Je Suis Prest for A. Malcolm!!! But first, Christmas in Boston 1968. Starz’s Outlander season three episode five’s title is the first that’s not a summary of the episode’s events. Instead, it is a clue. Clue to what? I’ll tell you, but we need to begin at the beginnin’. Both our Bostonian lasses are working to get back to normal life.

We start in the operating room with Dr. Randall (Caitriona Balfe) and Dr. Abernathy (Wil Johnson) performing surgery. Claire taps into her true nature and forcefully pushes through when Joe objects to something she’s doing. She does have the added advantage that Joe knows her and supports her forceful nature, like her husbands always did. And in matters of medical situations, she is pretty much right every time. To Joe’s credit, he doesn’t push back like other male doctors of the era would certainly have done.

Brianna (Sophie Skelton) is sitting in history class listening to a lecture on the ride of Paul Revere. Historians have learned the early accounts the history books continued to relay of that night that started the American Revolution were not entirely accurate. This makes Brianna stop doodling and pay closer attention. She feels a parallel with her own history and what they discovered about Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) history. After the lecture, Brianna’s professor warns her that not only is her history grade failing, but all her grades are in danger.

Brianna leaves and heads to the home she has always known – the house she grew up in with her mom and who she thought was her dad, Frank (Tobias Menzies). Her time in Scotland has turned her entire world upside down. She’s walking around the house looking at things she has taken for granted for years. I guess we might all do something similar when we lose those who we love. She puts her hands on Frank’s chair. She picks up his pipe. She looks at old pictures. (Tears filled my eyes. I have done some of the very same things when I lost my father years ago.) It’s also a time of decision. Another reason to take such a walk around your house.

Claire is in the office she shares with Joe at the hospital. They have known each other since med school, 15 years now. He catches the look on her face and asks her about it. He starts trying to pull out what Claire can share about her love for Jamie. Those who don’t read the Outlander books might wonder why he calls her Lady Jane. She got a few nicknames from her classmates while they were in school, as the insiders tend to do to what they consider outsiders. They use Lady Jane because she has the accent. Joe picked it up as an endearment, not a bully tactic like the rest intended it. Sort of how Jamie picked up Sassenach and says it when other Scots say it in her direction rather nastily.

As they talk, Claire reveals she was thinking of a man from Scotland. Joe’s nurse comes in with requested patient information and cuts the discussion short, so Claire takes the opportunity to head home.

So much about this episode did not happen in the way the books unfolded the events, so I won’t beat that particular drum too hard. I like the way the show must summarize some elements while still retaining the spirit of the information. Visual medium versus paper medium; no show can be an exact replica of a book, but this is the closest I have ever seen it tried.

Roger Wakefield (Richard Rankin) pulls up in front of Claire’s home in a taxi. Roger didn’t deliver his news in Boston in the book. Claire went back to Scotland after he telegraphed, and because Bree stayed to help Roger in the search in the book. Since Bree flew home with Claire in the last episode, it makes sense to have Roger come to them. As he approaches the door, he hears shouting inside. Mother and daughter are at each other’s throats. Anyone else having personal déjà vu? {giggle-snort} Roger feels bad for walking into their fight like he did. They only pause the argument long enough to say hello to him. Bree is quitting school, and naturally Claire is not in favor of that. Most parents and children would war a bit over that same topic. Bree leaves the house. Claire insists Roger stay with her, so they settle down to dinner.

Claire and Roger talk about the fact it’s Roger’s first Christmas without his adopted father, his uncle by birth. Any holiday makes us miss the ones we have loved and lost, but the first one after the loss is particularly painful. It takes time to get to a new normal. They start talking about traditions with family. Roger shares one he had with the Reverend, and Claire shares that they used to read A Christmas Carol to Bree when she was younger.

They sit down to have a whisky and Roger shares that he did come for another reason. He is a historian by profession and life’s passion. He found a printing that quoted the Freedom & Whisky line (a.k.a. the clue) that Claire told Roger she quoted frequently to Jamie. The article was written by Alexander Malcolm. Roger is sure this was Jamie under two of his middle names. He thought Claire would be happy, but she’s upset instead. She thought that other part of her life was done. She also cannot think about leaving Bree. Claire asks Roger not to tell Bree about the article.

Joe has a skeleton separated on a table in their shared office when Claire arrives the next morning. Joe’s looking at it for a friend. Claire picks up the skull and gets a feeling for the person. As she and Joe talk through the pieces, he continually asks her how she knows certain things. There is no real answer; Claire just knows it after touching the skull. Apparently, our heroine has a level of clairvoyance! The skeleton is from a 40ish white woman from the Caribbean and is around 200 years old. Joe pops back to the Scottish man Claire was keeping from him. Claire tells him the Scot is Bree’s real Father. Joe says that explains a lot of the things he had seen and known about her over their relationship. He encourages her to take any second chance she might have.

Bree and Roger take a bit of a tour of Harvard before a celebration that Bree and Claire attend in Frank’s honor. A Fellowship is being given in Frank’s name. Bree and Roger each share some insights into the structures of the college that have struck them as interesting. Roger is fascinated by the historic figures who’ve passed under the arches; Brianna’s fascinated by how the structure was built. Each gives the other a point of view they had not considered before. Bree also shares that she’s rather annoyed at history because it could be a half-truth or lie. She points to several examples where history didn’t explain truthfully what occurred.

Claire is confronted by Frank’s mistress at the reception for the Fellowship in Frank’s honor. The book doesn’t go into any of this, so this is new material for book readers, too. Bree sees the confrontation. Bree asks Claire about it and reminds Claire about their promise to not lie to each other again. Claire must explain that Frank had plans to marry the woman. Bree asks about Frank’s feelings and Claire’s feelings because she looks so much like her birth father. Claire explains that through absolutely everything over the past 20 years, Frank and Claire both loved her entirely and completely for her. Claire also must explain that Roger found Jamie. Bree’s happy and sad at the same time. Claire basically says she’s not going to leave her.

Bree and Claire are talking some nights later and Claire is enumerating all the reasons she cannot go back to Jamie and leave Bree. It would be as if she were dead. She would not be there for her daughter as she married or had children. Brianna knows it would be hard, but she also knows her mother has sacrificed a lot for her. Claire mentions that she knows her better than anyone and Bree would be losing that knowledge. Information such as her first steps or other things that we’re all typically too young to remember and tend to get from our parents when we have our children and think to ask the questions. Bree points out that Jamie doesn’t know her, doesn’t know he even has a daughter at all or that they made it safely through the stones. Claire is also concerned that Jamie won’t want her back after all this time. Bree reminds Claire how deeply she loves Jamie even after 20 years. She must trust that it would be the same for Jamie.

It’s Christmas and that means presents. The preparation to go through the stones begins. One present for Claire has coins that Roger and Bree found in an antique store. Roger also gives her a book on the history of Scotland. That little item would have been helpful the first time around! Claire mentions she took some scalpels and penicillin from the hospital. The pair also bought Claire a topaz gem so she can travel through safer. The first pass Claire lost a jewel in her watch, the second time was the jewel in Jamie’s ring. Claire mentions that she will sew herself a new coat that will have many hidden pockets in it so she can hide her treasures and take them with her. This is also a new element from the book. She buys a gown in a Scottish shop in the book because a designer was making 18th-century fashions and has a cloak made as part of her book preparations for the trip.

Later, Claire is looking herself over closely in the mirror. She’s worried she has aged a lot over the 20 years since she last saw Jamie.

Claire’s packing things up and is going to head to Scotland alone, also different to how things worked in the book. Brianna all but pushed Claire through the stones in the book because Claire hated to leave her so badly. This time, Claire wants to do the farewells in Boston. Claire passes down to Bree the pearls Jamie gave her on their wedding day. The trio has one last whisky before Claire takes all her provisions to the taxi. As Claire leaves, Bree turns to the refuge of Roger’s arms. She gathers herself together eventually and the pair begin a new Christmas tradition with Lobster Roll, Boston Cream Pie, and reading A Christmas Carol together.

As Claire is stepping out of the taxi, you hear her narration about how she has always felt about puddles as a child. The lines are from the books, so the show used them to transition Claire from the 1900s back to the 1700s and her first step out of the carriage in Edinburgh. She heads down the path to the A. Malcolm print shop. She is back!

Claire is taking in all the scenery from the street and people around her as she walks toward the print shop. The butterflies in my stomach are trying to catch the pounding of my heart as this part approaches. She climbs the stairs to the door. A bell announces her entrance, but no one is at the desk in the front of the store. She hears a voice call out at the bell, and it is Jamie’s. She gasps and heads toward the window looking down over the printing machine. Jamie thinks it’s a person he was expecting, but Claire speaks to his back and tells him it is her instead.

Jamie freezes and turns very slowly. Initially, they stare at each other for a long moment. Jamie has seen Claire in everything since he lost her, but never once did his vision speak. This is so much of a shock he leans back on the printer, faints, and promptly falls to the floor. Can’t say I blame him one bit. And now we have a bye week before the most awaited episode of the season: The Reunion! A marathon of the first five episodes will be shown next week. Grab your whisky and enjoy the marathon weekend! Slainte Mhath!

More on Outlander:
– Outlander Season 3 Episode 1 “The Battle Joined” Recap
– Outlander Season 3 Episode 2 “Surrender” Recap
– Outlander Season 3 Episode 3 “All Debts Paid” Recap
– Outlander Season 3 Episode 4 “Of Lost Things” Recap
– Outlander Season 3 Episode 6 “A. Malcolm” Recap
– Outlander Season 3 Episode 7 “Crème De Menthe” Recap
– Outlander Season 3 Episode 8 “First Wife” Recap
– Outlander Season 3 Episode 9 “The Doldrums” Recap
– Outlander Season 3 Episode 10 “Heaven and Earth” Recap

– Exclusive Interview on Season 3 with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore
– One-on-One with Sophie Skelton
– Richard Rankin Interview on Outlander Season 3 and Playing Roger
– Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan and Tobias Menzies Q&A