In the words of the famous philosopher, Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” And boy did I feel that sentiment in this episode.

But first, we start with William and Henry playing some pool back in London back in the good ol’ days of 1775. Cousin Ben walks in dressed in his new uniform, ready to head to Boston and take on those colonial rebels. You can really sense the camaraderie between the cousins. Williams gives Ben his toy soldier “who’s never lost a battle” as a good luck charm. And yet we know something went amiss. Cue the Law & Order “dun dun” sound.

Not gonna lie, I’m loving the new house on the Ridge. It looks lovely every time. But maybe I’m feeling it more today because I’m home curled up on the couch while a good old Montana spring snowstorm dumps 9 inches of snow outside. I want Claire’s sideboard. I know I’ve made fun of Bridgerton for selling their own merch but I’d really want an Outlander home  decor and clothing line. Just saying…

Frances is getting quite the scientific education from Claire. Although we can tell from their conversation, Frances has had a hard life. But from Claire’s experiences on the Ridge before, and especially after meeting Mrs. Cunningham, aka Wicked Witch of the West (although she definitely doesn’t sing like Cynthia Erivo), Claire gently tells Frances that some of the things Frances shares about Jane and their former life should only be shared around family and that some Ridge-folk wouldn’t understand. Boy would they ever not understand.

Meanwhile, Roger and Jamie are cutting more wood for Jamie to finished the house (or to build Roger & Bree a new one?). It’s nice to see them getting on as they work. All the “you’re not good enough for my daughter” animosity is gone.  Although I’m bummed we are only getting bit and pieces of Jamie and Claire’s reactions to the MacKenzies’ experiences in the past and future. I’m glad to see Jamie confiding in Roger about Frank’s book. Poor guy needs a friend on that one. I gotta say, Roger definitely looks better in the past this time around. He should keep the short hair.  Getting in the way of their work and chat is good old Captain Cunningham. Jamie goes out on a limb to see if the Captain is a Freemason, which he is. Jamie is totally gonna pull an Ardsmuir trick and use the Freemason bit to try and keep the peace. Time will tell if it works.

We jump to Philadelphia where Henry is marrying Mercy. While it’s nice to see them getting some happiness, and a shot of Denny to see that he’s still alive, we find out their marriage is technically still illegal even though there is supposedly legislation that will hopefully end such a law. William makes it as the sole family representative and makes lovely speech. I’m not sure how much time has passed for William to make it from Savannah to Philly but here he is. Maybe the death of Captain Vasquez last week allowed William to catch the last remaining boat ticket out of Savannah. Jokes aside, he’s definitely grown up and seemed more mature this season. Unfortunately, he drops the bomb on Henry that Ben is gone. He does say he’s trying to find out more of the details. So he really is not sure what happened or if he believes what Lord John has been told.

We cut back to the ridge where Rachel, Lizzie, Amy, and Bree are swapping birth stories while picking berries. Look how far these ladies each have come. All they needed to do was pass around a flask of whiskey to have a good old time. Bree seems very much at home with them and at home with living in the past. In previous seasons, it felt like she always felt different than the others and set apart. Now she feels quite comfortable with them all. That is til Amy moves away due to some ants in her pants and takes a rest to enjoy some of her berry endeavors. 

Unfortunately, we don’t get a sweet Blueberries for Sal moment. A bear attacks Amy, and all too quickly we are reminded how quickly life can change. How something simple and fun like picking berries becomes deadly. It’s no different than a fishing trip gone wrong, or a road trip becomes precarious because of a storm or unsafe drivers. I wish I could say Amy is a badass and goes all Leonardo DiCaprio like in The Revenant. Instead we see Jamie carrying Amy in to Claire’s surgery, and it is not good. While Outlander did not give us the gore of the attack, it did give us the gore of the aftermath in spades. I had been sipping my Boulevardier up to this point and then couldn’t finish it as my stomach turned watching this and realizing my drink was the same color as the blood.

I do have to say, I love seeing Jamie and Claire work together in a crisis. They are a wonderful team. But as she assesses the wounds, the loss of blood, all while hearing Amy spluttering in her own blood, Claire looks up and gives Jamie that little head shake, the same one we’ve seen many a time since that boar hunt in Season 1. Amy isn’t going to make it. Even the newest edition of the Merck Manual won’t help here. Claire tries to get Amy to hold on for a moment so her husband and sons can say goodbye. Bree, who has been trying to keep Amy’s son calm, goes into shock when the look from Roger informs her that there isn’t much time.

And why we haven’t seen Amy in a while to care, being a wife and mother myself, those earnest pleas by her husband and children for her to hold on makes me tear up. His earnest cry for Roger to pray her into heaven calls for Roger to dig deep and exercise a spiritual muscle he hasn’t used in a while to give comfort to the family. While Roger seems hesitant, it’s a reminder to us that this was a huge part of Roger that he left behind here in the past. Will he find his way back to ministry after being gone in the future?

Poor Lizzie and Rachel are outside and in shock. Ian finds them and is glad Rachel is ok but Jamie soon comes out to tell them Amy is already gone. Side note, I really want those lanterns on either side of the front door. Alexa, add that to my Amazon list.

To give us a little reprieve or maybe add on more grief, we see William arrive at an American camp. He rides valiantly, although he hasn’t mastered his father’s infamous dismount. William pushes for information where he can get it, but it’s scarce and doesn’t make much sense. 

Speaking of last items and rites, we cut back to the Ridge where Claire is cleaning up Amy. She looks better but it’s still hard to take in. Bree stops by as she is struggling to process it all. She’s going with the men to help hunt down the bear. I understand her sentiment of having to do something to stay busy. Sitting and waiting is the hardest thing to do during a tragedy. And the older I get, the more the sight of blood makes me feel nauseous and faint. Oddly, Claire starts cutting right up Amy’s apron. I started getting a horrible feeling that the writers were going to do a callback to Season 5 and that Claire was going to use Amy as a cadaver for Frances to learn on. Thankfully I was wrong, and Mrs. Cunningham instead invites herself over the help prepare the body. She may be a tough old bird with some interesting ideas, like thinking she should sleep in her funeral shroud, but I think Claire appreciates the help. The talk of the shroud also causes Claire to pause and think for once about her own mortality. Not that Claire hasn’t come close to death many times or that she lives in its presence as a doctor, but it’s apparent that preparing for her own death hasn’t been on her mind. Or she’s spent too much of her life rootless for it to matter to have a plan for her funeral.

Outside, the hunting party prepares. Evan Lindsey wants to go. Jamie invites Amy’s son Orrie along to avenge her death. For our contemporary audience, this might seem savage or inhuman to hunt down the bear or to encourage a boy to take revenge on the animal. But in this time, it’s part of the grieving process. It gives her husband and son something they can do. They couldn’t stop what happened but as Jamie said, they can stop the bear from hurting someone else. And it will give them closure to know it’s still not out there. Not that they won’t be paranoid for weeks that another bear might be out there or unable to enjoy fresh berry anything for a while. Bree wonders if it’s a good idea, but this is where we see her modern mind and thinking struggle to understand the old ways. And there’s part of her wondering that if it had been her, would it be Roger and Jem out hunting down that bear instead?

Thinking about either deal, I think I’d rather be out hunting the bear than cleaning the body. After a rough look at the body, and some of Mrs. Cunningham’s interesting rituals, Claire suggests they cover Amy’s face for the wake. We find out Mrs. Cunningham’s name is Elspeth, and that she’s lived quite a life by losing 3 husbands and 4 children. She knows death quite well too, which is maybe why it seems she’s made her peace with it. She asks Claire to clean Amy up, as one always wants one last look of your loved one  before they are gone forever. In many ways, she’s right. I’ve always thought wakes were weird and uncomfortable because it’s pretty obvious that no matter how good the funeral home is, it’s no longer that person. It makes the loss real. And in an age where common folk didn’t always have a painted portrait, let alone a photograph, one last look is all you have, although I hope Bree will draw them a nice picture of Amy.

Speaking of Bree, the hunt is cut short because Captain Cunningham got the bear. He supposedly wanted to catch it hot on its trail while the tracks were fresh. And yet, the way Jamie had talked about how this could be Orrie and Evan’s chance to avenge her death, Captain Cunningham jumping in shows his gap in understanding Scots and Highlanders. It feels like Evan and his son were robbed of a chance of closure. And it feels like the Captain is wrapping his sincerities and sympathies up in an opportunity to show his alpha male side and leadership.

We do not see Amy’s wake or funeral, but instead jump to William, talking to Ben at his grave. He promises take care of Trevor. Similarly, we cut to Claire at her hive, telling the bees that Amy is gone. Side note: I want Claire scarf too. And Claire’s kitchen, and the dough bowls and copper pot. I want sauerkraut if it’s coming from Claire kitchen. We don’t get to enjoy any because Rachel goes into labor. Ian, who’s been watch Rachel like a hawk, has a fur pelt to wrap the baby in. You can see the fear in his eyes and the worry that the baby won’t make it. Auntie Claire reassures him that he will get the wrap it around his baby and that all will be well.

Meanwhile, Williams keeps getting the runaround from the Americans. He finds out that Ben had been getting better and then all of a sudden, the fever took him. Williams gets his last belongings, but the toy soldier Ben swore to keep with him is gone. Perhaps Ben really is gone too…

Maybe we should have called this episode, “A Wedding, A Birth, and a Funeral” but it just doesn’t have the same ring as “3 Weddings and a Funeral.”  Anyway, Baby Fraser is born, and Ian is there to wrap in him the fur. Ian and Rachel are over the moon. Any chance Bree will lend them “Goodnight Moon?” For poor Frances, it’s the first time she’s seen anyone be happy about a baby being born. Naming the baby will be a challenge. I had to laugh when Ian said he wanted to name the baby Marmeduke. My dog that I lost last year was named Marni but my dad nicknamed her Marmeduke. And then Rachel had to admit she was scared Ian would want to name to baby Rollo. It’s lovely to see Ian and Jamie share a dram and talk about being a dad. Jamie has been a second father to Ian, and yet it will always hurt that Jamie didn’t get to hold Bree and only got snatches of moments with William. It’s a reminder than time can heal many wounds but not all.

While it’s nice to get a reprieve from all of the death of this episode with the birth of the baby, history comes knocking for Jamie and Claire. Benjamin Cleveland is one son-of-gun not to trifle with. He wants Jamie to join his militia. Jamie gives the line of the episode, “I turned down George Washington himself, what makes you think I’ll come fight for you!” Speaking of Alpha dog energy, Cleveland has it in spades. The gall he has to think Jamie Fraser can’t handle his own tenants. I mean he is the police force while Claire is the ambulance. Roger walks up at Cleveland rides off. He gives the next most memorable line of the episode, “so then you are the James Fraser in the book?” And then later when they are getting a snack from the house and Roger asks Jamie if he’s in the book. Jamie tells him no and Roger isn’t sure if he should be offended or relieved. He does sense that Frank’s books has caused some issues between Claire and Jamie and takes his biscuit for the road. The confirmation of Frank being right with the coming of Benjamin Cleveland makes Claire wonder how Frank could do all this research and never tell her? Yet Jamie knows it’s not so much about finding Jamie as it is that Frank was looking for evidence of Claire leaving him for Jamie. Takes a jealous husband to know one.

We get to see our first Ridge Lodge. Cunningham is quick to jump up and share his story about his son’s death and how he thinks his son told him he wouldn’t die for another 7 years. The speech definitely wins over some members, as well as explains why he wasn’t afraid to go after the bear. Jamie and Roger are observing as the settlers are being won over. Me-thinks Cunningham is living up to his name.

Meanwhile, Williams can’t sleep and goes at night to check the grave. He starts to dig it up and is relieved to not see Ben’s face. So for William, Ben isn’t dead yet. (Cue Monty Python, “I’m not dead yet.”). But then where is Ben?

Back on the Ranch, Jamie is reading Frank’s book. He hears Frank taunting him (or maybe a BJR version Jamie’s created in his head?). Jamie needs Claire to know what’s real, to claim Claire as his own (more male alpha energy). Claire is game for it, which is very book Claire. But just as Jamie thinks he’s exorcised Frank’s voice away, Claire curls up on Jamie and he still hear Frank’s voice  saying how he will still die and asks “who will hold her when he’s gone.” It’s a reminder that our time runs out at some point. Death comes for us all. We don’t know when. We can’t stop it. So what will Jamie do with this foreknowledge?

Speaking of death, it does have to power to mature us. Ben’s death has seemed to snap William out of his drunk funk and given him purpose. He’s making mature speeches at weddings and following his Fraser Spidy-sense that something isn’t adding up with Ben’s death. Death reminds Bree and Roger how delicate life is on the Ridge. And yet, we usually see death and close life together. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done to a funeral and a family member has a new baby along or is very pregnant. My uncle who was a Top Gun fighter pilot during Desseet Storm, lost his best friend in combat and yet my brother was born that same day.

Well, Jamie might not be having fun but I sure am. It’s nice to be home on the Ridge. It’s not a perfect place, but it’s home. And with everything that’s happened in the world and in my personal life since season 7 ended, the simple life of the Ridge is enticing, but still not easy.

Caitriona’s directorial debut doesn’t disappoint. I’m still loving all of the nuances in the acting, where looks are speaking more than words, where familiarity of working together for 5-10 years shows a visible shorthand on each others’ faces. In many ways, I feel like these first two episodes could have been a two hour premiere. From the looks of the preview for 803, things are gonna ramp up next week.

Slainte!

Dram: Jameson, an Irish whiskey in honor of Cait’s directorial debut

Comfort food: So many options yet things seemed too on the nose (any berry dessert, bear burgers, or coleslaw?). So instead, I went with my go-to meal whenever there’s a birth or a funeral. I had a couple friends who were all due within a month of each other, so I made this quite a bit. It’s Funeral ‘Fredo. It’s great for popping in the oven while cleaning up your kitchen before dinner. Or it’s great to prep and put in a foil casserole pan and drop it off at a friend in need who just has to warm it in the oven. I used to send along a Caesar Salad kit, as well as homemade Banana Bars with cream-cheese frosting.

Song: Maybe because I’m teaching my middle school choir kids this song or because Bree and Roger were from the 60s & 70s but I’m feeling Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind.”