Anyone who has read the books knows that Brianna's foray into the past was significantly altered for the tv series. Originally, Brianna meets all of her family members, and Laghorie at Lallybroch, and it is so poignant because her experience is almost the exact opposite of Claire's first foray into the past. When Claire arrives in the past, she is the Sassenach, exposed and alone, a stranger in a strange land. Brianna on the other hand arrives and finds that she has the large and loving family that she didn't have before, since Claire and Frank in Boston didn't have any immediate family there.
Unfortunately, due to practical considerations regarding scheduling the showrunners could not have a big gathering at Lallybroch like in the books. So, this was changed to have Brianna spend most of her time with Laghorie instead. I have to say, it was so well done and really gives you a Laghorie's perspective of the story up to this point. To see Laghorie caring for Claire's daughter in a similar way as Claire has been caring for Marsali shows you that maybe Laghorie is not the complete devil that the show has at times portrayed her out to be. She's been disgraced by Jaime, abandoned, left to fend for herself after Claire's return, and it's hard not to have some sympathy for her.
The other noteworthy portion of the episode was Brianna's flashbacks to Frank. Tobias Menzies was so spectacular throughout the series and Drums of Autumn was so premised on fatherhood, and the ghost of Frank Randall was so prevalent in the novel that it was nice to see the tv series finally lean into those themes, something I don't think Season 4 nearly does enough of.
Unfortunately though, there are two aspects of the episode the foreshadow problems in the second half of the season. First, Roger MacKenzie's storyline is relatively mediocre. Nothing really stands out in his portion of the episode. More importantly, this episode is emblematic of the tv series problem with Brianna Randall Fraser. The tv series gives her no agency, no character, no story of her own. In the book, her arrival at Lallybroch is rife with self-discovery, of Brianna finding out who she is. Unfortunately, too often Brianna isn't the center piece of her own story. This episode ends up being more about Laghorie's story than Brianna's, more about Frank's realization that Claire would return to the past than about Brianna.
This is a problem that comes up again and again in the tv series, and sure enough, the next episode spectacularly fails because of it.
Unfortunately, due to practical considerations regarding scheduling the showrunners could not have a big gathering at Lallybroch like in the books. So, this was changed to have Brianna spend most of her time with Laghorie instead. I have to say, it was so well done and really gives you a Laghorie's perspective of the story up to this point. To see Laghorie caring for Claire's daughter in a similar way as Claire has been caring for Marsali shows you that maybe Laghorie is not the complete devil that the show has at times portrayed her out to be. She's been disgraced by Jaime, abandoned, left to fend for herself after Claire's return, and it's hard not to have some sympathy for her.
The other noteworthy portion of the episode was Brianna's flashbacks to Frank. Tobias Menzies was so spectacular throughout the series and Drums of Autumn was so premised on fatherhood, and the ghost of Frank Randall was so prevalent in the novel that it was nice to see the tv series finally lean into those themes, something I don't think Season 4 nearly does enough of.
Unfortunately though, there are two aspects of the episode the foreshadow problems in the second half of the season. First, Roger MacKenzie's storyline is relatively mediocre. Nothing really stands out in his portion of the episode. More importantly, this episode is emblematic of the tv series problem with Brianna Randall Fraser. The tv series gives her no agency, no character, no story of her own. In the book, her arrival at Lallybroch is rife with self-discovery, of Brianna finding out who she is. Unfortunately, too often Brianna isn't the center piece of her own story. This episode ends up being more about Laghorie's story than Brianna's, more about Frank's realization that Claire would return to the past than about Brianna.
This is a problem that comes up again and again in the tv series, and sure enough, the next episode spectacularly fails because of it.