[Outlander Summary] S01E01: Sassenach.

For a tv show, the first episode is very important. Because it will determine whether the audience will continue watching or not. Well, I belong to this category. There is no chance for the second or third episode hehehe. Outlander S01E01 "Sassenach" managed to attract me to watch the next episodes because of the interesting and solid storyline, and strong characteristics. When in fact I am less interested with a story "traveling through time" background.

Claire Randall Monologue # 1:

People disappear all the time.
Young girls run away from home.
Children stray from their parents and are never seen again.

Housewives take the grocery money, and a taxi to the train station. Most are found eventually.

Disappearances, after all, have explanations.

Usually.

Strange, the things you remember.
Single images and feelings that stay with you down through the years.
Like the moment I realized I'd never owned a vase.
That I'd never lived any place long enough to justify having such a simple thing. And how at that moment, I wanted nothing so much in the world as to have a vase of my very own.

It was a Tuesday afternoon. Six months after the end of the war.

Sassenach begin with Claire Randall monologue about disappearance with a background of mountains in Scotland. Claire stands in front of a store in Inverness willing to buy a vase. And then we are taken to a flashback 6 months earlier, some time after the World War II was over and Claire was serving as a medical staff (nurse).

Claire Randall Monologue # 2:

Somehow in my mind, V.E. day,
the end of the bloodiest and most terrible war in human history,
grows fainter with each passing day.

But I can still recall every detail of the day
when I saw the life I wanted to sit in a window.

Sometimes wonder what would've happened
if I'd bought that vase and made a home for it.

Would that have changed things ?.
Would I have been happy ?. Who can say?

I do know this. Even now, after all the pain and death
and heartbreak that followed, I still would make the same choice.

Claire Randall Monologue # 3:

We were in Scotland on our second honeymoon.
Or at least that's what Frank called it.
A way to celebrate the end of the war years
and begin our lives anew.

But it was more than that.
I think we both felt a holiday would be a convenient masquerade
for the real business of getting to know the people.

Claire and Frank on the road to Inverness, a small city in Scotland. When they got there they found several doors including the place where they are staying has a blood mark. According to the innkeeper, the blood stains from a black cockerel as a sign of respect to Saint Odhran. As a historian, Frank know a little bit about Saint Odhran's background.

Claire Randall Monologue # 4:

Before the war we were inseparable.
But for the next five years,
we saw each other a grand total of ten days.
When the war ends, we both think things would return
to the way they once were, but they weren't.

Frank and Claire couldn't resist being cheeky when they found their bed making noises. Claire tell Frank one of the things she always remember when lying in bed during the war was Frank's laughter. To remember Claire, Frank like to drew her palm pattern that he somehow memorize.

Claire Randall Monologue # 5:

Frank's passion for History was another reason for choosing the Highlands. Not that I minded. I was raised by my Uncle after the death of my parents. Uncle Lamb was an archaeologist. So I'd spent the balance of my formative years traipsing through dusty ruins,
and various excavations throughout the world.

I had learned to dig latrines and boil water,
and do a number of other things not suitable for a young lady of gentle birth. Frank's newfound passion was genealogy.
His personal genealogy, that is.

Mine was botany.
I'd developed a keen interest in the use of plants and
herbs for medicinal purposes.

In a way, burying himself in the distant past gave Frank an ability to escape the recent. While I was in the army, Frank had served in London in Intelligence, overseeing spies and running covert operations.

He'd sent dozens of men behind the lines on secret missions.
And most never came back. He didn't talk about it very often, but I knew it was preyed on him.

When driving through Inverness, they passed a place called Cocknammon Rock. In 17th and 18th centuries, British soldiers used Cocknammon Rock as a place to ambush Scottish rebels. They also visited Castle Leoch, the residence of MacKenzie clan in 18th century. In his research, Frank had no evidence whether his ancestors had visited Castle Leoch or not.

With Reverend Wakefield, Frank found a document about his ancestor Captain Jonathan Wolverton Randall, a commander of British army in 1740. Mrs. Graham, Wakerfield's housekeeper offered to read Claire's palm. She saw that there are two marriages in Claire's hands. But strangely the marriage line did not break but it forked instead.

Claire Randall Monologue # 6:

I'd never put any stock in a superstition.
And my catholicism was nominal at best.
However, I couldn't shake the feeling that Mrs. Graham's words
had the ring of prophecy.

The war had taught me to cherish the present
because tomorrow might not ever come to pass.
What I didn't know at the time was that tomorrow would prove
less important than yesterday.

Sex was our bridge back to one another.
The one place where we always met.
Whatever obstacles are presented themselves during the day or night,
we could seek out and find each other again in bed.

As long as we had that, I had faith that everything would work out.

On his way back from the house of Reverend Wakefield to where they were staying, Frank saw a man standing watching Claire from under their bedroom window. Frank said to Claire it's like he was seeing a ghost that disappeared immediately when he called him. Frank asks if Claire ever treated a Scottish man during the war. Claire asks if Frank accused her being unfaithful during the war.

The same night, Frank asked Claire to visit a place called Craigh na Dun, surrounded by standing stones to see the ritual of a group of locals.

Claire Randall Monologue # 7:

They should have been ridiculous.
And perhaps they were.
Parading in circles on top of a hill.
But the hairs on the back of my neck are prickled at the sight.

And some small voice inside warned me, I wasn't supposed to be here.
That I was an unwelcome voyeur to something ancient and powerful.

The ritual is finished at sunrise time. After a group of locals left Craigh na Dun, Frank and Claire made their own observations of the place. Claire is attracted by a blue flower. On day time without Frank, Claire returned to Craigh na Dun to observe more of the plant. While at Craigh na Dun, Claire heard a buzzing noise that led her to touch one of the rocks.

Claire Randall Monologue # 8:

Once, traveling at night,
I fell asleep in the passenger seat of a moving car.
Lulled by the noise and the motion into an illusion of serene weightlessness.

Then the driver took a bridge too fast.
And I woke to see the world spinning outside the car windows,
and the sickening sensation of falling at high speed.
That is as close as I can come to describing what I experienced.

But it falls woefully short.

Claire then woke up and found herself in a different situation around Craigh na Dun. The parked car was not in its place. Amid her confusion, Claire was suddenly getting shot by several British soldiers and received unpleasant behavior from a British army captain, Jonathan Randall. Claire then rescued by a highlander named Murtagh. Murtagh take her to meet the leader of the highlander group and for the first time meet Jamie Fraser, who at the time had a shoulder injury.

Claire Randall Monologue # 9:

When confronted with the impossible, the rational mind will
grope for the logical. Perhaps I had stumbled onto the set of a cinema company filming a costume drama of some sort.

But there was no logical reason for the actors to fire live ammunition.

I wanted it to be a dream, but I knew it wasn't.
If nothing else, my erstwhile savior fairly reeked of Odors
too foul to be part of any dream I was likely to conjure up.

I decided to continue using my maiden name. If they intended to ransom me, I didn't want to lead them back to Frank.

Escape was my chief concern. But I have no idea where I was.

And trying to find the road back to Inverness in the gathering of darkness felt like a fool's errand.

The wisest course of action would have been to keep my head down,
my mouth shut, and wait for the search parties Frank must have called out by now.

There were no electric lights as far as the eye could see,
so as much as my rational mind rebelled against the idea,
I knew in my heart I was no longer in the 20th century.

Claire offered to heal Jamie's shoulder injury. Taking Claire with them, they continue their journey. When passing Cocknammon Rock they were ambushed by British soldiers. Again, Jamie get himself injured. His right shoulder was hit by a bullet. After traveling 15 miles, they finally arrived at Castle Leogh, a historical building that Claire visited with Frank 2 days earlier.

Claire Randall Monologue # 10:

Castle Leoch.
I'd been here with Frank two days ago.
Or was that in the future?.
How could I remember something that hasn't happened yet ?.

So far I'd been assaulted, threatened, kidnapped, and nearly raped.

And somehow, I knew that my journey had only just begun.

Music on Outlander S01E01: Sassenach

Main Title Theme (Skye Boat Song) feat. Raya Yarbrough by Bear McCreary.

I'm Gonna Get Lit Up (When The Lights Go On In London) by Carroll Gibbons & The Savoy Orpheans.
Frank and Claire on their way visiting Inverness for their second honeymoon and celebrate the end of the war.

Shuffle Rhythm by Jan Savitt.
Frank and Claire passing through a place name Cocknammon Rock.

Beneath the Lights of Home by Geraldo and His Orchestra.
Frank and Claire in Reverend's house and Frank found a document about his ancestor, Captain Jonathan Randall.

Dance of the Druids feat. Raya Yarbrough by Bear McCreary.
Frank and Claire watching a druids ritual at a place called Craigh na Dun.

Run Rabbit Run by Harry Roy and His Band.
Claire sitting in the chair, reading a book, looking some information about a plant she saw at Craigh na Dun.

Hamsterheid by Clanadonia.
Claire getting shot by brittish soldiers in the wood.

Fallen Through Time by Bear McCreary.
The end of episode. Jamie and Claire riding together, arrive in Castle Leogh.