I love the cold open! Show-only watchers may not think much of Hal but books readers, especially those who’ve read the Lord John novels, will love this exchange. Although very disappointed to not see the hearth rug. As the kids say, IYKYK. (Minnie, please find a way to the show!) I love the “promise me you’ll never believe in American independence” and then the cut to LJG swearing into the Continentals. We know he doesn’t mean it, and is only doing it to survive but it’s still great! Diana wrote this episode, and it shows! However, there’s a lot going on so this review might be a little everywhere.

I love Mrs. Figg’s snarky comments to the Continental soldier. It’s like when my kids complain about dinner not being ready yet, but don’t want to help or interrupt me constantly while I’m making dinner. I still miss having Fergus & Co and Claire & Jamie all together at the print shop. It’s kinda weird to see Jamie putting in a new light fixture at the Chestnut house. Jamie of the books would have never stayed there. It just feels weird.

Meanwhile, Claire gets her shopping done and runs into Lafayette. Man is he is charming. Quickest way to Claire’s heart is wine and cheese. I mean, it worked out great for Jamie in the Wedding episode.

No dinner party can go well on Outlander. We see some angst with General Lee and see that not everyone adores Washington (Here comes the General!). Claire has jellied eel (poor Caitriona Bale actually ate real jellied eel in this episode). Maybe that’s karma for Claire for not worrying more about Lord John? We do get some on the nose comments about the dinner not being remembered in history. That definitely has to be a writer’s room re-write. No way Diana actually put that in.

Jamie has to inspect his troops and this leads to all sorts of trouble, as in Claire’s 3rd husband. Also, Jamie’s making connections with young soldiers. This is not good. They are gonna die. Or Jamie is gonna use their shirt to write a bloody note. Again, IYKYK. It may be petty but this scene shows snow. Thanks to doing my friend Angela’s deep dive book studies (Check out Queen Bee’s Hive), it’s been seared in my brain that the battle of Monmouth was one of the hottest days of the summer. So it’s kinda killing me to see Jamie inspecting soldiers with snow. Does this mean Molly Pitcher will become famous for giving out hot chocolate instead of water and taking over the canons when the men freeze to death instead of dying from heatstroke? 

Poor William is having a bad day. I could see the steam coming out of William’s ears at being told he looked like a groom. We finally get to meet Fanny! No lisp for Fanny but probably no time. But lovely William, Jane, & Fanny scenes. More on that later…

Yaas! We get gun-toting Bree! I wished the shootout had been more epic like the books. We got a good look at Callahan/Richardson, or was that just us eagle-eyed book fans? Does that confirm it for us book readers if Diana allowed it? Or is she using the show to throw us book readers in a tizzy? Is her inner BJR coming out again?

I kinda love that Bree is fixing the car. Women are owning this episode! No Principal Menzies in this episode, and I know how they are talking about Boston does not mean Pop tarts with Joe. But I still need the “Dearest Deadeye” letter!

Percy & John are fire! I hope this leaves enough intrigue that people will have to be clamoring for a Lord John series!!!!! I thought Beauchamp was a dundering fool and maybe just fan service until I saw him turn on the charm with LJG. We get a nice callback with LJG to wearing “irons.” Love the angst! Jamie gives LJG a look that says “you know nothing Jon Snow.”  I love Ian’s look at Jamie giving him two nice pistols. Uncle Jamie means business. But that “Save our son” just LJG just fell in love all over again. All John has suffered in 7B has made it worth it for him to hear Jamie utter those words. But after this John, get out of dodge and find your deer, my dear. These Frasers are too much. 

There is a lot jammed in this episode and it was artfully done by Diana. In the words of the great musicians Wayne & Garth from Wayne’s World, “we’re not worthy!”. I have to say, I got total episode 211 vibes, which is my favorite episode of the whole series. I mean everyone says the wedding episode is their favorite but I love 211 for the humor. This is where Murtaugh and Jame are trying to find Claire, and Murtaugh asks Jamie “Have you ever thought that maybe taking Claire to wife wasna good idea?” You can feel Diana’s humor everywhere, from Claire’s health inspection comments (although the giving the poor tuberculosis militiaman a hard time was a little rough with Auld Ian so freshly in his grave), John’s sarcasm at the American flag, Mrs. Figg’s fire, Jane’s sass, Bree being a badass, it’s just everywhere. Although it’s really weirding me out how much Jane looks like Bree….

I don’t know if Diana was on set when they filmed it but it seemed like all the actors were on their A-game. 714 is filled with wit and yet there’s substance between tiny pockets of character building like learning more about Jane, finally seeing Bree’s Fraser side kick in, Ian letting Rachel see more of his Mohawk side, seeing the weight of Jamie’s concern in leading 299 men that aren’t clansmen, and Lord John has a whole intriguing backstory with a step-brother that looks closer than a brother. Please let us have the LJG spin-off by now!

Speaking of Lord John, his snark is still going strong in this episode. Claire goes on manhandling men with their injuries since 1943. LJG is secretly hating and loving Jamie’s touch. Don’t know if Jamie is more mortified by touching LJG or by what Claire is doing to LJG. It feels like Claire is definitely THE General Fraser in this scenario. Still major props to the makeup department! Great leather eye patch for LJG. Only the best for him after getting patched up by Claire. It’s the least she can do for how much she scratched John under the sheets, and Jamie beating up John for it. 

William & Jane are pure fire together. Her telling William what Captain Harkness was planning to do Fanny & Jane made me think of BJR with Jamie and later with young Fergus. I know some would have liked to see the scene instead of being told. And while it would have been powerful to watch, how she spoke of it evoked the BJR images from seasons 1 & 2 that I didn’t need to see the gory details. 

In fact, there were a lot of great show callbacks. Seeing Claire lounging in the wingback chair  reminded me of the last time she kissed Frank before going through the stones. Claire and Jamie enjoying wine & cheese by a bed and fire was reminiscent of the wedding episode. LJG talk about getting used to wearing “irons.”  We had references to Claire’s family name, Beauchamps. Claire is getting to rub elbows with all sorts of historical people.

The best line of the episode has to be when Jamie tells LJG to “Save our son,” even if Diana didn’t add that part.

I do wonder if the title of the episode should be “Battle of the ex’s?” Fiona was a wanna-be ex of Roger’s. Rob Cameron maybe wishes he could be Bree’s ex? Percy is John’s ex. Claire is John’s ex. John wishes he could be Jamie’s ex. Ian had an ex. By the way, where’s Rollo? Thankfully he wasn’t exed. William probably considers himself Rachel’s ex although he seemed very confused about Jane. Is she an ex? Could be become more than an ex? Harkness was definitely exed, thank the Lord. We got that lovely callback to Claire saying bye to her first ex, Frank. Was Jamie technically an ex when they thought he was dead? Maybe it’s because it Christmas and this song gets stuck in my head this time of year but this episode’s theme song should have been “exes are all around” to the tune of “Christmas is All Around” from the movie Love Actually.

As much as I loved this episode, I do think the back end of 7B is really suffering from the fact they thought the show would end here. I’m curious to see if things will flow better rewatching the season on a binge. So much storyline and character development has been whittled away. Paring down the story makes it seem more soapy. It’s like sitting down to a delicious dinner but something is wrong. Maybe the restaurant is busy, and your poor waiter is having to cover multiple tables. They look flustered and make simple mistakes, but you’re understanding because it looks like a crazy night for them. But as the night goes on, the complimentary bread and butter get delayed in being delivered. It takes forever to place you order because your waiter is so busy. And even after your order is placed, it takes a while for it to come out or your date’s order got lost so they have to remake it. At this point it looks like it’s better to skip dessert and just hope your meal arrives. It finally does arrive but it’s just the steak. Where were the promised sides, the vegetables and mashed potatoes? It’s starting look like there isn’t much meat left on the bone at this point. And it’s hard because while I was glad to see things come alive on screen, so much didn’t get put in or it got reduced that sometimes the story feels cheapened. It’s like we were promised or we hoped we would get a fancy steak dinner and ended up with meatloaf. Now meatloaf can be great, especially wrapped in bacon. But it’s not a tender piece of steak or beautiful piece of salmon, cooked in butter with sautéed shallots & garlic and maybe even a little wine sauce with fresh herbs, with garlic mashed potatoes, a lovely side salad and or gently roasted asparagus, ending with decadent huckleberry cheesecake and a rich cup of coffee or delicious cocktail or two. I have to keep reminding myself that this could have ended after season 6.  It could have ended with 7A with Claire, Jamie, & Ian finally returning to Scotland. And we’ll see how this season ends. Maybe the ship will right itself. Are the scraps we are getting better than nothing at all?  This season has a had some glorious moments but also moments where I almost wished I hadn’t read the books to know the difference.

Bear’s music is fantastic in this episode, especially the credits! Does his music make him the after-dinner Andes mint?

Til next time…Slainte

Dram: The Devil’s Brigade by Willie’s Distillery in Ennis, Montana

Comfort Food: Bacon-Wrapped Mini-Meatloafs of Hope