The 'Outlander' Season 4 Finale Will Leave You an Emotional Mess
Welp, Outlander's fourth season is over and the finale is best described as A) gut-wrenching, B) a huge relief, and C) the reason I'm currently rage-spiraling. Not even a documentary entirely devoted to Rollo and Young Ian's beautiful human-animal bond could make me feel ok about the droughtlander that's coming our way-but discussing the finale might, so let's get right to it.
First Thing's First: Brianna Has Her Baby!
And unfortunately Claire, Jamie, and Roger don't make it back in time to see the little dude's arrival into this weird world, which means Brianna has to go through labor and delivery without any family members other than Aunt "Horny for Murtagh" Jocasta. The good news is that Brianna has an instant connection with her son, and doesn't seem at all focused on whether his "real father" is Roger or Stephen Bonnet. The bad news? Now that Brianna's a mother, she's pretty much stuck in the 18th century forever because taking a kid through the stones is far too risky.
Once again:
Claire and Jamie Try to Rescue Roger, Fail Miserably
Well kinda. Roger, or as the Mohawk lovingly call him, "Dog Face," does end up being rescued-but not without a major price. TL;DR, Claire and Jamie roll into the Mohawk village to trade for Roger, and everything's going great until Claire accidentally reveals the stone necklace she pilfered from a grave at the beginning of the season. The stone completely freaks the villagers out and Claire and Jamie are promptly banished. Great job, guys! Really handled this one well! But at least we've all learned a valuable lesson: Robbing people's graves and wearing their belongings as jewelry = probably not the best idea.
Young Ian Sacrifices Himself to Free Roger
While the Mohawk Chief is fully not here for Claire, a group of renegade villagers explain that her stone necklace belonged to a time-traveler named Otter Tooth-who we see chilling in the future towards the beginning of the episode. Otter Tooth was on a mission to warn his people about the fate of indigenous people in America-and he ended up being killed by the tribe as a result of his claims. Claire manages to broker the return of Otter Tooth's stone in exchange for help kidnapping Roger, a plan which also (surprise!) fails miserably.
Basically, the entire group gets caught almost immediately, and the Chief refuses to give up unless he receives something (i.e., someone) in return. Jamie offers, but
Young Ian ends up sticking around in exchange for Roger's freedom-and he seems pretty down with living among the Mohawk, ending the episode (and perhaps his tenure on the show?) super pumped to be accepted into their community.
Roger Finds Out About Brianna's Rape, Handles It Terribly
As anyone who's been reading my recaps knows, I think Roger is the worst for many reasons, including but not limited to: 1) his taste in turtlenecks, 2) the fact that he's lied to Brianna multiple times, 3) his despicable behavior at the Scottish fair. But he really took things to a new level of ughhhhhhh this week, so to make myself feel better I'm going to share this fond memory:
To start, Roger spent his first moments of freedom beating up Jamie, which fine, I get it. But after this childish meltdown, Claire and Jamie explain that Brianna was raped. And does Roger immediately ask about her emotional wellness, or inquire if she's suffering from PTSD? Nope! He yells at Jamie for daring to mistake him for a rapist.
Even worse? Roger's reaction when Claire tells him that Brianna's expecting and the baby's father is unknown. This is obviously huge news that Roger deserves time and space to come to terms with, but a good person (like Claire or Jamie, for example) wouldn't even have to think about it. A good person would immediately say, "my wife was raped and now she's pregnant, of course I'm not going to abandon her." Like...it shouldn't even be a question! But for Roger, it is.
Roger and Brianna Reunite...But in the Worst Way
The last 10 minutes of Outlander are truly an emotional roller coaster thanks to our buddy Dog Face, who proves that he's the most disappointing man in the world by not coming home with Jamie and Claire.
But the "twist" at the end of this episode? That Roger had a change of heart a few days after parting with Claire and Jamie, and managed to find his way to River Run. At this point Outlander delivered some romantic music and a beautifully lit reunion between Brianna and Roger, whose visible chest hair is literally billowing in the wind. The thing is, I'm not so sure Roger deserves Brianna. The fact that he rejected her for even a moment due to her pregnancy is an enormous character flaw that makes him pretty problematic, so here's hoping he spends next season redeeming himself and we get more moments like this:
P.S. Jamie Is Ordered to Kill Murtagh
Outlander's finale ends with Jamie getting an official letter from The Crown ordering him to fight against the Regulators and find/kill Murtagh. Yikes. And speaking of Murtagh, our favorite silver fox lets down his hair and has hot sex with Aunt Jocasta this week, which is clearly the best part of this season. Jocastagh forever.
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