Here is a NEW Interview with Jessica Reynolds, Mark Lewis Jones and Alexander Vlahos From Entertainment Weekly
From EW:
The Christie family have only been with us for two episodes of Outlander, but already they have shown a disturbing trend toward corporal punishment.
In episode 1 of season 6, Allan (Alexander Vlahos) took a beating from Jamie (Sam Heughan) as his requisite punishment for stealing a powder horn from the Brown’s contingent of men in the Committee of Safety. But in this week’s episode, it was Malva’s (Jessica Reynolds) turn to be whipped, this time by her father, for what he perceived as her impertinence.
More after the jump!
“I found it incredibly fascinating that for Allan, especially that episode, that mirrored Jamie’s whipping and his stoic heroic-ness that we’ve come to love,” says Vlahos. “Jamie being whipped throughout the show is a symbolic thing. And then the contrast of Allan getting whipped and crying like a little boy, and the disappointment of that, I always felt was quite lovely. Because Allan sees himself as the Jamie Fraser of the Christies. He feels like he’s a real big man, but it turns out he’s not.”
Reynolds adds, “There’s an important paradox with the kids being punished and gaining the audience’s empathy. It’s always that argument of nature versus nurture. Are these guys this way because of the strict religion they’ve been placed under and the strict parenting style? Does that justify some of the things that are to come? We see them in these very vulnerable situations, and no one should be physically punished in that way. Then, we see things that they do to other people, and we think maybe they need to be punished that way.”
That’s fairly ominous. But Vlahos echoes his onscreen sister, noting, “We’re lulling you into a false sense of security with the Christies.”
So, just how bad are they then? We already know their father, Tom (Mark Lewis Jones), is so deeply religious it borders on zealotry — and he has a history of butting heads with Jamie that seems destined to continue.
“They are two very different people,” teases Heughan. “Tom is a dangerous man and uses his beliefs to control people. Jamie is quite forward thinking, and he wants a level playing field for everyone. It comes down to this power struggle with the meeting house, a place [Jamie believes is] for everyone to come no matter what their religion. But it is this exchange of power. It’s the first time that Jamie and Claire’s popularity on the Ridge wanes. Tom has a lot of followers. Jamie’s fought battles and he’s been a general and done all these things, but actually, the biggest challenge he’s had is in the form of Tom Christie.”
Tom Christie might have something to say about that. So, we got in touch with the actor behind him, as well as Vlahos and Reynolds to see what the rest of the season might have in store for this new, dark presence on the Ridge.
Leave a Reply