Claire Makes Her Great Escape on 'Outlander'
Last week’s Outlander played with our emotions once again, separating Claire and Jamie in its final moments just three episodes after reuniting them. During their sea voyage to recover Young Ian from pirates, the captain of a British man-o-war, the Porpoise, boarded their boat in desperate need of a doctor. Claire offered to assist, assuming she would return to her ship, the Artemis, after helping as much as she could, but the Porpoise heeded her advice to make for land as quickly as possible - with Claire still onboard. Last week’s final moments captured Claire’s horror and fury at being separated from Jamie one more, and this week’s episode opens on Jamie’s reaction across the water. As expected, he didn’t take the news well, with the prospect of another indefinite separation from Claire nearly driving him mad.
Below, 12 things we learned from Outlander Season 3 Episode 10, “Heaven and Earth.”
1) Another cold open depicts the end of last week’s episode through Jamie’s eyes.
Just like the print shop episode showed Jamie’s perspective of his reunion with Claire after depicting Claire’s viewpoint the week before, this week’s episode opened with Jamie realizing Claire's just been kidnapped by the British navy - and he goes off like a bomb. Jamie’s pretty good at managing his own anger in a crisis, but he becomes a different person when Claire’s safety is threatened. He rages against the Artemis’s captain for allowing the ship to depart with Claire aboard and even tries to attack him, leading to a standoff between the sailors and Jamie’s men. When Jamie finally calls off his men, the captain orders him to a cell belowdeck.
It’s easy to view Jamie’s behavior as an overreaction - the captain assures him he’ll be reunited with Claire when they land in Jamaica - but you can’t forget that there were no guarantees with sea voyages in the 18th century. Jamie realizes it’s very possible he’ll never see Claire again, and he can’t handle that.
2) Claire tends to the sick on the Porpoise.
Though she’s not happy about Captain Leonard whisking her away from her husband without her consent, Claire gets to work caring for the ill on the boat. The conditions on the smelly, swampy ship are far from ideal, but Claire attempts to set standards: the sick men cannot touch each other, every surface must be kept clean, no one can come into contact with the sick’s urine or feces, and everyone entering the sick room must wash their hands with grog, a rum-water concoction common on ships in the 18th century and the only source of alcohol on the boat. When she notices her assistant, Pound, licking his fingers after dipping them in the grog, she scolds him, attempting to teach him about germs and infections. He quickly understands and recommends the indentured smugglers on the boat distill the grog into pure alcohol. She’s impressed by his intelligence - more so when she learns he’s only 14 - and they soon form a bond, with Claire teaching him about medicine and Pound (first name Elias) explaining the ways of life at sea.
3) Claire makes an enemy of the cook.
Claire’s opinions and strong will attract opponents everywhere she goes, and the Porpoise is no exception. She realizes the source of the infection on the boat stems from the cook’s assistant, even thought he shows no symptoms. The cook, furious that he has to obey a woman’s orders, lashes out as his last helper is escorted to quarantine. He makes it his mission to cause trouble for Claire.
4) Jamie begs Fergus to set him free so he can take control of the boat.
Fergus finds Jamie locked in the hold of the ship and violently vomiting. It looks like Yi Tien Cho is unable to treat him with acupuncture, but Jamie doesn’t even care about being sick. “I canna lose her again,” he tells Fergus, his eyes blazing. He implores his foster son to steal the key to his cell. He plans to overthrow the captain and discard Jared’s wine so they can catch up to the Porpoise quickly. When Fergus hesitates, Jamie goads him: “You dinna ken what love is. If you did, you would move heaven and earth, even hell.” This hurts Fergus but he still doesn’t yield, so Jamie promises to bless his union with Marsali if he succeeds.
5) The cook tries to intimidate Claire.
A funeral is held for the victims of typhoid fever on the ship. Pound explains the custom to Claire: the shroud is sewn through the corpse’s nose to ensure he’s actually dead - and it must always be done by a friend. The young boy is devastated to say goodbye to his own friend, Jim.
That night, while alone on deck, the cook approaches Claire. He points out that men are still dying and threatens Claire: “there better be fewer in the coming days, doctor.” Claire’s used to dealing with rough, uncouth men, and she doesn’t say a word; she stares him down until Pound approaches and tells the cook to back off.
Pound asks Claire how she retains her composure with everyone dying around her. She explains that it’s called compartmentalizing: “Separating certain areas of your life so you can do your work. if you let yourself be affected by every death, you’d never save a life.” She sees how much Pound is hurting and points out, “Then again, Jim Quigley was not my friend.” Pound is grateful for Claire’s companionship and gives her a rabbit foot from his late mother for luck.
6) Corporal Johannson drinks all Claire’s distilled alcohol, but in her rage, she still manages to befriend his wife.
It looks like another man has fallen ill on the ship, but Claire realizes he just has alcohol poisoning - he drank all the distilled alcohol. She’s furious, shouting, “Half the men on this fucking ship are dying from typhoid and this bloody fool has almost drank himself to death on the alcohol I need to stop the goddamn fever from spreading.” Claire dropping f-bombs in the face of horrified men is my favorite Claire.
Claire asks Johannson’s wife, Anika, to keep an eye on her husband so he doesn’t choke on his vomit. She also learns that the woman cares for the goats on deck and thanks her for helping to keep the sick men alive with their milk. Anika is mesmerized by Claire’s determination and they instantly form a bond.
7) Claire learns Jamie’s a wanted man.
While tending to Corporal Johansson, Claire notices a Portuguese flag below deck. She knows Young Ian was kidnapped by a Portuguese ship and inquires after it; a sailor tells her they boarded one of those ships searching for a surgeon a few weeks prior. Claire tries to find Captain Leonard to discuss, but his study is empty. She peruses his papers and comes across an entry in his journal connecting Alexander Malcolm, “wanted seditionist” to Jamie Fraser through a man named Harry Tompkins, who saw Jamie aboard the Artemis.
Before Claire can even react to this news, the cook enters Captain Leonard’s study. When he refuses to let her through, she threatens to tell Leonard he attacked her. “I have his trust,” she tells the cook. “Who will he believe? Move out of the way or I will scream.” Claire's been faced with bodily harm countless times and she knows exactly what to say to temper an attack
8) Fergus realizes he can’t help Jamie without putting Marsali in danger.
On the Artemis, Marsali helps Fergus care for his hand. They discuss the consequences if Fergus fails in helping Jamie, and Marsali reminds him she’ll be in danger if he’s locked up or killed. They start to kiss and undress, but before they have sex together, Fergus stops - he wants do things the right way and wait until they’re officially married.
Later, Fergus sneaks off to find the key to free Jamie, but overhears a bunch of sailors talking about Marsali. They refer to Fergus as a "frog" and talk about assaulting Marsali once Fergus is out of the way. Fergus tells Jamie he loves Marsali and Jamie too much to do something so reckless as try to take the ship. He leaves Jamie, who screams after him from his cell.
9) Harry Tompkins is the man who set the print shop on fire.
Claire asks the sailors to identify Tompkins by claiming he could be carrying the fever. Claire asks to speak to him alone and he reveals he knows she's Jamie's wife and he turned over his seditious pamphlets from Episode 6 to the authorities. Plus, his cronies found the body of the dead guy from Episode 7 in a cask of creme de menthe. Tompkins tells Claire Jamie will be arrested and hanged as soon as he tries to fetch Claire from the Porpoise. Leonard wants to be captain of his own ship and turning in a wanted traitor is the best way to achieve that.
10) Pound contracts typhoid fever and dies quickly.
Poor Elias Pound. He just wanted to help Claire and ended up a victim of typhoid fever. Claire holds his hand in his dying moments, and when he asks for his mother, Claire steps into that role, telling him it's OK to go. When it comes time to bury the child's body, Claire plays the role of "friend" and pushes the needle through his nose.
11) Claire tries to escape while helping Anika with her goats.
Since the Porpoise was infected with plague, it's not allowed to dock at port at first. Instead, it lands in a remote section of the island so the sailors can get fresh air and Anika can put her goats to pasture. Anika understands Claire needs to escape before Jamie comes looking for her and suggests Claire assist her in putting out the goats - that way, Claire can sneak away without anyone from the Porpoise noticing. Claire follows Anika's plan and almost reaches freedom - until she runs into Captain Leonard and a bunch of British officers. He knows exactly what she's trying to do, and he can't allow her to escape - not when a traitor is about to fall right into his lap.
12) Claire jumps off the boat with a little encouragement from Anika.
Innocent, sweet Anika is desperate to help Claire, and offers a final suggestion: she should jump from the boat and swim to shore. Claire is terrified, of course - that coast does look very far away - but realizes she's out of options. With a final push from Anika, she climbs to the side of the ship and jumps into the watery depths.
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