of the British army, who is actually her husband’s ancestor. In order to avoid her capture by the British army, she is “forced” to marry Jamie Frazer a handsome (of course) Scottish warrior and a Clan laird, and from that point and on her life takes a different turn.  
  This is the whole story more or less written in a serious manner.
[On a lighter and funnier approach, the whole story could summarize to something like that: The books are written by a woman, and as it seems, their main target is the female audience. That is something that is becoming clear from the start, and many times it looked like a teenage girl's wet dream. So far the series followed that tough, smart (but not so smart as it turns out) and constantly horny 20th century woman who accidentally travels back in time. She spends her time thinking mostly about two things: 1. How to travel back to her time and to her husband. 2. When to bang Gingerguy (who is obviously not her husband). The series asks us intriguing questions such as: - Will she sleep with Gingerguy? (Just kidding, of course she will) - When will she sleep with him? (After almost 6 weeks) - How awesome is Gingerguy actually? (Very awesome, obviously, what did you expect? He is the hero after all).]
  If I want to be honest with you and myself, I must say that I did enjoy some episodes, but there were some times that I was struggling to continue. Also, I can’t understand why they focused for almost 2 whole episodes on that homosexual prison rape. Yes, it was including some very intense scenes, (I fast forwarded most of them), but spending almost 2 hours on that subject was a little too much for me.
  Also, despite that I really enjoyed the last 2-3 episodes of the second season, I don’t think I will continue watching it.
  So, let’s sum up: Outlander’s first 2 seasons are including 29 episodes in total, with each episode being almost an hour long. (The only exception is the 29th episode, which was almost 90 minutes long). As it seems, Outlander is more of a “female friendly” series, and you will understand that if you read the viewer’s reviews on the internet. The production and the filming are excellent, the scenery is gorgeous, but mostly because Scotland is gorgeous! So, I will give a 10 out of 10 for Scotland, but I don’t think I could give more that 6.5 - 7.0 for Outlander.

                          IMDB’s rating is 8.5 out of 10.00
By clicking on the following YT link you will be able to watch the trailer for Season 1.

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