Mo Ryan was on EW Live with Lynette Rice today. Mo’s my favorite television journalist—she’s smart and an amazing writer with great observations and insight about a lot of shows, including Outlander. (Lynette could learn A LOT from her.) She wrote that great piece for EW about why we should be thankful for Claire Fraser and that’s why they asked her to come on the show. So I decided to listen. After I did, I transcribed some of the really nice things she said about Caitriona and I’m sharing them here for those who might’ve missed the interview or didn’t want to listen because Lynette’s annoying (I sympathize). She gave a really great response to Maureen from EW (who does the recaps and unlike Lynette has read all the books), who noted that most fans gush about Sam “with good reason” but added, “…do you think maybe because she is the other half of this love story that Caitriona doesn’t get enough love from fans?”
“To me there’s certainly a large element of the fandom that really appreciates what Caitriona does [noting she has really only interacted with Outlander fans at Comic Con when it’s pandemonium]. Just speaking for myself, I’m incredibly impressed by the journey that she’s been on not just the character but also the actress. …”
She said a good comparison was Emilia Clarke. Both Caitriona and Emilia had few acting credits before taking on two characters that were loved by book readers. Then she added:
“I’m such a fan of her performance. I think that she steps into the show in which she is the lead and she is in almost every scene. … I think to step into this incredibly challenging role that was written to be complex, written to be endearing one moment and difficult or rash the next, it’s a lot and I think she grew into the role in a way that I just think is unbelievably fortuitous for me as a viewer. She’s just really taken charge of who Claire is in a way that is really impressive to me.”
Mo also made some amazing points at the beginning about Outlander being revolutionary in many different ways and not punishing Claire for liking or initiating sex that maybe I’ll transcribe later, but here’s a bit of it:
“Everything about [Outlander] I think is pretty radical and I’ve been saying that for a few years now. I still think it’s more rare to see a female protagonist [and that] unquestionably it’s a female-led show. With one woman at the core, who’s just the focus of everything.”
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