Outlander 2.07: “Faith”

Claire in The Red Dress with panniers and jamie in a cravat it's seriously hotTrigger warning for child abuse and stillbirth.

The title card pans over books – they are not 17th century books – and then a small hand turns a page to a picture of a large water bird, and a small red-headed girl says, “Look, Mama! What a pretty bird!” A woman in a blue skirt suit crouches down – it’s Claire, and a title card tells us that it is Boston, 1954. Claire agrees that it is a pretty bird, and it’s a great blue heron. The girl asks if Claire has ever seen one in real life, and Claire says that she has, in Scotland. “When were you in Scotland, Mama?” There’s a beat before Claire says, “A long time ago.”

The scene dissolves to a flying great blue heron, and then dissolves again to the ceiling of L’Hopital. Claire is laying in a bed, pale, and weak. Hildegarde calls her name, while confused images of Sister Angelique praying mingle with Hildegarde’s face and M. Forez working down between Claire’s legs. Claire whimpers for her baby, and calls for Jamie. Hildegarde says that they will take care of her, but she must stay quiet. It’s confusing and scary, and there’s the heron again, until we get an overhead shot of Forez and the nuns working with the blood oozing from between her legs. It looks very bad.

tumblr_o7iuttzJsM1un0ky0o3_r1_500Some time later, Claire has been moved to a canopy bed away from everyone. She wakes up, and looks around, confusedly. Next to the bed is a statue of the Virgin Mary. She moves her hands down to her belly, and it’s clear she is no longer pregnant. She sits up, and Caitriona Balfe begins the process of breaking my heart about a hundred times in an hour. “Where’s my baby? WHERE IS MY BABY.” Hildegarde comes running and tells her that she must rest, but Claire only needs one piece of information: “Where’s my baby?” Hildegarde’s face becomes so sad, and she cradles Claire’s face gently, even as Claire is looking hopeful. Hildegarde asks Angelique to get some water, and Claire’s like no, I want my baby.

“I am sorry madame, she has joined the angels. She was…morte-nè.” Claire’s face begins to crumble as she comprehends. Hildegarde kisses her hands and Claire whimpers. Angelique does exactly the wrong thing and says that the Virgin will comfort Claire, as she, too, lost a child. Yeah, but first she got to be a mother. “I want my baby. Bring me my baby.” Claire calls for them to bring her the baby, louder and louder, until she jostles the Virgin Mary statuette and it breaks.

Later, Bouton is on guard under Claire’s bed while Hildegarde places a cold cloth on Claire’s forehead – she’s feverish. Claire asks where the baby is now. Hildegarde baptized the baby and named her Faith. “You must understand, it is illegal unless the child is living. But I wanted her to be buried in hallowed ground.” A priest joins them, and Hildegarde tells Claire that he’s there to perform an Unction of the Sick – it’s been days and her fever is very high. “It is wise to prepare the soul.”

Claire says that she needs Jamie, but there hasn’t been any word. The priest asks if Claire would like to make a confession, to unburden her soul. “My sins are all I have left.” He performs the rites, and Hildegarde calls for Bouton to stay with Claire. Bouton, being a good doggie, takes up a place next to her knee, on guard.

Late that night, Claire is muttering and still feverish, when a figure in a hooded cloak comes to her side. Bouton growls, but the man tells him to come down. Bouton does, without arguing. The man puts his hands on Claire’s shoulders, and tells her to be quiet. “Hush Madonna, if they find me here, I am finished.” It’s Raymond, sneaking back into Paris to help.

He asks Claire what she sees. “Wings. Blue wings.” Raymond nods. Blue is the color of healing, and the wings will carry her pain away, if she lets them. Claire voice overs that she had a bone-deep, white pain, and that it was puerperal fever – a bit of the placenta hadn’t come out and it was now causing an infection (I’m sure M. Forez’s filthy hangman hands had nothing to do with it). Raymond’s hands move over the meridians of her body, and seems to be killing the bacteria as he goes. He pulls up the hem of her shift, and tells her to call him -and she does. He pulls out his hand, and there’s blood and a bit of something – presumably infected placenta bits. Claire: “I don’t know what he did, but he healed me.” I’m gonna go with reiki on steroids.

Angelique bustles up and Raymond hides in the shadows. Claire tells Angelique that she’s all right, and to go find Mother Hildegarde. Raymond sneaks out, and tells Claire that he must go. “Be well, Madonna.” “I’m no Madonna. I have no child.” Raymond tells her that he called her Madonna because everyone has a color around them, and hers is blue. “Like the virgin’s cloak. Like my own.” Claire tells him that he shouldn’t have come, and Raymond’s like you were right about the King wanting blood, but these are the things we do for our friends.

“Will I ever see you again?” “As I told you before, we will see each other again. Have faith.” He tells Bouton to take his place again, and Raymond leaves as Hildegarde enters. The fever is gone, and Claire will recover. Claire asks if there’s been any word from Jamie. Hildegarde tells her that Jamie can’t come – he was arrested for dueling and is being detained in the Bastille. Claire asks for how long. It’s serious, so he’ll stay there as long at the King’s pleasure. But hey, if he’d killed the English officer, it would have been far worse!

No, BlackJack isn’t dead, and he’s been sent home to England to recover. You know, again. “So BlackJack Randall was still alive…and thus, so was Frank.” Hildegarde asks if it is not fortunate. Yes, Claire says, fortunate. But Jamie’s revenge mattered more to him than Claire or their baby. “How so?” “One year of grace, that’s all I asked. To which he agreed…he may as well have run his sword through me.” Hildegarde says that God says they are to “…revel in mercy, tread sins underfoot, and hurl iniquities into the sea.” Claire: “I’m not sure there’s a sea deep enough.”

Cut to the carriage driving slowly through Paris, while Claire says that she laid in the bed for weeks, until Fergus finally came – with flowers, poor kid – and begged her to come home. “I’d lost my husband and my child. Where else could I go?” The servants all line up outside the door, and Fergus exits the carriage, with his flowers. Claire slowly, weakly, gets out of the carriage, and the music is so sad. If I had any heart left after Caitriona tore it out, Bear McCreary would have it mounted on his wall. Fergus anxiously assists her to the door, and Suzette cries, relieved that Claire is home and so sad for everything. Magnus is at the door, and he sadly smiles as he he welcomes her home. Claire looks at him, and he starts to bow. She stops him with a hand to his chest, and then grips his hand. “Thank you, Magnus” and she curtseys. Fergus helps her into the house.

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Later that night, she’s staring into the fire while Fergus gently brushes her hair. “Thank you, Fergus. That was nice.” He looks like he wants to say something, but can’t quite, and then goes to put the brush back at her dressing table. He stares at something on the table – bottles, and the music turns ominous. (You can tell because the closed captions tell you.) Claire notes the music change, and asks what it is, and Fergus stammers “nothing” and bolts.

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Even later, Claire is in her nightgown, fussing with her rings, when she glances over at the box of spoons – the christening gift for the baby. She opens it, and touches one of the spoons, before slamming the casket shut and throwing it under a bench. She grabs her dressing gown and flees to another room where she tries to get a hold of herself. But then she hears Fergus crying “No, no! Stop! Please!” in his sleep.

Up in the servant’s quarters, she wakes him up, saying that it’s only a bad dream. And if he tells her about it, it’ll make him feel better. But it’s not just a dream. “The Englishman, milady.” Fergus tells her what happened at Maison Elise’s, and we see the dreamlike flashbacks as he tells her.

Cut because this is upsetting

Jamie told him to stay put, but Fergus is not good at that, and went to see what was up, with his “talent for stealing.” He found an open room, and there was some perfume, and he was going to give it to Claire, “It smelled so nice.” He still has the bottle, and hands it to her – it’s lavender.

When Fergus turned around, there was BlackJack, who says, “You’re not what I ordered. But, um, no, you’ll do.” And he grabs Fergus. Back in his room, Fergus tells Claire that he tried to get away, but he couldn’t, and BlackJack wanted him to “….I can’t say it in front of a lady.”

Back in the flashback, BlackJack grabs Fergus and throws him facedown on the bed and Fergus screams. Claire asks why he didn’t say anything sooner, and Fergus says that he was ashamed. Claire reassures him, but Fergus will not be reassured – the duel was his fault because he couldn’t keep quiet. If he’d kept quiet, Jamie wouldn’t have heard, and wouldn’t have come running, and wouldn’t have beat the shit out of Randall and demanded a duel. That’s what Fergus believes.

Claire assures him that it wasn’t his fault. Fergus cries that he didn’t know all of that would happen, and it’s all his fault and Jamie is gone and will never come back. Claire pulls him into a hug. “It’s all right.”

In the morning, Claire is back at L’Hopital, speaking with Hildegarde. She wants an audience with Louis. “You are the goddaughter of the Old Sun King. Surely you have an entre or know someone who does.” Hildegarde is like well, I can. Claire says that she wishes to petition for Jamie’s release. “So, ma chère, you have found a deep enough sea.” Claire says that she learned the reason he broke his promise, and while she is still angry, he is the father of her child. Hildegarde cautions that there is a price to such requests. Claire’s like look, I’ll add it to the list of things I’ve lost in Paris.

Versailles. Claire is in a gorgeous green gown with a sausage curl hanging over one shoulder, and wearing her poison-detecting necklace. Outside the door, she looks like she’s going to barf. Once she is announced, she sweeps in, head held high and face composed. Louis, in mauve brocade, smiles at her like a new and endlessly entertaining toy. She curtsies deeply, and he gives this glorious flick of his wrists to indicate that she should rise. “I don’t bite.” He gestures for her to sit on one of his five million couches.

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He offers her hot chocolate, from New Spain (Claire, please understand how much better that is than any hot chocolate you’ve had in your ENTIRE LIFE) and an orange, from his orangery which has 1000 trees. Just in case we don’t get the stakes, there’s a wide shot over the bed. Once they have drunk their chocolate, Louis asks what he may do for Claire.

Claire asks for Jamie’s release and Louis is like but he’s broken a royal decree. Claire says that she does understand, but Jamie was provoked. You know how Scots are about questions of honor. She would be “most grateful.” Louis take her hand and touches the silver ring. “Is this his ring?” It is. And the gold one? “I was married once before.” “Yet you still wear his ring. Your loyalty is most noteworthy.” He salaciously kisses one hand, and then the other, while Claire looks at the bed, then at anywhere but the bed.

“I am inclined towards mercy, ma chère madame.” Claire voiceovers that he was known as Louis the Well-Beloved and that his rule was absolute. He could free Jamie with a word, or kill him, and could do with Claire what he liked. Louis asks if Claire would be inclined to grant him a small favor in return. Indeed, she would. “I am at Your Majesty’s complete disposal.” “Très bien, ma chère.” He offers his hand, and Claire awkwardly put her orange down on an end table and rises. He caresses her cheek, and notes that it is so pale and so fine – no wonder they call her La Dame Blanche.

Ho shit.

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He escorts her away from the bed, and to a secret door, and gestures for her to go first. He leads her into a room with masked guards and dark blue decor and mystic symbols painted on the walls and floor, and the ceiling is covered with pinpricks of light, like stars. “The King asks that you give us the benefit of your skills,” and M. Forez steps out from behind a curtain. Claire voiceovers that she knew that meant there would be death that day.

“I’m not sure what you mean, sire.” See, the King gestures to a door, look, here are two men, Raymond and the St. Germain. And there is an indictment. Forez reads it – charging them with sorcery and perverting the search for knowledge and general dark arts. Louis says that he OF COURSE has no issue with the search for knowledge, but such a search might be perverted into the desire for power and wealth, n’est-ce pas? Forez gestures to two piles – evidence from Raymond’s shop and St. Germain’s house. Louis says that they have a witness, an infallible judge of truth. La Dame Blanche, who cannot lie (Claire mutters “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ”) and Louis beseeches her to use her talents to find out if Raymond and St. Germain are guilty. If they are guilty, then Forez will put them down. Simple. “It will be an honor.”

Claire collects herself, and and slowly walks over to Raymond, and looks at him, then moves to St. Germain. She places a hand in front of her face, and says “I see a shadow…behind your eyes, Comte.” St. Germain scoffs and shifts away from her, and laughs nervously. “I see an image. A gang of men in the street, dressed as aristocrats. But wearing masks. There is a name in your mind, monsieur. Les Disciples. What do you know of Les Disciples?”

St Germain responds in English for the first time that he knows nothing about Les Disciples, and he is not lying. (God, you’re a fox.) “This woman is a liar and a witch! She has been known to drink poison and survive.” Louis is very interested about where St Germain came by this knowledge. Well, see, because he tried to poison her. No one is impressed by this. St. Germain is still salty about the whole “burning of the ship” thing. “She’s a witch! She doesn’t even deny it.” No, Claire says. “I don’t deny it.” But La Dame Blanche is a white witch, and she practices white magic (“Sire,” she says in an aside to Louis.)

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Louis forcefully says that Claire is not on trial, it’s you two monkeys, so can the shit, St Germain! Claire voiceovers that she doesn’t really want to condemn the man to death. She says that she does see darkness in the soul of St. Germain, and also the soul of Raymond, but “only the normal darkness that lives in the soul of all men, even a king’s.” Without darkness, there can be no light. Louis is sort of impressed by this logic, but nevertheless, “If I am to cleanse this city, perhaps we can aid your decision.” He calls for “the serpent.”

It’s a horned snake of some kind-  Wikipedia indicates these are venomous – and everyone in the room, save for Louis, looks like they want to peace the right fuck out. See, serpents won’t harm the true servants of God (and if she sinks, she is not a witch). Claire, having no desire to deal with any part of this, glances at Raymond’s pile of stuff and offers another test: She did drink the Comte’s poison and it didn’t kill her, so let him drink hers – let both of them. Louis grants his permission, and Claire finds the bitter cascara and mixes a drink in a goblet.

“This potion with give you your answers, sire. You may have a death. Or two. But if both these men survive, you will set them free.” Louis: We’ll see.

Claire gives the potion to Raymond, who eyes everyone, and then drinks. Everyone watches him anxiously, until he keels forward in severe abdominal cramps. But he then stands and hands the cup back to Claire. She turns and the poison-detecting crystal around her neck turns black, and St Germain starts shaking his head.

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He’s fucked, and he knows it. Claire voiceovers that she never saw him add anything to the potion. She looks down, and Louis orders her to give St. Germain the cup, and Claire knows it contains death, and St. Germain knows, too. He sighs, “Oh well” and takes the cup. “I salute you, Master Raymond, you evil bastard. And you, witch who sucks the cock of the Devil. I’ll see you in hell.” It takes a few tries, but he downs the potion, He drops the cups, staggers a bit, and drops, writhing and foaming in pain. And he dies.

Louis delicately steps over the body, and glances at Raymond, and tell him to leave France and never come back. Claire voiceover: What ran through my mind was a line from a film. You know the one: “I’m going to miss you most of all.” Louis steps towards Claire, and she asks if he will honor her request. “First there is the matter of the payment.” Welp. He takes her hand and leads her back to the chamber with the bed.

He pushes her down and back, lifts her skirts, drops trou, and makes a few perfunctory thrusts while Claire closes her eyes and thinks of England. He stops without even finishing and Claire’s like, um. Is that it? He puts his clothes to rights, and she does the same. He says that he will issue a pardon for Jamie, and arrange one with the English crown, assuming they’d like to return to Scotland. He dismisses her with a gesture, and Claire, regal as Queen Charlotte, stands, and grabs the orange as she’s leaving. She curtsies, he nods, and she leaves through a library.

At home, Jamie comes up the stairs, his face in shadow. This is not a joyous homecoming. Claire is waiting at the top. “I don’t even know if it was a boy or a girl.” Claire says nothing. “Will you make me beg?” She faces him, and we see his face – he’s got a beard. It’s been a long time. She sits and tells him it was a girl – Faith. She was baptized and buried in the cemetery. The clock keeps ticking so loudly.

Jamie tells her that he did try to keep his promise and Claire nods – Fergus did tell her. Jamie: So you understand then. There’s a long pause, and Jamie asks if she hates him. Eventually she looks him in the eyes and says that she did hate him – we flashback to the statuette of the Virgin breaking and Claire screaming for the baby, without sound. “Mother Hildegarde, let me see her, so I wouldn’t have to imagine.”

Flashback to Hildegarde bringing the tiny, blue baby to Claire, who’s face has a mixture of sadness, heartbreak, and…awe I think is the closest word I can think of? She takes the tiny thing, and present-time Claire says that she was small, and beautiful .“I could cup her head in the palm of my hand. The ears stuck out just a little…and light through her skin as well. Like light on a pearl, still wet from the sea. Her eyes were closed, no lashes yet, but they were slanted, like yours.” Jamie closes his own eyes, while Claire tells him about Faith’s wisps of copper hair.

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Flashback to Claire singing softly to Faith- on the podcast it talks about how this song is one of the few concrete memories she has of her mother. We see Claire remembering and Jamie experiencing, and then back to L’Hopital, where Louise is with Hildegarde. Her own baby bump is significant now, and Hildegarde tells her that Claire’s been singing and holding Faith since the morning, and it was now night. “Holy mother of God,” breathes Louise, and she ever so carefully, and gently approaches Claire. “Ma chère Claire.” Claire looks up, first at Louise’s pregnant belly, then Louise’s face. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Yes, Louise, says. “Ten fingers. Ten toes.” Louise: “She’s an angel. May I hold her?” Claire knows what Louise is really saying, and Louise ever so gently and kindly says, “It’s time, my dear.” Claire hugs Faith one last time, and kisses her tiny head, and then passes her to Louise. Louise cradles Faith like a precious tiny baby, and passes her to Hildegarde, and then goes back to Claire, who is sobbing out her broken heart.

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Back to the present: Yes. “I. Hated. You.” Jamie: Aye. He lets himself down to a chair. Claire: But it was me who asked the impossible of you. I put Frank before our family, and I followed you to the woods. Jamie: Frank is your family too. Claire: Yeah, but he’s not here, and it’s not your fault, and it’s not Randall’s, it’s mine. Jamie: I asked your forgiveness once, and you said there was nothing to forgive. And I forgave you long before today. There’s nothing you could do that would change that. Claire: Wellllllllll I slept with the King of France, so… Jamie: You did it to save my life. Just like I gave myself to Randall to save you.

Claire: hHw can we be the same. Jamie: We can’t be. There’s too much for either of us to bear alone, “The only way we can live with it is to carry it. Together.” Claire’s like, you still want to do that? Jamie: We lost a child, maybe by the grace of God we can be given another. Claire: “Then bring me home. Let’s go HOME.” Jamie: Roger that.

This would be the point for you to put on the saddest song from Hamilton. You know the one. That talks about loss and forgiveness. Can you imagine?

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But before they go to Scotland, they stop by the cemetery to say goodbye to Faith. Jamie has the apostle spoon of St. Andrew to leave by her grave, so even though they are leaving her in France, she’ll have a tiny bit of Scotland with her. Jamie and Claire each cross themselves, and take each other’s hand, and the wide shot shows the Virgin Mary, watching over them and over Faith.

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It’s quiet uptown.

Elyse: HOW MANY TIMES CAN ONE EPISODE BREAK MY GODDAMN HEART?!?

First of all Caitriona needs to submit this episode as her Emmy reel.

Secondly, this was a hard, horrible episode.

I thought the quick shot of Claire on the table, legs open, blood everywhere was really powerful–similar to the lactation scene in season one. It’s an accurate representation of what women’s bodies go through and it’s startling because it’s not shown often.

The whole scene with Fergus was just so awful I don’t even want to think about it.

I am confused about why Louis would put Comte de Jawline and Master Raymond on trial for dabbling in the occult, but use Claire’s supposed supernatural powers to convict them. That seems very hypocritical.

I didn’t like that Claire had to sleep with Louis although I understood why she did it, and based on the preview for the next episode, her “virtue” is on the table again. Ugh.

Overall this episode was tough and emotional and I wish I’d read the book so I would have been more prepared.

RHG: Oh, Stanley Weber, I’ll miss you most of all.

And thus ends the Paris chapter of this saga, and thus ends Cait’s Emmy submission episode, and thus returneth Jenny.

At lot has been written in the past week about the rape in this episode. I think we’re still up on Game of Thrones because none of the rape has been titillating, and I know that RDM and the rest of the production discussed and put a lot of thought into how they wanted to film that, and they did specify that those discussion included Romann Berrux and his mother, so at least they aren’t going in unthinking. That said, that scene didn’t need to show thrusting. We would have understood the situation without it.

Caitriona Balfe, though. CAITRIONA BALFE.

Comments are Closed

  1. Zyfsv says:

    The grief of losing a child was so real and not over sensationalized. Heartbreaking. After this episode, the only thing I could do to rip my heart out even more would be re-read Where the Red Ferns Grow and maybe watch the last 10 minutes of Old Yeller about 10 times….. Dammit….. Off to a Little Mermaid marathon until the only thing left in my brain is an ear worm of Under The Sea…

  2. LMG says:

    This episode came just a week and a half after my third miscarriage in a year. I had to have surgery for two out of three of those. I was shattered by this episode–I have never seen anything capture the heartbreak so acutely. I had to fast-forward through several parts because I was crying too hard, and yet I could still see enough. I want to have everyone who asks how I really am to watch this episode to try and see how it feels.

  3. MillieJoan says:

    LMG – I also had three miscarriages in a year, back in 2014. And yes, nothing I’ve seen or read has quite captured the wrenching grief of those experiences the way this episode did. The scene of her holding her baby was so heart-breakingly powerful.

    (And I am so, so sorry for your losses).

  4. Oh, LMG and MillieJoan, I’m so sorry for your losses. My sister lost a baby at full term (placenta previa), and although that was more than 25 years ago, I found myself thinking of her. This was the most gut-wrenching thing I’ve ever seen on television.

  5. Mochabean says:

    My heart goes out to you LMG and MillieJoan. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for those who’ve suffered such a devastating loss to watch. I thought the show handled all of the very tough moments with sensitivity and respect, and as book reader I think show did a much better job with Fergus than the book did. Many thanks for the review and especially the Hamilton references. Can we get back to (Scots) politics now? (please).

  6. SB Sarah says:

    @LMG and Milliejoan:

    I’m so sorry. I’ve been there, and there are so few words. My heart hurts for you both.

  7. Zoe says:

    Was anyone else upset by the implication that it is Claire’s fault that she lost the baby? Or did I misunderstand that? To me, when she says “It was me who followed you to the woods” she seems to be saying that it was that act that killed the baby. Are we seriously supposed to believe that a bumpy carriage ride and brisk walk and stressful scene killed an otherwise healthy fetus? I’m no doctor, but I have been pregnant a couple times and I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works. Sure, that stuff might be dangerous if there is already a problem, and that’s exactly my point: there was already something wrong with the pregnancy, as we know because she was bleeding and feeling weak the night before. Plus, there’s the whole issue that she’s living in the 1700s without good prenatal care and drinking heavy liquor all the time. To me, the previous episode made it seem inevitable that she was going to lose the baby no matter what she did. So I was upset that she blames herself, and Jamie apparently does too, because he’s all like “Yeah, I totally agree with you that you killed our baby, but I forgive you for that.” Can someone please tell this poor woman that it is not her fault?!

  8. MillieJoan says:

    Zoe – YES! That bugged me, too. Like you said, she was ALREADY BLEEDING HEAVILY the day before – why would she, or anyone else, think the baby’s loss is anything but a tragic accident??

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