This was a great episode. We got a lot of great call-backs to previous storylines. We saw hints of Jamie show up in William while we saw hints of Claire show up in Bree. Young Ian befriends William and saves his life (much like Auld Ian did for Jamie many times). This episode brought about a lot of Outlander nostalgia. It’s like a tried and true recipe you keep coming back to. Whenever you make it, it always hits the spot.

Let’s be honest, the 80’s look good on Bree & Roger. Mandy is a “wee feisty baggage” as described in the books. The kids are older, and they’ve been surviving in a caravan. I totally remember seeing caravans like that on nearby farm yards. After living in a camper for a month while helping my husband and in-laws sort thru my grandparents-in-law’s estate after their passing, I can’t image a whole two years in tight quarters. The contractor’s puffy vest is giving me total “Back-to-the-Future” vibes. I love the remark about the slash in the wall staying. Us book readers know it’s from British soldiers coming to look for Jamie after the ‘45. I still wish we could have seen this with Bree when she first traveled back in season 4. It would land so much better. Poor Bree & Roger are living the Scottish version of “The Money Pit.”

Jamie and Claire are on the road again! I love them teasing each other while sharing fruit and cheese. It takes me back to Season 1 when they are having their little honeymoon lunch on the mountain. Sadly, it’s ruined by Young Ian. I know the show is trying to show Young Ian on edge. But it just seems a little cheesy and insincere somehow. (Pun totally intended. If only Claire had packed Brie cheese….) Again, the show didn’t develop the Bugs’ characters enough for this storyline to be taken seriously, and it’s really showing.

Meanwhile, Williams and his cousin are sowing their wild oats. Is Williams the first person to use the phrase, “the night is young” when partying? Quickly the night goes sour between Will’s cousin wanting to call an early night and some other soldiers being awful to a whore. Again, it’s a reminder how awful women were treated in the past, as well as unrecorded casualties of war. There’s a beautiful line in Amy Harmon’s book, A Girl Called Samson, that perfectly captures this moment. This book is a historical fiction retelling of Deborah Samson, a woman who disguised herself to fight for the American cause in the Revolution. However, she observes that bringing so many kinds of men together during war was not always good. She says “I knew, down to the soles of my feet and the depth of my spirit, that the fight was just and the cause was great. I was not without my own motivations, my own personal reasons, for engaging in the conflict, but I was a believer. Not all the soldiers were. Some of them were animals. Maybe war made them that way, but I suspected that war just revealed their hooves and snouts.” We see how William thinks the Brits’ cause is just, to defend King and country. But he sees the animal side of men come out in this scene, where they are not concerned about fighting for a noble cause and do not have the code of honor William has instilled by Lord John or hard-wired genetically by Jamie. (This is a good case for nature vs. nurture.) We also see some of the Fraser temper rise as William curses at the other soldiers.

Roger is starting his “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Time Travel” for the kids. I love how Diana uses this in the books to reference “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. (I am loving all the sci-fi references in this episode!). Meanwhile the kids’ are having trouble with pixies. It’s kinda fun to have these Scottish legends and lore mentioned. Check out this video to learn more about the pixies.

I love Bree’s outfit for her interview! I think my mom had a skirt similar to Bree’s. Keep bringing on the nostalgia Outlander! Leave it to Bree to drop the best line of the episode: “and what part of plant inspection requires a penis?” Start the slow clap for Bree! You are definitely your mother’s daughter and do your Auntie Jenny credit. It’s lovely to see Bree coming into her own. She follows up with another great line “so you hire men that would assault a woman?” And then bam, Bree puts the man squarely in his place by showing she knows her stuff and can fix the issues at the plant. Check and mate!

Welp! Jamie’s quest to return to Scotland lasted two weeks (or 2 seconds in the screen). He gets conscripted but Jamie admits he wanted to fight anyway. I guess Claire & Ian are going along. Poor Claire is dragged into another war.

Roger is struggling being Mr. Mom. He’s working on his DIY project of the day and trying to keep Jem from sticking Mandy in the priest hole. Bree gets the job, but it brings up how Roger is struggling with his purpose in the future. I do love their growth in this scene. Roger admits why he’s struggling and apologizes. It’s also a prime example of opposites attract: a strong, forward thinking independent woman married to a slightly older, more traditional, conservative-thinking man. Yet they don’t get mad at each other for their different viewpoints. Roger jokes the men at her work don’t know what they have coming. And while it’s funny, it also shows his admiration for her tenacity, as well as her strength of character and mind.

Meanwhile, in another time and place, little brother Williams isn’t faring so well in the swamp. Snakes are the downfall of Fraser men, so it seems. Too bad step-mum Claire is too far away. Luckily, Cousin Ian is traveling by land to Fort Ticonderoga and happens upon him. Good thing Ian has been taking notes from Auntie Claire. He seems pretty comfortable cleaning wounds. William isn’t looking so good and references his Catholic name in his death song. Hmmmm….

Speaking of step-mum, Dr. Claire is getting her doctor supplies assembled and has the surprise of her life by getting a kiss from Tom Christie. This is beautifully played by both actors. After finding out that it was Tom who put the notice of their death in the paper, we are faced with another time-traveling conundrum. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? If it wasn’t for Roger letting Tom Christie and his family settle on the Ridge, would anyone have put the notice of Claire & Jamie’s death in the paper? Claire tries to process this all with Jamie, and we get a beautiful love scene with many callbacks to events in past seasons!

I do love this episode title. Claire & Bree are uncomfortable women, disturbing people’s peace, but usually for the better. We also meet Rachel Hunter, a Quaker with a fiery spirit that can make both William and Ian uncomfortable. Although Rachel tells Williams how it is, she makes eyes at Ian. When she beings out the tea, I can just hear the opening notes of “Let’s Get it On.” William luckily doesn’t get his hand cut off and unknowingly gets a souvenir from his biological dad. Oh they are so gonna meet, and this rosary is gonna be important.

Hmmm…pixies and now a nuckelavee. Something fishy is going on here. If you aren’t sure what the nuckelavee is, check it out here. They are downright creepy, and Roger has a right to be confused.

It’s good to see William doing better. Although I think he’s smitten with Rachel too. It’s a nice callback to season 1 where we see Frank smitten with Claire while she shaves him. William gets intel from Rachel and realizes something isn’t quite right about Callahan. Erstwhile, Jamie and Claire make it to Ticonderoga.  Will the battle commence next episode? Will William make it in time to fight against Jamie for the British?

Rewatching this episode gave me all the feels. This will be one of my favorite episodes of season 7 because it fully encompasses what Outlander is. We get a beautiful love scene with Jamie & Claire that shows that their story is at the heart of the show. And yet Bree & Roger’s presence in the future brings that time traveling element, along with the tricky elements of how do you remake yourself in a new time (even if you are returning to the future), and contemplation of what the morality of time travelers is, especially if kids are involved. William’s story brings that element of mystery, intrigue, plus gross medical drama. We see how rich a character Ian is, which makes me sad we don’t know more about him. Jamie & Claire get pulled into war. We meet some interesting historical figures and Quakers. There’s adventure. It’s the full package. It also brings out the richness of Diana’s writing as the storylines in this season are from some of her best written books. They are so nuanced with all of the layers and callbacks. Watching this truly was a delight. It took me a full two hours to get thru all of.

Til next time….Slainte!

Dram: Chivas Regal. It’s tried and true. I love to try new whiskies all the time. When I come back to Chivas, it’s like coming home.

Dish: Old Bay Chicken. Again, it’s tried and true and damn delicious every time. I wish I could say I came up with it but it was just on the back of the can of Old Bay Seasoning.

Song: Since Bree had the quote of the episode, this one is for her. I love the song, “Armor,” by Sara Bareilles. This is a great version she performs live at the Hollywood Bowl.

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….Spoilers if you haven’t already seen all of season 7………….

Rewatch notes:

I forget how much the opening credits scenes changed over this seasons.

I love seeing the Laird’s desk, especially since we know its purpose towards the end of the season. If only they had followed the book’s rendition instead of turning it into the magic-drawer-Scottish-Lakehouse…..

Apples end up being a running theme this season. It’s gonna be hard NOT to pull out all of the apple recipes as I rewatch.

The scene where Williams stands up for the whore and takes care of her is a foreshadowing of what happens with poor Jane. I’ll never look at Northern Lights the same!

Yes! We know the wee pixie giving the kids trouble is Great-Grandda Buck.

Uh oh! It’s Captain Richardson. Run William! Don’t do it!

It’s still amazing to see Sophie Skelton deliver one of the best lines of the season: “What part of plant inspection requires a penis?”. This set the tone for seeing a new Bree this season. It makes me sad this was eventually lost by the end of the season due to squishing two of Diana’s big books into one season.

I love the adventures of William & Ian. Too bad Rachel gets in the way of their friendship. Here’s to hoping they make up and we see more cousin adventures in Season 8 (and book 10). It’s also beautiful to see William use his Catholic name here with Ian, even it he doesn’t quite remember why William James feels better. It also makes for a lovely foreshadowing to his discovery of who his biological father is. We get even more hints with Ian giving Williams the rosary. I don’t necessarily like seeing the rosary get shoehorned in, as how it was set up in the book make more sense. But I don’t write TV. Seeing Rachel pet Rollo and watch Ian ride off, man she was already a goner. To her, there was no other man for her. Can’t wait to see Claire and Denny team up!

This season was a great exploration of Claire’s other relationships. Claire’s kiss with Tom Christie is a great foreshadowing of Claire eventually going through the Big Event with Lord John. Both of these romantic liaisons were not on Claire’s bingo card for Season 7. Seeing Tom’s pure look of joy at seeing Claire mirrors Lord John’s look of pure joy at seeing Claire when she arrives in Philadelphia to help his nephew, and then later when Jamie is alive. Seeing Jamie able to forgive Tom for his past actions due to saving Claire’s life gives me hope that Jamie will be able to do the same for Lord John in Season 8. 

I am sad though that this episode ends up having the season’s best love scene between Jamie & Claire. Another casualty of too much plot, not enough time. However, having their love scene back-to-back with Ian’s meet-cute with Rachel is a great foreshadowing. We see you Rachel Hunter making eyes at Ian.

Claire & Jamie staying at the Red Falcon Inn and audiences seeing William also there earlier in the episode continues this reoccurring theme throughout the season of William almost running into Jamie. We will continue this delicate game of “keep away” all season.

There are just so many good things happening and setting things into motion. Seeing these first four episodes breathe more makes me sad for the rushed episodes at the end of season 7. I almost wished they had ended season 8 at the end of book 8 and done both books 7 & 8 justice instead of squeezing them into one season. It really makes me wonder what was left on the cutting room floor in later episodes. This might be worth buying the DVD for so you can get all the left out scenes.