The Opening Scenes of ‘Outlander’ Season Five

Starz shared today the opening scenes of the premiere episode of Outlander season five.  It is just two scenes.

(If you are a Starz subscriber, you can watch the scene on their site or the app.)

The first scene is of Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) confronting a young Jamie after his mother has died.  The scene takes place at Lallybroch.  He pledges his loyalty to Jamie and that he will always be there for him.  To have this as an opening scene, it seems like foreshadowing to something happening to Murtagh or the relationship between Jamie and Murtagh becoming irreparable.

The second scene is between Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Roger (Richard Rankin). Roger is attempting to shave his beard with a straight edge, and he is not good at it.  Jamie steps in and does it for him.  Through their conversation, we learn that Brianna and Roger have moved into the Frasers’ cabin as they have been working on their larger, new house.  This leads us to the assumption that the new home is far enough along that they can stay in the house.  Jamie also had a ring made for Brianna for Roger to give her.  He did not expect it to be as fine as it is because he has no money.  Roger also laments his lack of skills or trade in this new place, and he hopes that he can find a way to provide for his family soon.

The two scenes don’t really fit together at all.  I am going to assume that the first scene is from before the opening credits, and the Roger and Jamie scene is afterward.  I also found it a bit strange that young Jamie did not speak or do anything other than listening and then smiling.  I felt like Duncan needed some more interaction with the young actor to make this scene work better.

What did you think of these two scenes?  Does it make you excited for February 16?