Do you know why Jaime and Claire's relationship works so well? Why their marriage and feelings for each other are so believable, even though their marriage starts out as an arranged marriage, one for survival rather than love? It's because Outlander puts in the work and builds a foundation to make it believable. Jaime and Claire have a friendship, have a connection before the marriage. It's not outlandish to think that Jaime and Claire would marry each other under the circumstances in Season 1 because the showrunners put in the work to build a relationship between the two. That's why when Claire decides not to return to Frank after the witch trial it's believable. You know that Jaime and Claire are in love not because you've been told they are, you see it, their relationship evolving from their original friendship.
The showrunners clearly need a reminder because everything about this episode with respect to Brianna and Roger is just so poorly constructed. You see, with what we've seen on screen up to now, there is absolutely no reason why Brianna would marry Roger, no reason to think that she would love him considering the way he's treated her, and honestly the way that she has treated him. This culminates in what can only be described as a toxic and emotionally manipulative relationship that does no justice to the original characters from the books. Clearly the showrunners need a refresher. First, the lead up to Brianna and Roger's marriage was all wrong. In the book, they actually did things together and dated for much longer than in the tv series. It was never a matter of love between them, but rather Brianna not being ready to marry Roger in 1970. Roger isn't happy, but agrees to wait for her, because there is no question that he loves her. That's why when they reconnect in the past, it makes much more sense that Brianna would agree to marry him. Without that foundation, Brianna's decision in the tv series doesn't make any sense.
Second, the tv series completely bungles the reason why Roger doesn't tell Brianna about her parents' death. The show inexplicably makes it a weird sort of selfish paternalistic matter, Roger saying that he and Fiona decided not to say anything because her mother was dead for 200 years and he wanted her to be happy so he could marry her. Once again Roger's character is tarnished for no reason. In the book, he had a legitimate reason for not telling her, he didn't believe the past could be changed. Based on Claire's story and her failure to stop Culloden, Roger didn't believe that telling Brianna would do any good, because the past couldn't be changed. It makes much more sense in the book for Roger not to tell her because why should Brianna risk injury and death when she couldn't save her parents anyway.
Third, because Brianna's character hasn't been built up at all, her rape by Stephen Bonnet is so incredibly hollow and manipulative. Jaime's rape at the end of season 1 works because it impacts his character without defining him. He has a personality and a story outside of what Black Jack does to him. Unfortunately, because Brianna is largely sidelined in the tv series and doesn't really have a character outside of being Claire and Jaime's daughter and now Roger's wife, Brianna's character largely gets overtaken by the event for the rest of the season. Her status as a rape survivor becomes her defining character trait which is just a shame considering her status as a main character in the books.
All in all, this formula leads to an emotionally manipulative episode that doesn't deliver any real connection with the characters. And, for the life of me, I can't understand why the showrunners think it is a good idea to draw comparisons from Brianna and Roger to Jaime and Claire. When Roger tells Brianna she's the most beautiful girl he's ever seen (call back to Jaime and Claire's reunion in Season 3) I want to throw up in my mouth because the show has done nothing to illustrate that Brianna and Roger would have anything close to what Brianna's parent have. It's even worse because the other half of the episode is Jaime and Claire at their absolute best, navigating the governor's social circles and working together to save Mr. Fanning and Murtagh. Cait and Sam once again completely dominate the episode and make you forget that the emotional investment is supposed to be with Brianna and Roger.
This episode is just so bad, not in the sense that it's poorly acted or produced, but just because this massive moment in the story does not resonate because of the writers inability to lay the appropriate foundation. And because the events of this episode set up the rest of the season, this episode is largely responsible for the collapse of Season 4 in the latter episodes.
The showrunners clearly need a reminder because everything about this episode with respect to Brianna and Roger is just so poorly constructed. You see, with what we've seen on screen up to now, there is absolutely no reason why Brianna would marry Roger, no reason to think that she would love him considering the way he's treated her, and honestly the way that she has treated him. This culminates in what can only be described as a toxic and emotionally manipulative relationship that does no justice to the original characters from the books. Clearly the showrunners need a refresher. First, the lead up to Brianna and Roger's marriage was all wrong. In the book, they actually did things together and dated for much longer than in the tv series. It was never a matter of love between them, but rather Brianna not being ready to marry Roger in 1970. Roger isn't happy, but agrees to wait for her, because there is no question that he loves her. That's why when they reconnect in the past, it makes much more sense that Brianna would agree to marry him. Without that foundation, Brianna's decision in the tv series doesn't make any sense.
Second, the tv series completely bungles the reason why Roger doesn't tell Brianna about her parents' death. The show inexplicably makes it a weird sort of selfish paternalistic matter, Roger saying that he and Fiona decided not to say anything because her mother was dead for 200 years and he wanted her to be happy so he could marry her. Once again Roger's character is tarnished for no reason. In the book, he had a legitimate reason for not telling her, he didn't believe the past could be changed. Based on Claire's story and her failure to stop Culloden, Roger didn't believe that telling Brianna would do any good, because the past couldn't be changed. It makes much more sense in the book for Roger not to tell her because why should Brianna risk injury and death when she couldn't save her parents anyway.
Third, because Brianna's character hasn't been built up at all, her rape by Stephen Bonnet is so incredibly hollow and manipulative. Jaime's rape at the end of season 1 works because it impacts his character without defining him. He has a personality and a story outside of what Black Jack does to him. Unfortunately, because Brianna is largely sidelined in the tv series and doesn't really have a character outside of being Claire and Jaime's daughter and now Roger's wife, Brianna's character largely gets overtaken by the event for the rest of the season. Her status as a rape survivor becomes her defining character trait which is just a shame considering her status as a main character in the books.
All in all, this formula leads to an emotionally manipulative episode that doesn't deliver any real connection with the characters. And, for the life of me, I can't understand why the showrunners think it is a good idea to draw comparisons from Brianna and Roger to Jaime and Claire. When Roger tells Brianna she's the most beautiful girl he's ever seen (call back to Jaime and Claire's reunion in Season 3) I want to throw up in my mouth because the show has done nothing to illustrate that Brianna and Roger would have anything close to what Brianna's parent have. It's even worse because the other half of the episode is Jaime and Claire at their absolute best, navigating the governor's social circles and working together to save Mr. Fanning and Murtagh. Cait and Sam once again completely dominate the episode and make you forget that the emotional investment is supposed to be with Brianna and Roger.
This episode is just so bad, not in the sense that it's poorly acted or produced, but just because this massive moment in the story does not resonate because of the writers inability to lay the appropriate foundation. And because the events of this episode set up the rest of the season, this episode is largely responsible for the collapse of Season 4 in the latter episodes.