And just like that, there’s only one episode left of Outlander Season 3! ‘The Bakra’ saw ghosts from Jamie and Claire’s past turn up as they finally arrived in Jamaica to continue their search for young Ian. Some faces were welcome, while others were not—and this leads to another unhappy ending.
Last week’s episode saw Claire (Caitriona Balfe) traverse through an island after escaping from the British. Luckily, Jamie (Sam Heughan) ended up on the same island after some issues with the Artemis and they almost missed each other. We also saw the marriage of Marsali (Lauren Lyle) and Fergus (César Domboy), along with a hilarious and steamy scene involving turtle soup.
Where In The World Is Young Ian?
We start off with a flashback to when young Ian (John Bell) was captured by the Porteguese after attempting to steal the jewels from Selkie Island. His captors were intentionally seeking the jewels on behalf of the Bakra and upon reaching land, Ian is thrown in a cell where a man named Henry reveals they are in Jamaica. He also reveals there has been others in the cell, but once they go to the Bakra, they never come back.
Young Ian is then taken to a bedroom where a woman emerges from a bath of goats blood when she speaks and it’s the voice of Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek). Geillis was last seen being prepared to be burnt at the stake in Season 1, or her past self was seen speaking with Brianna before she went through the stones.
Ian asks about the other boys, but insists he eats while asking him about the missing sapphire. The tea he’s been drinking compels him to blurt out that he’s uncle may have taken it, followed by him revealing that his uncle happens to be Jamie Fraser.
Apparently Geillis has her way with young virgins as they contain a rare jewel, except Ian reveals he isn’t, but she still invites him to her bed anyway…
We also learn Geillis was the wealthy client who hired Mr Campbell (Mark Hadfield) and his seer sister, Margaret (Alison Pargeter), from Edinburgh. Geillis reveals the jewels were handed down from father to son as they were Dougal’s and that the three sapphires can help a seer with a prophecy.
Claire’s Already Causing Trouble
The Artemis arrives in Jamaica and they hope the Porpoise has not yet arrived so they can slip away. Jamie and Claire are greeted by Kenneth McIver (James McAnerney) who usually works with Jared by importing liquor to Jamaica. He invites them to meet the new Governor who’s having a ball, but they decline and instead learn the Portuguese have been and gone.
Later on, Jamie makes enquiries about if Ian has been sold as a slave and discovers the Governor’s household often buys them from the Portuguese. Meanwhile, Claire becomes more and more appalled by the sight of the slaves in cages, being branded and then sold. She comes across a slave auction where the seller goes to prove the slave’s (Thapelo Sebogodi) virility by showing the crowd his lower extremities and this causes Claire to flip.
She attacks the seller and a brawl ensues with Claire begging Jamie to do something. In the end, Claire is given a piece of paper, which shows Jamie has purchased the slave under Claire’s name to save him and they have named him Temeraire.
Jamie reveals they will go to the Governor’s Ball to see if they can find Ian and that they will bring Temeraire in hopes he can learn something from the other slaves.
Familiar Faces
Jamie, Claire, Fergus, Marsali, and Mr Willoughby (Gary Young) arrive at the ball when Claire runs into Mr Campbell, who she’s surprised to see. While waiting in line to meet the Governor, Claire and Jamie share a very intimate look while some women become very interested in Mr Willoughby.
As they near the head of the line, Jamie is shocked to realise the Governor is Lord John Grey (David Berry)—the man he developed an unusual relationship with and then later took Jamie’s son in. Grey is equally shocked to see Jamie and he’s even more so when he is introduced to Claire. They trio talk and Jamie asks about Willie, who isn’t there at the moment, and they spy Grey wearing the sapphire Jamie gave him. Grey announces his willing to help them find Ian, but not before Claire and him share some uncomfortable exchanges.
Meanwhile, Mr Willoughby and Margaret share a sweet glance and he later goes to find her as he’s concerned how her brother is treating her—could this be a match made in Jamaica? Claire and Jamie go their separate ways to uncover more information, but Claire ends up talking with Grey again. More uncomfortable moments are shared between the two as they recall their first meeting and then Grey being surprised Jamie had told Claire so much about everything. However, Claire makes it very clear she’s back. And for good—a.k.a keep your eyes away from her man.
Another Ghost From The Past
While talking to Grey, Claire sees Geillis walked by and she’s thrown back as “it’s as if I’ve seen a ghost” and she follows her. When Claire finds her, Geillis explains that because she was pregnant, they had to wait until they had the baby before they could execute her. When she delivered a healthy baby boy, Dougal came to fetch him and helped to put a dead woman’s body onto the pyre in place of Geillis. After Culloden, she left Scotland and remarried, except this husband is now dead too. Claire then explains why she’s in Jamaica, and Geillis feigns ignorance, but will help Claire look for him.
Claire takes Geillis to see Jamie who is with Grey, when Geillis sees and grabs his sapphire before leaving in a hurry. She instructs Mr Campbell to do a reading so she can get the jewel and basically forces Grey to do it after he refuses it. Claiming a personal item is needed, she suggests the sapphire and it’s added to Margaret’s hand with the other two.
Margaret begins rattling off some intense words, which mentions that a new ruler will rise and a 200-year-old baby…hmm, 200 years you say?
Captured For The Hundredth Time
Marsali and Fergus steal a few moments together when they see Captain Leonard (Charlie Hiett) has arrived in search of Jamie. They race to find Claire and Jamie to warn them and as they leave, Temeraire reveals he found information from some other slaves that Ian is with Geillis.
Upon their journey home, they drop Temeraire off as there’s a place in the mountains for slaves to seek refuge. But shortly after, they’re surrounded by Captain Leonard and his men and Jamie is taken prisoner. Again.
Final Thoughts?
Will Jamie and Claire ever be able to last more than a few weeks together? However, if the title sequence is of any indication, we’re still hopefully in for one steamy scene between the pair before the season is over. Geillis was a welcome sight to help bring some drama back into the series with her wild antics, and it seems she’s kicked it up a notch by bathing in goat’s blood!
An even more welcome sight was David Berry reprising his role as Lord John Grey, and it was utterly sweet to see the reaction between him and Jamie, as well as those amusing moments with Claire not sure how to feel about meeting him.
Since next week is the season finale, it’s going to be packed with action and some intense scenes, if they follow Voyager. However, judging by the sneak peek of next week’s episode, we’re in for a treat—but let’s hope we don’t lose our heads between now and then.
What did you think of this week’s episode? Are you excited for the finale? Sound off in the comments below!
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