Outlander: Blood of My Blood

Large swathes of this narrative make little sense when put into historical context. While Brian and Ellen's story is largely played out already via the books, it's interesting to see it. Julie and Henry Beauchamp's sojourn into the past however is deeply flawed. Not only do they both make the ultimate attempt to NOT find each-other by refusing to name the other OR their status and education, which would have singled them out as part of the gentry and FAR from the commons of a servant in the early 1700s, but they go so far as to make insane decisions. Julie immediately lifts her skirts to the Lord Lovat, in an arguably futile attempt at keeping her baby - something no Scottish Lord would have aborted anyway as it would not only be unchristian, but deeply evil by the morality of the time. Then she has to deal with the consequences of her idiotic decision - for some reason during childbirth - which is eminently skippable and dull. Henry approaches his newfound position as the Bladier of Clan Grant with the morality of a post 1945 socialist, seeming more interested in being a "good guy" by the hyper empathic definitions of the writing team than actually doing what needs done to find and protect his wife and child. As an ex-British Army Officer, leaning on that experience and social status would have given him an extremely beneficial social rank that could be leveraged into more assistance. Instead, he hides this useful information, and instead decides to call himself by his civilian occupation - a solicitor. And one without any functional backing in 1710... Then we get to the tropes. Brian is regularly spanked, something which makes me wonder if the writers particular kink is the ongoing spanking of male characters. Ellen goes from being a reasonable noble to a horny twenty something every other scene. Julia is utterly confused as to what she is doing, and seems to drift along with whatever is happening. And Henry is completely useless to the point I'm not sure if he actually knows he's back in time. The other characters supporting them swing from sensible one moment to caricatures of vice or virtue whenever the story requires some armour to shield the plot from the viewers boredom or contempt. This is not a good series, though it has the makings of one deep beneath the terrible screenplay.