Outlander Is Having a Creative Rebirth, and Episode 2’s Deeply Affecting Farewell Is Proof
Time to flip the “Number of Episodes Since Outlander Made Me Cry” counter back to zero.
If you read our site with any regularity, you know that I’m a devotee of the books from way back, and I’ve written about Starz’s adaptation since before it aired its first episode. I’m an Oldlander through and through: I love Claire and Jamie Fraser more than any adult should probably care about fictional characters.
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That’s why it’s been so disappointing that the last couple of seasons of the show were about as vivid and interesting as that dunbonnet Jamie wore during his years in the cave. There were some standout performances and nicely handled moments (Caitriona Balfe’s harrowing work in the Season 5 finale, Sam Heughan’s portrayal of Jamie in the aftermath of Murtagh’s death) but there were also a bunch of ultimately uneventful episodes (all those times the British pressured Jamie, and we’re just now getting to the revolution?) and some really regretful scenes (the cringey goings-on in the stables at Jocasta’s wedding, may we never speak of them again).
But this week’s episode makes me very hopeful for the rest of Season 7 and Outlander’s subsequent — and final — Season 8. After a rough start in which Allan Christie confesses to impregnating and then murdering his sister, Malva (complete with a flashback that shows him thrusting on top of her while she disassociates, which I’m fairly sure was not necessary)*, we get lots of Fraser family time highlighted by the birth of Brianna and Roger’s daughter, Amanda Claire Hope MacKenzie, or Mandy for short. When that time turns troubling, thanks to Claire’s diagnosing a problem with her new granddaughter’s heart, we’re presented with some real evidence of the drama’s creative rebirth.
Mandy’s cardiac problem leads Roger and Brianna to realize that they’ll have to return to the 1970s in order for a surgeon to be able to save their daughter. This realization sets off a chain of events that gives us really good stuff from a whole lot of characters. How much did I love the episode, written by executive producer Toni Graphia? Let me count the ways:
BIG WILLIE STYLE | The MacKenzies’ imminent departure means a trip into Wilmington to procure more gems to protect the family as they travel through the stones at Ocracoke. And that’s where Brianna happens to see Lord John and William, all grown up now, as she exits a shop. “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ,” she utters. (Ha!) I loved how thrown Lord John is by her sudden appearance. William goes about his day, still unaware that he’s just conversed with his half-sister, and Lord John probably relief-sweats through his cravat while he thanks Bree for her discretion. Oh, and Jamie witnesses his children’s first meeting from down the street, which comes up again when…
MY TWO DADS | … he swings by Lord John’s rooms later. They talk about how William, a British soldier, is excited to fight and how John can’t understand why Jamie won’t also take up arms for The Crown “even for no other reason than to stand by your son?” It becomes very clear that they will not reach a meeting of the minds on something as major as the forthcoming war, and then Jamie says the thing they’re both thinking: “I fear we must sever all connection between us.” This nearly brings Grey to tears, and then Jamie is verklempt when he promises that “even in silence, I shall remain your most humble friend.” Lord John then produces a gemstone that Jamie took from the island when he was a prisoner, and presses it into his friend’s palm, telling him to use it for Brianna. With a bow (c’mon man, no hug?), Jamie thanks him and leaves. “It is my very great pleasure,” John says, barely holding it together.
‘A GIANT RAT?’ | With the rest of the jewels procured, they prep for the trip out to Ocracoke the next morning. Jamie and Bree take a walk together among the fireflies and talk about William and Disneyland, among other things. (“A giant rat? They let the bairns play with it?” Jamie asks, confused, when she tells him about Mickey Mouse.) Heughan and Sophie Skelton are just so lovely here as he worries that maybe being in his time was disappointing to her, and she reassures him, “Not at all. You are magical to me.”
JAMIE STARES DOWN HIS OWN MORTALITY | Back at their inn, Jamie gives Claire a black diamond and says he’s been saving it so she can go back, in case he passes away. She tosses it out the window and tells him to hush that noise. Then Jamie has a line that is so Hamiltonian in its punctuation, I have to call it out. He confesses that he doesn’t think he has it in him to live if she were to die. But does he say “I’m not as brave as I was before, you ken,” or “I’m not as brave as I was before you, ken”? (“Ken,” of course, Scot-slang for “know.”) You placed a comma in the middle of a phrase, Big Red. Did you intend this? Not that the gist is altered all that much, but I still loved how the line has deep meaning both ways.
THE MAIN EVENT | That brings us to the big goodbye at Ocracoke. While Claire and Bree’s parting is very moving (because they’ve done this a couple of times by now, but it never gets easier), and Jamie’s praise of Roger (“I’m proud of you”) is hard-won, the one that did me in was when Jamie broke as he had to say farewell to Bree. “I dinna have the words,” he gasps out. Then Bree reminds him that she’ll always have him and he’ll always have her, no matter what year it is. “Nothing is lost,” she says, “only changed.” YE’RE KILLING ME, OUTLANDER.
Jamie and Claire watch their family walk toward the stones, and then they’re gone. The show chooses this point to repurpose a line of Jamie’s dialogue from the book that I’d missed last season; it’s from when Claire wakes up from her illness and he tells her about Fergus’ attempt to end his life. (In the book, he’s exhorting Fergus to push on despite his existential pain.) “For your sake,” Jamie says to Claire in the episode, “I will continue. Though for mine alone, I would not.”
Back at their house, the reality of everything hits Claire and she sobs in bed that evening. I love how attentive Jamie is to her here, how much he’s suffering as well. “Weep for them,” he says sadly, stroking her back as she falls to pieces. “When you’re done, I’ll be here.” Where was THIS Jamie during The Great Ether Debacle of 2022?
I SHOULD PROBABLY ALSO MENTION | The MacKenzies survive their trip and wake up in a time where airplanes fly overhead. Success! Meanwhile, Claire comes home one day to find Wendigo Donner and some cronies in the house, ransacking it in search of the stockpile of gems he thinks she has. The thieves do uncover some gold, which surprises the Frasers; they’re more surprised to hear Mrs. Bug pipe up and say it’s hers. And when the robbers start breaking stuff in Claire’s surgery, she realizes they’ve spilled ether everywhere. Donner lights one of Bree’s matches to see what’s up, Claire yells, “No, don’t do that!” and then the house blows up.
See? Piercing emotion, forwarding of a whole bunch of stories AND a giant explosion? There’s a direction being chosen here, and I’m verra pleased to be along for the ride.
* Ian also kills Allan, then he and Claire dispose of his body in the woods. Mrs. Bug catches them, but she thinks they did the right thing and promises not to say anything. This will prove important later on.
Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!
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