The prequel to unapologetically preposterous period drama Outlander is similarly wild. It’s a melodrama-packed show with an apalling script and questionable premise. But it’s enjoyable nonetheless
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cotland, 1714, and the air is heavy with script. Scowling laird Red Jacob MacKenzie (Peter Mullan) has snuffed it and the task of spelling out the significance of the tragedy has fallen, from no little height, on his eldest daughter.
“Clan MacKenzie is vulnerable,” wails Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater). “No successor has been named. Someone else, not of our blood, could come in and take charge of the clan; of our home, of our money, of our reputation, of everything we have!”
Agreement comes from the shadows, where a maid is hiding from the soundtrack’s bagpipes. “Your father’s untimely death has shaken us all, lass,” she whispers, tremulously. “What’s to come will be a trial …” [a pause, here, to allow for the arrival of the requisite italics] “… for all of us.”
