Synopsis:
While visiting the Cherokee, Ian encounters a man from his past who dredges up painful memories of his time with the Mohawk; Jamie meets an Indian agent who challenges his convictions, causing him to re-evaluate.
While we finally got to see what happened to Ian after going off with the Mohawk, I thought this episode was a little clunky. The extra storylines between Jamie and Claire and Claire and Malva could have been put in another episode, and this could have been a standalone story about the Mohawk and the Cherokee. I think the episode would have had more time to breathe and properly tell the story of Ian’s past and the Cherokee’s future.
Ian’s story:
I was happy to see that we finally got a look into Ian’s life as a Mohawk. He had previously given hints about his life, but we never knew the details. When Ian sees his fellow tribesman, Kaheroton, at the Cherokee village, all his past emotions spill out of him, and we learn about the family that he had created. He had married a woman that he called Emily, and they had tried to have a baby together. Sadly, Emily had miscarried twice, and because of that, the Mohawk believed that Ian’s spirit wasn’t strong enough. What was a stab in the back was that his friend, Kaheroton, took it upon himself to care for Emily, and we find out during this time that he and Emily had a son together. What was disappointing was that we got a great moment between Jamie and Ian about losing children, and I thought that moment got cut short. I wish they could have bonded more, and Jamie would have shared his story about Faith with Ian. It was also a disappointment that they were praying together for Faith to find Ian’s daughter, but we never heard what they said. That could have been an emotional moment between them.
The Cherokee:
While Ian was reveling in his past, Jamie had other matters to deal with. He meets another Indian agent at the village and quickly finds out that this Scot is up to no good. He wants to buy land from the Cherokee and ends up dueling with Kaheroton. Also, after learning about the Trail of Tears from Brianna, Jamie takes it upon himself to tell the chief about what is to come. I thought that was a bold move on his part because I know he and Claire had tried to change the past before and failed, and I was surprised that Jamie thought it was a good idea to mention that the Indians were going to lose their land. The chief is thankful that Jamie tells him the news and says he will have this talked about for generations, but I’m pretty sure this won’t change the future. I thought it was interesting too that Jamie told the chief that his wife and daughter saw visions in their dreams. Hopefully, word doesn’t spread about that.
Jamie and Claire:
We got some more light moments between Jamie and Claire that I appreciated, but as I said before, these scenes could have been put in another episode. But besides that, they talk about “greased lightning” after the couple had sex, which was pretty funny. I immediately thought of Grease, and Claire did explain to Jamie that it meant extreme speed. We did get a little story progression towards the end, though, when Jamie returned. He told Claire that he was struggling with being on both the rebel and loyalist sides and decided that he should resign as an Indian agent. I’m interested to see how that affects the story moving forward.
Claire and Malva:
It looks like Claire and Malva are two peas in a pod now, which kind of makes me sad because I miss seeing Marsali help Claire in her surgery room, but Claire is still playing around with ether. She finally tested it on some volunteers and saw some good results. But unfortunately, we can see that Malva is starting to get attached to Claire. She thought it was appropriate to watch Claire and Jamie having sex in the stables, but I’m getting a feeling that Malva’s going to be a burden moving forward. She’s going to want to be in all of Claire’s business.
