Previously on Outlander: Jamie’s rich Aunt Jocasta named him as the heir to her River Run estate, but he and Claire aren’t comfortable owning slaves and consider whether to take Governor Tryon’s offer of land. Young Ian is dying to learn more about the American Indians. Brianna and Roger shared a kiss (last season).
Don’t forget about the new and improved FYA Outlander drinking game.
We’re back in Inverness, 1970. I’ve missed you, Roger Mac! He’s packed up and clearing out of Reverend’s old house and welcomes the new owners, Fiona and her husband. He toasts to their happiness and tells them he’s off to America to play a Scottish festival and to see Brianna. Fiona encourages Roger to tell Brianna he’s in love with her.
Back in the 18th century, Jamie tells his Aunt Jocasta he won’t be accepting the offer to take over her estate. He and Claire are headed off into the Blue Ridge Mountains to find a place to call their own. Jocasta insists that he take some money, horses, and some gorgeous silver candlesticks that belonged to his mother. Young Ian continues to plead with Jamie to let him come along on their journey, and Ian is finally able to convince Jamie that he’s old enough to choose where he makes his life. Claire and Jocasta share an awkward goodbye, because Jocasta thinks Claire is the reason Jamie turned down her offer, and that he’s wasting his potential.
Boston, 1970. Brianna meets Roger in a Logan Airport breezeway that looks just like the one that leads from the terminal to the airport Hilton. She’s road-tripping to the festival in North Carolina with him. It’s beautiful scenery that looks just like Scotland in the fall. (Drink!) At the festival, Brianna talks Roger into posing for a pencil sketch with her, and they’re all googly-eyed when she calls him her boyfriend. It’s kind of precious. Brianna throws herself into all the Scottish festival fun, even though she admits being there makes her miss her mother. Brianna thoughtfully got Roger a book about colonial Scottish settlers and managed to procure some “moonshine” in a dry county. But apparently, she did it with the goal of seducing him. Maybe no dummy, that girl. But before Roger will let her, he presents her with an engraved silver bracelet, tells her he loves her and wants to marry her. It’s all a little overwhelming for Brianna. They have a big fight about the fact that she’s willing to sleep with him, but doesn’t love him, and that’s not good enough for him. The next night, she joins him at the festival calling of the clans, but she hasn’t changed her mind. Seeing how her mother married one man, and then met her soulmate, Brianna isn’t sure she even believes in marriage. But he wants all of her or nothing at all. She doesn’t join him in announcing the Mackenzie clan. And when he looks back at the crowd, she’s gone. (UGH, Brianna. Drink!)
John Quincy Myers guides the Frasers and Ian into the mountains and tells them about Cherokee customs. Myers needs to part ways with them to go trade with the Indians and invites Ian to go with him, and they’ll meet back up later. Jamie and Claire try not to be too dismayed. Jamie offers to settle with Claire somewhere she’s more familiar with, like Boston. But she wants a life somewhere new with him, preferably far from where the Revolution starts. While riding the next day, they talk about Brianna, and how she hadn’t made a choice about her career before Claire left. Claire worries she hasn’t found her passion in life, or her life’s calling, like Claire. Claire also worries that being a printer in the North Carolina backcountry isn’t something Jamie wants for himself, but something he’s doing to make her happy. But he explains that if it were just him, sure, he’d still be an outlaw. But he has her, and Ian, and Fergus and Marsali to think of now. A storm is brewing, and Clarence the mule runs off, and Claire goes after him, while Jamie re-shoes the horse. Jamie gets concerned when the mule returns and she doesn’t. Lightning strikes a tree right in front of her, spooking her horse. She’s tossed off, and lands unconscious, while her horse runs off. She awakes in a raging storm, while she and Jamie try to find each other in the dark. She eventually takes shelter in an overhang, which she realizes she’s sharing with the human skull of a murder victim. And his very sparkly rock. Then Claire sees a man coming towards her, but it’s not Jamie, and not really there either. It’s a vision of an Indian, with the rock on an amulet around his neck. The next morning, when Claire wakes, her boots are missing, and there are footprints in the mud walking away. They lead her back to Jamie – and her boots. Ghost Indians are such pranksters. As she’s cleaning up the skull by the river, she realizes it has silver fillings, which won’t be invented for another 100 years, and therefore must be a fellow time traveler. As they’re traveling that day, Claire comes across some wild strawberries. That emblem of the Fraser clan must be an omen, combined with the stunning view, and proximity to a river, tells them they’ve found the land that will be their home. Welcome to Fraser’s Ridge, fam!
Brianna almost has her way with Roger Mac. But he’s too much of an old-fashioned romantic to give it up that easily.
Wit and Wordplay
Fiona’s husband, Ernie: “You’re leaving Scotland to play at a Scottish festival?” –
Brianna: “Hey! I’ve always wanted to have my portrait done.”
Roger: “Oooh. That makes one of us.”
Sasse-WHAT?
- Dairy Queen French fries are the best Roger’s ever had? What the hell are y’all doing to potatoes, Scotland?
- I don’t know about you, but I am SUPER into Roger Mac, swoony Scottish folk musician.
- So, as irritating as I find Brianna. I think it’s fair that she found Roger’s proposal and entire life plan he’d already mapped out, to be too much, too soon. She’s only about 22. However. The dude is a catch! You really wanna toss that one back?
Next week: We have our first (non-ghostly) Indian sighting! I’m sure that will go well.
