Come sail over the sea to Skye with us this summer, as we take a trip through the stones to the first season of the television adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander book series. First published in 1991 with Outlander, Gabaldon’s multi-genre novels features the time traveling love story of Claire (Caitriona Balfe), a 1940s woman who finds herself out of time and place in Scotland in the era of the Jacobite rebellion. The U.S. pay TV network Starz debuted the Outlander TV series in 2014, with the show concluding its fifth season last year. In celebration of the ninth novel out this autumn and the sixth season of the TV series debuting in early 2022, we’re spending our 2021 summer vacation at Castle Leoch.
One powerful man could save Jamie’s life, while Claire tries to save another. Could there be something wicked this way comes, as the old saying goes?
It should also be noted that Outlander is very much an 18+ series, with graphic violence and sexuality throughout. Spoilers within for both the tv show and the novel series.
1. Sexposition
There are those moments where your pay TV dramas can toe that line into porn (anyone remember this comedy bit from 2013?) and the opening of this episode is no exception. We all know recently Batman wouldn’t do it because heroes don’t do that, but Jamie Fraser sure does. And Claire is certainly grateful for it. It’s sexposition at its finest.
In spite of someone pounding at the door, Jamie finishes the morning meal (for which Claire is also grateful). And the news from Murtaugh has Jamie rising to the occasion: the Duke of Sandringham is on his way to the castle, and there’s the promise of possible pardon and return home to Lallybroch. But Claire knows better, and without showing her true colors, she convinces Jamie not to be so headstrong in requesting a meeting. The Duke is an ally of Black Jack Randall, which means whatever testimony Jamie gives, even if it is the truth, it will fall on deaf ears. Claire’s had her rough spots at adapting to 18th century life, but one thing she has done well is keep her secret very well hidden while sharing information when and where it can be beneficial.
Bue cue the law firm: Ned Gowan has a way out. Draw up a petition accusing Randall of crimes against the Scottish people (including Claire), have the Duke deliver it, and then Randall gets court-martialed. By the look on Jamie’s face, he’s certainly more aroused at this prospect than going back downtown for lunch. At the very least, he has to try: for Claire, for his home, for his birthright. This wins Claire over, and she goes out on a covert mission to “soften him up” as the Duke says, before the actual petition is delivered. A little bit of blackmail later, and the Duke agrees to help Jamie.
2. Dynasty Catfight, 18th Century Style
It’s no Krystle and Alexis tussling in the pool, but Laoghaire and Claire have things out over the ill wish found under Claire’s bed. Claire knows young Laoghaire left it there, and Claire goes for the kind but firm approach . . . until the claws come out from Laoghaire about Claire’s looks and prowess in bed. Hell hath no fury like a teenage girl scorned!
When I told you to watch out for this one last week, this is what I meant. But it’s not just Laoghaire that’s going to put a thorn (and an ill wish) in Claire’s side. It was Geillis Duncan who sold her the ill wish. And when Claire goes to meet Geillis in the forest, watching her perform a ritual very similar to what she saw in 1945 in Craigh na Dun, the unease is as plain as the nose on her face.
But Claire still trusts Geillis, promising to keep her secret that she’s pregnant and the child is Dougal’s. If you have a suspicion that this trust will be Claire’s undoing, you would be correct to hold on to that suspicion.
3. The Child
We’re not talking about Baby Yoda/Grogu here, but the cries of a baby Claire finds in the words. Despite Geillis’s protests that it is a changeling, Claire runs off to the find the child only to find it dead. She’s heartbroken on this news, but Jamie encourages her to let the little one be, for it will find a home with the fairies – – a thought Claire finds utterly ridiculous.
Continued belowYou’ll recall from an earlier episode a discussion of science versus faith between Jamie and Claire, and how he learned to let both of them peacefully coexist in his life. This conversation returns again, as Jamie reminds his very modern wife that for many of these people, the stories they hear in church and from their elders, disconnected from reality as they may be, are all they have. And to disavow them is to rip out the beating heart of the culture and community.
For all her adaptations to 18th century life, this is the one Claire’s going to have the hardest time with: reconciling faith with scientific reason. And by the end of this episode, it’s going to put her in a lot of trouble.
4. Death and Duels and the Duke and Dinner
Convincing the Duke to work with Jamie is child’s play compared to what Claire finds upon her return to Leoch: a drunken Dougal, despondent over his wife’s recent death. As one can imagine, Geillis is having a “wee bit of celebration” over the news, thinking her nighttime ritual did the trick and she will be with her lover forever and always. The smirk on her face when Claire reminds her OH HEY YOU’RE STILL MARRIED certainly plays her hand that she’s not totally relying on faith to get what she wants. Does someone else have some scientific knowledge that is not of this world? Things that make you go hmm.
Meanwhile, bust out your Ten Duel Commandments, because the Duke needs some help from Jamie. He’s been challenged to a duel by a rival clan, the Macdonalds. Not what Jamie wants, and certainly not what Claire wants either. But in the game OF quid pro quo, sometimes you have to do things you don’t like. Claire’s anger at the Duke takes a backseat though when Arthur (Geillis’s husband) suddenly chokes to death. Or so it appears: Claire smells cyanide, revealing he’d been poisoned. And from the behavior of Geillis earlier, Claire has some suspicions.
5. The Eleventh Duel Commandment
If there was an Eleventh Duel Commandment, it would probably be: there are no winners in a duel. Jamie ends up in a fight with some of the Macdonald clan post-duel, leading to banishment from Leoch with Dougal (who’s persona non grata with Colum for his extracurricular activities with the widow Duncan).
But Claire’s the real loser in this situation: alone without Jamie and vulnerable to wanting to help Geillis even as Jamie warns her to stay away. Now she’s in deeper than before, arrested for witchcraft along with Geillis. And the smirk on Laoghaire’s face gives away how she plans to get her romantic rival out of the way.
There’s certainly a lot that happened in this episode in terms of character reveals, but one thing is clear: something wicked this way is very much coming.
The Lost Papers of Black Jack Randall (Our Afterthoughts Section)
- The title of this episode not only comes from Chapter 24 of Outlander, but also Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “By the pricking of my thumbs/Something wicked this way comes.”
We’ll see you next week for “The Devil’s Mark” and do let us know what you thought of the episode in the comments.
As of this writing, the first season of Outlander is available for viewing on Netflix, where seasons 2-4 are also available (except in the UK). In the UK, the show is available on Amazon Prime Video UK. All five seasons of the show are also available via Starz (in the United States).
