TV Show Review

TV Review: OUTLANDER: Season 4, Episode 4: Common Ground & Episode 5: Savages [Starz]

Sam Heughan Caitriona Balfe John Bell Outlander Common Ground

Outlander Common Ground and Savages Review

Starz’s Outlander: Season 4, Episode 4: Common Ground and Outlander: Season 4, Episode 5: Savages reviews. This article has been split into two parts. Click on “Next Page” at the bottom to read the second review.

Outlander Common Ground Review

The source of the bear attacks in Common Ground is unique. In Outlander, the viewer has seen darkness corrupt many people and twist them into human monsters. The best example of this is Captain of His Majesty’s Eighth Dragoons Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall, whose sibling was the only person that could see a residue of goodness in him. Unlike the “bear” in Common Ground, Black Jack still looked human and carried himself as a human (in public), which made him all the more dangerous.

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The Cherokee banished for rape that masquerades as a bear in Common Ground will remind some viewers of psychopath Randall Tier from NBC‘s Hannibal that dressed in a hydraulic exoskeleton fitted with a Cave Bear’s skull and claws. Unlike Tier, Bear Cherokee’s mind has completely dissolved into his psychosis to the point where he can’t tell reality from delusion. Tier knew the difference between reality, fantasy, delusion, and just didn’t care. Bear Cherokee has lost the ability to distinguish between them.

James “Jamie” MacKenzie Fraser (Sam Heughan) taking the dead body of the “bear” to the Cherokee encampment in Common Ground is clever. No other peace offering would have been as effective as what Jamie drags to the Cherokee homestead. The story behind Bear Cherokee is interesting but not as interesting as what’s fostered during the impromptu meeting i.e. peace between the Cherokee and the Frasers. The fear that has surrounded the Cherokee and the Frasers because of Bear Cherokee’s terrorization is at its end. What better way to celebrate that occasion than with a verbal peace treaty and the fostering of new friendships.

The phone call between Roger Wakefield (Richard Rankin) and Brianna “Bree” Randall Fraser (Sophie Skelton) in Common Ground is stunted, a conservation as awkward for the viewer to watch as it is for the two former love-birds to conduct. Roger and Brianna each feels inhibited about saying what they really feel to the other because of the impasse their relationship is currently in. Previously, Roger had a multitude of things to say to Brianna but was afraid of saying too much when it came to his feelings. Now Roger is afraid of driving Brianna even further away because of those feelings.

Roger Wakefield’s marriage proposal placed his fruitful relationship with Brianna Randall on life-support. The result of that proposition and the emotional toll of the Jamie / Claire fire death news Roger comes across in Common Ground influences Roger’s initial decision not to tell Brianna of her parents’ death. Roger doesn’t want to be the bearer of bad news again, he doesn’t want that on his shoulders. He knows how that feels (he is still living in a practical example of it) and Roger doesn’t want to feel (or be responsible for) that again.

Roger comes to the correct realization in the final moments of Common Ground that keeping that news from Brianna would be even worse than telling her. The lie-by-omission would poison what is left of their relationship. By the time Roger comes to this realization, it’s too late, so to speak. If Roger chases Brianna to Scotland, how much farther will he chase her? If Brianna Randall goes back in time, will Roger Wakefield go back in time after her?

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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