After a glorious episode of being in the forest, we are now in the swamp with Lord John, trying to find out what crazy Richardson is up to. There are some lovely hints to the Lord John novellas dropped here in this cold open. I am so hoping we get a Lord John spinoff. If you have finished Outlander Season 8 and have read all of the Outlander big books but not delved into the novellas, I encourage you to do so. They are fantastic and bring Lord John to life in a new way. Unfortunately, Richardson has found out some information from John’s sodomite past and has been using Percy to get some of this information to blackmail John. Richardson’s idea is for John to convince his brother Hal to not talk in the House of Lords about ending the war. It seems that this Richardson somehow has information that Hal’s speech it what tips the scales in pulling out financially from the war. But how does Richardson have this information, and why is it important? John is given time to weigh his options but shows he is the man of character Jamie knows him to be and referenced in the previous episode. John does not give in but asks Percy to give his ring to his son. Meanwhile, Percy’s lack of strength of character shows why maybe you don’t go back to your ex. We can only hope he follows through with what John has asked of him.
After our opening credits, we have a little rough-shod explanation as to how or why Jamie, Claire, and William have shown up in Savannah. She sent word to the Ridge about John’s disappearance. We find out he’s been missing for almost two months. They head to Percy and start throwing punches and taking names. I love seeing these three work together as a team. Percy does follow through and gives William the ring. We see John had scratched on the inside of the ring the term “Pharos,” meaning “lighthouse.” After Percy is three punches short of lunch and dinner, Williams gives him a warning, that if John is dead, there is no place safe for him to hide.
William knows where one of the inlets has a light house. They make their way there and spot Richardson fishing away. Claire’s on lookout while Jamie and William go in. I love that Jamie and William do a watery sneak attack and free John. One of the ways I know Diana wrote this episode is that we get a hilarious one-liner from John. Jamie makes a comment on John’s beard, and he tells Jamie “you’re no oil painting yourself.” William runs in and he and John make-up.
Meanwhile, Claire sees Richardson wrapping up his fishing early. Ever one to take the bull by the horns, she takes Richardson to the boathouse by gunpoint. Jamie has her stay there with Richardson while the men check to see if anyone else is left around.
Almost immediately, Richardson starts weaseling himself out of his situation. The more he talks, we realize that he is a time traveler, wanting to change history so that slavery is abolished earlier under British rule, instead of it going on much longer in America. Richardson talks through all the hope of change that time travel can bring while Claire offers reality. It makes Claire second guess and let him go.
This is the moment that doesn’t ring true for me. If anything, it reminds me of Season 3, Episode 7 (Crème de Menthe) when Claire stabs the man that tries to attack her and then tries to help heal him. In the book, that never happened, and even when I wasn’t a book reader yet back in Season 3, it still felt off. This scene, where Claire lets Richarson go, is the same. Now while we’ve only seen some daily lines from her upcoming 10th book, but due to Diana’s response in social media, this is something that was created in the writers room (#spoilers, getting writing credit doesn’t mean you wanted everything that ends up in the episode). With how much Claire loves John as a friend and for what he did for her after Jamie was thought to be dead, Claire would not let a man go who would cause such trouble and pain to the Greys. While blackmailing the Greys would not be killing them, it would be social suicide, and they would wish themselves dead. Claire knows this and would not let such a horrible man loose to go do such a thing to John’s family. I was relieved when John showed up and took care of business. However, I was surprised that he wasn’t more upset with Claire. It’s just a little too far fetched, and I had a hard time continuing the watch the episode. It’s like getting a cold in June when it’s summer, and it all feels wrong because we usually get colds in the fall and winter. It’s like making homemade chicken noodle soup, and you just can’t wait to have some that goodness to help you feel better that you don’t leave enough time for the carrots and celery to cook. The broth is exquisite, the pasta is tender, the gentle flavors of fresh oregano and thyme, along with minced onions and garlic that were sautéed in butter are a feast for the senses, if you’re not too stuffed up yet. But that first bite into the chopped carrots and celery, that crunch, lets you know something isn’t quite right. So you choke down the soup and convince yourself the broth and moist chicken will help you regain your strength and fight off the sickness. It probably will. But it just won’t be the same. You can only hope that the grilled cheese was made to perfection to help balance things out.
This choice to go this way with Richardson’s storyline, and for them to make a point to show Richardson in the future helping Rob Cameron chase Bree back in the 90’s also shows where they had too much story and not enough time to do it justice. It’s another graveyard to whistle past in this episode.
The episode eventually does even out. Jamie and Claire get William and John back home. Jamie “grandly” forgives John to find that John won’t have any of it. He calls out Jamie for being a jerk. Jamie would never open up to John the gory details of his trauma with BJR to explain fully why it hurt so much, but perfectly sums up that it felt like a betrayal of their friendship. John holds Jamie to task that he would have killed John if those soldiers hadn’t stopped by. Jamie knows he’s wrong and truly apologizes. He says John can give him a beating. And instead, we see them sit down to game of chess, something that really started their friendship from the beginning. It’s a beautiful full circle moment, and in some ways, I’m glad this played out the way it did. I think Jamie fell off of Lord John’s pedestal, and as a result Lord John may finally have fallen out of love with Jamie. Instead of having this awkward dance around John crushing on Jamie all the time, they can truly be friends. There’s also no more jealously around who’s #1 Dad. William knows the truth and loves and appreciates them both. And his little conversation with Claire on the front porch allows William to see that all he needs is to be himself and that he can love both of his families and fathers. There’s no divided loyalty, only love. We finally see William officially put a kabosh to the Amaranthus mess. And as Jamie and Claire take off, we see Jamie turn around and look back at William. If there were to be extra season of Outlander, I have a feeling that William and Jamie would make sure that whenever they part each other’s company, they’d always look back at the other. It’s another lovely full circle moment from Season 3.
While this episode does allow for things to be wrapped up for John and William’s storylines, more of the overarching theme is Claire’s battle with time travel. Richardson asks her what is this gift for if not to make the world better? We’ve seen people ask this question time and again throughout this series. Richardson even points out the little changes Claire has made that has caused ripple effects. In many ways, it reminds me of Jamie’s monologue back in season 1 how all of a sudden, little decisions have changed and morphed and shaped your life. Claire admits she doesn’t know why, but that due to her love for Jamie, she is meant to be in this time. She and Jamie and fought many times to keep him alive and out of battles and wars. She somewhat admits that time was always against them. In many ways, Claire has lived most of her life in survival mode. Now this situation has caused her to look back at what really matters: what her life has been about and what her story is. It’s why it is a lovely touch to see her writing down her story. That amazing opening monologue which was spoken back in season 1 episode 1 has long been thought to be Claire’s writing or telling her story to someone. Whether or not Diana intends for this scene to be part of her book, it is a lovely thing, especially to hear Jamie read it.
Claire and Jamie’s fight to be together hasn’t just been against Leery or power-thirsty family members, against BJR or clan politics, against a failed rebellion or time apart, or against family or the wild frontier or making a living. It’s that with Claire being a time traveler, they’ve been fighting against time itself. And if there’s one thing Claire knows, it is that you cannot cheat time. And while they get to enjoy a new grandson, and experience bringing in a crop again, time is something they are out of. Jamie’s running theme from the beginning has been to fight to protect his family, and is something he can’t escape.
Claire’s inner monologues and pondering about time travel made me wonder if us humans are really supposed to know the future? Should we be able to travel to the past and mess with history, even if the intentions are well meant? After all, the highway to hell is paved with good intentions. And while we can try to end one strife, another will pop up in its place because humans are not perfect. It’s like a moral game of whack-a-mole. So the real question going into the final episode is can Claire and Jamie cheat death and time once more? Or have they met their destiny once and for all?
Til next time, Slainte!
This week’s dram: Bulleit Burbon….it’s not my favorite and it was hard to finish up, kinda like this episode.
Comfort Food: Homemade Chicken Soup
Song: Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall. Besides being performed by a Scottish artist, this speaks to William finally being at peace with his loyalties to his fathers, as well as ending things with Amaranthus, Jamie and John finally coming to an understanding, Percy and John truly seeing each other for who they are, and Claire taking time to reflect on her life and what it means to her. Unfortunately Percy and Richardson won’t be seeing anything again….