Blood of My Blood (S1E5): “Needfire” (Review)
Image courtesy of Starz.
In the fifth episode of its premiere season, Blood of My Blood presents “Needfire”, an episode so well crafted Diana Gabaldon (author of the original Outlander series) proclaimed it as one of her favourites of the season. Overall, the episode has longer scenes than episode 4 (“A Soldier’s Heart”), but these longer scenes allow the viewer to witness the building connection between Ellen and Brian.
Traveling to the Beltane Festival
The episode cold opens with Ellen (Harriet Slater) being fitted for her wedding gown, but when Jocasta (Sadhbh Malin) enters, she seems sad and subtly hostile.
After the credits, we see Julia (Hermione Corfield) at Leathers, her pregnancy showing much more clearly. She and Brian (Jamie Roy) are set to leave to join the Beltane festival, and Brian asks if she can travel safely (being so pregnant). Davina Porter (Brian’s mother, played by Sara Vickers) stops them. Davina says Julia must stay for Beltane as the seer, Maisri, is coming. When Brian asks why this involves Julia, Davina says Julia is carrying Lovat’s child, but we know that Davina knows the child is not Lovat’s. Brian is appalled that Julia has “lied” to him, telling him the child was her husband’s (which viewers know to be true).
While making their way to the Beltane festival, Ellan and Jocasta ride in the carriage together, trading barbs. Jocasta compares how much wealthier Ellen is about to be with her marriage to Malcolm while calling Ellen an old maid. Ellen hints at the lack of sex in Jocasta’s marriage until Ned stops them from the front of the carriage.
Brian’s departure with Murtagh has a very different tone. Murtagh is glad to have his cousin along to help him win some time with Ellen–not realising that it is Brian who is his competition for Ellen, not Malcolm.
As the MacKenzies arrive at the festival grounds, Ned reminds Ellen of her duty, and though he warns her not to be reckless, he follows that with ”but that doesn’t mean you can’t have any fun.”
We follow Ellen and Jocasta through the festival grounds, tents, fires. Ellen sees Malcolm, with Henry in the background. Ellen and Jocasta exchange a few more subtle barbs before Malcolm offers to show them around.
Henry breaks away to speak with Ned, who explains the stories about the faeries of the stones. Henry tells him Isaac Grant has received word from Lovat that Ellen is a “ruined” woman, and Ned assures him that Lovat is only trying to meddle with the MacKenzies. Henry explains that Isaac is uneasy about the union, but he has not shared that with Malcolm. Ned watches Henry walk away with a stillness that denotes importance.
We then cut to dancing under a large tent, and Malcolm explains to Ellen who to impress as she dances so she could be crowned May Queen. As any good protagonist does, she shrugs off her dancing and says she is terrible at it, but as they begin to dance, a hand takes Ellen’s waist, and Brian steps up behind her. Chemistry has increased a great deal between them in this episode and is well done–in terms of dialogue, shots, and staging. The colours in this episode are warm yellows as they dance, exchanging partners frequently enough that no one picks up on the intensifying connection between Ellen and Brian.
So cue the sadness and heartbreak: Murtagh watches Ellen with puppy dog eyes, and Jocasta takes notice of his gaze. Murtagh asks Jocasta about her husband, Mr. Cameron, showing us that he knows Jocasta is married; she tells him her husband is sick, so Murtagh suggests that she pretend to be a maiden, and they take to the dance floor together. When the dance is over, Murtagh asks if Brian put in a good word for him when he danced with Ellen. Brian says there just wasn’t time.
Of course, Ellen is crowned Queen of Beltane, and she is asked to choose her king. Malcolm steps forward and for a moment and stands alone–until Murtagh joins him. Arch Bug watches in the background, clearly honing in on Murtagh’s feelings for Ellen. A few others join the line and finally, so does Brian. Ellen walks the line slowly, her eyes landing on Brian. He shakes his head ever so slightly no for her to not select him. She picks up on the message and returns back to her betrothed, Malcolm, who she announces as her May King.
The Veil Thins
Maisri (Katharine O’Donnelly), Lovat’s seer, has arrived at Castle Leathers. Maisri tells Lovat that his return to power is imminent. He asks about his legacy, so Maisri has Julia hold an egg over her stomach and then crack it into a bowl of water. Two yolks. Maisri says she sees a little girl with dark curls and blue eyes (who we assume to be Claire), but when Lovat says he has no need of a girl, Maisri adds, “Her time is still to come.” She puts her hand on Julia’s abdomen and declares that she carries a boy who will be greater than a titled noble with a higher purpose. She says he will unite the clans, but when she says this, we see Julia standing at an angle with Davina behind her (Davina being Brian’s mother, and therefore Jamie’s grandmother). Lovat practically drools over this information and recalls a prophecy about Clan Fraser. Maisri doesn’t actually have to say much, as Lovat takes the lead: “You’re carrying a future king,” he tells Julia, while Davina looks troubled in the background. Julia looks faint, and as this scene closes, the music shifts to an unsettling tone.
Back at the Beltane festival: Ellen, Malcolm, and Jocasta walk through the grounds, when Ellen asks those building the wicker arches if they need help. She tells Malcolm he should help them, but he says it is below him as “King”. Ellen tells him she will join Jocasta for fertility blessings while he volunteers to help. Meanwhile, Murtagh and Brian drink in a tent before splitting up–it turns out, Murtagh is a sad drunk, at least in his youth.
En route to the stones for the fertility blessing, Ellen tells Jocasta she’s not going to the stones. Jocasta reveals that she knows Ellen had a hand in marrying her off to “an old coot”, though Ellen says she steered their father away from worse suitors. Ellen says they should enjoy their freedom for the tiny bit of time they have–with discretion for each other. Jocasta says she will require their mother’s necklace to seal this deal (is this the necklace from Outlander? Nope. That necklace will be a gift to Ellen when she weds from a suitor…). Ellen agrees, and then runs off to meet Brian.
The Scene
Once they meet up, they exchange how nervous they are but how at peace at the same time. As they lovingly embrace and kiss, Murtagh approaches and sees them and fights off his tears at seeing how in love they are.
Brian and Ellen relocate to a ruined abbey or church with picture-perfect gothic windows and Pinterest-worthy amounts of moss. When Brian tells her he worries that he may ruin her reputation, Ellen responds with, “Ruin me”–which has many–most?–social media groups reeling. He pauses, tears his tartan, and handfasts them before continuing (which “weds” them for the night only, it being Beltane, as sins will be burned away by the Needfire–hence the episode title).
Annnnd now it’s sexy time with a sensual, passionate scene. Though it doesn’t contain a great deal of nudity, the scene might be one of the best performed and filmed sex scenes in either series (Blood of My Blood or Outlander).
Afterwards, they rest entwined, and Brian tells her about when he left home last year when he walked “the Way of Saint James” (ahem…James, you say?) to walk the Camino de Santiago (a famous pilgrimage that people do even now–check out this video all about it). Ellen asks what God told him on his pilgrimage, to which he responds to find peace in his station. He says then he finds himself wanting again, so he could be worthy of her.
Time Resumes
The scene with Brian and Ellen is nicely paced with a longer scene time and closer shots, giving viewers a feeling as though time as stopped. As the episode progresses, it shifts back into the faster cuts we saw in episode 4. Back at the festival grounds, lovesick and drunk Murtagh stumbles into Arch Bug, who beats Murtagh and warns him to stay away from Ellen.
At Castle Leathers, Davina asks Lovat if she could speak to him about Maisri’s reading. Davina asks him if he noticed that Maisri did not call Julia’s child his. Davina rats out Julia for being pregnant when she arrived at Leathers, and Lovat asks if she’s mentioned this to anyone, while gripping Davina’s shoulder tightly–clearly a threat without words, but just in case, he takes it further. Lovat compliments Davina for her service and loyalty, then threatens to have her killed if she ever speaks of this again.
Near the festival, Henry sits in the dark. Ned approaches him, and Henry shares his disappointment about not finding his wife at the festival. Ned shares an interesting story about his own “love of his life”–in which he gives no detail, no names, and no genders. He says that he had to make some choices, and that’s how he ended up with the MacKenzies. When Henry asks if Ned ever loved again after Edinburgh, Ned takes a long drink in silence. His eyes are teary.
At Leathers, finally alone in her room, Julia puts on her gem-less wedding ring for her own moment of sadness and despair. There is no voice over now.
At the festival, Ellen is prepped for her role as May Queen in a bookend scene paired with the cold open of her in a wedding gown. Malcolm enters and asks to speak in private. He gives her a small carved brooch that he made when he had met her the first time as children. He tells her he can’t believe she is his, as opposed to Brian asking her if she had regrets for choosing him, insinuating that she had a choice and was more than a possession.
Next in our wrapping up montage, we have Murtagh in a tent, drunk, and hurt–both internally and externally after his run in with Arch Bug. Jocasta enters and aids him, though he pushes her away at first. He says he wants to be wanted, which is clearly something she feels, too, and when Murtagh kisses her, Jocasta is thrilled—someone wants her for once–until Murtagh murmurs her sister’s name: Ellen. Jocasta leaves, heartbroken and crying.
Sidenote: Davina and Jocasta are in similar positions: they have done their duty (Davina to Lovat; Jocasta to Clan MacKenzie), but they are watching other women (Julia and Ellen) having an “easier” time than they did–being celebrated, even, quite literally, as Ellen is crowned May Queen and Davina is instructed to take over Julia’s duties.
Returning to the montage, Julia holds her ring tightly, and we cut back and forth between her and Henry before she begins writing to him again. Her voice returns as the montage expands to include the festival ceremony. Fires are lit, and dancers step forward in a dance that recalls the intro of Outlander. The May Queen and King arrive. She searches the crowd for Brian, Jocasta watches her sadly from the crowd, Brian watches Ellen, and Murtagh watches Brian.
In his tent, Henry holds the charm necklace as he lies down, facing the side of the bed that would be Julia’s as the scene cuts to Julia, holding her ring and facing the side of the bed that would be Henry’s. Her voiceover recalls their wedding vows as Malcolm lifts Ellen’s veil and bows, as she watches Brian in the crowd. Though Malcolm kisses her while the crowd cheers, Ellen locks eyes with Brian as Julia’s voiceover says that some vows are bigger than altars: “I will burn for you, always.”
See the original article on Nerd Daily here: https://thenerddaily.com/blood-of-my-blood-season-1-episode-5-needfire/
