Outlander 4.05 Savages

Content Warning for racial violence.

The title card is a man buying a small doll, and it’s wrapped up in a checkered cloth.

Claire and Adawehi sit by a creek, washing plants, and Adewahi teaches Claire some Cherokee. She also gives Claire a plant, and tells her it’s for “the mother.” You make a tea (from… the leaves? Stalk? Flowers? How much, how long do you let it steep? Look, I did not suffer through five of the Earth’s Children books to not be concerned about this.)

Adewahi asks if Claire has any children, and Claire tells her that Brianna lives far away. Adewahi says that “she is here.” Claire thinks that means in her heart, but, come on. We know what’s happening.

It must be fall of the next year, because they have a nice two story cabin. I know that everything happens in the fall because that’s when they were filming, but it’s not made abundantly clear that a year had gone by until later. ANYWAY. Claire and Jamie are packing to go on separate trips: he’s going to Wollen’s Creek to poke around for prospective tenants, and she’s going to another settlement to help birth a baby. There’s a nice easy rhythm to this scene as Jamie looks for his hat (it’s in the pig sty) and Claire gets her equipment together.

Jamie tucks one of the silver candlesticks into his pack, while Ian bustles around eating things. Jamie is a bit worried about leaving Claire by herself, but Claire will be fine. As Jamie helps Claire put on her shawl, he asks if Brianna has a birthmark. She does. He saw in a dream that she had a small brown mark shaped like a diamond behind her ear, and “I kissed her there.”

Inverness, 1971: Roger has come looking for Bree, and has missed her by ten days- a cabbie says that they have a record of a one way trip to Craig na Dun. Roger is kind of… numb, but does find out that she was staying at Baird’s Bed and Breakfast, the same place Claire and Frank stayed in the late 40s. He finds the proprietress, who does remember Bree, but she says that Bree didn’t leave anything behind.

As he leaves, Miss Baird calls him back. Bree left a letter that was supposed to be sent in a year. Then she tells Roger that it’s obvious Bree broke his heart and he should go find himself a good Scottish lass. Roger’s like, maybe I should.

In Wollen’s Creek, it’s a bustling small village and Jamie and Ian have printed up flyers looking for tenants. They start passing them out, thinking that 100 acres and no rent should get them a decent number of tenants. Ian’s excited about the idea of neighbors, maybe even neighbors with daughters, and Jamie just wants someone who can play chess. Jamie knocks on a door, and a woman with a flirty smile answers. She’s the wife of the local silversmith, and her husband is away at present. Jamie knows trouble when he sees it and skedaddles.

At the Mueller’s cabin, the baby has been born! Petronella (the mother) and her mother are singing happily as Claire swaddles the new kiddo up. They say that the baby looks like her papa, may he rest in peace. Hester asks if Claire has a grandchild, and offers for Claire to share the new baby.

Jamie gives the pitch to a group of dudes around a table in the local tavern, but they all decline. Eventually Jamie gets it out of them that sure, land sounds great, but Jamie got it from Tryon, and the taxes are going to fuck them all. Jamie isn’t feeling great about that, since if he doesn’t get tenants and productive land going, then he’s going to have to come up with the taxes all by himself. But one of the guys tells him that there’s a meeting later, to discuss the issue.

Herr Mueller comes back with his son, happy to hear the baby is healthy. And they’ve named the baby Klara, after Claire. She’s touched. The doll from the title card is a gift Herr Mueller bought in Cross Creek to bring to the baby. Rollo starts barking, because there’s are some of the Cherokee warriors watering their horses at the creek. Herr Mueller thinks they are stealing HIS water, and runs out with his rifles.

Claire runs out behind them and calls for everyone to stand down. Because she is able to convince Mueller to put down his rifle, and she is the wife of Bear Killer, and because she is a healer like Adawehi, the warriors agree to go out of sight to water their horses. But not before they bless the water, which looks scary and strange to Mueller. The Cherokee leave, and everything seems like it’s…not okay, but stable.

Claire rides back to the Ridge, puts the horse in his paddock, and collapses into bed. In the morning, she feeds the animals, and does some chores, knits, replenishes her herb supply, and notes that one of the candlesticks is missing. Morning comes again, and eventually there’s a hard earned whiskey.

In Wollen’s Creek, the boys are loading up, a bit discouraged that they haven’t got any takers. In wonders if Tryon will take back the land, but Jamie thinks he might be able to protect tenants from the tax collectors… since he’s on the hook for the taxes. And he’ll pay a fair tax, but nothing more. At that point, the bit on the horse’s bridle breaks, so Jamie sends Ian to the blacksmith to get it repaired.

But the blacksmith, who’s voice sounds curiously familiar, is done for the day. He’s tired. Ian asks for an exception for fellow Scot. HA. Ian begs, they have three days of travel and Ian’s uncle will have Ian’s guts for garters. At this, the blacksmith turns around, and yes, IT IS MURTAGH. YES. YAY. HELLO DUNCAN LACROIX I HAVE MISSED YOU MY MAN. Anyway, Murtagh gets Ian to fork over 21 shillings to repair the bit.

Jamie knocks on the silversmith’s door again, and the smith is not home, but his wife offers Jamie a hearty piece of pie while he waits. Jamie prefers Claire’s pie. Back at the wagon, Ian has the bit fixed, and abashedly admits that he paid all of Jamie’s money for the bit. Jamie is like WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK and goes storming into the smithy.

Murtagh recognizes Jamie’s voice and turns around so slowly, and Sam does an amazing thing where he twitches like two muscles and his whole face transforms from anger to shock. Murtagh thanks the lord, and they hug while Ian goes, “????????” “You know this old coot?”

Jamie introduces them and Murtagh is like, I need to hear all of your stories, right now, and also who are you calling an old coot?

I’ve missed Duncan Lacroix’s face a LOT.

At the Ridge, Claire feeds the animals again, and finds Pastor Gottfried on her doorstep: the measles hit the Mueller farm, and Petronella and the baby died. To make things worse, Mueller himself has gone mad with grief and Frau Mueller is worried that her husband blames Claire for the deaths, because Claire let the Cherokee curse the water. Pastor Gottfried knows it was a blessing, but Mueller doesn’t see it that way. Claire assures him that Jamie will be home soon and she has the rifle.

She loads the rifle, and she and Rollo sit up, all night.

Murtagh was indentured for 12 years, and learned smithing during it. Jamie: Heeeeeey, I have a smithing project, and shows Murtagh the candlestick. Ian says that this is a surprise for Jamie’s wife and Murtagh is like “ah, so you married again.” Jamie sends Ian off to get another ale (Murtagh gives Ian back the money), and then tells Murtagh that Claire came back. Murtagh slaps the table in delight. And he tells Murtagh that Brianna is in Boston, in 1971, where she is at University. Murtagh is duly impressed. “Any daughter of yours would be a canny lass.”

Jamie asks if Murtagh will come with him, but Murtagh is like, I have a smith and life here. Jamie: I have 10,000 acres. Murtagh. Ah, so Tryon likes you then. Jamie’s like I mean yeah, but come on, I need you. Murtagh says he has grave work in Wollen’s Creek, and there’s a meeting he wants to take Jamie to.

The meeting is of Regulators, and Murtagh is one of the leaders. He makes a speech about how the tax collectors steal their hard earned possessions. “Wish your tax collector and your sheriff a fine supper and good bed. For soon they will have no peace.” They’re all willing to pay a fair tax, but corruption will not stand, and the people will stand together. Jamie watches all of this with not a small bit of dread.

After the meeting, Murtagh asks if Jamie will join them. Jamie agrees that they risk what they must, but he has Claire and Ian and the land to think of. He gave his word he would quell unrest, but he won’t try to stop what Murtagh is doing. And he also hopes that one day Murtagh will come find them.

At the Ridge, Claire is woken from a doze by Rollo’s bark, and it’s Mueller. He says he was afraid that the measles would have sticken her, as well. Claire brings him inside, and he’s convinced that it was the curse, because they died too quickly. He says that it’s the Indians who are supposed to die of the pox, not the people who believe in God. But it’s over, he took care of them. He hands Claire a package wrapped in the cloth baby Klara’s doll was in, and Claire thinks it is the doll, but it’s not. It’s Adawehi’s scalp. Mueller murdered her because she was the witch that created the curse.

Mueller yells that the “savages come to show that my land is theirs!” Claire shows him the door. After he leaves, she wraps the scalp in a clean cloth, puts it into a wooden box along with some of the plants Adawehi taught her about, and put the box in the fire.

At the Mueller’s settlement, the warriors shoot flaming arrows into the cabin. It bursts into flames, and Frau Mueller staggers out, shot with an arrow, and falls to the ground, burning. Mueller rides up, and he, too is shot. The warriors watch impassively, then ride away.

In the morning, Claire has been sleeping fitfully, when Rollo barks. It’s Jamie, and he runs to her because he can tell something has gone terribly wrong. She just needs him to hold her.

Later, Claire is gathering firewood, when she hears someone whistling “The Boogie Woogie Boy of Company B” and she flies to Murtagh’s arms. I always did love their relationship.

At Craig na Dun, we get a voiceover from Bree as we watch her approach the stones – it’s her letter for Roger. If he got the letter, it means she didn’t make it back. She found out something terrible was going to happen, so she went, and she doesn’t want him to follow her. Bree is wearing a very 1970s peasant-y outfit that… is probably the best she could cobble together and honestly I’ve seen worse at SCA events. Basically, it’s perfect. She is also wearing the bracelet Roger gave her.

She ends by saying that she needs Roger to know that she cares about him, very much. “You once told of me to think of my mother happily in the past, and that’s how I want you to think of me.” She approaches the middle stone, then the camera moves behind it, and by the time it comes around the other side, she’s gone.

RHG: Let’s start with the good: MURTAGH IS BACK! I….have questions about how he’s been in Wollen’s Creek this whole time and hadn’t heard about Jamie and Claire? Scots are champion gossips! It’s a small town! HE WOULD HAVE HEARD.  They’re been there a year!

Whatever. He’s back. I’m happy.

I’m also completely delighted by Brianna’s “attempt” at 18th century clothes. It’s so perfect for what she was trying to do. Terry Dresbach is a genius, and she’s not working on the show next season and I am ANXIOUS about that.

Okay so. Yes, we get it. Mueller is the real “savage” and I am even sadder about the death of Adawehi in the show than I was in the book. Tantoo Cardinal deserved more than three scenes (though I do understand the challenge of fitting a book that’s half a billion pages long into 13 episodes, BUT STILL). The violence of colonization is not something we can really deny anymore, since it wasn’t all showing up and saying “Hey, I mean to be a NICE neighbor and stay on my side of the arbitrary line drawn by a guy who has no actual right to draw it but he’s the one with the flag, so… look, I’ll be nice. I promise.” Colonization isn’t tidy. It isn’t non-violent.

It really sucks.

Elyse: Either we’ve jumped ahead quite a bit in time or Claire and Jamie built that cabin super fast. Oh hey, Claire learned how to knit!

Murtagh is back! And he’s turned into a silver haired fox.

The murder of Adawehi and the way Claire was presented with her scalp was incredibly intense, and I honestly didn’t see it coming. I’m glad it happened off screen, but it was still disturbing, as was Frau Mueller’s death. I think there’s an element of women paying the price for men’s foolishness here.

Overall I was a little disappointed in this episode. I want to see more of what would happen to Bree, but we skipped over her almost entirely. We get a great teaser at the end, but now when I’m finally invested in Bree’s storyline we don’t spend much time with her.

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