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.
Much like its title, there’s a lot of watching going on in this episode: Jamie and Ian join a group of Scots keeping tabs on the redcoats, while Claire watches for the safe birth of Jenny’s newest bairn.
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. That’s No English
For once, Jamie isn’t staring down the bullet of an English gun. The men who had Jamie in their crosshairs at Lallybroch are actually members of The Watch (think your neighborhood watch with kilts and guns), led by Taran MacQuarrie, just dropping in early for some home cooking. They mistook Jamie for a robber seeing they never saw him before. Jenny defuses the situation beautifully, but she’s unnerved by their presence. As is Jamie: they’re not exactly the neighborhood watch with the greatest of intentions. Many in the area pay The Watch for the extra protection and their own safety, even if they don’t agree with their ethics. Ian buys into them to make sure that what happened to Jenny earlier with Randall never happens again. And that’s a lesson Jamie has to learn quickly, thanks to his somewhat sheltered life at Castle Leoch.
But the sibling bickering takes a backseat when Jenny starts to have some what are presumably labor pains. Knowing that childbirth is a dangerous prospect in the 20th century, the stakes are higher in the 1700s. Jamie and Jenny’s mother died in childbirth, and Jenny knows as she goes into labor that she could meet that same fate. Everyone is now worried, and rightfully so: Jenny is the heart and soul of Lallybroch, and Jamie’s not ready to take that post just yet.
2. A Bonny Warrior
It’s not just Jenny’s delicious rabbit stew Taran and company want at Lallybroch: they want recruits. And Taran sees one in Jamie. To him, Jamie’s not just a skilled warrior. He can bring a sense of refinement and decency to The Watch, raise their legitimacy in the eyes of Scotland. And that’s going to be something necessary to help consolidate power as the Jacobite cause arises. To The Watch, Jamie’s basically Captain America in a kilt, a propaganda tool. Naturally Jamie wants no part of this, though he does appear to consider the offer ever so briefly. Politics is not his dram of whiskey, in spite of the events of the rent collection in the previous episode. That sort of attitude can’t last for long in this world – – and we’ll see in later seasons and novels that Jamie does adapt well to the art of managing the expectations of power.
Though he may have to change his tune on The Watch quickly. Someone’s just shown up in town that unnerves him. The newest houseguest at Lallybroch is one Mr. Horrocks, a deserter to the English who knows Jamie’s secret: the price on his head. Although he doesn’t tip his hand to this knowledge straightaway, Jamie knows it’s only a matter of time. And what will be the cost to him and Claire when that happens?
3. Laundry Room Bonding
In spite of Jenny’s acidic tongue to Claire in the last episode, the two have a rather cordial time handling the washing, getting to know each other better. We also get to learn a bit more about Ian, who was practically brother to Jamie after their other brother Willie died of the smallpox. It almost seems practically natural then for Jenny and Ian to fall in love, if perhaps a bit creepy given Ian’s closeness with the family. And Jenny is slowly warming up to her Sassenach sister in law, which is a good thing, seeing as Jenny’s water breaks and her baby is in a dangerous position: breech. Claire is going to have to turn the baby to ensure a safe birth, so Jenny is going to have to get over whatever lingering animosity she has towards Claire. It’s also just a little bit suspect to Jenny that Claire knows so much about childbirth when she hasn’t had a child herself, but for now, Claire’s time traveling secret is safe.
Continued belowBut this baby has some Fraser in them and won’t budge. Things are going from bad to worse rather quickly, especially with the news that there’s no midwife in the village.
4. Family Matters
Horrocks not only knows how to keep secrets, he knows the game of quid pro quo, putting Jamie in the corner of blackmail in order to ensure that he doesn’t get sold out to the English. Pay up and I’ll shut up, in other words. There is money at Jamie’s disposal to make this happen (an inheritance of sorts from his father) but Jamie doesn’t want to touch it – – that’s for their future family. But there will be no family: Claire can’t have children, something she discovered in her 20th century life. And the heartbreak for Claire is doubly so, not just at not being able to be a mother, but from not being honest with Jamie about this in the first place.
It’s a short scene, but when you consider it in the context of Claire’s bonding with wee Jamie earlier in the episode during chores, you realize what a wonderful mother she would be. And it breaks your heart along with hers knowing that dream would not be realized. (At least for now. There will be a change in circumstance later.)
Ever the sensitive gentleman, Jamie takes his funds and offers it up to Horrocks to ensure his safety. Horrocks is off to “the colonies” (America), but not without a warning to Jamie that no sum can buy off his silence. But Ian’s sword can. Farewell, you Irish traitor. But that final statement from Horrocks is oddly prophetic, as we’ll discover later.
5. The Agony of Childbirth
Never is there a more stark contrast of the sexes than in moments of childbirth. While Jenny fears she will not live to see her new son (she’s convinced it’s a boy based on her pregnancy symptoms, gotta love 18th century science!), the men are just plain annoyed that Jenny’s screaming “loud enough to give birth to your harpsichord,” as one of the members of The Watch eloquently puts it. Perhaps it’s this, perhaps it’s Taran’s suspicions of what really happened to Horrocks, that has Jamie considering that offer to join The Watch again. Actually, it’s more of the latter – – that knowledge is something Taran can hold over Jamie’s head, so Jamie ends up joining The Watch after all. Ian does too, because his loyalty to Jamie is thicker than to his own wife in the throes of labor. (Though Jenny doesn’t seem to mind all that much.)
But while Jenny is safely delivered of a girl named Margaret (so much for her predictions of a boy!), Jamie is not so safely delivered into trouble. As the Good Admiral would say . . .
Horrocks and The Watch apparently cut a deal. Most of The Watch ends up dead. Ian returns home, hurt. Jamie’s in Black Jack Randall’s clutches yet again.
The Lost Papers of Black Jack Randall (Our Afterthoughts Section)
- “The Watch” is the title of Chapter 33 of the Outlander novel.
- Jamie fighting The Watch one-handed is pretty impressive
- “Some days I can scarce go to the privy alone.” 21st century moms of all kinds can certainly relate to Jenny’s lament on parenthood and privacy!
We’ll see you next week for “The Search” 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).
