Welcome back to Lallybroch, Sassenachs! It’s time for another Scottish summer with a look at Outlander‘s second season. But this year, we won’t be in the Highlands: we’re crossing the Channel to the Continent, where Claire and Jamie will find a new temporary home in the City of Light.
The politics of changing history continue to occupy Jamie’s mind, while Claire finds her healing skills put to good use. But the past looms over these “Useful Occupations and Deceptions” threatening to derail it all.
It should also be noted that Outlander is very much an 18+ series, with graphic violence and sexuality throughout. As well, there may be spoilers within for both the tv show and the novel series.
1. A Tedious Business (Or Two)
The work of the wine business and the work of the politics business is taking its toll on Jamie. Days as a wine merchant, nights with Prince Charlie (at the brothel, no less), and very little time with Claire, who is bored of tea and cards with the ladies of Paris. In any other show, with any other couple, you would start seeing the cracks in the relationship – – perhaps a snide comment or raised eyebrow about all that time surrounded by sex and smoke and perfume. Not Claire. Although she winces at Jamie’s Eau de House of Ill Repute (most likely due to pregnancy), she does not put up a fuss, at least to his face. She knows the job to be done, that it can come at any cost, and she trusts her husband. I wonder if the same can be said for Jamie when he finds out the news his wife has in secret, regarding Black Jack Randall.
Also, there’s a really cute moment when Jamie discovers that his wooden snake, a toy he’s carried since childhood, has gone missing. He asks Claire to tear apart the house looking for it, this small tangible link to his home and his Scottish self. I don’t blame him one bit. It’s easy to lose yourself in this decadent lifestyle.
2. Seaford, In Sussex
Poor Mary Hawkins. Betrothed to a man she barely knows (and from her descriptions, doesn’t sound too charming either), and barely educated in the ways of womanhood. I’m glad Claire is there for her to gently deflect the conversation and make her feel less embarrassed about her virginity around Louise, who finds Mary’s lack of education more amusement than anything. (Seriously, Louise. You’re a lot of fun, but if you’re going to be any kind of friend to Mary, making fun of her innocence is not the way to go about it.)
Mary gets some backbone with Louise in response to her queries about where she learned about sex (“The moon?” “No, Seaford, in Sussex!”) and drops a key piece of information to Claire. A flash forward to the Randall family Bible reveals that Black Jack Randall not only survives, but marries Mary Hawkins.
Oh Claire’s in a pickle now. She has to ensure Black Jack Randall lives to ensure that Frank lives whenever she does make it back to the 20th century. But doing so will hurt her 1744 husband deeper than the lashes Randall left on his back. Confessing to Murtagh helps unburden some of the stress, as he understands the need to keep the secret: it will prevent Jamie from doing something very rash.
The woman who wears two wedding rings still remains tethered to two husbands, and she can’t cut out either one very easily.
3. “I’m An Unusual Lady. Or At Least I Used To Be.”
No matter how much Claire makes her own bed or folds her own clothes, she fears becoming bored with the life that is expected of a woman in her position. There’s only so many teas and card games and invitations she can tolerate. She wants useful work, and find it she does at the charity hospital L’Hopital des Anges (the Hospital of Angels). The Mother Hildegarde doesn’t appear too impressed with this society woman slumming at her hospital, but the tune changes when Claire’s medical skills diagnose a woman with “sugar sickness” (diabetes). And you have to love the light that radiates from her face as she tells Jamie about her day.
Continued belowWonder what Louise will think of her friend’s new pursuit. Or Jamie for that matter. Although Claire thinks Jamie won’t care as long as he’s happy, he’s definitely not happy. He’s concerned about Claire’s pregnancy, and it’s a distraction from their true purpose in Paris. I can’t help but agree with Jamie here. They have a goal, and they need to focus on that goal. But I also can’t help but agree with Claire, that she needs to find her days with purpose and meaning. It’s a tricky situation, and no one is surprised that the Frasers part that evening on bad terms.
Also, we need to give props and praise to the goodest boy around, the hospital dog Bouton, who has a sense of the patients and their maladies keener than any human doctor.
4. Small But Mighty
This episode introduces a key character in Jamie and Claire’s life: the young pickpocketer named Claudel. Jamie’s not looking to get young Claudel in trouble with Madame Elise’s brothel, but have him steal something more valuable than gold: information, specifically letters to and from the Prince. He’s brash around the edges but at least he has manners, if they are misplaced. A new home, bath, and a new name (Fergus) later, this young man helps set up routine for the Fraser household. Rest assured you will be seeing more him, and not just in this season either.
5. Hope Is Independent of the Apparatus of Logic
Although some 200 years before his time, some form of this Norman Cousins quote was probably on Jamie’s mind during his chess game with Duverney. Jamie needs help convincing Charles Stuart the invasion will not happen, as the French government will not provide the war chest. But the Prince throws a wrench into their plans by declaring he’s secured funds for his cause via the . . . British aristocracy? This doesn’t sound smart. Or make any sense.
Perhaps we shouldn’t underestimate this Prince, though. He knows how to appeal to allies: power. And that offer of immeasurable power in a post-war alliance for France with a Stuart Britain wins over Duverney.
Bonnie Prince Charlie may be “long on rhetoric but short on specifics,” but after this exchange with Duverney, you shouldn’t put anything past him. He’s hedging his bets for and against himself, raising just enough money to convince the French to join his cause, to secure him the promise of the bigger war chest. His benefactor, as revealed in code in sheet music (that Mother Hildegarde helps them decode, so perhaps that hospital job wasn’t such a bad idea after all Jamie), is none other than the Duke of Sandringham.
At last Jamie has the key to put plans in motion. Except . . . a meeting with the Duke will reveal Claire’s secret about Black Jack Randall. After that, things will go sideways, and go sideways very fast.
For the moment, Claire stays silent. But she knows she cannot stay silent for long.
The Lost Papers of Black Jack Randall (Our Afterthoughts Section)
- The events of this episode cover elements of Chapter 11 (which has the title “Useful Occupations”), chapter 13 (which has the title “Deceptions”) and Chapter 15 of Dragonfly in Amber.
- Seems Murtagh is more taken with France than we may have thought. Or at least the maid Suzette.
- On the day this recap drops, I will be in Paris for a weekend before a week of business meetings in the city and later in Belgium. The scenes at Versailles from last week and this week have me kicking myself that I did not make time to book a tour of Versailles. Next time!
- Dominique Pinon as Master Raymond charms so much in every scene, you want to see more of him . . . but you wonder about his intentions with some of the things he sells in his shop. We all know what happened the last time Claire made friends with a healer.
- “Johann Sebastian Bach?” “I’m surprised you have heard of him.”
We’ll see you next week for “La Dame Blanche” and let us know what you thought of the episode in the comments.
As of this writing, the first five seasons of Outlander is available for viewing on Netflix in the US and Amazon Prime Video in the UK. All six seasons of the show are also available with a subscription to the Starz network in the United States. The seventh season of Outlander is currently in production.
