Welcome back to my rewatch of season 7. 

We see poor Claire trying to put the pieces of her life back together as she wanders the Ridge when she comes along the last Christie standing…er kneeling. And then things take a dark turn. Maybe this episode should be titled “Where the Weird Things Are.” At first it seems like Alan is just a poor lost soul, as they whole family was. Then things take a turn and you realize that Alan Christie earns the “Creep of the First Half of the Season” award. In some ways, it’s comforting to learn that in the end, Malva did love Claire and tried to do the right thing in the end. Poor Claire, ever the caregiver, tries to reason with Alan and help him. Mohawk Ian comes along and takes care of business. It’s such a twisted tale that in many ways, the audience can’t help but agree with Ian. If you forgot about how twisted Black Jack Randall was, this is a great reminder to the audience that Diana takes some dark turns with her narratives.

Then again, maybe this episode should be called “Where the Wild Wigs are.” Claire’s hair gets magically longer and shorter by a couple inches throughout this episode. Dare you to rewatch again just to keep track of how many times the length magically changes. I mean, I’ve seen this happen with my daughter’s curly hair depending on the weather but this one is pretty obvious. I’m not a big wig complainer, even when Jamie’s wig in Season 4 was questionable. Maybe it’s because Sam has the ability to make bad wigs look hot. But even Claire’s wig inconsistencies in this episode caused to me look twice.

Speaking of weird things, up pops Mrs. Bug out of nowhere. This is a signal everyone. This is going to be a very odd episode, and it’s not gonna end well. Do Jamie and Claire have any normal people on the Ridge? They need some normal friends! I mean Lizzie is sweet but she is married to twins. I mean, I know weird things happen in the back country. In the small town I currently live in, everyone seems to be related to everyone. Maybe Jamie & Claire just need real friends. Someone that likes gardening as much as Claire or someone who digs horses as much as Jamie does. But nope, not even one friend seems normal, although most on the Ridge are extremely loyal.

Thankfully, we do get some moments of normalcy. Bree finally has her baby after having had one of the longest onscreen pregnancies. Is there anything sweeter than Jamie taking baby Amanda to see the horses? And then Claire taking the baby around her surgery. Damn, Sam & Cait win for best face acting. You can feel the heartbreak as Jamie & Claire realize what Bree & Roger must do. And then when Jamie sees William and Bree together on the street… 😢 They say a pictures is worth a thousands words, and I believe them.

So things get weird again when we discover Jemmy can hear Mandy. Buckle up everyone! This is gonna be quite the ride with these two!

Lord John looks amazing! His clothes look so lush. Who knew brown could look sexy. In the vein of weirdness, poor John thinks Bree is weird for wanting to tell William the truth. It would have been social suicide back then but in this case, Bree is speaking from personal experience. In many ways both of them are right and yet both are wrong. If only John only knew where Bree was really from…..

The interaction with Bree, Lord John, and William is interesting. Oh boy…”America is a naughty child that must be taught a lesson.” Ah the signs of rebellion and people on opposite sides of political ideas. Somehow this doesn’t feel too different from today with the latest transfer of power to a new president.

Then again, maybe the real title of this episode is “Final Farewells.” Lord John Gray and Jamie break-up for now due to political differences. Now Jamie & Bree have their final farewell with the beautiful firefly. It makes me sad we have gotten so little scenes with Bree & Jamie. They truly have a beautiful relationship in the books. Although when poor Jamie thinks Mickey Mouse is a huge rat that plays with kids, that does sound pretty weird too. I love that Jamie called Mickey Mouse, Michael the Mouse.

And if things weren’t weird enough, we find out Jamie is dreaming in the future. Although the best line of this episode has to be the way he says he’s not as brave as when he sent Claire through the stones back in Season 2. It just does something to my heart. Sam could read the telephone book and make is sound sexy. It’s a gutsy move for Claire to throw that gem out. But Jamie is practical. Get it back and use it for money! I mean I don’t know where they are getting the money for the rest of the gemstones in the first place anyway. Yet I admire Claire’s promise to Jamie to stick out the rest of their days to their end.

I do love the beautiful bookend to reference Claire going thru the stones to save Bree and now Bree is doing it for Mandy. Jamie gives Roger Mac the thumbs up of approval. Poor Roger has come a long ways away from season 4 when they first met. Although book fans have known that Roger was always amazing. It’s also a great moment to see Jem’s airplane merge with a real one. 

Poor Claire and Jamie are so good a soldiering on. Sometimes we have to stop soldiering and let the weeping take over. And then get back up again and keep going.

Again, things get weird when Donner shows up. The Bugs have gold. We got some idiots with ether and matches. Ether and matches do not gang together. Well, they do but they really shouldn’t.

To be honest, rewatching this episode was a little hard with all the sorrow, pain, and loss. It left me feeling out of sorts, just like the first time I watched it. It left me needing a little soup and grilled cheese. I know the Scots would be appalled at my Terrible Times Tomato Soup but here we are. And just something that might be a little out of sorts, check out my Figgy Piggy Grilled Cheese. It’s also a little “wink wink” to that gold bar of the Bug’s.

It didn’t feel right to have a dram with this episode so no dram today.

Song of the episode: Lost or Fix You by Coldplay. Both deal with the feeling of hopelessness, loss and grief. There’s so much in this episode that cannot be fixed: Malva’s pointless death, Tom’s sacrifice for Claire, creepy Alan’s devastating destructive choices and consequences, little Amanda’s heart, Lord John & Jamie’s friendship, Jamie never having a relationship with William, the MacKenzies leaving, Donner’s desperation, and that damned ether. Yet “Fix You” holds that promise that Jamie will be there for Claire through it all, and she for him.

.

.

.

.

And if you’re on the rewatch and are ready for some book ends…

In retrospect, this season has really shown how harshly women were treated back then. Malva, Laoghaire, and Jane each had their own issues but they were just trying to find their own way in a cruel world.

Seeing baby Amanda and little girl Amanda at the episode makes me sad how much Jamie and Claire will miss seeing their grandkids grow up. I really hope the MacKenzies will go back to Fraser’s Ridge in Season 8.

Damn, that house on Fraser’s Ridge is beautiful. The fact that it burns by the end is heartbreaking. Even with some of the weirdos on the Ridge, it’s easy to see why Claire gets fed up at the end of season 7 and wants to go home.

Roger saying that God will have to wait is starting the storyline of Roger wrestling with fate and predestination.

Jemmy can hear Mandy…if only they knew….

Beautiful bookend…William unknowingly meeting his sister and then in the last episode realizing the truth. Oh William, if you only knew what iron and blood of war does to a person…RIP Sandy and Jane.

And Lord John asking Bree if she’d know what it would do to William if he knew the truth….haha….LJG missed the aftermath of Hurricane William destroying the Chestnut House.

This is also the beginning of Claire starting to feel like this is all futile by the end of the season. The cycle of war and loss just keeps going on and on.

Jamie and Lord John are calling off their friendship peacefully. If only they knew how their friendship would be tested…

I wished we could have seen Bree & Roger go to Disneyland this season. That would have been a wonderful bookend.

Again, people complaining that the finale came out of left field missed another breadcrumb where Jamie dreams of the future.

Another great foreshadowing when Jamie gives Claire the stone. There’s quite a few times they almost lose each other this season.

And if no one saw it coming where Claire and LJG would do it in the throes of grief, Claire trying to get it on with Jamie shows that she is a person who needs sexual healing.