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Outlander: Season Two
Score: 95%
Rating: Not Rated
Publisher: Sony Pictures Home
                  Entertainment

Region: A
Media: Blu-ray/5
Running Time: 773 Mins.
Genre: Drama/Historical/TV Series
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French

Features:
  • Faith Extended Episode - Blu-ray Exclusive
  • Dragonfly in Amber - Alternative Scene - Blu-ray Exclusive
  • Jamie & Claire: To Hell and Back - Blu-ray Exclusive
  • Designing History: The Costumes of Outlander - Blu-ray Exclusive
  • Recreating 18th Century Paris - Blu-ray Exclusive
  • Outlander Podcasts (Commentary) for Every Episode
  • Deleted and Extended Scenes with Introductions by Ronald D. Moore
  • Gag Reel
  • From Book to Screen: Discovering the Differences
  • The Characters of Season 2

Outlander: Season Two begins in a rather jarring way, long after the events of the close of the previous season. Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe, Money Monster) finds herself thrust back into her own time period, with some very difficult decisions ahead of her. Once things settle a bit, episodes will take place in 18th century France, as well as in the 1940's near the time when Claire first left, and also some in the 1960's.

Following the atrocities visited upon Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) at the close of last season by Captain Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall (Tobias Menzies, Game of Thrones), Claire and Jamie have decided to venture to France in an attempt to prevent the Jacobite rebellion which will eventually cause the demise of the Highland culture altogether. Jamie is still healing, both physically and emotionally, so he welcomes the distractions of working to infiltrate the Jacobite cause and finds "Bonnie Prince Charlie" Stuart (Andrew Gower) fairly exhausting as the Prince is quite the party animal. Unfortunately, Jamie and more specifically, Claire, make a fast enemy almost immediately upon arriving in France in the form of Comte St. Germain (Stanley Weber), when Claire identifies smallpox infecting his crew and his entire ship and all of the goods therein must be destroyed. For the better part of half of the season, he will work to destroy Claire in any way he can and St. Germaine is a very powerful man.

Even as Claire makes enemies, she also makes friends. She'll meet a kindly man named Master Raymond (Dominique Pinon) who runs an apothecary and works in the dark arts. He'll come to her aid numerous times, as she will to his. There's Louise de Rohan (Claire Sermonne) who introduces her to the social circle of France, and also to a young and innocent English girl named Mary Hawkins (Rosie Day), who Claire will discover factors heavily into her present timeline with Frank. She and Jamie will also take in a young orphan of sorts named Fergus (Romann Berrux) who will become an important person in their lives, almost like a son to them.

As Jamie works tirelessly to sabotage the rebellion while pretending to support it, Claire finds purpose in working at a local charity hospital and with Jamie having been distant since his event with Jack Randall, she finds herself having to deal with the rigors of pregnancy alone... well, Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) is always there to protect her, but he isn't much emotional support. When Jamie eventually discovers Randall is still alive, instead of breaking him completely like Claire and Murtagh feared, he is fueled and invigorated by the chance at revenge, but actions of revenge rarely go as planned and tragedy once again befalls Claire and Jamie. Being the timeless and star-crossed lovers that they are, it only brings them closer and they put France behind them, hoping to focus on winning the inevitable Battle of Culloden by returning to Scotland.

Once home, the war becomes all-important and every time they get a step closer to changing the future, the future seems to fight back. Once Claire returns to her own time, as seen in the opening of the season, we'll get to see some very interesting developments as her life progresses. Several mysteries from Season One will be revealed and we'll get to see some familiar faces as well. The end of the season only leaves the viewer anticipating what might come next in Claire Randall's saga.

The Blu-ray edition of Outlander: Season Two comes packed with special features including Podcasts for every episode, which are basically commentary yet they are very detailed; extended and alternate scenes and an extended episode; as well as featurettes on everything from the magnificent costuming this season, to the sets involved in recreating 18th century France, Claire and Jamie's latest trials together, the specific characters of this season, the differences between the book and the TV series, and an amusing gag reel.

Outlander: Season Two is a lush series that deftly combines the genres of drama, history, sci-fi/fantasy and romance and wraps them up into a compelling saga with characters you'll love and those you'll love to hate. While it's not anything children should see, due to the violence and sex, if you haven't yet seen this show and enjoy series such as The Tudors and Reign, check it out but watch Season One so you'll be all caught up. Highly recommended.



-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ashley Perkins
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