User Reviews

I thought the first episode was very good. The costumes and the acting was wonderful as always, and I liked the end scene with the Ray Charles song. It created a nice contrast between what was seen and heard, and it was a nice way to comment on the fact that the American dream could turn into an American nightmare back in the day. The only thing I really disliked was the use of green screen in the river scene. It looked fake.

I thought the adaptions from the novel were interesting. We lost a lot of content, but I can see why some things were changed. For example, Fergus' wife is in Jamaica and pregnant while Fergus is in America. He eventually decides to leave America to be with his wife (in the book). Stephen Bonnet doesn't kill anyone in the book and he's not as charming. He steals the gold ring Claire had for 30 years and swallows Jamie's ring, which he makes her sick on a pipe and get really sick to get the ring back. Rollo is also injured in the pirate attack. Jamie is only wearing a shirt when he is attacked. There are many more changes small and big that are done in the adaptation. I have only watched up to episode 2, but they are missing a huge chunk about Brianna, Roger and Gayle that I only assume will happen later. I did like how the show continues to handle male rape. It's a topic rarely seen on screen and they are quite sensitive in their handling of it.

The season premiere was solid, but certainly a tad slow-moving, even by Outlander standards.

Then the final scene happened. Maybe the music was a little pretentious and over the top, but seeing Claire and Jamie's good deed backfire and how their hopes of a good life were quickly dashed, was compelling TV for sure.

This is probably one of my favourite episodes of the series so far (and I'm up to S5).

I should probably add that I *have read the books* and thus am getting so much of the nuance that many other reviewers clearly missed out on by simply viewing this as just a TV show.

Please, before you pass judgement on the many coincidences, leaps of imagination etc, remember that this is an adaptation of a long series series of novels, crammed into a few hour long episodes per series. Even better, read the books before continuing. I hadn't heard of the Outlander books until I stumbled across this show, and after a few episodes, realised I was missing so much from the many reviews mentioning the books, so paused my viewing of each series until I was up to date with each novel.

This is why this episode was depicted so wonderfully for me. The juxtaposition of Claire's returning to an America that is yet to exist, the future she describes to Jamie; compared with the savage, uncivilised behaviour of Stephen Bonnet at the end of the episode. The choice to play the modern song during the attack was wonderful, it perfectly symbolised his shattering of their American Dream.

It was also a refreshing change from all of the violence depicted so far.

By all means enjoy this show as TV alone, but I promise you won't regret picking up the books.

I love Drums of Autumn, the novel on which season 4 is based. It is my favorite book in the series, yet season 4 is undoubtedly the worst season of the tv series. The introductory episode is so sad, because it shows such promise but also illustrates why season 4 failed so miserably compared to the source material on which it was based.

In terms of the episode itself, it does everything you want in an episode, it sets up our characters' future adventures in America, it teases both the hopes and fears of its main characters, and it introduces a new type of villain in Stephen Bonnet. I was very excited about Bonnet because he is introduced as a different type of villain. He's not the black-hearted sadist like Black Jack, the cold as ice businessman like the Comte, the double-dealing blowhard like Sandringham, or the mysterious witch-like Gellis. In short, he's charismatic, even charming to some extent, but is a pirate through and through. Someone who you feel like could be your friend in one minute and then slit your throat the next should he so desire.

And the episode really captures the ominous nature of the Frasers arrival to America, and the promise of opportunity in their arrival. Drums of Autumn was strangely a book where not many big events happen so to speak. There is no big battle, and largely no villain to overcome, even though Bonnet is always lurking in the background. Instead, the vast majority of the first half of the plot is about Jaime and Claire's journey in actually starting to build a life for themselves. No more questions about whether they will be together, but instead the focus shifts to their efforts to build a life and the uneasiness about the fact that while they are now together, death could appear and rip them apart at a moment's notice. In that respect, the episode does a tremendous job of showing you this.

But the real big problem I have with the episode is that Bonnet takes Claire's Lallybroch ring, and does not take her gold ring from Frank. Now, I'm not a purist in that sense that I recognize the tv series can't be the same as the book. I am sure there are people who can't stand the tv series because Caitriona Balfe doesn't have brown eyes (literally one of Claire's defining features in the book are her amber hawk eyes) or Sophie Skelton doesn't have blue eyes and is short (Brianna is always noticeable because of her dark blue eyes and unnatural height for a woman). I am not one of those. But when changes are made that show a lack of understanding of the source material and begin to undermine key themes, then I have a problem.

Drums of Autumn is so compelling because the ghost of Frank Randall looms so large in the story, especially in Jaime's mind. He blames himself for letting Bonnet go, and always feels a sense of inadequacy, anger, and resentment when thinking about Frank. At the end of the book, despite having been married to Claire for close to 30 years, she has spent more time with Frank during those years than Jaime. And with respect to Brianna, it was Frank who raised, Frank who teaches her how to survive, and more importantly, Frank who is the better man and the better father, at least in Jaime's eyes.

When the gold ring is recovered in the circumstances that it is (no spoilers but those who have read the books know what I am talking about), it is such a blow to Jaime, a symbol to him of all his insecurities as a man. And, Claire is so unhappy with Jaime that she actually takes the ring and throws it at him. Unfortunately though, because the gold ring is never taken in the tv series, you never get what I believe is the best scene in the Outlander series, when at the end of Drums of Autumn, Jaime finally comes to terms with the ghost of Frank Randall, and finally "forgives him" for lack of a better word, and forgives himself. It is such a great scene because he offers Claire her gold ring back. She wants it back because Frank is a part of her, a man that she loved at one time and always had feelings for. A man who raised her daughter and in the book, actually had a large role in both Claire finding Jaime again in the past and in preparing Brianna to meet her real father. Yet she hesitates to accept it, understanding of Jaime's own insecurities, not wishing to hurt him by taking the ring. Yet he is insistent, my favorite line being something along the lines of Jaime telling Claire, I could take you from him but I will not take him from you. Jaime places the ring back on her finger, a symbol of both his acceptance of Claire's emotions and acceptance of Frank's role in his family's life.

So much of Drums of Autumn is premised on this conflict, premised on the idea of fatherhood, of manhood, and Jaime's efforts to come to grips with the fact that another man raised his child and loved his wife. In some ways, the ghost of Frank Randall becomes Jaime's biggest antagonist. America the Beautiful for all of its benefits does raise caution in that the showrunners seem to fail to grasp the importance of this theme and the importance of the fact that it was Frank's ring that was stolen, and how this symbol affects Jaime moving forward for the rest of the book and the rest of the season.

All was wonderful till the ending song ATB wasn't written till 1895, so why include it, all other songs were 1940's, 60's or Scotland 1700's

The episode had moments but the Ray Charles America-the-Beautiful song at the end was very disappointing. Completely overplayed and unnecessary.

Warning spoilers here:

I have read all the Outlander books and watched all the tv episodes and think they are quite wonderful! While the cinematography, acting, and story are great for this first episode I was thrown off by the use of contemporary music especially toward the end. It seemed confusing and out of place.

Another issue for me was that after so long being without Jamie and Claire, when viewers eventually get to see them this season, it was sort of mediocre.

There was no hook in the start of the episode to bring viewers in. It might have been better to start the episode with the fight scene and then show how what led up to that scene for the rest of the episode.

I was really annoyed with the amount of time spend mourning a guy that nobody cared about. He was a minor, insignificant unlikable character last season and I don't even semi care that he was executed. I also didn't like the changes to the theme song and to be honest, I don't understand why they are even in America at all? I really hated the part in which Jamie said he wants to make it a better home for Brianna. Brianna is all grown up! Whatever they do, won't change that. Did they learn nothing from trying to stop the Battle of Culloden? They can't change the past. Maybe they can change small events but I'm not sure that even that is possible. Why make a home in a place that is going to at war so soon?? The America Revolutionary War was over eight years long with an estimated 50,000 casualties! Why stay there? Jamie was such a patriot. He loved and breathed Scotland! It was his home. All he ever wanted was to go back to Lallybroch and make it his home. Now that he is no longer a wanted man, there's absolutely no logic reason to stay in America. Even if he doesn't care about risking himself, by staying there he is risking Claire and everyone he loves. I really miss Scotland! Go back to Scotland!! :((((

World's most unluckiest couple get in to a spot of bother. Yes that's right. Trouble, calm, trouble and calm followed by yes more troubled. I find it boring l, can we not get a story arc that has a few episodes of development to let a story develop without brawling, killing and robbery.

I've have been folkenes the series since its begining and I've been a huge fan. Season opening started well and lived up to all expectations. But then the last scene came, where we see which person Bonnet really is. Here did they choose to completely destroy it with a piece of music that smashes the serious mood and ends up being flat and comical. I'm sitting now and fearing for the rest of the season.

Bad CGI, poor story, and there are NO MOUNTAINS NEAR WILMINGTON NC. Playing ATB while a bunch of Irish River pirates attack was asinine. Irish pirates attacked the Scots not "Americans".