Written by Diana Gabaldon, Ronald D. Moore, and Ira Steven Behr
Directed by Anna Foerster
To Ransom a Man’s Soul is probably one of the darkest things ever to air on television, and yes, I’ve watched all of Game of Thrones. This is definitely adult-only content, and even then it can be quite disturbing. It’s not the nakedness that is an issue, but the way Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies) mentally tortures Jamie (Sam Heughan) and breaks him down mentally.
Jamie is in the prison, lying on a bed with his eyes open in shock and his bloody, mutilated hand before him. Jack Randall lays next to him. Both men are naked. Outside, the British soldiers are going through maneuvers. Jamie wants Randall to follow through on his promise to kill him, rather than leave him for the hangman’s noose. Randall goes off to investigate a noise and is overrun by cattle in the halls of the prison.
The cattle are being driven by Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix), Angus (Stephen Walters), and Rupert (Grant O’Rourke). They find Jamie naked in the cell. Murtagh wraps him in tartan and gets him out of the prison through the door Claire (Caitriona Balfe) left open. Claire is waiting for them on the road. She jumps in the wagon to tend to Jamie, but he’s hallucinating and thinks it’s Randall.
They take Jamie to a monastery where he will be sheltered. Still, Jamie doesn’t want Claire to touch him. He flashes back to what happened in the prison after she left.
Claire has seen men mutilated in war, so she goes about setting the bones in his hand as best she can, as well as tending his other wounds. While trying to regroup, she goes to the chapel. Father Anselm (Ian Hanmore) meets her there and hears her confession, where she confesses everything to him.
Jamie wants to die. Murtagh rips into him but doesn’t know what to do to help him. After much discussion, Murtagh suggests they take Jamie to France, where he has Fraser family members. Willie (Finn Den Hertog) goes to see Jamie, who asks for his blade. Claire goes to see Jamie, determined to help him to want to live.
Sam Heughan has written how difficult these scenes were for him, and that he didn’t feel protected by the crew. I don’t know how he wasn’t given an award for his scenes here. He conveys his anguish with Claire as well as his love for her. His mind has been terribly manipulated to regard her touch as something to be feared, rather than feeling comfort and love. Heughan gets all of the across with some tremendous acting, although these scenes are not for the feint of heart.
In the book, Jamie was brought to a monastery in France where one of his uncles resides. Here, the monastery is in Scotland. Claire also concocts her plan to help Jamie move past the horror all on her own, Murtagh doesn’t plant the seed in her brain. I liked the way the book depicted it much better, but such is life. I can’t say they did a bad job adapting this story for the small screen. It’s just not as well crafted as it is in the book.
Duncan Lacroix also must be mentioned here for his acting. He’s Jamie’s godfather and takes that role very seriously, as has been evident this season. He doesn’t burst with emotion the way Claire does, but he has a brooding quality that shows his emotional depth. It’s the conversations between Murtagh and Claire that prompts her to do what he cannot and pull Jamie’s soul back from the brink.
It’s Caitriona Balfe, though, who performs in such a way that convinces the audience she is no longer torn between Frank and Jamie. Stepping into the darkness with him and bringing him back to her takes an emotional toll on her as well, but she doesn’t care. She loves this man completely. That’s something she can finally admit. This is the turning point where she’s really no longer torn between Frank and Jamie. This is the reason things are different for her with Frank later on in the series.
These scenes are hard to watch, and it’s an episode that shouldn’t be taken lightly. It differs quite a bit from the book. I understand there were certain concessions that had to be made for television and the audience, but some of the mysticism in what Claire does to bring Jamie out of the darkness is lost. It’s a solid way to end the first season, and at 16 episodes for this season I have no reason to complain about the production.
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Categories: Outlander, Television Reviews
I found the book far more ‘filled in’ than the series, which is to be expected, but there were many changes, like Claire’s idea being given by a man, in the series, that I found to be annoying. Thank you for pointing them out in this thourough review.
That’s usually the case with books versus movie or television adaptations. I have to say that they did a pretty good job sticking close to the ideas presented in the book. It’s in the episodes down the road that they seem to go more and more off-track.
Hello! I hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to thank you for all the love and support you’ve shown Sam Heughan throughout his career. Add me up so we can stay connected!
Every time a new season is released, I restart watching from Season 1. I always fast forward through the torture scenes at Wentworth with Black Jack Randall and Jamie. I read all the books years prior to talking about the TV series, and I agree, the books are far better.
That’s usually the case that the books are better. I think the series suffers more from deviating from the books further down the line, but they’ve done pretty well.