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.
It’s time for Jamie and Claire to head home to Lallybroch for some rest and relaxation away from the drama of Cranesmuir, but this isn’t going to be a warm homecoming. (Seems to be a trend around here.)
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.
This episode contains a content warning for the depiction of sexual violence.
1. Claire Got Off The Pot
My late father, in his infinite wisdom but less than urbane ways of expressing that wisdom, used to exclaim to me when I couldn’t make a decision “shit or get off the pot.” And I imagine more than once many of you, while watching this first season of Outlander, would just want Claire to make up her mind. Shit or get off the (chamber) pot. And from the way things looked in the final moments last week, she made her decision, she got off the (chamber) pot . . . but then turned back on it, deciding to stay in the 18th century. What’s motivating her? On the surface, it appears to be the passion between her and Jamie, something more reciprocal than in her 20th century marriage to Frank. But what else could drive her to stay here?
Remember that longing for home and stability we saw in the opening scenes of the series, all prompted by a simple vase in a shop. In Jamie, Claire finds that stability after a nomadic childhood and the trauma of war. (In fact, some have purported that her trip through the stones had her frontline trauma as impetus.) And to her, that’s motivating her to stay in 1743, even while it’s a hostile world for her.
The promise of home brings so much joy to Claire’s heart . . . you don’t want to see her heart broken for any reason at this point. But this is Outlander, so you know that heartbreak’s just around the corner.
2. A Traumatic Homecoming
We know from previous episodes that Lallybroch, while a part of Jamie (as he recounts to Claire later as the two go through some family artifacts and stories), is also home to some painful memories (which he also shares with Claire). There’s been rumors that Jamie’s sister Jenny was violated by Randall, and impregnated as a result of the act. (This was the same act that led to Jamie’s beating.)
But those are put aside for the moment as a visibly pregnant Jenny welcomes her brother home, introducing her son, “Wee Jamie.” But Jamie can’t forget the past, and the moment turns sour very quickly between brother and sister. Although it’s not a lasting conflict (thank you Jenny’s husband and Jamie’s old friend Ian), we can see what a force of nature Jenny is, compassionate and passionate in equal measure.
If astrological signs were a thing in 1743 Scotland, she’d totally be a Gemini, embracing the dual nature of the twins. But this is all Jenny’s upbringing: pushed into running a household at a young age after her mother’s death, rape at a young age, the loss of her father shortly thereafter. You don’t blame her for putting up a wall of steel around herself, especially around a Sassenach like Claire. She’s certainly not the “meek and obedient type” that Claire describes herself as. (You would also think that the two would bond over their shared personality types. But like poles repel, and remember, Claire is still a Sassenach to these people.)
Continued below3. Hanging Johnny Fell Off The Wall
Jenny’s recollection of her assault at Randall’s hands also reveals something important about him: Randall has issues, to put it mildly, coming to attention. Today, drugs can help with that sort of thing but not in 18th century Scotland. This is an important piece of information that you should remember if you continue with both the books and TV series.
(There’s also another piece of Randall information we discover: that he propositioned Jamie for a sexual encounter in a quid pro quo arrangement to prevent another beating. Many fans misinterpreted this to think that Randall was homosexual, which Diana Gabaldon later clarified was not the case.)
4. The Vulnerability of Jamie
The back half of this season has been more Jamie’s story than Claire’s and this episode is another showcase of that. The middle act is a heartfelt conversation between Claire and Jamie while they’re dressing for dinner, going through Fraser family artifacts and stories. Most traumatic is Jamie’s stories of his father, particularly the last time he saw his father alive: at Fort William, after Jamie’s flogging. And it was the sight of the after-effects of that that killed him, a guilt Jamie carries to this day. Here is a man beaten and broken in the literal and figurative sense, and your heart goes out to him in these stories.
But for all his vulnerability, Jamie isn’t immune to the trappings of power, enjoying the socializing and politics more than the day to day work of being Laird, particularly on Quarter Day (the rent collection day). He’d rather have a dram than deal with a boy beaten by his father. Or as we discover upon his return to bed that night, several drams.
5. Who Run the World? Girls.
The men may have the political and economic power in this world, but the women have the power of the heart. It takes both Claire and Jenny to convince Jamie of the significance of his role as Laird and of his family – – and above all, how he is trying to be someone he is not. It’s not clear if there’s one in particular that gets through to him, though my money’s on Claire, knowing the closeness husband and wife both share. Who it is, though, doesn’t matter. The point is that it happens, and it’s a moment for Jamie to grow up in many ways, as brother, as husband.
And with that, there’s peace in the House of Fraser once more. Brother and sister settle their truce, and husband and wife deepen their intimacy. But all this happiness is short lived. The English are back.
The Lost Papers of Black Jack Randall (Our Afterthoughts Section)
- The opening scenes of the Highland landscape, set to the show’s theme, are the best damn tourist advertisement for Scotland you will ever see.
- While most of our episode titles have been chapters from the Outlander novel, this title comes from an entire section of that novel, encompassing Chapters 26 to 33.
- Claire reveals her age in this episode – – 27. Jamie reveals himself to be younger than Claire.
- Jamie’s drunken remark to Claire that she should work on her Gaelic is rather ironic when you consider that Caitriona Balfe is quite fluent in the language.
- And I had to save the best for last: a naked Jamie in the mill pond.
We’ll see you next week for “The Watch” 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).
