As we find ourselves heading towards the last few episodes of the season and series, I as a book reader and show-watcher, knew there were going to be some interesting twists and turns. I knew this to be true especially because Diana is still working on the 10th and final book. I knew there would be some spots of wonder and glory and others of disappointment and dissatisfaction. That’s what happens when you love a story so dearly that seeing it on screen can be overwhelmingly wonderful and terrifying at the same time. And your opinion on this episode is really up to you.

I do love the beginning of the episode. It’s quite powerful to see Jamie scouting and climbing King’s Mountain as we hear Frank reading a description of the battle from his book. And then seeing Fergus work with his boys in the print shop is quite adorable.

William makes it home and confronts Amaranthus about Ben’s “death” and her involvement in things. She does her best of sway William to her side of things until Lord John arrives. It distracts William enough to tell Lord John what he knows about Ben.

Marsali and Bree catch up as they walk through the market. They discuss Fergus being the son of the Count St. Germain, as well and Bree and Roger’s plans for getting the guns and leaving town. However, their shopping spree and sweet sisterly chat gets interrupted by a rude man calling Marsali names and throwing tomatoes at her.

We cut back to Ridge where Fanny and Claire are by Jane’s cairn. Fanny makes a sweet revelation about Claire’s poor cooking of burnt pancakes. As is well until Fanny frealizes she has lost a scrap of black lace and panics. Claire does her best to comfort Fanny but she just wants to head home.

Also upset is Lord John, knowing the truth that Amaranthus deceived them all. He calls her out for lying and using the situation for financial and personal gain. After tossing a glass at the fireplace, she storms out. John also reminds William that now that they know Ben is alive, Amaranthus is off-limits. Thank goodness for tender mercies. No more gazebo bonding!

Fergus comes home to the print shop and flirts with Marsali. As she cleans her clothes from the tomato, Fergus pulls a death threat note off of their door. Little Henri-Christian runs out and the three share a cute family moment. It’s so good to see Marsali and Fergus happy and content in spite of the daily danger they are in. They continue their flirting and take things upstairs. They are pretty adorable as they make their way to the bedroom. Fergus attempts to take Marsali’s stocking off with his teeth. Their ease and laughter together shows the wonder of marriage as the years go by.

Claire shares with Jamie about Fanny losing her lace, and sharing how it came from their grandmother. It makes them more confused about what Fanny’s origins might be. Jamie remembers a lace shop across from Master Raymond’s and had gone to the lace shop to get a mourning veil for Claire.

Speaking of origins, we see a highly inebriated Lord John sitting on the porch in Savannah when Percy arrives. He brings new of Captain Richardson and that he will be in Savannah soon. Percy then dives down into memory lane. We discover that Percy and John were once step-brothers and lovers. For some reason, John can’t trust Percy. As they reflect on their past, they end up kissing. Unfortunately, William happens to walk in on them. Percy beats it out of there, and William spirals. He questions John’s motivations for bringing Jamie to Hellwater and their friendship. Lord John is fed up and calls out William for messing around with Amaranthus and for not having any purpose. William yells out that he doesn’t have a father and storms out, leaving John terrified of what the consequences might be.

Meanwhile, Jamie gets a letter from Ian. He went to the brothel and tracked down the author of the pamphlet on Jane’s crimes and death. The author recounts what Jane shared, that Jane and Fanny and her parents were on their way to North Carolina to find their mother’s parents, James and Claire Fraser. It’s a lot to take in. We don’t get much time because in the next scene, Marsali and Fergus wake up to the print shop being on fire. Marsali gets most of the kids out, but Fergus runs to the roof where Germain and Henri-Christian are. He’s able to lower the boys using a rope. Henri-Christian almost falls to his death but Roger catches him and saves him. Fergus catches Marsali’s eye and gives her a smile. Suddenly the roof collapses and Fergus falls through. Jamie wakes up at the Ridge and knows something is wrong but not what. Bree and Roger take Marsali and the kids to Lord John’s. Understandably, they are all grief-stricken. Bree asks Roger what he would do if she died. Roger reassures her that he and the kids would stay since their whole family is here. Bree checks on the kids, and they are all asleep in the bed. Marsali however is sitting on the floor, watching over the kids, not willing to take her eyes off of them. Bree sits besides her and offers to help watch the children. Marsali lays her head in Bree’s lap and recounts all of the death threats they had received over time. Now to see that one of them has come true and that she has to go on alone without him is more that she can bear.

Perhaps more than Fanny can bear is finding out the truth about Claire and Jamie being her grandparents. It’s almost too fantastical, too much to take in, and Fanny leaves to get some space.

Back in Savannah, Bree and Henri-Christian make the bed. He wakes up Marsali, wanting to return to the print shop. Marsali is faced with what to do. Bree brings up the Comte St. Germain’s money, but reassures Marsali that she always has a home on the Ridge. Marsali knows Fergus did not want the Comte’s money. She just puts one foot in front of the other and braces herself to get Fergus’ boyd.

On the Ridge, Fanny has run off. Jamie and Claire find her by Jane’s cairn. Fanny worries that she will lose them, just like everyone and everything else. They reassure her, but then Bree, Roger, Marsali, and the kids come back to the Ridge, with Fergus’ body in tow. I don’t know which is more heartbreaking, Marsali falling apart in Jamie’s arms or Jamie struggling to build Fergus’ coffin and remembering all of Fergus’ key moments from past seasons. Fanny then sweetly comes up and shows Jamie that she has built a cairn for Fergus, and calls Jamie “grandda.” They hold hands and head back to the house.

The last scene shows Master Raymond with baby Faith, asking a Parisian lacemaker to watch the baby because he has to leave town and the baby’s mother is ill. He mentions Claire and Jamie’s names as the baby’s parents. Before he goes, he teaches the lacemaker the song Claire had sung to Faith in the hospital.

This episode was hard one for me to swallow. Toni Graphia, the screenwriter credited with this episode, had a lot to accomplish. She is a good writer, and I burst into tears when Fergus died. It doesn’t happen that way in the books. Poor Henri-Christian is not caught and is the person who actually dies in the book. I saw in other interviews that the actor, Cesar Domboy, was quite pleased with the arc and thought it wonderful that an orphan, with no home or family, ends his story with a beautiful family that he is able to save, despite his hand being gone. In some ways, that helps me with the change in the story. However, Diana Gabaldon also put on social media that she wasn’t pleased with the change, and in a separate answer to a fan, mentioned that Fergus has a big role in book 10. Many of us fans are secretly hoping that maybe Starz will come back and do another season or a movie based on book 10. Another sticky situation with everything with Faith. While there is always a part of me that would like Fanny to be blood relatives of Jamie and Claire, this means a myriad of things for the characters. First, it means that William unknowingly slept with his half-niece, Jane. Second, how is a Parisian lacemaker supposedly to learn an English song in one setting to remember it accurately and sing it to a baby? Also, if Jamie bought lace from her, wouldn’t she have recognized Jamie’s name? It just seems like a patched up job on a storyline that hasn’t been completed in the books. And yet, everything is beautifully acted in the episode. That’s the tricky thing about adaptation. There is a not a one-size-fits-all. There will be changes that we can’t all agree on or enjoy or appreciate. Adaptation is like cooking and forgetting to buy some of the ingredients needed for the recipe. Or it’s deciding to makes a chicken pot pie and finding out halfway through making it that you are missing the oregano and have to improvise to make it work. Sometimes it works out just fine and your kids don’t even notice. Sometimes it’s even better than the original. And sometimes, it’s ok in the moment because you are starving, but when you go to reheat the leftovers the next day, it tastes pretty bland. And on my rewatch, I didn’t really want to watch anything about Jamie & Claire, or Faith, Fanny, and Jane. I only enjoyed the scenes in Savannah. If only they had made sure they had the oregano, that they had not included the Faith storyline, or had just let Fergus and his family return to the Ridge, unscathed, the dish would be greatly enjoyed, even if it was only thyme or basil substituted. However, this felt more than that, that this episode was missing the carrots, as well that the crumbled biscuits on top. And what makes me sadder yet is that we only have 3 episodes left.

Til’ next time…..Slainte

Dram: Nikka Coffee Grain…We needed something strong for this one.

Comfort Food: none…I think I lost my appetite.

Song: Bittersweet Symphony