Scotland 1968! We start Starz’s Outlander season three episode four where things bring us back to the season two finale storyline for Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton). The historical search has begun in earnest. Roger (Richard Rankin) is a historian and is the perfect fellow to help our damsels find our dashing Highland Warrior through the span of 200 years.
They pick up measuring the timeline they’ll need to reach to bring Claire and Jamie’s current lives together again. Some of this plays out a bit differently from the book. They’re sort of far along in their quest since they have been through the story of the Dun Bonnet and his time at Ardsmuir prison. Given the breakthrough of finding Jamie at the prison, Roger does the very Scottish thing of celebrating with a whiskey. Slainte Mhath! We found him!
Helwater! A beautiful English Lord’s estate and Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) new prison, but a greatly improved arrangement over the stone walls of Ardsmuir. Lord Dunsany (Rupert Vansittart) has an initial conversation with Alex MacKenzie (a.k.a. Red Jamie) to take the measure of the Jacobite traitor employed in his household. Lord Dunsany reveals he lost a son at Prestonpans but he doesn’t hold a grudge since the Jacobites ultimately lost. He does mention that Lady Dunsany (Beth Goddard) is not so forgiving, so they are to keep Jamie’s history between the two men. Jamie reveals that losing a child is something you never really get over and that he has lost TWO of his own. I think this understanding helps the Lord to take pity on a conquered man and he decides to give Jamie a small wage instead of treating him like a prisoner. More to keep up the ruse for Lady Dunsany than to hide there’s a notorious Jacobite in her house. But, he does caution Jamie to remember he’s still a prisoner of the Crown.
Brianna and Roger are stopped on the side of the road in 1968. They’re having a cute conversation that I think most people have early on about current romantic interests. Roger confirms he doesn’t have a girlfriend and Bree decides to lend a hand and fix the car. Roger wasn’t making much headway so, as the strong-headed daughter of Jamie and Claire, naturally Brianna would take charge. Especially since it was just a loose distributor cap…lol. In those days, that was as common an issue as someone fussing that the TV wouldn’t come on and it was only unplugged from the wall. Things need power to work! Brianna is very good with her hands.
Jamie’s in his element when it comes to horses. Jamie mentions many times in the books how he could be completely at peace and happy being a groom watching over horses. It’s the peace and quiet he has not had since he was taken from Lallybroch in the first season by Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies). The stables at Helwater would put many people’s homes to shame. Also, if you look closely you might notice a little something familiar. Some parts of the stable building in this episode were used in the French scenes in season two.
Lady Geneva (Hannah James) comes to the stables for her regular ride, ordering around the help as she goes. (“Spoiled brat” comes immediately to mind. Other things come to mind, but I won’t go there just yet.) She has the nerve to call our Jamie a “useless Scotsman.” (Okay, yes, I will go there… Nasty little B*&^%!) Jamie was remarking how a good swift kick in the hind end would do her some good when her sister Lady Isobel (Tanya Reynolds) catches them and says she doesn’t think it would do any good. She also shares with Jamie that she’s infatuated with Major Grey (David Berry). Who wouldn’t be? He is rather dashing. Jamie tries to caution her in a kind and subtle way. Jamie knows that Major Grey’s passions swing in other directions.
Claire receives a call from the hospital in Boston. It’s Joe Abernathy (Wil Johnson) calling about a patient they both know, and Claire is pulled in both directions again. Her doctor side struggles against her desire to find Jamie.
In 1757 Lady Geneva is betrothed to the Earl of Ellesmere (James Cameron Stewart). As the family is coming out to see the Earl off in his carriage, the Earl makes a comment about how horrid the color of Jamie’s hair is. You can almost see a light bulb go off over Geneva’s head at this remark. She is not happy about being forced to marry a much older man.
At some later point, Geneva goes down to the stables for her usual ride and makes Jamie ride with her. It’s so great to see Jamie on a horse again, marvelous and dashing! Once they’re out of earshot of the rest of the estate, Geneva starts talking about how Jamie MUST do as she says. While they are riding, she gets out ahead of Jamie and falls off her horse. Jamie comes over, concerned, and picks her up, but she reveals that she was only faking so he would do her bidding. Jamie gallantly drops her very promptly into a mud puddle. Something that did not happen in the books, but I LOVED IT! Tulach Ard, Alex MacKenzie!
Ahhh to chess then! Major Grey and Jamie are playing chess out in the woods of the estate. Major Grey did promise to visit once a quarter and see how he was doing.
Lord Melton (Sam Hoare) comes down the path with both the Dunsany sisters. Much to his surprise, he sees Red Jamie is a groom on the estate. Lady Geneva can tell something is tense in the conversation. Lord Melton is not as disposed to like Jamie as Major Grey. Then again, few do like Jamie as much as Major Grey, as the non-book reading fans will come to learn.
Lady Geneva corners Jamie, but this time in the stables. In the book, she intercepts a letter between Jamie and his family at Lallybroch, which is against the laws at the time. In the show, she forces him into serving her by other means. This time she makes her intentions very clear and puts it to Jamie how much his family will be hurt if he refuses her wishes. She learned from Lord Melton, after making him completely pissed (very drunk), who Jamie really was. The ultimate tool between both the book and the show is that Geneva threatens Jamie’s family at Lallybroch if he does not come to her room that night. She wants him to take her maidenhead instead of giving it to Lord Ellesmere.
Jamie has no choice in the matter, so he goes to her room late at night. He starts to disrobe and says she can watch. When he pulls off his shirt, she gasps as she sees the mass of scars on his back. He’s very used to this happening the first time people see his back. He stands before her as she looks him up and down. He approaches her and it’s clear Geneva is nervous. She admits she doesn’t know what to do. Was it just me, or did your hands tingle when Geneva touched Jamie’s chest? Okay, I’m going to leave it there. You need to experience this part for yourself. I need to work to get the tingling to stop.
Afterwards, Geneva says she loves him. Jamie explains what love really is between two people and that she’s experiencing lust. Love is when you give your heart and soul to another.
Some time passes and Geneva comes to visit her family with her husband. As she exits the carriage, you see the very round mound she is carrying. She gives Jamie a look that is obvious about the pregnancy, but more to come on that in a bit.
The search continues for Jamie in the modern day. Bree tells Claire that they can go to Edinburgh to look for the ship manifest since the prisoners were sent to America when Ardsmuir closed. Later, Bree is sitting with Roger in front of the fire talking and she admits she’s torn about the search for Jamie. The closer they are to finding Jamie, the closer she is to losing her mother. Roger admits he’s worried for the same reason, but because it would mean that Bree would leave. They share their first kiss rather spontaneously.
The Dunsany family rush to the estate where Lady Geneva is delivering her baby because Geneva is in distress. The family run upstairs and the housemaid tells Jamie that she’s bleeding very badly. He asks about the baby as well and learns it is a very healthy little boy. A time later he’s walking in the lower part of the estate and runs into Lady Isobel crying after Geneva died. She lashes out at Jamie because Geneva told her that she had only lain with him. In the book, Geneva and the Lord did consummate the marriage, but he was angry because she was not a virgin at the time. Geneva also had not told anyone about her and Jamie, but in the show, she did tell her sister.
The maid fetches Jamie and tells him he must come upstairs. The Lords are quarreling about the baby. Lord Ellesmere says the baby is a bastard and is holding a knife to the child. Lord Dunsany is holding a pistol. What a way for a child to come into the world! Jamie comes between them and gets Lord Dunsany to give him the pistol. Jamie asks Lord Ellesmere to drop his knife. More harsh words are exchanged between the Lords. Ellesmere makes a motion to stab the baby, so Jamie fires the pistol and kills him. He walks over and picks up his son, though the Dunsanys don’t know it’s his son he holds. Mercifully, the child does not have the telltale signs of red hair that Faith and Brianna did.
After all is settled down and the Dunsanys are back at Helwater with the baby, Lady Isobel approaches Jamie secretly out in the woods working the horses. She’s taking the baby for a stroll in the wee carriage. She tells Jamie they named him William and she calls him Willie. If you remember Jamie’s brother who died when he was young was named Willie, so Jamie is very pleased with their choice of a name for the baby. Naturally, he had no say in the matter. Jamie can’t even step over and hold him. Lady Isobel is kind to let Jamie see him.
As they’re talking, Lady Dunsany approaches from behind. She asks for a moment alone with Jamie. She admits the authorities have ruled the death of Lord Ellesmere is settled. Her Ladyship also admits she knows he was a prisoner. As a reward for the service he’s done for their family, she offers him his freedom. Jamie is at first heartened but he looks at the baby and wants to stay a while longer to watch over him. Of course, her Ladyship doesn’t know this is his motive. He says it’s because of the money they pay him, that he sends it back to his family in Scotland since times are so harsh there. She tells him he is but to ask when he’s ready to go home.
1764: we find wee Willie (Clark Butler) riding his pony at the instruction of his groom, Alex. Her Ladyship came out with a friend to see her grandson and they remark how much Willie is looking like his friend MacKenzie since they spend so much time together. This is the danger and so the time has come for Jamie to leave. Even Jamie sees it and knows he cannot stay any longer.
In 1968, Claire, Bree, and Roger are looking through old manifests in the archives in Edinburgh. They notice the books are marked incorrectly. They’re off by 100 years and show the 1600s instead of the 1700s. This is a major blow to their finding where the prisoners went after the prison was closed. At this point, they don’t know Jamie ended up at Helwater. Claire is resigned to ending the search and to going home to Boston.
It’s time for Jamie to go home to Lallybroch. He must tell wee Willie that he’s leaving. Willie throws a little brat tantrum so Jamie smacks his behind. It’s probably the first smack the child had ever received, so he says he hates Jamie. Jamie admits he’s not very fond of him either just then and calls him a wee bastard. Apparently, Willie had heard other people talking about rumors of his birth and says that Jamie must take it back, that he is NOT a bastard. Willie gives Jamie a hug because he doesn’t want him to go. Jamie mutters something to him in Gaelic that I wish I knew what it was. Love it when Sam speaks Gaelic, but I digress.
A short time later, Jamie and Major Grey are speaking when Grey admits that Jamie is right to go because it’s obvious that Willie is Jamie’s son. No one had told him, it’s just that Grey noticed it himself. Jamie asks Grey to serve as a father figure to Willie. Jamie offers himself to Grey as payment, if he wanted take Jamie up on it. Grey is vaper-locked…LOL. Grey doesn’t know how to respond. He’s tempted to take Jamie up on it, but is also shocked at the offer. He offers some news of his own to Jamie. Grey is to marry Lady Isobel, so he will certainly be able to keep close to Willie. Jamie’s surprised that he’s going to marry. Grey deeply cares for Isobel, but he does love Jamie. If he cannot have Jamie, he can at least raise his son. Jamie’s grateful that Grey will be able to raise him. Grey is an honorable man and will give the boy instruction that his grandparents have not, such as discipline.
Later that night, Jamie is preparing a place to pray in secret since he’s a Papist living in a Protestant household. Willie comes in and Jamie lets him stay a while. Willie says he wants to be a ‘stinking Papist’ like Mac. Jamie baptizes him as William James. James is not one of Willie’s given names so it’s his secret Papist name, as Jamie puts it. (This is so hard to watch!) He must leave his son something that will last with him through his life since Jamie will not be there. Jamie has carved Willie a gift. He made him a little snake carving like his older brother had done for him as a child. In the book, Jamie gave him a carved horse since Willie knew him only as a groomsman.
Claire goes through the material they had gathered and puts it away in a rather symbolic display of goodbye before she and Bree fly back to Boston. Jamie must leave Willie in Major Grey and Lady Isobel’s hands. The pain on both Jamie and Claire’s face will twist the heart in your chest. As Jamie rides away, Willie calls out and Major Grey must run after him to catch him. The look on Jamie’s face is so painful I really can’t do it justice. I can only imagine having to leave my child behind. It would be so devastating. This is the point I’m SUPER grateful for the preview for the next episode. If I had to leave it with that last look on Jamie’s face, I’m not sure how I would get through this next week until episode 305 “Freedom & Whiskey.” This week will feel as long as the week did before “The Wedding” episode in season one. Book readers know what’s coming, but no spoilers will be given here. Je Suis Prest for A. Malcolm!!!!
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 5 “Freedom & Whisky” 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
– 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
