After a mini droughtlander, Outlander returns with a steamy episode featuring the long-awaited reunion of Jamie and Claire Fraser.
Last week’s episode saw Roger (Richard Rankin) join Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton) in Boston for Christmas. Roger being the historian he is, found Jamie (Sam Heughan) to possibly be in Edinburgh and running a printing press. After many discussions, Claire decided to head back through the stones and in the final minutes of the episode, we saw Claire and Jamie reunite, but it was short-lived due to Jamie fainting at the sight of her.
Once More For Laughter’s Sake
Now one would assume the episode would pick up right where we left off two weeks ago, but Outlander continues to tug at our emotions by opening with Jamie and some woman. It seems the episode jumps to Jamie’s perspective in the lead up to seeing Claire and so we see him go about his day. He distributes some papers he has recently printed to some men for them to deliver and it turns out, Jamie is printing treasonous papers. Geordie (Lorn Macdonald) returns to the shop, but Jamie quickly sends him on his way again to fetch some more ink and continues to work on his printing. We hear the bells chime and Claire’s voice, but now we see Jamie’s reaction to the scenario and his beautiful fainting once more.
Reunited
He wakes to Claire above him and he realises she is real and almost thinks he relieved himself when he fainted, but it turns out he just spilled his drink. Jamie quickly makes things awkward by asking Claire to turn around whilst he removes his pants, which Claire is slightly surprised by. The two draw closer with Jamie staring at her ring, and he soon asks if he can kiss her, which it’s about time because there is so much tension! They share a passionate kiss, but not before Geordie interrupts and announces he quits because “working for a papist is one thing, but working for an immoral papist is another” and he’s shocked to see Jamie having “orgies”, especially before noon.
Strolling Down Memory Lane
Jamie takes her out the back to find another pair of pants when he asks Claire about their child. She pulls out photos of Brianna, which Jamie is confused by and he sheepishly pulls out his glasses so he can see them. Their age is brought into the fold, but Jamie tells his Sassenach that time doesn’t matter and she will always be beautiful to him. Jamie declares Brianna to be an awful name for a lass, but, the two continue to talk about what she is like and upon the mention of Brianna’s red hair, Jamie says it’s just like Faith’s, her sister that never was.
Claire continues on to tell Jamie about becoming a surgeon whilst Jamie is appalled at seeing Brianna scantily clad in only a bikini. This leads to Jamie bringing up his “bastard-born” son Willie, who he has told nobody about. Claire is somewhat taken aback by this (as you would be), but she knew he would have a life without her. Jamie questions if Claire left Frank to come back as well as the life she had with him.
He soon realises he’s late for a meeting at the tavern and the two walk off with Claire telling him what became of Bonnie Prince Charlie. She’s interrupted by “milady” and lays her eyes upon an older Fergus (brilliantly cast and played by César Domboy) who is utterly excited to see her. However, it seems something is amiss when Fergus turns to Jamie and says “what about…” to which Jamie says he will need to consult with Ned Gowan.
After meeting with his associate Mr Willoughby (Gary Young) and paying Sir Percival Turner (Paul Brightwell) a decent sum for something that seems quite sketchy, Jamie takes her to… a brothel. It is here we see the woman we were shown at the beginning of the episode who turns out to be Madame Jeanne (Cyrielle Debreuil) and she immediately seems to dislike Claire.
Like Riding A Bicycle
With his room at the brothel ready, Claire feels uncomfortable and wonders if Jamie having a room means he is good customer of theirs, to which he says no. Jamie begins to question Claire about her reasons for coming back and if it is to be his wife again and just how she found out if he was alive. He keeps pressing her and she assumes there is something going on, but he denies it saying he has longed for her except he is not the man she knew. Just as things heat up between the pair, they are interrupted by dinner.
We are treated to a montage of Claire and Jamie eating dinner and talking about their lives apart with an enormous amount of tension in the air. At one point, he grabs her hand and the parallels to their first time on their wedding night begin as they slowly remove the hundreds of layers they wear. Claire becomes embarrassed with Jamie staring at her naked body so she covers up until he reassures her, and well, we all know what’s about to go down. However, a few casualties occur before the pair find their rhythm.
Lying in bed, Claire assumes Jamie is more than a printer, especially when he mentions he has been arrested six times for printing. He eventually reveals he now smuggles alcohol and that is why him and Madame Jeanne know one another as they use their cellars to store it temporarily.
In true Jamie and Claire fashion, once is not enough and after the next round, she asks about his Culloden scars and if he ever fell in love with anyone else. Naturally his response is heartfelt causing the pair to spark up once again, but not before someone tries to interrupt them with breakfast.
Facing Danger Once Again
Jamie leaves the love nest as he has some business to attend to and shortly after leaving, young Ian Murray (John Bell) turns up searching for Jamie. He believes Claire to be a mistress, but she makes the connection and introduces herself as his aunt, which shocks the poor lad and leaves him confused.
Claire heads downstairs to eat breakfast and the women assume she is just a new mistress and give her tips on how to bathe and rid herself from potential offspring. Madame Jeanne is shocked to see Claire sitting with them and sends her upstairs where Claire discovers a man looking for Jamie’s ledgers. Initially he assumes she’s a mistress until Claire reveals she is his wife and the episode ends with him grabbing her by the throat.
Overall Thoughts?
The episode was fantastic and it really showed the hesitation and emotion between being separated for twenty years. The writers did incredibly well to ease them into rekindling their romance with plenty of tension showing around Jamie and Claire. Even seeing them together again really feels as though it’s been a long time and it will be interesting to see how long, or if, they will ever be able to get back to where they were before.
What did you think of the episode!? Tell us in the comments below!
