What Is This Thing?

Outlander, Starz's first original series under its new VP of Development, Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson. (We're all caught up on Orange Is The New Black, yes? Splendid!) Anyway, a World War II combat nurse falls into a time-hole and wakes up in 1743 Scotland, right in the middle of a skirmish between British redcoats and the ragtag rebels who will likely form the last Jacobite uprising against the future Great Britain, and yes I looked all that up on Wikipedia. Anyway, she meets a nasty double of her 20th-century husband but also a muscly dude in a kilt, so what you gonna do? Love the one you're with, as Crosby Stills & Nash sang/would sing.

When Is It On?

Saturdays at 9 PM, on the aforementioned Starz, starting tomorrow.

Why Was It Made Now?

Or was it made THEN? No, it was made now, and for two reasons:

Game Of Thrones TV -- or at least pay-cable -- is figuring out that maybe everyone might want to watch things other than The Murder Detective Crime Bros Titty Hour.

What's Its Pedigree?

Outlander is based on a series of mega-selling books by Diana Gabaldon. It's been adapted for television by Ronald D. Moore, co-mastermind of the great Battlestar Galactica. The first two episodes are gorgeously directed by John Dahl, who started out making amazing noir movies -- including Red Rock West and The Last Seduction -- but has a lot of atoning to do for his many hours of Dexter and Californication. The show features no input from Sean Connery, despite the fact that he is Scottish and appeared in movies called Highlander and Outland. Calls to Starz were not returned.

...And?

And it's got it all: time travel, fuckin', Scottish accents, kilts, horses, ponytails, highlands, lowlands, dislocated shoulders, monolithic boulders, flimsy nightgowns, boggy throwdowns. I hae nae read the Outlander books, but they're clearly a genius stew of sci-fi, fantasy, romance, historical fiction, and action. Starz was really, really smart to pick this series up, and judging by the gazillion dollars they spent on press materials, they're committed to it. (Cue the minor-key rendition of the Party Down theme.)

...But?

If I have a quibble about "Sassenach," it's that it takes its sweet time. I first watched it at night, on my bed, and when I awoke I was startled to find myself next to a gorgeous lady who identified herself as my wife before asking if I would be taking my shoes off. I mean, Claire doesn't even go to 1743 until forty minutes into the first episode. That's quite a chunk! However, when I rewatched, I was grateful for those forty minutes. Why? Because time-travel stories are often in a real hurry to get into the alternate world, but this can come at the expense of the viewer's knowing what's been left behind.

If you've seen the original version of Life On Mars, you know Sam Tyler gets knocked back to 1973 within, like, the first minute of the pilot. I'm barely exaggerating there, and as a result of the show's impatience, it's hard to root for Sam to get back to modern-day Manchester. Meanwhile, 1973, apart from Sam's gross apartment, seems kinda cool and fun. He's a cop and now he can break noses with impunity. What's the problem? We don't know because the show never gives us much of who Sam was before the big switch.

So the setup can't be that it's grrreat (I'll stop) for Claire to be stuck in 1743, because what then? There would still be episode-by-episode conflicts, but there wouldn't really be a defining conflict, something by which to guide the story. "Sassenach" gives us that by giving us a lot of time in 1945 with Claire and her husband, Frank. We get to know them as they get to know each other all over again, World War II having interrupted the start of their marriage. And it's cool, because while there's some understandable tentativeness there -- Claire was a bad-ass combat nurse in London and doesn't want to talk about what she did in the war; Frank was with MI5 and literally can't talk about what he did -- they clearly love and admire each other, and they have a healthy sexual relationship. I'm not snickering there: in a lot of time-travel stories, Frank would be a jerk, they'd have a crap sex life, and then she'd meet the hot guy in the alternate timeline, case closed. Outlander treats everyone, viewer included, like adults.

...So?

There's a moment where Jamie Fraser, the handsome Scottish fella, tells an AWOL Claire, "Shall I pick you up and throw you over my shoulder? Do you want me to do that?" and you, if you're a male viewer, realize: oh, this was not actually made for me. Which is a crazy feeling, let me tell you! Because most everything on cable TV is made for dudes! So while there are moments where things get sci-fi-corny -- Claire's ominous palm-reading in the reverend's kitchen; all the misty portent around MacStonehenge; Bear McCreary's Hobbits-on-the-Titanic score -- Outlander is a nice break from the pummeling of BROOD BROOD BROOD SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT that so populates the cable landscape, especially pay cable. Outlander is an epic, dark, expensive production that doesn't give a fuck if it ever gets watched in a "man cave," and that is goddamn refreshing.

By the way, watch "Sassenach" twice, if you can. (You can watch it free at Starz.com, or free on your cable's on-demand menu.) There's a moment, with Frank in the town square at night, that will mean nothing to you the first time and will absolutely kill you the second. That's a pretty cool trick.