Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Outlanderaholic






Thus, Outlanderaholic denotes a person addicted to Outlander...and that is me.

I'm trying to remember the last time I seriously watched a TV series requiring a weekly commitment, and never missing an episode. I dabbled with Offspring in the early years, but didn't stay the course. I was a regular watcher of Miss Fisher in season one, but being on on a Friday night meant I occasionally missed an episode, and for one reason or another I missed almost all of season 2 but have it on DVD, still in its shrink wrap. I'll watch it someday. I do watch TV, it's frequently on. I like seeing Mediawatch and Q & A on a Monday. The Project is often on during dinner time, but nothing is a must watch for me. My kids watch a lot of the realty shows, so I could tell you some sketchy details about a girl called Dee annoying everyone on The Block, or that there is a magician on Big Brother, but that's about it.

You may have read this post here about my anticipation for Outlander, and my chance to see episode 1 at a preview screening. The build up had been enormous and I wasn't disappointed. My only real problem was that I don't have Foxtel and that was how you had to watch it...legally. I'm not a fan of piracy. I have friends who work in the movie industry and feel like it could impact on their livelihood if I supported that sort of activity. Fortunately a friend, who also loves the book, has Foxtel. I kind of told her, rather than asked, that I would be visiting every Thursday to watch with her! Luckily for me she was up for that. She was also my plus one for the preview screening. We're on this journey together. 

So, every Thursday, sometime before 8.30, I rock up to her place with a bottle of red or a pack of mint slices and we settle on the couch to watch our hour of television. We sigh and we gasp, and for the most part there is a stupid grin affixed to our face as we see our favourite book come to life with actors performing their roles just oh so convincingly. As book fans we notice little details that non book fans might miss... things like Jamie rubbing the back of his neck when Claire falls on him during her aborted escape attempt, and when he drums his fingers... The attention to detail is phenomenal. We're so hooked it's not funny.

I mentioned to my husband that it feels like I'm having an affair. I slip out of the house, go see my show (and my friend) and then slip back in. We don't spend hours together, just a little over an hour and then we're done for another week. Recently, we realised that I would be away for a holiday with my extended family for episode 6 and 7, and she would be away for episode 8. Six was pivotal. Having read the books, I knew approximately what it was going to feature, but also, I had read reviews from critics saying that it was a key episode, especially for the non book readers who were viewing the series without any prior knowledge of what was coming.

Fortunately my Dad was able to get this episode to play on his computer, so I lay on a bed in a hotel room with his laptop resting on my chest, desperately trying to block out the noise from other parts of the hotel and watched this amazing episode, with details so gruesome only centimetres from my eyes. The whole front of my body was burning from the heat generated by the laptop and my retinas burned from the awesome special effects used to convey flogging scenes that tore skin from the back of the main character. It wasn't ideal, but it meant I hadn't missed out.

The next episode was The Wedding. I should say THE Wedding. Every Outlander book fan the world over was anticipating this episode and the thought that I wouldn't see it was *mildly annoying. (*mildly annoying is drastically understating it) My cousin heard me lamenting the fact that I wouldn't see it and said that perhaps he could get his Foxtel Go app to play it. He checked, and yes, SOHO was one of the channels. I made plans to watch on his phone in a nearby pub, so I could use their wifi.  Thursday approached. I'd been loosely checking in on Facebook and Twitter and had seen excitement from the US fans about the episode. We were out for dinner on Thursday. My cousin encouraged me to download the app from Foxtel on my ipad so I could watch it on there. I had to hotspot into my iphone, which was already in data trouble since I'd been away from wifi for a week, but the app downloaded and it looked like all would work perfectly. My cousin detached his phone from the app and reverted it to my ipad. He could claim it back in 30 days. (What a debt I owe him!) 

We set off for the pub for the free wifi. My family were laughing at me and my need to see this TV show. I rode it out. Their good natured teasing wasn't going to put me off. When we got to the pub and asked for the wifi code they told us we couldn't have it unless we were staying there! We'd cut it fine, it was about 8.25 and I went into a panic. My sister came to the rescue and said I could hotspot to her phone. I didn't know how much data I would use but she had about 1.5gb. I bought her a cocktail, and then I moved myself aside from everyone and got it playing.

The pub was too loud. There was music, and people talking. I tried the verandah...still too loud. Can't they see I am trying to watch...and listen to my TV show?? I had to get out of there. I marched past my family. Sister's phone in one hand, ipad in the other. I headed back to our hotel and sat in the foyer. I had the keys to our room (which also allowed entry to the hotel) and knew my husband and kids would need me to let them in so I sat in sight of the front door. It was a deserted foyer. The reception desk was closed.

Occasionally someone would walk through from the street to the lifts but for the most part I had the space to myself. Thank goodness you can rewind and pause Foxtel. So I settled in to watch. I smiled like a cheshire cat the entire hour. I had to pause, and reduce volume on a couple of occasions when someone walked by....some scenes were quite sexy. But, I saw the episode. It was lovely, just lovely. In the middle my family came back and I was tempted to go upstairs with them but ended up staying in my isolated spot, away from their ribbing.

When I returned to everyone I gave my sister her phone back. She checked. I'd used .9 (point nine) of a gb. Woah! Fortunately her data was refreshing in a few days.

I'm back home now. I was able to watch the episode again, with earphones in and no distractions whatsoever. I smiled again. It truly was lovely. 

As for this week's episode I think I can wait until Saturday when my friend returns and we can watch episode 6,7 and 8 as a marathon...or.... I still have the Foxtel app, so maybe I can watch on the ipad on Thursday night.... 

As for episodes 9 through 16...that wait is until April 2015! I'm going to have to satisfy myself with re-reading the books, and hopefully getting the series on DVD for Christmas. So, yes, I guess I am an Outlanderaholic... I went to great lengths to ensure I didn't miss an episode and I still love the books, the TV series and the fact that there is more to come. I probably owe a few people a drink, or ten and a note of a thanks for feeding my addiction.



2 comments:

  1. Michelle should I watch the show or read the book first?

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    1. Book... The TV series will be re-run from Nov 7. (Apologies in advance for getting you addicted to the series...book & TV...I hope you love both)

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