'Outlander' review: A TV treasure begins its final season

WHAT IT'S ABOUT After Claire Fraser (Caitríona Balfe) is nearly killed at the Battle of Monmouth, Jamie (Sam Heughan) resigns his commission in the Continental Army. Both return to Fraser's Ridge where it's a homecoming for others too, including Ian (John Bell) and Rachel Hunter (Izzy Meikle-Small). And what of Brianna MacKenzie (Sophie Skelton) and Roger (Richard Rankin) who finally reunited at the close of the 7th season? Well ...

The war suddenly seems both far away and close on Fraser's Ridge. An unexpected prophecy from the future says something will happen to Jamie at the Battle of Kings Mountain between patriots and loyalists, still a year in the future (1780). Meanwhile, recall the mysterious visit by Master Raymond (Dominique Pinon) where Claire learns that her baby daughter, Faith, lived after all. That's about to play out.

This eighth and final season (10 episodes) is adapted from Diana Gabaldon's 2021 novel, "Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone." This review is based on the first three episodes Starz made available. 

MY SAY The opening episodes of this final season trot to the finish line rather than gallop, which suggests that "Outlander" — like grieving fans — is in no big hurry to say goodbye. Stuff does happen here, and death (as always) is violent/sudden. But life itself mostly returns to normal on Fraser's Ridge. At least for now.

Maybe this is just the steadying, deep breath needed after the frenzy of the 7th season. Or maybe "Outlander" is feeling the tug of regret. Who wants to say goodbye to these characters, these lives, anyway? They've been through so much the past 12 years, and fans too — across the centuries, on two continents, through three wars, a couple dozen battles (and countless times where Jamie says "bairn" or "sassenach"). With time travel, there are always more stories to tell, and surely this beloved time traveler has more as well, right?

In fact, alas, wrong. Gabaldon is completing a 10th and emphatically final novel in the book series (which promises a different wrap from the TV one), while co-stars Balfe and Heughan want to move on too. But how to say goodbye to something that has meant so much to so many for so long?

It is hard to imagine a fan base more devoted than this one. Not only did it keep Starz afloat, but made "Outlander" as resonant as "Breaking Bad," "Game of Thrones" and "Mad Men" were to their devotees. Long breaks in between seasons got their own aggrieved sobriquet ("droughtlander"). Fans couldn't get enough, or soon enough. They still can't.

There are many reasons why, including Gabaldon's time travel gimmick (those magical Standing Stones at Craigh na Dun), which was both ingenious and inscrutable — a narrative tool unbothered by logic or the laws of nature, but absolutely critical to the emotional depth of "Outlander." Imagine a love story so profound that it endures across centuries? "Outlander" did and does.

When this first arrived in 2014, such romantic storylines were the joke and bane of prime-time. This was the era of the anti-hero, of moral ambiguity. Romance was for soap operas, or the material (and punchline) of sitcoms. Then along came Jamie and Claire. At first a bodice ripper, the bodice-ripping had to go as these two grew old together. In its place was something both moving and surprisingly plausible — a deeply devoted married couple bound to each other through space and time, through war and peace, life and death. .

Jamie once said that "when the day shall come that we part, if my last words are not 'I love you,' ye'll know it was because I didna have time." Well, time is officially running out, Jamie. And need I redundantly advise fans to get the tissues ready?

BOTTOM LINE Steady start to the final season of a TV treasure.