Yeah, I remember after the reading the reveal wondering how I’d possibly missed the whole “Honorable First Wife” when it right there, plain as day.
I wonder if the TV folks are hinting at a different wife on purpose. Madame Jeanne, for instance.
(Believe it or not, until just now I had totally forgotten WHO his second wife is. I was thinking of Marsali as wife…gosh I need to read the book again, it’s been awhile.)
My opinion on the second wife bread crumbs. The second wife reveal in the books always disturbed me a little bit. It seemed too much like Jamie didn’t want Claire to find out and being deceptive (with Claire) was out of character for him. I rather like the fact that he wants to tell her but seems to want to understand the situation more before he discusses it with her. He never expected to see her again, she shows up, he is elated but her arrival creates complications and Ned Gowen is the person to sort things out. I think it clarifies Jamie’s perspective from the books.
The whole second wife bothered me in the book very much. And why her, of all people? And being pushed into it, more of less, by Jenny. It was weak of him and just badly done all around, mostly by the author, lol. One of those things that seems contrived in order to cause drama in other ways (like when Claire finds out) or to advance the plot somehow (Marsali and Fergus).
The drama of him having a son is enough, and it’s funny how Claire hasn’t asked questions about that.
Amen. I hated that he married L (the witch trial episode in S1 was one of my favorites…how could he, after all that???) but that’s totally Diana’s fault 
The beauty of it being a story is that you don’t need answers to questions that seem obvious at least to me. She told him about Bree, Frank, and he told her about his son and she asked him if he’d fallen in love but not “have you ever remarried”?. One would imagine that question would come up sometime during their meal as they were filling in their life details. I’d like to imagine that it is her 20th C sensibilities that assume he’d only marry someone he loved though in the 18th C I would guess marrying for love is the exception rather than the rule. Since she didn’t ask he didn’t lie to her.
In the book he never found out that L was the one that turned Claire in. They made a point of letting us know that. If Jaime had known I don’t think there was any way in $%# he would have married her. Now in the series he does know. I have a real problem with that!
Ooh I’d forgotten that @momocarly . Does he definitely know in the series? He doesn’t show up until the end of the trial…
Maybe they will do a flashback to Jenny’s pressure and all to give it some kind of context.
I really need to re-read…amazing how much I’ve forgotten.
I agree. In one of the later books, Claire tells Jamie that she’d always resented him for marrying HER because of what she’d done to Claire. He seems clueless, and when she tells him, he actually does respond with “I never would have married her if I’d known that!”
A 25 year old man was never supposed to re-marry again the rest of his life?! I get that the WHO is a problem, but it sounds like you are saying that DG having Jamie remarry is a gratuitous misuse of drama. On the contrary, I think it would be a given, whether in fiction or real life, that a young man would absolutely and understandably go on with this life and hopefully find companionship and happiness in a new marriage. So much so that one would actually have expected Claire to try to research whether or not Jamie re-married before making the commitment to come back and find him.
Meh. She was married when she met Jamie. Finding out he was married wouldn’t have kept her from going back, IMO.
Claire knew about his years in prison and she still doesn’t have questions about his son? Considering how old he is and all? I would wonder about when and how that son was conceived if he was only a year or so out of prison and working as basically an indentured servant.
Maybe she asked all the son questions during the dinner with the annoying voiceover.
LOL! @OHMomof2
I just went to check out the DG Facebook comments that @conmama and @Nrdsb4 mentioned. There really are some unhappy campers there. I wonder to what extent the writers have been given free rein to “reinterpret” the book since Ron Moore stepped back and delegated things to executive producers Toni Graphia and Matt Roberts. The trouble appears to be that the current writers haven’t read the books and aren’t nearly as talented as Diana Gabaldon. Hence the interjection of what my husband calls “the orthopedic shoes” style of writing i.e. clunky and unstylish.
Ok, I couldn’t stand the last two episodes but I loved episode 8! It had some changes from the book but they were all totally acceptable and reasonable from my perspective. I was so happy to like an episode again!
I loved 6, hated 7 and enjoyed the rest, including 8. Nice to see the family dynamics at work again, and I always enjoy lots of good C-J interaction.
The review by Karen-of-Compuserve was positive too, she always likes it when the show dialogue follows the book closely.
I totally agree. I was so disappointed and angered how they ruined things the last two episodes. I won’t say this made up for it, but I really enjoyed it. I think Tobias Menzes has done the best acting so far. But as far as visually and acting, the actress who plays Jenny comes as close to my mind in the book as any of them. I can still read the books and my Jaime and Claire are stlll there, but I bet TV Jenny will replace book Jenny whenever I read her again.
I was relieved how episode 8 went. If they had changed it to Jamie calmly confessing to Claire, I would have been livid. The fact that they were not in flagrante delicto when the girls came into the room was actually okay by me.
I don’t get why they changed the fact that in the book, Jamie never knew what Laoghaire had done to Claire in the past. Having him marry the very woman who tried to get his wife executed made his seem so much less sympathetic. His “you said to be nice to her” just doesn’t fit with his character.
I thought Catriona played the shock and pure heartbreak of learning about the marriage and children very well. I really believed she was absolutely blind sided with surprise, jealousy (as to the specific woman involved), and a profound sense of betrayal. She seemed truly, deeply shaken. That was just stellar acting on her part.
The Jenny scenes were all great (loved that they kept the water drenching scene). Yes, she’s angry throughout, but mainly because she was hurt. Her voice even shook with the emotions when she talked to Claire about it-very emotionally authentic and illustrates great acting.
What did you guys think of how they condensed Claire’s leaving/not witnessing the shooting/Young Ian chasing her down, and her getting back to Jamie just in the nick of time? I liked that in the book, you didn’t know she had even thought of bringing Penicillin until she calmly walks in, sees his state, and whips it out.
I know they have to pare down, though…
Also, did any of you notice that the actress playing Marsali bears a striking resemblance to the actress who plays Laoghaire?
I was fine with the shooting scene. I actually forgot how it played out until you mentioned it @Nrdsb4 . I think watching her leaving had the effect it was supposed to, maybe not as intense, but she was leaving. I also immediately recognized how much Marsali looks like her Mother. I also have been pronouncing her name wrong in my head. I’ve been saying Mar-Sal -e. Can’t remember how Jamie was saying it…maybe Mar -Sa-Le…with the emphasis on “Le”.
MarsslEE is how it sounded to me, but I never said it that way in my head. And yes,she looks a LOT like her mom. Actress is Lauren Lyle.
I am liking Fergus and Young Ian a lot.