“The Watch” was enjoyable to watch even though it featured some deviations from the book. The scene in which Claire reveals her infertility to Jamie will be discussed in a separate post.
The first deviation is related to how Jamie is captured. In the books, Rabbie McNabb’s father gives up Jamie’s whereabouts to the Watch. Jamie is taken and given to the English. The TV show opted to reintroduce the English deserter, Horrocks, as the character to deliver not Jamie but the Watch to the English. By the end of the episode Jamie and Ian are active participants of the Watch, which is not a good thing for Jamie’s record. Here are some of the reasons why Jamie decided to join them.
- Jamie wants to keep his family safe. Horrocks, the deserter, basically keeps blackmailing Jamie even after he is given the money to leave. The comments Horrocks made about Claire and Jenny are also unpleasant. Later on, Jamie takes the blame for killing Horrocks to protect Ian from future blackmailing by other members of the Watch. Jamie’s confession to MacQuarrie of why he killed Horrocks has an intimidating effect: he did it because he perceived Horrocks to be a threat to his family’s safety. Jamie does not even hesitate to tell MacQuarrie that he is a wanted man. I think he basically sends an indirect message to MacQuarrie of what happens to those who blackmail him.
- MacQuarrie seems to be a decent man. He corrects the members of his band when they misbehave. For example, he shoves a fellow’s boots off the table during the dinner scene and gives money to Jamie for the damage caused by the burning of the hay.
- Ian has come to rely on the Watch for protection from the Redcoats and other clans. I like the scene in which he mentions that he would not like Jenny to experience again what happened between her and Black Jack. He also acknowledges that he likes MacQuarrie because he reminds him of Jamie and he does not pity him. MacQuarrie even encourages Ian to come to join them.
The second deviation is related to Claire taking the role of a midwife. In the books, she acknowledges that she is not experienced with childbirth. A midwife assists Jenny with childbirth and Claire is just present at this event. The TV show portrays her as being knowledgeable about childbirth. She knows that the baby is in a breech position, which I consider to be a little bit of a stretch. Based on my own experience, an OB can really determine the fetal position by palpating the abdomen. However, as a combat nurse, Claire’s knowledge and experience are mostly associated with wounded people. Of course, probably she did an internal check for dilation on Jenny and that is how she found out about the fetal position. I guess this change was made to get both characters closer since Jenny was hostile to Claire in the previous episode. Does this change work? It does since there is mutual respect between them at the end of the episode. Jenny still refuses Claire’s affection in a way. This is demonstrated when Claire gives her a kiss for the boar tusks. Both characters will be even closer by the end of the next episode with both of them trying to look for Jamie.
Other details that I like include the following events or scenes:
- Jenny is confident that the child is a boy. However, a beautiful daughter, Margaret Ellen, is born instead.
- The “girl talk” especially when the description of being pregnant is given and the fertility advice from Granny MacNabb is shared.
- Jenny’s request for whisky is hilarious. It reminds me of an advice given to me by a Childbirth Preparation Specialist before the birth of my first boy: drink a cup of wine while in labour.
- Claire giving Jamie on behalf of Jenny the little snake with Jamie’s pet name, “Sawny,” engraved on it.
- The boar tusks given to Ellen MacKenzie as a wedding gift supposedly by a secret admirer.
- After Horrocks is killed, the conversation held by both Jamie and Ian is reminiscent of what Jenny tells Claire about how close they became after the death of Willie, Jamie’s older brother. Basically Ian tells Jamie that he will never manage alone in hell so he will have to accompany him.