Outlander 2.01: Through a Glass, Darkly

NB: Due to hotel wifi delays, this recap is sadly devoid of good images. We promise to make up for it with all kinds of costume pr0n next episode!

WE’RE BACK.

“I wished I were dead.” Claire tells us in voiceover. She’s woken up on Craig Na Dun, staring at her hands, and her rings. She tells us that she couldn’t be dead though, because she’d made a promise. She scrabbles in her bodice, and then around the ground she’d been lying on, and finds what looks like a ring, but whatever stone was set in it has fallen out. She looks more and more frantically, before looking up at the sky and screaming in rage and grief and exhaustion.

She walks down the hill. “He was gone. They were all gone.” We see her waking on an asphalt road and a car pulls up and beeps. The look on her face at the sound is so complex. The driver gets out, and he’s Scottish. He asks her if she’s alright, and when she doesn’t answer, he asks if she speaks in English.

She asks what year it is, and he tells her that it’s nineteen hundred and forty eight. She absorbs this and asks “Who won?” He’s confused, as is reasonable, and she asks with increasing urgency who won the Battle of Culloden. He tentatively asks if she’s well. “WHO WON THE BATTLE OF CULLODEN. TELL ME NOW.” It was the British. It’s still the British. Claire puts a hand to her belly and lets out a moaning sob.

It didn’t work.

The credits are new, the song is a new, more ominous version, with bits in French. (Scenes from the Paris portions of the book are included, and omg I cannot fucking wait.)

The title card pans over a sleeping small child- Roger- who drops his toy plane.

Frank Randall bursts into the hospital: he’d gotten a call. Dr. Edwards introduces himself, and Claire is dehydrated, and “better emotionally now.” Frank goes into her room, and a radio is on. His face is so shocked and realized and questioning. “Would you turn that bloody thing off, please.” He does, and out the window there’s traffic- noisy. She’s… cranky isn’t the word… at the modern urban noise, and she finally looks up and has the same reaction that I’m having at him: I know this is Frank, but damned if I can’t trust the man with BlackJack Randall’s face.

She tries to collect herself. “Frank. Hello. I’m back.” He smiles. “I’m so grateful.” He walks towards her and she flashes to Blackjack and flinches. He pulls back; he doesn’t know what’s wrong, but something is, and as she’s trying to get a hold of herself, a voice says “Mrs. Randall?” From the door and as she turns, a man takes her picture. The nurse hauls him out and presumably makes shoes out of him.

Frank crouches by her bed. Reverend Wakefield has prepared rooms from them, and they can stay there while she gets better. Claire asks if Mrs. Graham is still working there, and Frank says he doesn’t know, but can’t think of a reason why not. “I need to speak with her.” Frank notices the 18th century clothes piled on a chair. “I’m going to need some clothes.” Frank examines the stunning embroidered detail on the stays. I appreciate the DP taking the time to make sure that gets seen.

At Rev. Wakefield’s, Claire is poring through books. Wakefield asks if Claire has said anything, and she has not. Frank sent the clothes Claire was wearing when she was found to a professor of his, who said, “Appears to be a marvelous example of 18th century Scottish wardrobe, where did you find?” (Okay, I have some questions here: it is and it isn’t, since it is clearly not actually 200 year old fibers, and any textile professor SHOULD know that, so…. Come on.) Anyway, Frank does point out that this isn’t something Claire could have just bought in a store, so what does it mean? Wakefield says that Claire has nearly exhausted his collection on Culloden, and Frank’s like, yeah that IS weird, she never showed an interest “…when she was with…. Before.”

Frank is confident, though, that Claire will tell him what happened in her own time. In the meantime, Wakefield points out, other people have questions. On the front page of the paper is the picture of Claire with the headline “Kidnapped by the fairies?” Frank scowls. “Devil take the press.” Wakefield grumbles that it’s unlikely: “Even the devil has standards.” Frank watches Claire through the window, worried and frustrated.

Out in the garden, Claire is restlessly paging through a book; there isn’t a complete accounting of all the Highlander’s losses anywhere she can find, and Mrs. Graham gently tells her that Wakefield’s collection is the finest in all of Scotland. Other people seek to borrow his books. Fighter jets rush by overhead, and Claire irritably asks if they must do that everyday. Mrs. Graham says that they are saying there might be a war with Russia soon: “There’s always another FUCKING war!” Claire is appalled at herself and apologizes.

“He didn’t even know what that word meant. I called him a fucking sadist once, and he had no idea what I was talking about.”

Mrs. Graham: “You know, whenever you talk about him, you always mention his fine sense of humor. And his smile, and his hair.”

Claire smiled. “It really is……was.” Mrs. Graham takes a breath, and Claire says she knows: he’s dead and buried and moldering for the past two centuries. So Mrs. Graham knows. Claire needs to know if he really did die when he said he would, and Mrs. Graham reminds her that Claire said that he would.

“You have had an extraordinary adventure, Claire, Extraordinary. One that few people could even imagine. Treasure it, keep it safe and secure in a special place in your heart.” And that she shouldn’t let herself be buried with Jamie, not when there’s a man that still lives and still loves her. Claire looks up to see Frank watching her, and sighs.

That night, Frank is heading to bed, and he stops to look at Claire’s door. He sighs and heads to his room, when her door opens, and she asks him in, to talk. She tightens the belt of her robe in defense. In front of the fire, she has whiskey, and it reminds Frank of the night before she disappeared, sitting in front of the fire, with whiskey, and rather more candles. Claire remembers.

She’s ready to tell him, and he tries to assure her that she doesn’t have to tell him if she doesn’t want to. He’s just happy that she’s home and back and safe. He’s honest about this.

“Just let me tell it at my own pace, and save any question you have for the end.” His face is full of emotions, wariness chief among them, and she begins.

Fade to Frank putting another stick of wood on the fire, and it’s morning. He drains his glass, and rubs his face and paces around the room. “I know how it must sound. I’ve gone mad.” Frank picks up the stays and ponders, and sighs. It is a leap of faith, but…. “It is one I am prepared to make as well.” Claire’s irritated; she thinks he’s patronizing her. “That academic rational mind of yours is screaming out that your ex-wife is either lost her mind, or has fabricated some wild tale to drive you away…”

“Ex-wife.”

“I married another man.” But she’s still wearing their ring.

Frank is just happy to see her back and that’s enough for him. Claire tries to get him to understand that she was with a man she loved deeply for two years, and he tries to get her to understand what it was like to have just disappear: “You have said a great deal, I just need a few minutes.” Everyone tried to make him believe that she left with another man, and he wanted to believe it to, because it would make the grief easier, but he couldn’t. Because “deep down, I knew that you did not choose to leave me….and everything you have told me tonight confirms that.” Frank can’t understand her feelings for Jamie, but he will accept them, and that leaving Jamie broke her heart.

Claire doesn’t think he can understand: “Claire, I told you that there was nothing you could do to change how I felt about you. I meant it then and I mean it now.” He loves her here and now. He’s in tears: they can still have a life together.

“I’m pregnant.” He’s suddenly thrilled, and goes, “how is that possible…..no. No, no, no.” Claire says that it’s Jamie’s, and she’s carrying another man’s child, and he needs to think about what that means. He lunges, and brings himself short, clenching his fist, and has such a tight grip that a growl escapes, and she stares back at him, fear brimming but unflinching, even in the face of BlackJack Randall. He pulls himself away and out of the room, and she lets out a shuddering breath.

Frank stumbles down the stairs and into the garage, where he breaks a BUNCH of shit. While property damage of someone else’s property isn’t a good thing, I do feel for him – he’s been trying to be so positive and so supportive and he’s been dealing with a lot of shit, and that has to go somewhere. Better on some flower pots than elsewhere.

He apologizes to Wakefield, who’s like, I should have tossed most of that stuff years ago, so thanks, let’s get down to the real problem. Claire’s with child, the other man is dead. Wakefield: do you want to raise a child? Frank says that yes, they tried before, and Frank had become concerned that the problem was him, and a visit to a doctor confirmed that. He’s sterile, and with his wife gone, that was not a concrete problem, just an abstract one. And when Claire told him that she was pregnant, his first feeling was joy. “A flash of just… happiness.” He had a moment of thinking, “we were having a child” and then reality crashed down.

Tobias is so amazing this whole episode, but especially this scene.

Wakefield firmly tells him that other men have faced this – Joseph, for example. “I am not Joseph, she is not Mary, and I am fairly certain that the father isn’t God Almighty.” Wakefield is about to respond to this when Wee Roger comes in, in his short pants and carrying his toy plane asking if he might go outside and play. Wakefield grants permission and tells him to keep his breeks out of the mud, of Mrs Graham will be on the warpath. “Yes father,” Roger says, and stares at Frank solemnly, and leaves.

Frank realizes that he’s never heard Roger call Wakefield father- he’s Wakefield’s uncle, not father. Wakefield shrugs that children mostly accept the word as it’s presented, and while Roger knows that Wakefield isn’t his father he’s taken to calling him that. Frank is mildly disgusted at the convenience of it all and “The words ‘God’s Plan’ are about escape your lips…” Wakefield grins. “A child without a father, and a man without a child are about to find each other. I would call that God’s Plan. What you choose to call it is up to you.”

Claire’s room: Frank’s plan is that he’s got a job offer at Harvard, and he’s of a mind to take it. The British press will take the story of the lady taken by the fairies and flog it to- “PLEASE. Don’t ever use the word ‘flog’ in my presence again, is that understood?” He accepts this condition. He has a few of his own, though. They will raise the baby as theirs- “yours and mine.” “A lie.” “No, with a living breathing father.” Claire sees his point, “Not a ghost.”

His final condition is that she lets it go, while he’s alive. He doesn’t want to share her with another man, not in research and looking, constantly, for traces of Jamie. Claire agrees: Jamie made her promise that she would. But she’s agreeing for Jamie’s sake, not for Frank’s. He’ll take it. And offers his hand, and she takes it, and they embrace. “You have made me very happy, and I hope in time I will make you happy, too.” He picks up her Scottish clothes and she nods. “Time to leave the past behind.” She tries to take off the silver ring, but can’t quite. He tells her when she’s ready.

As she packs, she finds the ring with the stone missing from the setting and hides it in her suitcase – she’s not leaving all of the past behind. Back in her blue coat, and with her packed suitcase, she hears something out the window, and it’s Frank, BURNING THE SCOTTISH CLOTHES. The linen will burn fine, but that wool is gonna STINK and not burn well. ALSO STOP IT.

The smoke rises to the sky, and we fade in on Claire looking out a plane window- they’ve landed in New York (flying PanAm), and she looks over the skyline. As she comes down the stairs to the tarmac, he reaches out his hand. As she reaches for it, the shot focuses on her hand with the gold ring, and the hand she takes is wearing a ruffled cuff and is attached to a certain red-headed Scot we’ve been missing for the past year.

Le Havre, France, 1945.

Jamie escorts Claire from the ship – and she ribs him gently about how fast he got off the ship. The boy gets seasick, you see. Claire smiles that a trip to Boston is out of the question, and Jamie’s like no, not unless you want to bury me at sea. Claire grins that there were points where she thought it might be the merciful thing to do. Jamie smiles as Murtagh grumbles (MURTAGH I FORGOT HOW MUCH I MISSED YOU).

“France. Reeks of frogs.” Claire says he smells fish, and that all sea ports basically smell the same. Murtagh is unconvinced by this line of logic, and goes to yell at the sailor that’s tossing their (precious, few) belongings off the ship. “THAT’S NOT A SACK OF GRAIN.” He mutters darkly in Gaelic.

At their inn, Jamie painfully lies down- his hand is still splinted, and while it’s been nearly a year for US, it hasn’t been that long for him. Also the bed isn’t moving, so that’s nice for him. Claire sits down by his side and asks what the real problem is.

Jamie still feels Blackjack’s touch, and Claire assures him that she’s here, and she’s stubborn. “Now. Let’s talk about the future. And changing it.” Jamie thought they just agreed to think about it; it’s kind of a big step, changing the future, and if there’s going to be war against the British, shouldn’t they be trying to win it, not stop it? Claire isn’t sure about that route – she doesn’t know enough details of the ’45 to be certain.

He asks what she knows, and she gives him the sketch- BPC comes to Scotland and raises an army, wins a few battles- Jamie interrupts to say well, that’s it then, we can tell them how to win the battles they lost, right? Claire doesn’t know any details about tactics or strategy or why battles were lost, so, she can’t be that helpful on that score. “All I know is that in April of 1946 both armies end up on the battlefield on Culloden Moor, and the Jacobites are wiped out. And after that the British destroy the Highland culture in retribution. That’s the sum total of my knowledge.” It’s not a lot.

What she does know is it starts here, in Paris, where Charles is trying to gather support. So they can stop the whole thing NOW. Jamie mutters that she sure has a high opinion of what a crippled Highlander and a pregnant English woman can accomplish. Claire throws down: “Since when are you not up for a challenge?”

Jamie has a cousin, Jared, who lives in Paris, he’s a Jacobite, and he can make introductions, and then go from there. Jamie think it’s not a terribly honorable path, and they’d be lying to everyone. Claire points out that they’re trying to save Scotland – surely that’s worth it? “Even if that price is our souls?” Claire says that they won’t let that happen, and he has to trust in this. He does, and he will, and he gets up to write a letter to Jared. Then it occurs to him – what are they going to tell Murtagh?

At the docks, they’ve given Murtagh some version of the truth- what they’re going to do, but not why. Murtagh is SUPER grumpy that they won’t trust him with the reason. “We told you the reason, to stop the Jacobite rising.” “That’s the purpose, not the reason!” “It’s doomed to failure!” Jamie tries. “STILL NOT THE REASON.” Why do they KNOW? Not only is Murtagh cranky, he’s hurt. Claire admits that yes, they are keeping it hidden, and Jamie vows that one day he will tell him. “At the proper time.” Murtagh accepts this. “That’ll do.” Claire mutters to Jamie, “When will be the proper time?”

“You tell me, Sassenach. You’re the one from the future.”

Three weeks later, Jamie and Claire meet with Jared Fraser, wine merchant and Jacobite. Jared, being a reasonable man, is wondering at Jamie’s sudden change of heart. Jamie’s like, I love my country, always have! Jared’s like mmmhmmmm. They’ve known each other a long time, drunk in dubious establishments that are “too disreputable to mention in front of your bride.” (“Do not fash on her account, she’s a sturdy woman.” “….sturdy. You do flatter me so.”)

But Jamie’s never mentioned an interest in politics. “In France, to be a Jacobite is a badge of honor.” There are also enemies in France, so “while the cause has many friends, only a few are called brother, and they are the ones with the fire of righteousness burning in their hearts. Tell me now, what is the fire that burns within you?”

Jamie and Claire exchange a look, and Jamie begins unbuttoning his waistcoat. Claire helps him remove that and his shirt, and Jamie shows Jared his back and the scars from the floggings. “Courtesy of the British army.” Does anyone need anything else to rise up? Jared nods. “The cause can only be strengthened by your sword. I’m sorry I doubted you, brother.”

Jared asks exactly what they want. Jamie wants to meet the leaders face to face, hear the plans. Jared’s like, sure, but what do you bring them? “I should should think the Stuarts would value the support of Laird Broch Turrach and the Fraser clan, should they plan on returning to Scotland in the near future.” Jared will ponder. In the meantime, Jared has another idea. He needs to go to the West Indies, but has been delaying until he can find someone to run his business in his absence. Jamie has a head for figures, and a head for wine, HE can do it. In exchange, Claire and Jamie can use Jared’s house in Paris, and 25% of the profits. Thirty….five percent, Jamie counters. And Jared’s help. “Oh, you will do just fine.” They shake.

Jamie and Jared go to inspect a shipment of port, and Claire goes for a walk to get some fresh (well, fresher) air. On her way, she sees a commotion near a ship, and a sailor with pustules on his face is carried past her. Jamie sees her and calls, but she goes after the sailor, demanding to be let through (in French), saying she’s a healer. The captain tries to stop her, because he knows what the diagnosis is, and Claire’s like yup, it’s smallpox, as the Comte de St. Germain (owner of the ship) comes in. He is not a nice man.

The poxy sailor politely dies, and the harbor master confirms it’s smallpox. St. Germain tries to “handle it quietly” but it’s too late: the news is already all over the docks, and the law is clear. The harbor master must destroy the ship, and the cargo. All of it. St. Germain is not amused by this, but Jared is very quietly pleased. St. Germain demands to know who Claire is, and she tells him- she’s a healer. Germaine isn’t amused by Scottish titles, and thinks that maybe this was a scheme of Jared’s, and Jared’s like, nope, this was totes a coincidence.

St. Germain: You cost me a LOT of money. Claire: nothing compared to the cost of smallpox spread through the city. St. Germain stalks out. “You will pay a price. You will both pay.”
That night, the ship burns out in the harbor, and everyone watches. Jared tells Claire and Jamie that they DID make an enemy. “Another country, another enemy. Life with you is never dull, Sassenach.” Claire offers to be more dull, and Jamie’s like no: “I wouldn’t change you to save the world.” St. German watches them leave, malevolence writ large on his face.

RHG:

WE ARE BACK.

Dragonfly in Amber is my favorite Outlander book. My FAVE. I’ve been EVER SO PATIENT waiting for this season (though I must have some words with Starz- this episode premiered the weekend before RT, so I’m writing this AT RT, and the timing has been DIFFICULT).

I want to make sure we talk about Tobias here. He’s hitting so many complicated notes with his FACE and BODY and the flashes of BlackJack Randall we get from his descendant, and making it clear that there ARE reasons Claire would have fought for most of last season to get back to him, and would go back with him when she returns. He missed her. He loves her. He just wants her back.

[SPOILER](Book readers know how this goes, and that’s the reason why Frank gets kind of bad rap. But as Of right now, he hasn’t DONE those things yet.)[/SPOILER]

Also, we had this thing where you see Frank, and what’s in your head (Like what’s in Claire’s head) is BlackJack. It’s not his fault he shares a face with a monster. (True fact: Tobias has a small role in Catastrophe, which is amazing and you should watch it, and he’s a perfectly nice and normal OB/GYN doctor and I was like “DON’T TRUST THAT GUY WITH YOUR BABY PARTS”).

Tobias Menzes is amazing, basically.

ALSO ALSO for those who do not have Starz: there is an app you can get through iTunes or the Android store thing. There’s also an Amazon option for the app, too, with a STARZ 30 day free trial for Prime members.

Through this app, you can get Starz for $8.99 a month, and you can download the episodes and don’t have to resort to ~alternative means~ if you can’t afford a full cable package. THANK YOU STARZ THIS HAS IMPROVED MY LIFE A LOT.

Elyse:

Okay, full disclosure, I have not read Dragonfly in Amber, and I suspect I am not properly prepared for all the feels I’m going to get.

Menzies needs to win an award. He’s so amazing. SO AMAZING. Somehow he makes it clear just through body language that he’s Frank who is lapsing into unusual behavior but NOT Black Jack Randall but also still reminiscent of Randall. It’s amazing.

Also I heard RHG scream a little when Frank burned her clothes. There was a disturbance in the force. I felt it.

And Murtagh. I didn’t realize how much I missed his grumpy-ass face till he showed up and declared that France stunk.

Now we also have the Comte de Jawline to deal with because Claire can’t go anywhere without making enemies. He looks like he’s going to be a real dick, too.

Overall I’m super excited for this season but also expecting to be emotionally wrung out. Whee!