Well, I have delayed writing this recap & review. In part, as a teacher on summer break, I’ve wanted to soak up every moment with my kids. However, I’ve also delayed much like Brianna in season 7, who spaced out reading each letter from her parents to make it last longer. In the same sense, writing this recap means the series is over. And yes, I’ll always have the books, and I’m looking forward for Blood of My Blood Season 2. I’ve been enjoying other fun shows like Seeking Persephone and The Outpost, all while reading new books while my kids go to the soccer camps and swimming lessons. But writing this recap means an end to something special. Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe have brought these characters to life. A whole crew of people made magic with a a wonderful story. As Kate says in Season 2 of Bridgerton, I wish to suspend time.

However time has run out for the show, and for Claire and Jamie. Jamie has lit the fiery cross and has called the Ridge to fight. Although I do love hearing Jamie say “Je Suis Prest” with the American flag in the background. It’s also lovely to have the original Season 1 scene credits and song back for the final episode. It always raises the hair on my back to hear it.

The episode starts with Jamie reading his last will and testament. We then see Jamie and Claire wake up to another sunrise. They are doing their best to distract each other from the fact that they are leaving today and might not return. Claire recounts seeing two bees asleep in a flower together. Jamie quotes to her William Butler Yates poem, “The Lake to Innisfree.” They continue to discuss different things. Jamie wonders if he’ll visit anyone when he’s a ghost. Claire recounts seeing the blue vase in the window and wanting to buy them and build a home. Jamie asks if she ever regrets going through the stones. Claire says no, and that she’s had everything she’s ever wanted. Jamie says all he wants is to lay in flower with her and hold her feet. In a season that has moved at breakneck speed, it’s nice to finally get a sweet scene that hold space. I know from all the press that this was the last scene shot, and you can feel that in this moment.

The domino effect of farewells commence. We move to Roger and Bree, making plans for their house and saying their farewells. Claire goes to tell Frances farewell. Poor thing isn’t taking it well, but Claire knows that the battlefield is no place for a young girl. Claire explains that they are doing this to make things better for her, that they love her and that the Ridge is her home. And not to ruin the moment, but they yellow couch they are sitting on in lovely. Seriously, when is the Outlander Better Homes and Garden edition coming out?

The goodbyes continue. We see Bree and Jamie saying their farewells. I love this conversation, how Jamie points out how Bree looks like Claire when she’s in love. It’s so sweet because Jamie knows that look well. Also, I want Bree’s barrette.

Rachel & Ian share a sweet kiss goodbye. And then we see Claire and Bree hug farewell. Some things don’t need words. Next we see Jamie talking to the bees, asking them to take care of Claire. Jamie quotes the last part of the Innisfree poem (And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow.) Having taken farewell of the Ridge, he climbs up the hill, to where his men are waiting. They take off, and it’s sweet to see Jamie tipping his hat to the American flag as they go past the church.

They meet up with the other militia and make camp. Claire and Jamie chat by a stream. He mentions an interesting conversation that he had with Mandy before he left. She mentions how she can hear Jem, her parents, and Claire. She can’t hear Jamie but can feel he’s near. She said Jamie is a different color, like water. The conversation then changes and he asks Claire to do three things should he not return from the battlefield:

1. For a priest to say a mass for his soul.
2. For them (Claire, Bree & family) to go back to the future, although he mentions that Mandy thinks Davy is the color of water, which makes Jamie wonder if Davy can’t go through the stones. If that’s true, Davy should be left with Ian. Claire of course objects, but it also lets us know that they will probably all stay in the past for Davy’s sake, even if Jamie dies in the battlefield.
3. The third is that Claire remembers him.

They seal the conversation with a kiss, and we get one last spicy scene. It’s tender and slow, savoring what be their last moment together. We next get a shot of their feet curled together (like the bees), and we see Claire watching Jamie smile in his sleep, which is a lovely throwback to Season 3 when she told Bree that she smiled in her sleep like Jamie.

Finally, the sun rises, and everyone is prepping. Jamie gives one last speech to his men, and Roger prays a blessing. In a way, after the 250th anniversary of our country, it means a bit more to watch this episode again and to see this battle coming and to realize the sacrifices these men were making for a better world for their families. 

Jamie and Claire say their farewells in Gaelic, which I think is the only time I’ve seen Claire speak it on the show. They share one more kiss and Jamie is off.

We see the battle start. A couple men are lost, like Hiram Crombie. Claire can’t handle waiting and takes off for the battlefield. Roger follows behind. We see Bree, Fanny, Rachel, and Lizzy, waiting nervously, and Fanny tries her best to encourage them. 

The battle rages on. Jamie leads the charge, while Claire starts helping the injured. She sees a man shot that looks like Jamie, but it’s not him. Instead, we see Jamie almost killed, but Josiah throws his ax into the British soldier and saves Jamie. We see Ian and Buck kicking butt and taking names. Meanwhile, Claire has run into the thick of it to keep an eye on Jamie. She ends up shooting a British officer to defend herself. Jamie has almost made it to Ferguson but is delayed by shooting an officer to save Buck’s life. Things slow down, and when they speed up, Claire realizes they have the victory. She sees Jamie is still alive and smiles, until a rider comes along in the smoke. It’s Ferguson, but Jamie knocks him down. Jamie and Claire smile and kiss and think they’ve somehow beat history for once. Claire relaxes and heads back to help the wounded while Jamie goes to inspect the remaining British soldiers. Jamie asks Ferguson for his surrender, and Ferguson says no and shoots Jamie. Immediately, Ferguson is shot at by many men, which does follow historical accounts that he had at least 8 gunshot wounds. Unfortunately for Jamie, the shot is lethal. Claire, heading down the mountain, feels it (just like she told John back in Season 7 that she would feel it in her heart if Jamie was dead). Claire rushes on the scene and panics. There’s nothing she can do. Jamie tells her he’s not afraid. He dies, and Claire is distraught. Ian and Roger try to get her to let go of the body. She keeps saying that he just needs to rest. She weeps over him all night. She finally lies down next to him, exhausted. Roger comes up the next morning to get Claire and tells her they need to take the body. He tells Claire that they need to take him home. She then says he is home and lays down next to him again. We hear Raya singing the Skye Boat Song with the original lyrics (using “lad,” instead of “lass”). 

Immediately, it cuts back to the infamous window scene from Season 1. We see 1940s Claire in the window brushing her hair, and finally, we see the ghost is Jamie, watching her. We see Frank walk across the square to talk to him, but Jamie walks off/disappears. He’s walking on cobblestones, and then all of a sudden is walking on grass up to Craig na Dun. He stares at the standing stones and touches the middle one. Nothing happens, but as he leaves, the blue flowers that Claire went back for (forget-me-nots) pop up. We then get the most lovely montage of Jamie and Claire throughout the series. It’s truly beautiful to revisit those moments and see that thhe circle of time is closed. At last we come back to Jamie and Claire on the battlefield. It looks the same, but Claire’s hair is almost white. I’m reminded of Adawehi telling Claire in Season 4 that when her hair is white, she would come into her full power. All of a sudden they both breathe. And that’s it. Outlander is over.

What’s beautiful about the ending is that whether or not you believe they are both dead at the end (like the movie The Notebook) or that you see Claire’s hair is all white and pieced together that she’s used her life to save his, their love is eternal. There is no Claire without Jamie and Jamie without Claire. I choose to believe they are both alive and defied the odds in the show (and I also know from the books they are alive). 

In many ways I think the ending is perfect because if Starz is somehow able to come back later for a movie or a later season after Diana publishes book 10, there’s room to do so. And if that never happens, it’s a beautiful way close the series as it makes one want to go back and start the show all over and enjoy every minute of it. Because I don’t want this to be like the movie, The Truman Show, where it ends, and people then change the channel and move on. For me, I believe Outlander a story that timeless.

After we hear Raya’s voice for one last time (but in a new song), we get a small scene with Diana Gabaldon signing copies of Outlander at a bookstore. There are lots of fun Easter eggs in this scene. If you first saw this back in May, you probably know them all by now. Nevertheless, it’s a sweet way to honor all of the people who have worked tirelessly in the background to make this show float. I love how we see Claire’s journal as “Diana’s inspiration.” My head canon for the show is that Mandy traveled back to the future and wrote Claire’s story as Diana or that in the end, Diana is a descendant of Jamie and Claire. I know it’s not true but that’s my head canon. And that’s where I think this last episode captures why we fell in love with Outlander in the first place. Yes, the lovely montage reminds us of so many beautiful moments. But also, it what made this show special (especially for me since I didn’t read the books until after watching Seasons 1-4) was the speculation of what was going to happen next week on the show. It was the foreshadowings, the mysteries, the eerie connections between the future and the past for Claire, especially in the first two seasons. What also became special was the community that formed around the show, and the “water cooler talk” although now it’s online forums with friends.

In many ways, I’m reminded of how Diana writes this in her sixth book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, when Tom Christie recount his time in prison with Jamie. Jamie would retell books and stories from memory to the other prisoners to distract them and boost their spirits. In that moment, there were men, in rags working hard all day with barely anything to eat, discussing the stories and disagreeing with the characters’ decisions and action and discussing it. Stories have the power to bring people together and build community. It has the power to hold out hope that true love does exist, and in many forms.  Stories remind us it’s ok to just want a simple life with family, to be content in the simple things, like discovering two bees sleeping together in a  flower. That wanting to protect that family and simple freedoms are worth fighting for.

I’ve read many blogs and articles about how some loved the ending and some didn’t. The Emmy nominations have rolled out, and Outlander didn’t get a single one. And that’s ok. To me, this last episode is perfect and takes us back to where we started, which makes sense with a time travel show. There is no linear journey or ending when time travel is involved, which is why I think some people struggle with it. For some, it’s more frustrating that there are more questions than answers like “what about Marsali?” Or “what about Davy being the color of water.” But that’s life. Not all things are answered. Sometimes people leave you, and you never find out why. Some fights never resolve. I mean, I think the simple answer for any dangling questions or storylines is for people to read the books but that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. 

I’ve really enjoyed Season 8. We had some moments I can’t get behind, like the badly patched up job of Master Raymond somehow saving Faith but abandoning her. And if anything, this season has suffered from much of the same affliction since Season 5, which is took much book, not enough screen time. And I don’t see that as a Matt Roberts problem, but a network problem that they should have given Matt more time, whether that was extra episodes or longer episodes. But in the next breath, the showrunners never quite knew if they were getting renewed and were grateful for every season. They were supposed to end after Season 7, so to get a Season 8 is a gift. And you can tell they tried really hard to give satisfying arcs and endings to each character. And as much as I’d love for the show to go on and on, you want it to end well, not fizzling out like Greys Anatomy where you almost don’t recognize the show or to have too many reboots. If anything, I’m excited to rewatch Outlander, to finish writing about Blood of My Blood Season 1, and eagerly await Season 2 coming in the fall. I’m looking forward to more deep dives in the books with my book club, Queen Bee’s Hive. But I’m also taking a page out of Jamie and Claire’s book, and I will be enjoying the small moments with my kids and husband, for peace comes dropping slow. 

In light of everything with time travel, is a farewell ever really final?

‘Till next time, Slainte

Dram: The Sassenach. What else is there in a time like this?

Comfort Food: Is there one? Nothing can comfort me now. Well, except maybe pizza….it’s circular, like time and always hits the spot. I feel like Claire and Bree should have introduced Jamie to pizza. I’d post my recipe, but I feel like favorite pizza, types of pizza, and pizza recipes could start a war itself. If you have a pizza dough recipe that you think is amazing, please leave it below. I’d love to try it. 

Song: Breathe by Fleurie – it just captures that last 10 minutes, where we see Claire feel that shot resound in her, trying to hold on to Jamie, and now that iconic last moment, where they both open their eyes and breathe.