Image Source: Outlander TV News
Synopsis:
A revelation about Jemmy forces Roger and Brianna to choose between staying in the 18th century and returning to the safety of the future; Jamie finds that unrest in the backcountry has given rise to a new power.
We’re getting close to the end of the season, and this episode was definitely a rollercoaster of emotions. First of all, it was awesome, that Diana Gabaldon, herself, got to write this episode. This all-around made me happy because if the author of the book is writing an episode, then we know that she’s going to stay true to her book, and not mess up the script, or do anything stylized. It’s what the fans always want. The show to stay true to the book. I think I did read though, that Bree & Roger’s storyline had been bumped a little ahead than it was suppose to be, but that was probably the workings of the studio heads.
But starting off the episode, we see that Claire is determined to make some classic American foods for Jemmy, and since she hasn’t perfected ice cream, she decides to try out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You can never go wrong with that. It just made me laugh, that Jamie was confused about what she was doing, but the whole time, Claire had a smile on her face. We see later, that when Ian is playing with Jemmy, they’re playing with an opal necklace, and Jemmy is suddenly surprised that the opal gets hot. Queue the rest of the gang to realize that Jemmy is ready to go through the stones. And poor Ian is so lost. He finally gets some answers though, and he FINALLY finds out the truth about Claire. He had found a book from another time traveler, and Claire tells him that she’s from the future, along with Bree and Roger. Thankfully, Ian understands and had an inkling all along that Claire was a “fairy,” which she’s not, but at least he knew something was unusual about her. And Jamie tells him that Murtagh knew as well. RIP.
Jamie and Claire go to visit Ulysses at their little hideaway shack, and thank god he’s not going to get in trouble for killing Forbes. They find out that Ulysses wasn’t technically a slave, and had been freed for a while. But it was touching to hear, that Ulysses decided to stay with Jocasta never the less because he truly cared about her. I just wonder how Jocasta is feeling now, that her right-hand man isn’t there anymore. I’m pretty sure he was her only true friend.
Back at the main house, Ian is suddenly getting desperate and wants to go through the stones, to another time. He mentions a time between a man and his wife, and I’m wondering if he was married to a woman from the Mohawk, and they had to get separated or maybe he got cheated on? I’m not sure, but it’s still annoying me that Ian won’t say what happened with the Mohawk. It just sucks that he’s still unhappy and we don’t know the backstory behind it. And it was made worse because Claire and Bree tell him that he can’t go through the stones because he didn’t have any of the signs that revealed that he was a time traveler. Inside, we see that yet again, we are graced with John Grey’s presence, and we find out that he’s going back to London. But he has brought a gift for Jamie, and it’s a portrait of a more grown-up William. He still looks like a snob, but hopefully, he grows out of it.
Later that night, we get a Jamie and Claire moment, which are always my favorite, and we get some very sweet moments. We find out that Claire puts on her special perfume when she wants to get frisky with Jamie, and this time around, Jamie falls asleep early. He looked so cute, still holding his book and his glasses. But later in the night, when Claire wakes up, Jamie goes to her, and we get a little playful seduction scene. It makes me laugh that Jamie and Claire are into slapping each other’s butts. After Claire did it in this scene, it just brought me back to Jamie slapping her butt in Season 3, when they were in bed together, in the brothel. In the morning, Jamie walks over to Claire, who is looking through her microscope, and I noticed that Jamie takes a sip from his cup, and when he sets it down, Claire takes it and starts drinking from it also. So cute that they share drinks. But Jamie gets a science lesson about sperm and I liked that he particularly was interested in their tails. Later, Jamie finds Bree, and Jamie tells her about William. I kind of forgot that technically they are brother and sister, or more of step-siblings, but it was nice that Jamie showed her the portrait. And when he tells Bree to look William up in books when she goes back to the future, I wonder what she’ll find out? I get a sense that he might not be a great ruler, because of his attitude. We find out that Bree, Roger, and Jemmy are leaving in a week, and it’s sad to see them say goodbye to everyone. I really loved Bree and Marsali’s dynamic, and I was sad to see that they had to say goodbye to each other, but did I hear correctly, that Marsali is pregnant again?! She and Fergus need to quit because she literally just had a baby. And what shocked me the most, was that I got emotional when Bree said goodbye to Lizzie. Lizzie didn’t understand why she wasn’t going to go with Bree and Roger to Boston, and it got me when Lizzie said that Bree saved her. It’s so true, and she was so sincere about Bree being brave, and basically the greatest person she knows, and that was hard to see.
And when we thought all the villains were gone, we had to see Lionel Brown again. He’s such a jerk, and I feel bad for his wife. He broke her wrist because she wouldn’t lie with him, and matters were made worse, because his wife told Claire, that she read the article that Dr. Rowling put out, which was why she didn’t want to lie with him, and when Lionel came to get his wife from Claire’s surgery room, he noticed that her medical kit, had a plaque that said Dr. Rowling on it. Uh oh.
Outside, Roger has a heart to heart with Ian and decides to give him his land, which I’m guessing was River Run. That’s a lot of land, and who knows if Ian will use it at all. It was nice to hear that Roger wished happiness on Ian, and it’s been nice to see their bond grow. Bree and John reunite and talk about William, and John reveals that Ulysses is going with him to London. It’s a smart idea, and from there, Ulysses could do whatever he pleases. That night, we finally get to see the gang enjoy some PB&J sandwiches and it was a cute scene. I loved Jamie’s reaction the entire time. It was like watching a kid try something new and just seeing him eat it with a knife and fork, and really thinking about the taste, was adorable. It was funny that he was unsure about it.
The next day, was the day that Bree, Roger, and Jemmy went to the stones. I really wished we had seen a final goodbye between the family and Jamie and Claire because it seemed so sudden. We didn’t even see Roger say goodbye to Jamie and Claire. But they end up going through the stones, and it looks like they didn’t go where they wanted to. They seem confused, and I’m wondering where they went. Did this happen in the book? And back at the stones, Ian is still determined to go through and is disappointed to find out that he goes nowhere when he touches them. Back at the ridge, Claire is showing Marsali, how to put an arm back into its socket, on a patient, and here we go with a throwback to season 1, when Claire first met Jamie. But things take a turn when Lionel and his crew come and take Claire. I’m guessing because she has messed with his life one too many times and he wants revenge, but this isn’t going to be good. We’ve found out that Lionel has a lot of anger issues, so he’s probably not going to be holding back. And sadly, he was smart, and distracted the men outside, with an explosion. The episode ends with Jamie running to the cross, and lighting it on fire, and that kind of gave us our almost book ending. A fiery cross at the beginning of the season, and now towards the end.
