Outlander Premiere Recap: Jamie and Claire’s Homecoming Reveals an Achingly Sad Truth About Someone They Love — Plus, Grade the Ep!
Go ahead and call Outlander’s Jamie The Scientist, because while no one said his return to Scotland would be easy, no one ever said it would be this hard — and heartbreaking.
In short order in the Starz series’ midseason premiere, The Notorious JAMMF finds out that a loved one is dying, gets whaled on by a still-mad/always-mad ex-wife and says goodbye to his current wife as she sets sail for America. And we haven’t even gotten into the time-travel bomb he and Claire detonate right there at Lallybroch’s dining table.
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Meanwhile, elsewhere and elsewhen in Scotland, Roger has a wee adventure of his own. Read on for the highlights of “Unfinished Business.”
A HEART-WRENCHING HOMECOMING | After doing their appointed duty and returning Simon Fraser’s body to his homeland, Jamie, Claire and Young Ian arrive in Lallybroch’s dooryard. When Jenny (now played by Kristen Atherton) comes out of the house, she immediately runs to her son but needs a minute to process how different he looks from when she last saw him. Still, she grabs him and hugs him tightly before turning her attention to Jamie, who looks well and truly scared of his sister. It has been a lot longer than he expected between visits, aye? She mean-mugs him for a minute, but then runs to him and embraces him, and then Claire, with all her might.
Everyone starts to get caught up. Old Ian and Jenny’s other children are adults, or nearly so. Speaking of the elder Murray, “Where’s Da?” Young Ian asks his mom. “Coughing up a lung inside” is the answer: When everyone comes into the house to see Jenny’s husband, it’s clear that he’s very ill. “Dinna fash, it’s still me,” he says, joking, but he can’t muster the strength to stand and say hello. Claire surreptitiously asks Jenny how long Ian has had his cough and learns it’s been years, though he’s gotten much worse in the past several months. Buckle up, Sassenachs: We’re only 10 minutes into the episode, and IAN IS DYING.
Claire’s quick diagnosis: consumption. Jamie makes gallows-humor jokes with his dear friend, but when the Frasers have a moment alone, Big Red is shaken. Claire makes it clear that she can’t save her brother-in-law, but that she’ll make him as comfortable as possible. And even though death is so prevalent in the house that you can practically see the Grim Reaper making himself comfortable in the parlor, everyone tries to go about Jamie and Claire’s visit as though everything is OK.
At one point, Ian updates his da about Swiftest of Turtles and how his English name is Ian James; the news brings Old Ian to happy tears. Then Young Ian shares that he’s in love with Rachel, and the men talk about the value of having a good wife. Old Ian urges his son to go back to American as soon as he can, lest someone else swoop in and woo the Quaker while he’s gone.
‘HE NEEDS ME’ | And now for the hour’s comic relief, which comes in the form of Laoghaire trying to kill Jamie with her bare hands. After getting a bemused Claire’s permission to visit his ex-wife and settle some unfinished business (Caitríona Balfe’s line reading on “Do send her my very best regards” is perfection, by the way), Jamie goes to Laoghaire’s farm and tries to apologize for being a dead-on-the-inside faker the whole time they were together. But she thinks he’s really there to get out of the financial situation they set up years before. Within minutes, she gets under his skin with SURGICAL precision, which is such a fun contrast between his huffing frustration and Claire’s breezy nonchalance in the scene before.
Soon, she’s pointing out that she was just a placeholder for him, someone to help while he was mourning Claire, but that she truly had feelings for him. She point-blank asks him if he was already in love with Claire when he kissed her after taking a beating for her at Castle Leoch. “Aye. Aye, I was,” he replies honestly… which causes her to come after him with a pitchfork. Laoghaire’s farmhand notices what’s happening and rushes to her aid. Jamie punches him, which lays the man out, and Laoghaire immediately drops her attack to run to the man. She kisses him, trying to see how badly he’s hurt, as Jamie watches. “He needs me,” she spits by way of explanation. “You, you bastard, never did.”
That night in their room, Jamie tears up as he makes sure that Claire knows he needs her. “To the best of my knowledge, you have needed me urgently from the moment you saw me,” she teases him. “I haven’t had any reason to think you’ve gotten any more self-sufficient since.” Oh, and another thing? She wants to tell his family that she’s really from the 20th century.
ONE TIME CLAIRE CAN’T HELP | The impetus for her revelation is that Jenny and Ian’s son, Michael, is living in France, which is due for a very bloody revolution in the near future. So she warns him not to be there past 1788, and backs it up by explaining, “I know this because I’m not from this time. I was born in 1918.” THEIR FACES! “Claire has knowledge of things that will come to pass,” Jamie adds. “I’d listen to her.”
Jenny’s like, “Great! Then cure Ian!” And when Claire can’t, Jenny thinks it’s because her sister-in-law is holding a grudge about her role in Laoghaire-gate from the last time they were all together. “I’m not magic. And I don’t have any power, just some knowledge,” Claire tries to explain. “Not enough to save a dying man, not even one that I love.” But Jenny accuses her of not having a soul, then runs away, crying. Aw man I feel for Jenny in this episode. Deep grief AND houseguests? No wonder she escapes to the woods to cry like a wounded animal. And she can’t even get a moment’s peace THEN! Jamie finds her and feels the need to immediately buck her up by reeling off a litany of how she’s always had to be the strong one in their family. Verbatim from my notes: “Goodness gracious, give her a minute to sob!” Still, by the end of their talk, she’s at least got a weak, watery smile on her face, so I guess that’s something?
A NEW ARRANGEMENT | Back at the house, Jamie summons Laoghaire, her farmhand and her daughter, Joanie (Marsali’s sister) to Lallybroch. Off of some intel from Joanie, Jamie knows that Laoghaire really wants to marry the farmhand but is holding back because their previous arrangement means she’ll lose the house to Jamie. So he (with the help of Ned Gowan, whom no one can believe is still alive) draws up an amendment that will let Laoghaire keep the house. Meanwhile, Joanie’s dowry will be released to pay her passage to the nunnery she wants to join, and Jamie will kick in two gold musket balls for her upkeep there. If you have a moment, please do yourself a favor and replay the moment around 46:20, paying particular attention to Claire’s face when Laoghaire finally nods her agreement. It’s pretty damn great.
HERE’S YOUR HAT, WHAT’S YOUR HURRY? | But this isn’t Outlander unless someone is in dire need of Claire’s skill, so soon they get a letter from Lord John asking her to come to Philadelphia and treat his nephew, Henry, who was shot in the abdomen in battle and is doing poorly. Claire wants to stay for Ian’s final days, but the Fraser siblings gently encourage her to help Lord John. And after Jenny also makes it clear that Ian has her and Old Ian’s blessing to go to Rachel and make her his wife, Young Ian joins his aunt on her journey.
The day they leave, Jenny apologizes to Claire, and things are much easier between them than they’ve been all episode. Then a very gray-looking Ian gingerly makes his way outside to hug everyone goodbye, waving as their cart disappears down the road.
ROGER GOES BACK | Life is a lot more upsetting — and that’s saying something! — for the Fraser-MacKenzie side of the family. Roger and Buck go through the stones, leaving a bereft Brianna behind in the present to weep and look after Mandy. When Rog and Buck arrive in the past, it’s clear that it’s taken a huge physical toll on the older man; Roger fears Buck is having a heart attack, but the immediate danger passes. “If Buck dies, would I exist?” Roger wonders via voiceover. “Would Jemmy exist?”
The men split up to look for Roger’s son, with Rog making a beeline for Lallybroch. But when he knocks at the door, he’s shocked when Brian Fraser — aka Jamie’s dad — answers! Yep: Roger has gone back too far in time. When Brian mentions that Jamie is at university, Rog realizes that it’s probably 1739 or 1740. He’s so distracted that he barely notices when the family is talking about a “fairy man” who’s been seen in the area. And then he’s got a much bigger problem when Buck takes ill on the way to Lallybroch, and Roger must bring him to the local herbalist.
That herbalist turns out to be… murderess and blood-magic aficionado Geillis Duncan, played once more by Lotte Verbeek! “Oh, Jesus Christ!” Roger voiceovers as the episode goes to black.
What did you think of the midseason premiere? Grade it via the poll below, check out our conversation with Balfe and Sam Heughan in the video at the top of the post, then hit the comments with all of your Outlander thoughts!
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