Outlander Recap: I Am Not Throwing Away My Scot
This week’s Outlander heavily features Revolutionary War notables Gen. George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. All you need is Lord John crooning “You’ll Be Back,” and it’s basically Hamilton.
Meanwhile, over in the British camp, William has a surprise reunion with Jane — but it doesn’t go the way he might’ve hoped. Like, at all. Read on for the highlights of “Ye Dinna Get Used to It.” (And when you’re done, make sure to check out our chat with Silvia Presente, who plays Jane.)
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HOW THINGS CHANGE | A flashback opens the episode: We’re in 1775 London, and Lord John’s brother, Hal, has just asked him to go to New York in his stead because Hal has gout and can’t travel. As they talk about Henry and William’s military commissions, it becomes clear that the brothers are of different minds on the colonies: Lord John is for reconciliation, while Hal will consider peace — but not capitulation. “Give me your word, John, that you will never accept the notion of American independency,” Hal says. “Never,” Lord John replies confidently.
Then we cut to Pennsylvania, 1778, as Lord John — or, rather, “Bertram Armstrong” — places his hand on a Bible and swears his oath of loyalty to the United States of America in order to save his skin. Oops.
WASHINGTON FOR DINNER | Over at Bertram’s old place, a Continental soldier pushes his way past Mrs. Figg to announce that George Washington wants somewhere to have dinner with some of his generals that evening, and this home will do! The affair includes Lafayette, whom Claire met (and was enchanted by) that afternoon at the market. The jellied eels he brings to share are less enchanting; kudos to Caitríona Balfe, though, for the very funny way she has Claire choke one down while the men are chatting.
An associate of Lafayette’s arrives after everyone is seated. His name is Percival Beauchamp, which will be important later. As Washington brings the night to a close, he gifts Claire with an American flag, and everyone joins Jamie in his toast to the nascent nation. On the way out, Washington thanks Claire again for “a meal which sadly may not be recorded in the annals of history, but one to remember,” which, coincidentally, is what I’ll say as I leave every dinner gathering from here on out.
In their bedroom that night, Jamie is concerned: He’s in command of 10 militia companies, which is far more men than he’s ever led before. “Be careful, or Brianna will find you in the history books,” Claire jokes, gently reassuring her husband that he’ll be up to the task.
JANE’S BIG SECRET | Jane shows up at William’s tent with a few surprises. First, she speaks a little Latin. (“There’s a great deal you don’t know about me, sir,” she says by way of explanation.) Second, she’s got her little sister, Fanny, with her, and they need William’s protection. Jane hands William his gorget back and explains that Capt. Harkness returned, so they had to split. She’s willing to ply her trade among the British army, but doesn’t want that for Fanny.
William doesn’t completely understand what’s going on, but he gets Jane a job working as his laundress. (She doesn’t love it.) He learns that, despite working in the brothel since she was 10 (oof), she doesn’t know how to use money… because she’s never seen any of her wages. One night, she sneaks into his tent, climbs on top of him and takes off her gown, but he stops her and says he doesn’t want that. Uh, all evidence to the contrary, dude, she says with a pointed glance at his lap. But he kisses her and makes her put her clothes back on, saying that he doesn’t want to have sex if she’s doing so out of obligation. “How do you know what I want?” she asks, but he still bids her goodnight.
The next day, William gets the real story behind the sisters’ sudden arrival at the camp. When Harkness came back to the brothel, he offered double the going rate to have sex with Fanny, who was a virgin BECAUSE SHE’S A LITERAL CHILD. Jane went up to the room with her. “I had a knife from the kitchen in my gown,” Jane says, relating how she stuck the knife in his throat. Then the girls climbed out a window and got away on a farmer’s wagon.
William wonders why Jane didn’t leave sooner. Simple, she says: “I wanted to kill him.” And that seals it. William says he’s not going to turn her in to the authorities, and he asks her not to flee like she’d been planning to. Then he gets an assignment from Capt. Richardson: He’s going to bring important correspondence to a troop of Hessians. “I will not fail you again,” William says, the whole Great Dismal Swamp thing still top of mind. “You have my word.”
GREY MATTERS | Claire is seeing patients when she’s shocked to find Lord John in the line of injured prisoners waiting for her care. She brings him into the house, where Lord John is irked to see the stars and stripes hanging over his fireplace. “I’m so sorry, John,” she says as she examines his eye, which looks BAD. “Is your husband sorry?” he wonders. She softly says probably not. “I don’t blame him,” John says.
His eye socket has broken in such a way that the ocular muscle is pinched, so he can’t move his eye. Jamie enters the room and wants to know what happened to Grey since the last time they spoke; Lord John fills him in on how he got captured, got captured AGAIN and then had to swear loyalty to the United States to avoid being hanged. “So here we are,” he finishes, his angry Eye of Sauron glaring at Big Red with all of its might. To add insult to literal injury, the treatment for his pinched muscle involves Jamie holding Lord John down by the shoulders while Claire manipulates the muscle so it can move freely. She’s successful, but the endeavor looks like it hurts all three of them.
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‘OUR SON’ | Not long after, Claire and Jamie are about to leave with the army, but Lord John has to stay put under house arrest. And that’s where he is when Percival Beauchamp stops by. Lord John immediately looks like he’s seen a ghost. Percy is his stepbrother, but it’s clear there’s more going on. When they have a moment alone, Percy says he married a baron’s sister. “Which one are you sleeping with: the baron or the sister?” John asks. “Both,” Percy quips, “on occasion.”
Percy has been in France “ever since you… helped me,” but we don’t learn much more about that before Percy gets to the real reason he’s there. He alleges that Capt. Richardson is sending William on a mission to be captured in order to discredit the Grey family. (There are complicated reasons about Hal making speeches in the House of Commons about reconciliation yadda yadda but all you need to know is: William? You in danger, girl.)
Lord John demands to know why Percy is helping him. “For your beautiful eyes,” he says. And the fact that he does so in French makes it only a little less cheeseball. John seems to agree, angrily pushing Percy’s hand away from him.
After Percy’s departure, Lord John brings the Frasers into the conversation. Grey helped Percy escape prison 20 years before and fake his death, he explains, hence his feeling indebted. Claire confirms that Richardson is a spy, based on the conversation they had during their dance at the party when Jamie was dead. (Side note: That is one wild ride of a sentence, but if you’ve been watching, you’re probably still with me.)
Lord John suggests that Jamie parole him and set him free to deal with William. Ian will go with him, and their cover story will be that Grey is a prisoner. “I’m becoming quite used to wearing irons,” Lord John jokes. “Ye dinna get used to it, believe me,” Jamie says gravely. TOO SOON, LORD JOHN. But then he looks at his sometime friend/onetime punching bag and earnestly says, “Go save our son.” OUR SON. Aw, guys!
Meanwhile, William arrives at the Hessian camp. The general reads the message he brought — which essentially says, “Kill this kid, would ya?,” then cordially invites him to stay for supper.
BREE COMES TO A DECISION | In the 1980s, Brianna comes back to Lallybroch and sees that she’s missed the locksmith. But wait, why is a light on in the house? She loads her shotgun and creeps back, noticing that there are two people skulking about her home. Just then, Ernie drives up with the kids, alerting the intruders that it’s time to flee. Bree fires at them, unmasking one as he runs. And when their getaway vehicle pulls up, Rob is behind the wheel.
In the aftermath, Fiona explains that they returned with the kids because Rob was waiting for them at their house. And later on, as Bree and Fiona talk, Bree thinks it might be time for her and the kids to go meet up with Roger.
Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!
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