Watching/Enjoying this Series: "Outlander"
Saturday at 9 p.m. on Starz
This weekend brings closer the Sept. 27 midseason finale of the Scotland adventure "Outlander," but even that won't be the last chance to see it. The romantic and historical drama about a married 20th-century combat nurse who finds herself among rugged Highlanders three years before the 1746 Jacobite uprising against the English king will be just as exciting in repeats or on demand until the season's concluding episodes air next year. Perhaps even better, because this beautifully filmed, written, costumed and acted series reveals more with each viewing, yielding evermore depth to the characters and details of Highland culture and the military and political ramifications of the 1707 union with England.
The growing bond between nurse Clare ( Caitriona Balfe ) and Jamie ( Sam Heughan ), the nephew of the laird of Clan MacKenzie, is a major draw. But so are other elements. Amid the natural beauty of wild Scotland, one of the most unforgettable scenes is a staged one in the woods, arranged as carefully as a still life. In the center lies a fatally gored Highlander in the arms of another, framed on both sides by onlookers from the boar hunt. Composed like a Watteau, it has much more vigor and you can almost smell the blood on the leaves and feel the waiting horses snuffle and shudder in the chilly air.
Episode six of the Starz series will end on an emotional cliffhanger. Followed by real-world suspense the following week, when Scotland votes on independence and we learn whether Scots will repeat the sort of mistake that doomed them in the past
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