Review: Outlander (TV series)

For someone obsessed with time travel, I took my time getting around to the gold standard of the genre. I didn't read Outlander, published in 1991, until ten years ago and didn't take on the rest of the story until it became a miniseries in 2014. But as they say, better late than never.

For those of you with trial STARZ accounts, or Facebook pages with advertisements that remind you of those accounts, the Outlander series, now in its fifth season, is a pretty big thing right now. And for good reason. It is world-class entertainment.

The series, based on Diana Gabaldon's novels, follows nurse Claire Randall Fraser from 1946 to 1743 and beyond on a journey through time. Along the way, Claire, played by Caitriona Balfe, tries to find her place in two worlds -- the world of Frank Randall, her professor husband, and that of James "Jamie" Fraser, her hunky highlander.

Though the Outlander series has long been considered a staple of romance, I appreciate it most for its attention to other things. Even without the sex scenes -- and yes, there are plenty of those -- it would stand on its own as an achievement of historical fiction.

It does not matter if an episode is set in Scotland in the 1740s, Boston in the 1960s, or the colony of North Carolina in the 1770s. The writers and producers make it work. They give you the glory and misery of each place and era. They provide the grit, the costumes, the accents, and the settings that so many others do not.

Beyond the attention to historical detail, I like how the main characters adapt to their changing surroundings. Claire evolves from nurse to "healer" to modern physician and back in the series and makes the most of what she has. In Season 5, she makes homemade penicillin from bread mold to treat colonial neighbors who think mercury pills and blood-letting are the answer to every ill.

Similarly, Jamie, played by the charismatic Sam Heughan, evolves from soldier to printer to landowner while supporting and mentoring a host of family and friends. Though Claire is the central figure in the series, Jamie is the most compelling. He retains his humor and his humanity despite challenges that would break other men.

I would recommend the series, in any format, to anyone. In a world where so many books, movies, and television series are overrated, this magnificent collection delivers the goods. Rating: 5/5.