The first episode of Outlander focuses on Claire Randall. A nurse dealing with the wounded of World War 2 and then it is announced the war has ended.
Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and her husband Frank (Tobias Menzies) have been reunited after just seeing each other just a few times during the war. He was in military intelligence and is about to start a post as history professor at Oxford University.
They are visiting the Highlands of Scotland to reconnect. It also allows Frank to look into his family history while Claire can develop her interest in botany.
They watch an ancient druid ritual in Halloween taking place at a stone circle. Later on Claire finds herself cast backwards through time, to the Scotland of 1743.
It is the time of the Jacobite rebellions. Claire at first things she has ended up in a film set. Then she sees a man who looks like her husband but dressed as a royalist soldier who tries to rape her.
She is then rescued by Jamie Fraser, an injured rebel. Claire fixes his injured arm, later as she rides with his group, she heals his wounds after he has been shot.
We see Claire enjoy sexual relations with her husband in an old castle they visited. It is obvious Claire will have a relationship with rugged Jamie.
There is certainly an element of 'we are not in Kansas' anymore. Claire has been taken to her own land of Oz where she is the outsider. She uses her modern knowledge, medical skills and information gleaned from her historian husband to help out the rebels. Claire knows her journey is yet to begin.
This was a beautifully filmed pilot episode with marvellous shots of the Highlands. Claire is a strong and sexual character. Menzies brings sensitivity as Frank and hams it up as his malevolent ancestor, Black Jack Randall.
