Outlander 3.09: The Doldrums

Previously: Young Ian got kidnapped, so things aren’t going great.

The title card is the prow of a ship, the Artemis. The theme song now has a Caribbean feel and rhythm section. We’re not in Scotland anymore.

Claire and Jamie have met up with Jamie’s cousin Jared (you know, the wine merchant?), and Jamie will be the supercargo on a trading ship. Jared knows of only one three masted Portuguese ship in the area, and that’s the Bruja, going to Jamaica. Jared tells them not to worry, a healthy male can be sold for 30 pounds in Jamaica, so as long as Ian does not make trouble, he’ll be fine! (Ian? No trouble? Sure.)

Jamie worries that this all happened because he wanted too much, and offers to take Claire to the stones so she can go back if she wants. She says no, the important thing is to go bring Young Ian home. The New Things One and Two tells Jamie and Claire that the captain wants to shove off on the tide, and New Thing Two is a bit nervy- he’s only been on a ship twice and neither one was a pleasant voyage, and if Jamie hadn’t asked nicely, he’d not be setting foot on that bucket of shite. Fergus is also aboard with some “baggage” from Lallybroch. Jamie’s sent Jenny and Ian a letter, and it’s good they’ll be off the British Isles when Jenny reads it.

Jamie is seasick. But also he’s sad at leaving Scotland. He swears he won’t set foot on Scotland’s shores again without Young Ian. Claire notices that all of the sailors say hi to Jamie, and touch a horseshoe, and Jamie tells her that she should touch it, herself. There’s a brief discussion on seafaring superstitions: women are bad luck on ships, and so are redheads.

Speaking of women, Fergus has snuck Marsali (Laoghaire eldest) onto the ship. They’re married. Well, handfast. They’ve been courting since August! They haven’t banged yet, so Jamie’s plan is when they stop at St. Ives for final provisions, Marsali will be sent home.

Marsali, who continues in the vein of women that Jamie finds himself surrounded by who don’t listen to him, tells him that no, he won’t send her home, and of he tries, she’ll everyone that Fergus fucked her, so either she’s married or she’s ruined. (“Does your mother know?” “I sent her a letter.” “She’ll have me killed.” sighs Jamie.) Jamie knows when he’s beat, but says that there won’t be any sex, and that he and Fergus will share a cabin, and Claire and Marsali will share the other. Claire: we’ve been apart for 20 years and I have to bunk with her? Asshole.

Jamie’s seasickness strikes, and Claire makes ginger tea. Claire and Jamie muse that the kids haven’t thought about what marriage means, but Claire gets distracted by a trunk. It’s their things. “Our things?” There’s clothes, from their time in Paris (they were planning to go to Paris, after all) and she’s surprised and a bit touched that he kept them. “Sell them? Memories of you? Never.” (He did give Marsali permission to alter some of them, though.) His tummy makes cranky noises again, and Jamie declares that he’s ready to die and please bury him at Lallybroch.

Claire is called to treat a sailor that got clocked in the head, and the captain and first mate suspect that someone didn’t touch the horseshoe. Claire scoffs, but the captain is like,”Lady, I’ve been at sea a long time.” He invites Claire and Jamie to dinner, but only Claire is well enough to eat.

Fergus and Jamie are having a bit of a heart to heart. Fergus knows that he and Marsali haven’t known each other that long, but neither had Claire and Jamie! “We were forced to marry.” “I know your story. If you were forced to marry Milady, then I am forced to breathe.”

Jamie asked why Fergus didn’t tell him. Well, the same reason Jamie didn’t mention Laoghaire: cowardice. Jamie asks if Fergus has been honest with Marsali, including the other women he’s spent time with. Fergus says that yes, he’s been honest, and he hasn’t had casual sex with anyone since he started courting Marsali.

Claire and the captain have dinner. She knows that he wants to give her a talking to about questioning the horseshoe, and he’s like, no, I want to help understand how things are out here. By rights, you and Marsali should be bare-breasted, since boobs calm and angry sea. Claire’s like ex-fucking-cuse me, but don’t worry, the figurehead has naked boobs, that’ll do. The captain feels that anything that makes the sailors feel more comfortable is to be encouraged, even if it touching a piece of iron. “There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Jamie pukes more, and Yi Tien Cho finds him. He’s got an idea that might help Jamie, and if Jamie doesn’t get the vomiting to stop, his testicles might get twisted. Jamie pukes again.

Claire and Marsali divide up their cabin. Claire tells Marsali that she doesn’t need to get on Claire’s good side to convince Jamie to lighten up; she’s minding her own business. Marsali: Bitch, you drop out of the sky and ruin my family and now you’re minding your own business? Whatever. Claire: Fine, I’ll take the bigger bunk.

The next day, Jamie is eating! He’s feeling much better, clearly. Marsali and Fergus approach, and Marsali’s like, Fergus told me everything, so can we bang now? Claire nudges him to encourage it, since it might fizzle out. Jamie will not.

On deck, Yi Tien Cho is doing calligraphy on the deck with a brush and water. He tells Claire that he’s writing a poem. He has his life story written on paper, “So it won’t be forgotten. A story told is a life lived.” Claire asks if he’ll tell it to her, and he won’t, not then. Once he tells it, he needs to let it go.

As the voyage goes on, Claire acts as ship’s surgeon. Later on, she finds Jamie and Yi Tien Cho, doing acupuncture. Yi Tien Cho apologizes, and Jamie tells her that he didn’t want to tell her that the acupuncture was helping the vomiting, and not her tea so she wouldn’t be hurt. Claire: my ego is not that fragile. I am no man. He didn’t want her to feel more like she didn’t belong in the 18th century. Claire: it’s been confusing and frustrating but I still love you. They kiss, but Jamie pauses. The ship has stopped moving. They lost the wind.

The sailors are convinced that someone didn’t touch the horseshoe (Someone tries to blame Yi Tien Cho, but another guy says no, he saw Yi Tien Cho touch it.) New Thing Two looks uneasy, when someone else mutters that touching the horseshoe must be done at the beginning of the voyage.

That night, on the deck, Claire and Jamie canoodle and talk about the moon. Claire recites Good Night Moon – she read it to Brianna a LOT, and Brianna could recite it, too. “You miss her?” “Terribly.”

The ship continues to sit in the doldrums for weeks, and the water barrels get contaminated. The captain orders that everyone goes on half rations, while the sailors determine that they need to find the Jonah that caused this mess. At dinner, the captain notes that yes, losing the wind happens, but five barrels of water is a big problem. So who should they blame? Claire: It’s nobody’s fault! Captain: that’s not the same thing. The sailors need someone to blame, or they’ll pick someone, and it won’t be pretty. Jamie: you’re not throwing MY men overboard.

Below deck, the sailors have been doing their own counting, and they’ve decided that no one saw Thing Two touch the horseshoe. Thing Two doesn’t think he did, either. In the morning, Thing Two has climbed the main mast, and, drunk, has decided that if he’s going to die, he’s gonna do it himself. The sailors are all yelling to encourage him to jump, while Jamie climbs up to talk Thing Two down.

Yi Tien Cho notices a bird flying low to the water.

Jamie convinces Thing Two to come back, but of course he slips and there some tension before Jamie can swing Thing Two to the ropes. The sailors continue to bay for their blood, and Yi Tien Cho commands their attention with the bell.

He tells them of his life in China. He was a calligrapher and poet, and he caught the attention of the emperor’s second wife. She invited him to join her household, which was a great honor. But all men who join the household of a royal wife must be eunuchs. (This leads to some amazing reaction shots, include one sailor who makes the cutting motion with his hand and Marsali asking what a eunuch is.) To refuse would have been a dishonor and a death sentence. “And yet, I had fallen in love with…woman. Not a woman, all women.” He didn’t want to give that up, so he fled, “…and came to a place where the golden words of my poems are taken as the clucking of hens and my brushstrokes for their scratchings. For the love of woman I am come to a place where no woman is worthy of love, to a place where women are coarse and rank as bears, creatures of no grace, and these women disdain me as a yellow worm, so that even the lowest of whores will not lie with me!” His rage and frustration at the choices life drove him to are palpable. “But not surrendering my manhood, I have lost all else. Honor, livelihood, country. Sometimes, I think…. Not worth it.” He stands on the rails, and tosses the sheets of his autobiography in to the wind.

And there IS wind! The sails are dropped, and Thing Two thanks Yi Tien Cho (in his way). Claire asks him how he knew, and Yi Tien Cho nods at the bird. It was flying low, which meant the air was heavy, and rain was coming. He just needed to stall. Claire thanks him as the rain starts and the barrels are all brought up to be filled.

Claire and Jamie sneak off to find a place to quickly bang. After, they’re snuggling, and Jamie tells her that he likes the grey bits in her hair.

Later, a British man of war has come upon the Artemis, and it signals for them to heave to. The Artemis’ captain can tell that the man of war is shorthanded, and may be looking to impress men onto the ship.

The captain, who is a squishy faced teenager, has an epidemic on his ship, and desperately needs the help of a surgeon. Desperately. He was the 3rd lieutenant, and they’ve lost 80 out of his 400 crew, including the captain, lieutenants 1 and 2, and the surgeon. Claire is of course willing to go aboard to help, over Jamie’s objections. (She’s pretty sure that she knows what is is, and how to treat it, which is uncomplicated but not easy.) Jamie says he won’t take his eyes off the Porpoise until she’s back.

On the Porpoise, Claire is taken below decks, where the sick men are – it’s incredibly disgusting, because the biggest problem is the “blazing shits.” It’s bad. Really bad. Claire confirms that the problem is typhoid, and finds the captain. The men need to be washed and put in the fresh air, all drinking water boiled, and they need to get to land as soon as possible. Claire offers to help organize them before she goes back to the Artemis.

In the galley, the cook isn’t that into the idea of stopping preparations for dinner to boil a bunch of water, and before Claire can really get into it with him, the Porpoise starts moving. The squishy faced captain is unapologetic- he’s desperate and needs more help than Claire can give in a few hours. He’ll make sure she meets back up with the Artemis in Jamaica. Claire watches them pull away from the Artemis, but duty calls.

Elyse: There was a lot of puking in this episode. A lot of puking. As a sympathetic puker, this was kinda rough for me.

For me, the best part of this episode was the imagery with which Yi Tien Cho describes his love of women. I am concerned that he’s being portrayed as an archetype rather than a person.

I’m not really invested in the Fergus/ Marsali subplot although adult Fergus is as adorable as little Fergus.

Overall a lot of this episode felt like filler and I left it with a “meh” and a shrug.

RHG: I like what Gary Young is doing with Yi Tien Cho – it’s a… messy role on paper, and Gary is killing it.  (They also took out some of the more racist shit from the book, which was good.)

Oh Fergus, Fergus Fergus Fergus. FERGUS.

What about you? What did you think of this episode?