Outlander season 7 episode 6 recap: A life for a life
NOTE: This post contains spoilers for Outlander season 7 episode 6, "Where the Waters Meet".
The American Revolution is heating up on Outlander season 7 as the show takes us slowly but surely towards the Battle of Saratoga. But before we get there, Claire and Jamie have to deal with the aftermath of Fort Ticonderoga falling into the hands of the British army, with whom William has been reunited, while in 1980, Brianna and Roger are investigating the ins and outs of time travel.
What adventures await for the character in the latest episode of Outlander, titled “Where the Waters Meet”? Let’s recap.
Custody of the British army
As this new episode of Outlander opens, we find William arriving at Fort Ticonderoga. He meets with General Simon Fraser and learns that Captain Richardson, who sent him on the letter delivery mission a couple of episodes ago, will arrive soon. He also finds out that the British army is concocting a plan to isolate New England from the colonies.
Not far from the fort, Claire, Jamie and several others have managed to make their escape safely, but they need to keep moving if they want to put the British soldiers behind them. However, their group is partly made up of people who are not in great shape for traveling and Claire is worried. When soldiers try to draw them out by pretending to be Native Americans shouting, Young Ian and Jamie go take care of them while Claire has to go looking for Mrs. Raven, a woman who is particularly afraid of the natives. She finds the poor lass but without enough time to reassure her and cannot do anything when Mrs. Raven brings a gun to her head and pulls the trigger. Before she can’t even make sense of what just happened, Claire is taken prisoner by the Redcoats.
After getting rid of several British soldiers, Jamie and Ian run into Denzell Hunter who tells them that Claire is missing. Jamie realizes she has been taken back to the fort and sets off with Ian to get his wife back.
From time-travel investigator to school teacher
After learning that his son had been mistreated by his teacher for speaking Gaelic in the last episode, Roger pays a visit to Jemmy’s school and has a word with the headmaster. It turns out the latter is on the same page as Roger when it comes to the importance of preserving Highland culture and he explains that Jemmy’s teacher’s reaction was a symptom of a bigger problem: people insisting that their children speak “good English” to be able to get a good job and get out of the Highlands. Roger thinks it’s a shame and that Highland culture should instead be celebrated, and the headmaster agrees. So much so, in fact, that he offers Roger to teach a class on the topic.
Later on, we find Roger and Brianna at Lallybroch discussing the portal-looking thing she spotted in the dam’s tunnels in the previous episode. Bree does her best to describe the buzzing she heard and what she saw while Roger is taking notes in what he jokingly refers to as the “Hitchhiker’s Guide” for time travelers. They come up with a working theory that a ley line converging with a nearby stone circle is what created this portal. As Roger puts it, their guess is as good as any… And they do not have time to investigate this further because Roger is late for his Gaelic class at school.
Wearing a kilt, Roger teaches a mix of children and their families about “the Gaelic” and the songs that are associated with Highland culture. After class, the headmaster offers him a regular opportunity to champion Gaelic at the school and Roger welcomes it gladly. He then makes the acquaintance of Rob Cameron, one of Bree’s coworkers who was responsible for her hazing. He hands Roger his time-travel notebook which somehow got mixed up with the hymns Roger was passing around during class. Taken aback by the fact that Rob read the notebook, Roger isn’t too impressed with the man yet somehow the latter manages to invite himself over for dinner at Lallybroch. Surely that will make for an interesting scene in the future!
Back to Fort Ticonderoga
Claire does not miss a beat when she is brought back to Fort Ticonderoga and immediately starts caring for the other prisoners there and asking the British soldiers for some food and water. She is even reunited with Walter, the patient she previously tended to when the fort was in the hands of the rebels. But poor Walter is not doing so great and Claire figures out that an embolism, caused by a complication from his amputation, is probably what is making him ill. Claire does her best to help him, but eventually Walter doesn’t make it.
Meanwhile, William has a chat with Captain Richardson and confesses he wasn’t able to complete his mission as he lost his horse and the letters that he was meant to deliver with it.
The captain admits it is unfortunate as the recipients of the letters were actually spies who needed the information enclosed in those messages, but he reassures William that he surely will have the opportunity to make up for it as “war is long.”
Back in his redcoat, William then runs into Claire, who is hellbent on getting supplies for the other prisoners. He recognizes her from visiting Fraser’s Ridge back when he was a young lad, and promises he will do his best to help. Later on, Claire receives a delivery of herbs, supplies, and even a dram of brandy, all fetched to her thanks to William.
Outside the fort, Jamie and Ian are making a plan to retrieve Claire. While Jamie is ready to storm the place himself under the cover of darkness, Ian offers to go inside the fort for him, pretending to be with the Mohawks who have allied themselves with the British army. He manages to convince his uncle and we later find him within the walls of Fort Ticonderoga, where he is spotted by William.
At first their exchange is pleasant and William thanks Ian for saving his life and tells him he owes him one. However, William eventually puts two and two together: he recalls Ian telling him they first met at Fraser’s Ridge, that his uncle is James Fraser which means Claire and he are related. Figuring out Ian is here to rescue Claire, William comes in between them but, outside the walls, Jamie is creating a distraction by shooting fire-lit arrows inside the fort. Ian and Claire beg William to let them escape, which he does not only because Ian has saved him, but because Claire has also saved Lord John’s life in the past. He insists, however, that the next time he’ll cross paths with Ian, he may not be as accommodating.
Facing new problems
Several days later, Claire, Jamie and Ian arrive at the camp where the rebel army gathered after fleeing Fort Ticonderoga. There, Ian is reunited with his beloved dog Rollo, and with Rachel Hunter, whom he seems very into but cannot quite articulate it yet.
While Jamie’s contract with the Continental army is almost over, which means they could set off for Scotland, he meets Colonel Daniel Morgan, who is impressed with Jamie’s skills with a rifle and offers him to join his group of riflemen. Later that day, Jamie tells Claire he accepted and that Scotland will have to wait a bit longer, as he doesn’t feel like he can quit the rebel fight just yet. Claire knows the Battle of Saratoga is coming and that it is a turning point for the Americans, so she understands Jamie’s will to be a part of what’s next.
Although Claire is reassured by the fact that, as a rifleman, Jamie will be further from combat, the two discuss one’s willingness to fight for what they believe as well as their thoughts on potential death. Jamie explains he isn’t as afraid of dying as he once might have been, having lived a fulfilling existence, but rather worried about shortening the life of a young man who would be on the receiving end of his gun. With that scene, Outlander seems to be once more alluding to the fact that Jamie will have to fire at a young soldier and it raises the question of whether that might be William.
However, it isn’t on this worrisome thought that the show left us this week. Instead, we find Roger in the kitchen of Lallybroch, having a fine time dancing around to the beat of Scottish music when he notices someone watching him through the window. This must be the person Jemmy and Mandy have seeing around the grounds before, so Roger rushes outside to catch them. When he does, he is in for a baffling surprise, as the man he grabs is none other than Buck Mackenzie, illegitimate son of Dougal Mackenzie and time traveler Gellis Duncan, and a distant ancestor of Roger’s.
How the heck did Buck Mackenzie get here? How lost and confused might he be by the 1980s? Tune in next week on Starz and Lionsgate Plus to find out.
