Outlanders Thanksgiving Episode Gives the Books Native Americans a Much-Needed Update

This post contains frank discussion of Season 4, Episode 4 of Outlander titled “Common Ground.” Proceed with care.[hhmc]

Its almost too fitting that Starz should air this latest episode of Outlander during the American Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The episode sees our time-traveling lovers Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) find common ground—both literal and figurative—with the indigenous people who will be their neighbors in a new North Carolinan settlement the couple have named Frasers Ridge—after themselves. The episode makes a radical departure from one of the more popular, show-stopping moments from Diana Gabaldons novel Drums of Autumn seemingly as part of of the shows ongoing attempt to correct some problematic racial depictions in the source material.

In Gabaldons book, which was written over twenty years ago, the chapter titled “Noble Savages” sees the Frasers first meeting the local Tuscarora tribe after Jamie has fought and killed a real bear. The men of the tribe, who do not speak English, nonetheless come to respect Jamie thanks to his physical prowess and the honor he pays the animal he has killed. In the show, however, the animal has been changed into a mentally ill Native man who, dressed in the pelts and claws of a bear, injures both animal and human before Jamie takes him down. This change was unpopular with at least some fans. (“GIVE US THE BEAR FIGHT, SHOW,” Vultures recap demanded in its absence.) Though the change was, according to the producers and Gabaldon, at least somewhat motivated by budget and logistics, this twist on the fan-favorite fight allows Outlander to sidestep some of the pitfalls of Gabaldons book.

In a nod to the Cherokees real-life respect towards its women, the man-bear in this episode was banished from his tribe for raping his partner: “He harmed his woman,” Tawodi (Will Strongheart) tells Jamie. “One year ago. He laid with her against her wishes. That is not our way.” This is an especially intriguing path for Outlander to travel considering how much controversy both the books and show have courted over the subject of sexual assault.

In addition to Tawodis enlightened view—which, suffice to say, does not exist in the book—the character uses English when speaking with Jamie. In Gabaldons book, the Native characters who first meet the Frasers can only communicate through gestures and grunting. When he meets them, Jamie is reluctant to give them whiskey because hes heard the Natives have an issue with drinking. The men of the tribe offer a pipe as a gesture of peace before one of them grabs Claires breast to determine if she is, indeed, a woman. A faithful adaptation of this Drums of Autumn scene likely would not have gone over well at all—especially not during a holiday weekend when the question of white settlers and their attitudes towards the indigenous population of America is, theoretically, on many peoples minds.

Speaking with Vanity Fair about the shows plans for its Native characters earlier this year, executive producer Maril Davis said: “Unfortunately, there are many story lines in this book that are not necessarily so flattering to Native Americans. Were sticking to the source, but we also want to be sensitive to the Native Americans [and] show things from their perspective as well, so it doesnt seem so one-sided.” In order to explore the non-white side of the story, writer and executive producer Matthew B. Roberts , flew to North Carolina and sought input from a Cherokee leader.

This isnt the first time that the Starz adaptation of Gabaldons novels has attempted to smooth over some of the rougher edges of the authors depiction of non-white characters. Last year, Roberts explained to Buzzfeed some of the changes the show had made to controversial non-white characters in Season 3. In the same piece, Gabaldon herself—who identifies as half-Hispanic—vigorously defended some of the language and attitudes in her books. In Drums of Autumn, for example, Jamie and Claire never stop calling their neighbors “savages.” Instances such as this, in Gabaldons view, are meant to be as much of a commentary on the Frasers as anything else:

Time-travel stories offer a writer a lot of scope to make social commentary — but very few such books are making commentary on the (always modern) time-traveler; its very one-sided. Mine kind of arent. The main point here is that Claire is not (emphatically not) a modern woman. She was born in 1918 and became an adult on the eve of World War II. The point here is that Claires attitudes and perceptions are those of a woman with her background, experiences and perceptions. They arent much like the attitudes of an American 30-something of today.

But the Starz adaptation doesnt always have room to thread the needle that finely. Compare Gabaldons attempts to depict the period-appropriate bigotry Claire and Jamie might exhibit in their dealings with Black, Native, and Asian characters with Jamies pointedly woke speech to Governor Tryon at the beginning of this weeks episode. When the Tryon sneeringly reports of the savagery that Jamie might find along Frasers Ridge, Jamie responds: “Savagery can exist in many forms, majesty . . . Ive witnessed it in both prince and pauper.” Speaking with Vulture, Heughan said he approved of the episodes different take on Jamies big fight—even though it deprived him of his “Revenant” moment. He calls the man-bear conflict “the beginning of the sort of understanding and mutual respect that Jamie has with the Native Americans. This moment, really in their eyes certainly, gives them some respect for who he is and vice versa.”

Not every attempt the show has made to grapple with white Americas treatment of the non-white population has been well-received. A slavery plot line from two weeks ago, for instance, drew criticism for falling into a white savior trope even as the show attempted to confront the ramifications of Claires well-meaning but misguided interference. Some particularly controversy-prone stories, such as one dealing with abortion among the slave population, have been cut from the adaptation entirely.

But even when it actively avoids controversy, as with this weeks Cherokee plot, Outlander still finds itself making headlines. Actor Will Strongheart who delivered this weeks speech about how sexual assault is not the Cherokee way, was convicted in 2010 for two counts of assault against his then-girlfriend Melanie Rope. In a statement to the CBC after a Facebook post from Rope went viral last April, Strongheart wrote: “I have addressed this many times over on my social media accounts, letters/etc. I've made public and personal apologies, held myself accountable for the negative actions I had done and hoped each time was the end of it.”

When confronted about Stronghearts casting on her Facebook page Sunday, Gabaldon responded: “I have absolutely nothing to do with the casting. Sometimes, theyll tell me ahead of time whos going to play a particular part, if its an important character and they want me to announce it here when whichever media outlet theyve chosen break it, but not otherwise . . .Naturally I dont think its good that this happened. On the other hand, I dont think its reasonable to ask the production people to investigate the backgrounds of every actor they hire for a minor part.”

According to Entertainment Weekly, Strongheart will only appear in two installments this season including a significant role in next weeks episode titled “Savages.”