May 25, 2016

Here’s the Outlander Midseason Key Art

outlander

New photoshoot of Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan and Tobias Menzies for LA Times

LATimes3

See more after the jump

Beth-Topper

It truly took me about half way through the first season to start understanding, at least in some part, the adaptation process. I started to be able to see how and why things really couldn’t be exactly like the book. I started to get a grasp on how storytelling for a visual medium had to be different. I started to understand that this was Diana’s story AND Ron’s story and it really couldn’t be any other way. So, it makes sense to me that it has taken me until mid-season in this second go round to deepen my understanding. I saw seeds that were planted by the writers come to fruition in this episode 7. I saw the why of their choices in plot and characterization. I saw the method in their madness, if you will. There was a destination, a place they wanted to take us and they had to get us ready to go there.

Adaptation of a book the size and scope of Dragonfly in Amber is harder and more complex than any of us mere non-TV production mortals can imagine. I’m convinced that there is absolutely no way to win if you are the folks making the choices. You can’t win. No matter what you do you will never please everyone. I don’t know how they can stand the criticism. I especially don’t know how they stayed silent when they knew what was coming in this episode. When I think of how gracious they were in the face of complaints about shortened episodes, petty differences from the book, a heroine characterized as selfish, and a lack of sex, I’m in awe. The book lovers wanted their personal version of what was important from the books, a “faithful” adaptation and now, …several main stream TV critics suggest the show really needs to move away from the books. Good grief.