Have been anxious for and dreading this episode, and it was worth the wait. Heartbreaking and beautiful, epic and intimate, this episode took me on a journey as exhausting as the finale of season 2, bending all my emotions.
The battle scenes were exciting, horrific. fierce and felt so real. The cast of warriors gave us everything!!! The battle was also beautiful and almost mystical and Sam Heughan broke my heart.
Between his last scenes at the standing stones, holding the wrap that Claire had been wearing, to clutching the dragonfly in amber as he waited to die on the battlefield, I cried. His performance was so nuanced throughout the episode. He was fierce in battle and yet he did not have to say a word.
In quiet moments, everything was conveyed through the expressions on his face: His farewell to Rupert, his expressions as his hopes to die there were dashed first by Rupert and then by Hal Gray. Finally the realization that upon arriving at Lallybroch he had not died and yet he is at death's door. All of it there in the expressions on his face. His performance was captivating.
Caitriona Balfe tore at the heartstrings, moving on as she had promised but not as she wanted. Her scenes with Tobias Menzies were heartbreaking and beautifully done. Her face said what she dare not say out loud because of an agreement she made with Frank. Caitriona is wonderful as Claire. She was heartbroken, grief stricken and lost and only the birth of her baby brightened her beautiful face.
Review of The Battle Joined
