After Outlander‘s shining success, it makes sense that Starz wanted to capitalize on its popularity and tell even more love stories set in this epic historical universe. The Outlander franchise’s unique approach to time travel eases this property into fantasy territory, while elements like witchcraft and folklore add to the mystery.
Because of the time travel element, Outlander is able to tell multiple love stories with even more intensity than those with no fantastical elements. The fish-out-of-water feeling Claire experiences is an immediate hook, and her trials are echoed a generation later as Brianna travels back in time with Roger at her heels. However, Outlander‘s prequel series, Blood of My Blood, plays it too safe. Whether due to production time constraints or a fear of retreading plotlines, Blood of My Blood is missing some ingredients Outlander made essential.
Outlander Is Better at Executing the Grim Realities of Time Travel Than Blood of My Blood
Jamie and Claire vow to live in America in Outlander (The False Bride)Image via Starz
In Outlander, Claire is ripped from her timeline in the 1940s back to eighteenth-century Scotland. Her clothing immediately sets her apart, and the first person she comes across mistakes her for a druid. As a woman in a patriarchal society, Claire must do what she can to protect herself. Her voice-over narrative does well to not let the viewer, or Claire herself, forget that she is a stranger in these lands. Her fire and independence almost never waver, and she is an inspiration, and sometimes threat, to anyone she meets.
Claire is forced into a second marriage in order to protect her life, but she steadily finds love and companionship with Jamie Fraser. Her circumstances and her station as a woman are what they are, but her growing feelings for Jamie always make sense and never feel rushed. The entire Outlander franchise hinges on their love story, and nearly eight seasons later, Jamie and Claire are still the beating heart of this generational saga.
Instalove Holds the Romance Back in Outlander: Blood of My Blood
Ellen MacKenzie and Brian Fraser embrace in Outlander Blood of My BloodImage via Starz
Outlander: Blood of My Blood explores the lives of Jamie and Claire’s parents, Henry and Julia Beauchamp. Shockingly, both of Claire’s parents are travelers. They did not die in a car crash like she believed her entire life — they were stolen by the stones just like her. Jamie’s parents, on the other hand, are not travelers but rather a bastard of House Fraser and a Lady of Clan MacKenzie. Ellen MacKenzie and Brian Fraser fell in love at first sight, and had to overcome the challenges of their differing social stations in order to actuate their feelings for one another. Their love was built first on mutual attraction, kindled by the nature of coveting the forbidden, and set aflame by their devotion to one another.
I do not doubt Ellen and Brian’s love is genuine, but it was not the slow burn fans saw with Jamie and Claire. Forced proximity, Claire’s healing nature, and Jamie’s gallantry were the ingredients for their relationship, but they had so much more screentime together to develop their dynamic before becoming husband and wife. Their love simmered, and when they were separated over and over again, viewers craved a happy ending for them. Outlander has given Jamie and Claire their happy ending in pieces, and is still pulling the rug out from under their contentment in the show’s final season.
On the other hand, Claire’s time-traveling parents, Julia and Henry, fell in love at first sight in a very different way. Before ever setting eyes upon one another, Julia and Henry exchanged letters while Henry was serving in the British Military in the Great War and while Julia worked in the censorship office. Julia’s words were a warm distraction for Henry while drowning in the trenches, and Julia fell for a man she only knew by way of letters. After Henry came home, their bond was sealed by Julia caring for Henry during and after his night terrors, courtesy of the horrors of being a soldier in a devastating war.
Outlander’s Generational Romance Story Gives Its Characters Proper Breathing Room
Brianna and Roger MacKenzie look at each other in OutlanderImage via Starz
You can’t talk about the romance in Outlander without talking about Brianna and Roger or Ian and Rachel. Brianna is Jamie and Claire’s daughter, and Roger is the Scottish scholar who followed her through time. Ian is Jamie’s nephew, and Rachel is the Quaker woman he fell in love with and married in the show’s latest season. While Jamie and Claire’s relationship is the catalyst for the show’s events, Brianna and Roger embody everything they fought for. Ian is a surrogate son to Jamie, so, by extension, he’s just as important as Brianna.
When romance fans say they want a happy ending for the main couple, many times that actualizes with the couple overcoming the obstacles put in front of them and getting married. The purest form of a romantic happy ending is starting a family and being around to see your family thrive. Jamie and Claire are rich beyond measure, not only because they were able to reunite through the bounds of time, but because their child traveled back 200 years to be with them.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood is sure to put more obstacles in front of Brian, Ellen, Julia and Henry, but the showrunners must balance accordingly. Fans were disappointed in the season finale because Brian and Ellen got most of the screentime when Henry and Julia are supposed to be main characters as well. Outlander works so well because each romance is given enough attention, and because it takes the time needed to make the romance realistic.
Blood of My Blood is a fantastic prequel series, and Outlander fans are missing out if they haven’t given it a watch yet. However, the show still has a long way to go if it wants to measure up to the sweeping love stories found in the mainline series.
