TV Show Review - Outlander (Season 2)

Season: 2
Genre: Thriller/ Drama/ Mystery/ Crime
Number of episodes: 13
Year: 2016
Starring: Catriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Duncan LaCroix, Tobias Menzies, Graham MacTavish, Laura Donnelly, Sophie Skelton, Richard Rankin, Romann Berrux

Description: An English combat nurse (Catriona Balfe) from 1945 is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743.  

Review: To sum up season 1: Claire, on her second honeymoon, disappears without a trace and ends up in 1743 Scotland. There she falls in love with the gorgeous, red-haired highlander Jamie Fraser. She marries him and adapts to the life in 1743. Meanwhile her husband Frank, in a completely different time, looks for his wife. The first season of “Outlander” had a lot to offer and left us all wanting more. That first season ended with the departure of Claire and Jamie to France. There Claire tells a wounded and abused Jamie that he is going to be a father. With that image the first season ended.
Then the start of season 2. Claire is back in 1948, lying in front of the stones. With just one question burning on her lips: who won Culloden? The English or the Scots? Were they able to change history as discussed? The answer came as a shock to her. And Frank is also in shock. His beloved Claire is finally back after three years. And she is pregnant.
What happened in those three years can be seen in the second season of “Outlander”.  Can Jamie and Claire change history? Can they make the Scots win Culloden and can they secure their own future in Scotland?
Was the second season as good as the first? No, unfortunately not. The first season was good, perfect, romantic, exciting, emotional and I felt the bond between Jamie and Claire. In the second season, I missed that connection from time to time. And the parts set in France aren’t as exciting as the parts set in Scotland. So the second half of the season is better then the first. The season focuses more on Claire, not so much on Claire and Jamie together.
But that feeling I missed for most of the season, was all brought back in the final episode. The 90 minute finale is beautiful. The episodes sometimes switch between 1746 and 1968, where we see an older Claire, her daughter Brianna and Roger Wakefield. In 1746 we see the desperate Claire, who wants to stay with Jamie. And the determined Jamie, who is prepared to die on the battlefield. He demands that Claire goes back to her own time, and raise their child.
At the very end, the opening scenes of season 2 finally make sense and the circle is connected. And again we are left wanting more.