Outlander (2014)

What makes it just plain good is the escapist fun of a romance told uncommonly well.

Despite its supporting cast of international actors who bring even thinly drawn characters to life, Outlander truly shines when Balfe shares the screen with either Heughan or Menzies.

By the end of Episode 2, you’re likely to be so invested in the characters, you’d stick with them forever, just as book readers have.

It has the look and feel of a sweeping “Game of Thrones” kind of epic filled with romance, intrigue and violence.

Outlander is by far the best of these Starz costume dramas I've seen. It knows the stories it wants to tell and the strongest way to tell them.

Yes, Outlander can occasionally be a bit much for those not already enamored of its romance-novel leanings. (I plead guilty.) But for those open to textured historical sweep and/or time travel what-ifs (guilty on both counts), it's easy to lose yourself in this gritty production's pungent sense of place, character and dilemma.

The show is more than tit for tat: it’s sheer pleasure, no guilt allowed.

The show is wonderfully conceived and executed (if a little pokey pace-wise).

It's delightful, all in all.

It’s period drama, unfolding at a period pace. It’s Starz, so it’s got some skin. Whether you get hooked probably depends on how you like Claire. It’s hard not to.

Outlander is never more engrossing than when a scene emphasizes Claire's reactions as she's forced to decide whether to say what she really thinks of a man's behavior or assertion or recitation of policy, or err on the side of silence.

The result is the most promising show in years for Starz, which since Party Down’s glory days has focused on blood-heavy spectacles like Spartacus and Black Sails or morose antihero dramas like Boss and Magic City.

Far a more escapist and pleasurable time, look to Starz, which travels the high (or Highlander) road of historical-romantic fantasy in the appealing and gorgeously filmed Outlander.

Adventure lovers of both sexes should want Outlander.

Based on that limited sampling [of two episodes], the premise strikes me as both fresh and familiar enough to make me want to see more.

It takes a while to build up satisfying dramatic steam, so it may require more patience than some are willing to give.... but there has to be something great about a show that keeps you staring at it episode after episode, waiting for attraction to take its course.

Some episodes chug along faster than others, but the stellar production values render even the slower-paced installments worthwhile viewing.

The swords and the muck may bring Game of Thrones to mind, but where Game has no heroes, Outlander has at least three, with the foremost being the one Balfe imbues with beauty, brains and spunk.

Once they buy into the richly charactered story, it'll be an even bigger challenge to let go.

After a very slow start, Outlander, from the book series by Diana Gabaldon, is a bodice-ripper with a sprinkling of science fiction, a fantasy drama with a bit of action-adventure.

There is very little urgency in the storytelling--layers of voiceover bits don't help, even--and therefore Outlander can hardly be described as compelling. In many ways, this is a story well and thoroughly told but with almost none of the smart pacing of similarly dense fictions like Game of Thrones. And yet the world created in Outlander is not without interest.

There’s something instantly likable about Outlander’s commitment to its themes and sensibilities.... Not having read the book, I find the show sort of charming and sufficiently thrilling.

Saturday's opening episode has a frustratingly deliberate pace. But "Outlander" eventually gains traction and becomes good escapist fun with doses of intrigue, suspense and, of course, steamy romance.

Ms. Balfe, Mr. Heughan and Tobias Menzies as the modern husband (who also pops up, inconveniently, in 1743) acquit themselves well, sharing the screen with the scenery and costumes and keeping straight faces through all the fantasy-romance conceits. They seem to be having a good time, and if you have a weakness for muskets, accents and the occasional roll in the heather, you probably will too.

Outlander is beautifully shot throughout, which somewhat makes up for some of the early tedium. It may not ever rise to the level of enthralling. But by the second episode, the story at hand is flexing a firmer grip.

The early episodes are a mix of lesser world-building and sometimes dull, sometimes trite, sometimes appealing fish-out-of-water tales as Claire’s knowledge of the future gets her into and out of scrape after scrape.

There are times when Outlander shows glimmerings of that vitality and emotional depth, and if we're lucky, this earnest drama will keep heading in that direction.

Once the show tones down the voice-overs, Balfe is quite good in the part of a time-tossed lassie.... Heughan swaggers in his kilt about as well as “The Simpsons’” Groundskeeper Willie (that is not a dis), but he and Balfe generate about as much heat as two piles of wet peat.

The premise provides an interesting hook for a period drama, but the show straddles too many lines, as far as tone and genre go. If it committed more fully to any one direction, it would be exponentially stronger. As it is, it feels too concerned with casting as wide a net as possible and could fail to catch many return viewers.

The show is mildly entertaining at best, with a few pluses--unusual story lines, particularly the one set after World War II, some gorgeous scenery, and one or two likable performances--counterbalanced by a few negatives. Least tolerable among the negatives: the occasional Harlequin Romance moments that have you waiting for the lass to shed her corset while the evening wind blows through Fabio’s hair.

Viewers drawn to star-crossed romance are most likely to get absorbed in Outlander, which benefits from beautiful production design--great location work with filming in Scotland--but the show also suffers from some egregious exaggerations, especially the mustache-twirling Black Jack Randall, who couldn’t be more like Satan if he had pointy red horns.

It may be possible to do something similar with Outlander, using feudal highland politics as a place to comment on contemporary issues, but so far the series only hints at this potential, leaving plenty of room for it to embrace its worst traits instead.