Recap / Outlander S 1 E 1 Sassenach

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Recap of Outlander
Season 1, Episode 1:

Sassenach

Claire (voiceover): There were no electric lights as far as the eye could see. So as much as my rational mind rebelled against the idea, I knew in my heart I was no longer in the 20th century.

While on a second honeymoon in Scotland with her husband Frank Randall, former World War II nurse Claire Randall finds herself falling through time to the year 1743, where she lands in the company of a band of Highlanders.

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Tropes:

• Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Frank has a slight suspicion that Claire was unfaithful during their 5 years apart, but she denies it and is deeply insulted by the insinuation. Despite his uncertainty regarding her fidelity and veracity, he claims it wouldn't bother him and he would understand considering their 5-year-separation and the emotional drains of war that might cause one to seek comfort in spite of marriage vows.
• Accidental Time Travel: Claire lands in 1740s Scotland by pure accident after touching the stone at Craigh Na Dunh while collecting a flower she wanted for her botany collection.
• After Action Patch Up: Claire has to treat Jamie twice. The first time is for a dislocated shoulder that happened in a skirmish prior to them meeting. The second time is for blood loss from a bullet wound that he received in the ambush she was able to warn them about.
• Are We There Yet?: There are a great number of travel montages. Claire repeatedly asks where she is being taken but the men around her, suspicious that she is a spy, refuse to answer and communicate in Gaelic to keep her out of the loop.
• Battle Cry: When preparing to counter the British ambush, Jamie yells "Tulloch Ard", the Clan MacKenzie war cry.
• Been There, Shaped History: Claire's simple existence begs the question of the butterfly effect. She sets Jamie's shoulder, enabling him to be able to handle a horse and wield a sword. With the knowledge from her historian husband, Claire is able to warn the Highlanders of the British ambush. Had she not been there, would the ambush have been successful? With a broken arm, rather than a recently set one, would Jamie have been able to fight?
• Big Damn Heroes: Murtaugh jumps from the top of a cliff and knocks out Captain Randall just as the soldier was preparing to sexually assault Claire. Murtaugh then takes Claire to the Clan MacKenzie hideout so she will not be recaptured by the Red Coats scouring the woods.
• Character Catchphrase: Claire often hisses "Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!" when she's upset or startled.
• Chekhov's Gun: Early in the episode Frank points out Cocknammon Rock and mentions its history to Claire. Later when she's in the 18th century, this knowledge allows Claire to prevent the Highlanders from being slaughtered by the British in an ambush.
• Circle of Standing Stones: The site of the Portal to the Past.
• Combat Medic: Claire is a veteran nurse who served on the frontlines of a World War.
• Come with Me If You Want to Live: Murtagh knocks out Black Jack Randall and yells at Claire in Gaelic to come with him. Confused, Claire hesitates, but ultimately likely figures that it can't be more dangerous than staying in the woods that are swarming with the men of the man the stranger just knocked out.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: Claire approaches Black Jack Randall, mistaking him for her husband Frank. They are the spitting image of one another, but he quickly proves to be a very different man. However, it will take several more interactions for Claire to fully accept that Jonathan Randall has none of the redeeming qualities that she loves in Frank and is, in fact, quite dangerous.
• Establishing Character Moment: Claire speaking up to offer medical advice and save someone's life, even at cost to herself, is a recurring theme.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Claire, once she finds herself in the 18th century.
• Foreshadowing: The tea leaves and hand reading suggests a couple of future scenarios.
• From Dress to Dressing: Claire rips off part of her dress to make a bandage for Jamie.
• Good Samaritan: Despite the fact that he and his kinsman are on the run from authorities, Murtagh stops to help Claire escape Captain Randall, despite knowing nothing more than that she's a woman in a need of assistance. He even takes her back to their hideout, in spite of the fact that having a scantily clad English woman in their midst increases the risk to them if they're caught by the red coats.
• Happily Married: Claire and Frank.
• Heal It with Booze: Claire uses alcohol to disinfected Jamie's bullet wound.
• High-Pressure Blood: While trying to treat a wounded soldier, Claire is sprayed across the face with an arterial spurt of blood.
• I'm Okay!: Jamie's response in Gaelic when he regains consciousness. Claire ignores him since he passed out from blood loss after being shot and fell off his horse mere days after having his dislocated arm reset.
• Inconvenient Hippocratic Oath: Claire's voiceover acknowledges that the smart play would be to remain quiet and avoid attention until she can escape. But when she sees the men about to perform a maneuver that will break Jamie's arm rather than reset the dislocated joint, she has to speak up and help him.
• Leave Behind a Pistol: Jamie tells Claire that if she can't patch him up well enough to ride, they should leave him but make sure he has a gun to decide his own fate before he can end up back in the hands of Captain Randall.
• Like a Duck Takes to Water: Claire uses the knowledge she gleamed from Frank of the area and time period to blend in better and ingratiate herself to the Highlanders, in hopes of getting help returning to Inverness and the stones.
• Loving Details: Frank describes getting in trouble for doodling the images of the lines on Claire's palms in the margins of his intelligence reports.
• Magic Dance: Claire and Frank sneak to watch the druids perform their light dance ritual to welcome the rising of the sun following Samhain.
• The Medic: Claire is a trained nurse and has extensive experience providing medical care in the field.
• Mood Whiplash: Claire is fighting to save the life of a soldier whose leg has been blown apart. He's bleeding so profusely and the wound is so gruesome that it's clear he's almost certain to lose his leg. When Claire steps out of the medic tent, she is handed a glass of champagne by a fellow medic who is celebrating the end of the war which has just been declared moments ago. As she watches the crowds of jumping, cheering soldiers, all she can do is chug from her bottle of champagne.
• Mr. Exposition: Frank Randall has a deep fascination with his family heritage and has brought Claire to Scotland to investigate it further. He routinely launches into long explanations of what the area was like two hundred years ago, during the height of the Highlander Clans. Convenient since that is where Claire will end up. Justified in-universe as Frank is both a historian and intelligence officer by trade.
• Mr. Fanservice: The first time the audience sees Jamie, he's shirtless, seated beside a roaring fire, and gleaming with sweat. Even if it is flop sweat from the pain of his dislocated shoulder, he cuts a fine figure.
• My Eyes Are Up Here: When Claire says she's a nurse, Jamie's eyes immediately drop to her chest. Claire quickly clarifies that she doesn't mean a wet nurse. Jamie gives a chagrined but still confused "oh."
• Not His Blood: In the pilot, Jamie returns from a fight full of blood. Then this conversation happens:
  Claire: You're hurt.
  Jamie: This lot isna my blood. (looks down on himself) Not much of it, anyway.
• Not That Kind of Doctor: When Claire says she's a nurse, Jamie looks at her breast. She has to clarify that she doesn't mean a wet nurse. Justified as women do not generally work in medicine during this time period. Those who do run the risk of being accused of witchcraft.
• Over-the-Shoulder Carry: Jamie threatens Claire with this if she doesn't return to the group on her own two feet.
• Portal to the Past: The stones on Craigh na Dun.
• Rescue Introduction: Murtagh saving Claire from Captain Randall's assault is how she ends up meeting Jamie, Dougal, and the rest of Clan MacKenzie.
• Rescue Romance: From the moment she sets his dislocated arm, it's clear that Jamie and Claire have chemistry.
• Retroactive Precognition: Because of the tour Frank gave her, Claire is able to warn the Highlanders of the British ambush at Rock Cocknammon.
• Rewatch Bonus: As Frank and Claire explore the ruins of Castle Leoch, Frank muses excitedly about how they are possibly walking the very same halls as his ancestor Captain Jonathan Wolverton Randall. After watching the episode, viewers will know that it is extremely unlikely that Captain Randall, a nemesis of Clan MacKenzie, ever stepped foot inside of Castle Leoch. In fact, Jamie was hiding there specifically because it was off limits to Captain Randall.
• Romantic Ride Sharing: Since she has no horse of her own and doesn't know how to ride, Claire shares a mount with Jamie. Add in chilly weather and this provides the perfect opportunity for the two to sit very closely, sharing body heat and periodically talking.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Claire swears more than anyone else in the episode. It's possible that the men's swearing is locked behind the Language Barrier where it won't offend her, they are taken aback by the language she uses.
  Claire: Come on, you God damn bloody bastard!
  Dugal: I've never heard a woman use such language in my life.
  Angus: Yer husband should tan ye hide, woman.
  Rupert: St Paul says, "Let a woman be silent, and..."
  Claire: You can mind your own bloody business and so can St. Paul!
• Slow-Motion Fall: A flashback to Claire being thrown about inside a car is shown in slow motion.
• Someday This Will Come in Handy: Frank's long winded stories about Highlander culture and history become intensely important once Claire realizes she has been teleported back in time. What had previously been useless trivia helps Claire make vitally important decisions about what she should say or do.
• Spiteful Spit: Claire spits on the soldier who is attempting to rape her.
• Terrifying Rescuer: Claire isn't sure if she's in more danger with the handsy Red Coat who is menacing her with a sword or the kilted Highlander who is yelling at her in a foreign language. She eventually decides to go with the one who didn't try to rape her, but she's not at all sure that she's any safer than before particularly when he drags her into a cabin with about a dozen other men.
• Time-Travelers Are Spies: Claire is immediately assumed to be a spy for the English. It's made worse when she inexplicably has knowledge of British troop movement.
• Title Drop: Jamie calls Claire "Sassenach" while thanking her for treating his shoulder and bullet wound.
• War Is Hell: The audience is given a flashback to Claire's time as a nurse on the frontlines of the war where she has to amputate the leg of a soldier just moments before peace is declared.
• Wham Line: When Claire finally realizes that she is not in the correct time period
  Claire: Where is the city? You should be able to see it from here.
  Jamie: Inverness? You're looking straight at it.
  Claire (voiceover): There were no electric lights as far as the eye could see. So as much as my rational mind rebelled against the idea, I knew in my heart I was no longer in the 20th century.
• You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost: Invoked by Claire when Frank comes in, puzzled by the vanishing figure he'd seen outside. As it is Samhain in the Highlands, they've been warned that ghosts are free to wander the lands. Frank and Claire took it in jest, but Frank is at a lost as to why he felt nothing but a chill when the figure brushed past him or how it seemed to wink out of existence. Although he had not yet been introduced, hindsight recognition will have viewers realize that the ghost looks remarkably like Jamie.
• You Must Be Cold: Claire is dressed in a thin slip dress that appears to be underwear by 18th century standards. Jamie offers to share his plaid.
  Jamie:[...] you're shivering.
  Claire: Oh. Well, thank you, but I'm fine. Really.
  Jamie: You're shaking so hard it's making my teeth rattle.

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