‘Outlander’ season 2, episode 5 reaction: Tobias Menzies on Jack Randall’s focus on Jamie Fraser

At the end of this weekend’s new episode of “Outlander,” Jamie Fraser had to make a decision as to whether or not he would kill Jack Randall now that the two are in France, and he has the chance to do so. While he has every reason in the world to destroy him, his wife Claire convinced him to not make the move for now for the sake of preserving the timeline. She appealed to his honor, though he made it clear that he was unhappy with the demand.

But why is Randall himself so intent on being in Jamie’s vicinity? What is it about him that fascinates him so? Tobias Menzies has been fantastic in this role since the beginning, and he explains to Entertainment Weekly that many of his actions are dictated out of fascination first and foremost:

“I don’t think he hates Jamie. I think he is stimulated by him, intrigued by him. I think in some way Jamie represents everything that Jack isn’t, and you both love and want to destroy the thing that you can’t be. As someone who is interested in pain and people’s pain thresholds, he flogs Jamie and Jamie is able to withstand more punishment than he’s ever administered to anyone. So I think he finds Jamie to be a remarkable person. Yes, he’s twisted, but it’s a sort of rugged, weird respect.”

Can someone like Jack Randall make it for a full year before going after Jamie and forcing his hand? That’s one of the larger questions that we have no as a non-book reader, provided that it seems hard to fathom that he would not want to try to torment him further in that time, and Jamie’s honor only runs so deep before he has to think about his own preservation. There are many episodes still to go this season, so we imagine we’ll have a chance to figure that out.

To read our full review of this weekend’s “Outlander,” be sure to head over to the link here right now! Also, sign up over here to secure some other TV news on all we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Starz.)