Outlander – New TV Series on the Starz Network

What if your future … was the past?

That’s the tagline of the new original series on the Starz Network – Outlander.

Adapted from the international best-selling books authored by Diana Gabaldon, the series spans romance, history, science-fiction and adventure. The epic is set in the Scottish Highlands, and begins just after the end of World War II. So that makes it 1945.

A married couple, the Randalls, separated by almost five years of the war, is finally united. They decide to visit the highlands for a second honeymoon vacation, which is the best way for them to reconnect after the war.

So the highlands it is – with its special light, clean air, and the craggy mountains, streams,and the grasses, and of course the ruined castles – all make for a superb backdrop to the story. Besides what you can see and feel and touch, there’s the Scottish folklore filled with tales of ghosts. Off they go and they pass a high peak which was known as a place where back in the day, the British soldiers sat in hiding ready to rush down from their protected armaments to ambush and do battle with the Scottish rebels.

Of course there was a Druid-like ruin with a massive stone that our heroine Claire was attracted to. After visiting it with her husband, she went back the next day and touched the stone – and in a blink of the eye, she had time-traveled back to the same place , only 200 years earlier.

the KILLING: Season Four Episode One – Blood in the Water

Back for its fourth season is the KILLING. Formerly, this was an AMC production, it is now available via Netflix streaming service, and all six episodes are currently available. So you can watch them consecutively in one long day, or two a day for three days, or spread them out as you see fit. For the record – this post will just be about the first episode, of this, the final season.

Yes, we are back in Seattle with its dark and threatening skies, and leaden clouds,  with the ever-present gloom and it’s chilly atmosphere. And that’s just the people. Detectives Linden and Holden return in what might be called the 2014 version of ‘the never-ending story’.

When we last saw them, at the close of the third season, Detective Linden had just executed Skinner, who was the serial killer of young people that they had been hunting, as well as Linden’s former partner, lover, and boss. As Holder would say, “He was on his knees when you shot him. No one will ever believe it was self-defense.”

So they had to dispose of the body, and get their stories straight, because despite Linden’s feelings of guilt, she still felt that shooting Skinner was justified. Holder would later say – You want to go to prison? Is that it? I ain’t going to prison. That is after Linden arrived home with Skinner’s blood still in her hair, on her hands, and on her clothes, and she had to shower it all away. Later Holder would arrive at her house, so they could go over the details and console each other. He told her to get a few hours of shut-eye before they went in.

I aint going to prison

So begins the KILLING – Season Four Episode One called, unsurprisingly, Blood in the Water. So despite Reddick’s questions and generally smart-assery, the two detectives stayed stoic and they said that had not found Skinner.