On this week’s episode of Outlander, one man reenters Jamie’s life whilst another makes an exit from Claire’s.
When we last saw our century-crossed lovers in Episode 2 ‘Surrender’, Jamie (Sam Heughan) was struggling to live a life without Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and later sacrificed himself to the British in order to protect his sister and Lallybroch. For Claire, she found herself lusting for Jamie and attempted to use Frank (Tobias Menzies) as an outlet. But this only led to them sleeping in separate beds whilst Claire enrolled in medical school.
Jamie’s Second Home
Three years later, Jamie remains in Ardsmuir Prison and as usual, he finds himself as the spokesperson for the other prisoners. A welcoming face at the prison is that of Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) who unfortunately is quite sick and still holds onto his Fraser plaid. Jamie uses some herbs to help Murtagh’s condition, but sadly avoids using Claire’s name.
Jamie soon meets with the new British officer, Major John William Grey (David Berry), who will be overseeing the prison. Grey shows his soft side instructing cats to roam the prison to catch the rats, but Jamie asks what will the prisoners eat and what Grey did to deserve such a poor position?
Troubles in Boston
In 1956 Boston, Frank attempts to salvage young Bree’s British roots by cooking her an English breakfast. After this moment, Claire feels a spark and wants to see a film, however, Frank has already seen them with another woman, which doesn’t sit well with Claire.
Claire soon graduates from medical school and just as the festivities begin at the Randall’s, Frank’s girl turns up the house and Claire is so royally pissed she leaves. Frank later returns after his outing with “Sandy” and he’s beyond sloshed causing the two to have at it. Many horrible remarks are said to one another and this leads Claire saying Frank should file for divorce, but he won’t because he knows he will lose Brianna.
Jamie the Interpreter, Runaway, and Saviour
When a deranged man roams an area near the prison, Grey asks Jamie to interpret as the man keeps jumping between Gaelic and French. He initially declines this request so Grey removes Jamie’s shackles, but Jamie continues to barter and ask for supplies to help the prisoners, or at least Murtagh.
He then speaks to the man who rambles about the Jacobite’s gold, Ellen MacKenzie, and a white witch seeking a MacKenzie, and Jamie can’t help but feel like it could be Claire. He shares this information with Murtagh who longs to know what happened to Claire and the “wee bairn”.
Jamie dines with Grey and requests to set snares and collect plants so the prisoners to eat, but he has ulterior motives and he escapes. He returns and grabs Grey from behind and announces he recalls Grey from their interaction all those years ago. Jamie then asks Grey to take action on his promise by killing him, but instead the two talk. Our redhead says he escaped to see if Claire was there, but she is indeed truly gone.
Three months pass and Murtagh is on the mend after receiving a doctor. Grey and Jamie continue to spend time together and Grey even mentions a soldier who he cared for very much that died during the Battle of Culloden. This causes Jamie to speak of Claire, but Grey misunderstands this moment and caresses Jamie’s hand, which leads to Jamie firmly asking him to remove it.
Farewell Frank
Sixteen-year-old Brianna (Sophie Skelton) makes a brief appearance and then graduates high school in 1966 whilst a beaming Claire and Frank watch her accept her diploma.
Later that year, Frank announces he wants to take Brianna to England, which initially sounds fine to Claire until he speaks of being offered a position at Cambridge and wanting a divorce. The man then continues saying he believes Brianna will go with him because she has barely been present with her studies and working as a doctor as well as planning to marry “Sandy”. Claire is appalled that Frank has just been waiting Brianna to turn of age and says she could never forget Jamie so Frank leaves.
After assisting with an operation at the hospital, Claire is approached by Joe (Wil Johnson) who shares with her that Frank has been involved in a car accident. We see Claire run to him and we find his lifeless body on the table. Claire says a heartbreaking goodbye to her first love who she still loves.
The Next Chapter
Not long after Jamie’s interaction with Grey, Ardsmuir Prison closes with the prisoners rounded up and taken elsewhere. However, Jamie is taken from Murtagh’s side by Grey and taken to Helswater where he will serve Lord Dunsany. Grey will check on Jamie each quarter but warns Jamie to assume another name as Dunsany doesn’t take well to Highlanders.
Overall Thoughts?
Every episode of Outlander has always seemed lengthy as we get to see so much, but this particular episode felt much longer. This can often be the case with showing different tenses or point of views, but with episode, we get closer to Episode 5 and 6 where things will become right in the Outlander world.
The most heart-wrenching moment of this episode was most definitely the death of Frank, who has been played remarkably well by Tobias Menzies. I’m personally on the fence with Frank as although he tried to live a life with Claire and Brianna, he displayed significant ups and downs. But then again, Claire did contribute significantly to his downfalls. It will be very sad to see Menzies go and I wish there was some other ancestor for him to play so he could come back.
As for Lord Grey, his portrayal of such an important new character in the Outlander series will be interesting to see.
What did you think of the episode? Tell us in the comments below!
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