Previously on Outlander: Prince Charles was going to get money for his rebellion from St. Germain’s cargo. Claire and Jamie plotted how to ruin it. Claire became friends with the king’s executioner. Jamie challenged Jack Randall to a duel. Claire begs him to wait a year to kill Randall, for Frank’s sake.
Murtagh is appalled that Jamie withdrew his duel challenge without explanation. While working with Claire at the hospital. Monsieur Forez, the king’s executioner, explains in creepy detail how hanging people and ripping out their heart requires great skill. It’s a thinly veiled warning, since he knows that Claire is friends with Master Raymond, and the people he’s executing have been accused of practicing the dark arts. Claire goes to warn Raymond that he must flee the city.
Claire tests her recipe for fake smallpox on Jamie. They plan to find a way to use it on St. Germain’s crew. Murtagh doesn’t approve of these petty games as a way to undermine Prince Charles. Claire and Jamie finally agree that it’s time to tell Murtagh the truth about where Claire came from and why they’re trying to stop the rebellion. Once Murtagh punches Jamie for not trusting him sooner, all is forgiven. The fake smallpox works, but Prince Charles asks Jamie to transport the wine before the harbormaster becomes aware of the pox and destroys the cargo. St. Germain insists on going with Jamie. They arrange for Murtagh to lead a group of hired “highwaymen” to steal the wine cargo on the road to Le Havre, and they barely pull off the robbery before Jamie gets knocked out. St. Germain is justifiably suspicious of circumstances. Charles cries in self-pity. While worrying about Jamie, Claire works herself ragged at the hospital and Mother Hildegarde insists that she stay the night.
Jamie receives word that Prince Charles has gotten himself into trouble at Madame Elise’s, and Jamie and Fergus go to try to keep Elise from calling the authorities. When Claire arrives home from the hospital, she’s told that Jamie got into a fight with an English officer at Madame Elise’s and that he’s gone to duel in the woods. Claire frantically rides to stop them, quite obviously in pain and possibly going into labor. Jamie stabs Randall in the crotch, Claire collapses bleeding and screaming, while the guard shows up to arrest Jamie for dueling.
Kilt Drops: 1
And shirtless Jamie is all we get out of it. Do better, show.
Wit and Wordplay
Murtagh: “Or, we could slit the Italian fop’s throat and be done with it!”
I’m with Murtagh.
Murtagh: “If you believe your wife to be a witch, then who am I to contradict you?”
Wait. Is that how Jamie explains it all?
Jamie: “If anyone can deliver pestilence and disease, it’s us.”
Vive les Frasers.
Claire: “Every now and then, it is okay for you to lie to me, you know? Just to put my mind at ease.”
They’re adorable when they’re plotting treason.
Jamie: “I’ll remember that next time.”
Sasse-WHAT?
- Jamie tells Claire the real reason he withdrew his duel challenge and spared Jack’s life was because if anything should happen to him, he wants her to have Frank to go back to.
- Faking smallpox as a way to ruin the Prince’s investment seems like the equivalent of putting a neon arrow in front of their house. How could St. Germain not guess who the obvious culprits are?
- Claire appears far more pregnant than she was the day before. And wowza, was that an unflattering time in fashion to be pregnant.
- The Frasers are pretty free with their traitorous conversations in front of the servants. That seems… ill-advised.
Next week: Jamie is in the Bastille, and Claire is in the hospital.
