This series is winding down. I could almost hear the producers discussing what major plot threads, or in this case, fishing lines, were as yet untied. Oh, yes. William still hates Jamie. Gotta fix that one.
Especially if – okay, I'll say it because Claire did – Jamie dies at Kings Mountain in the series finale.
But let's begin with Jamie saying goodbye to Fergus, his first child. "Fergus Fraser was my son. Son of my name, of my heart, now and forevermore." That made me cry.
It's not that surprising that Marsali decided to take the Comte's money and rebuild the printshop for herself and her children. She is smart and strong. When she was only fifteen, she chose to leave Scotland with Fergus to make a life for herself that was definitely not her mother's. She believes in the American Revolution and the power of the pen. And oh my, she's pregnant again, a parting gift from Fergus. I can easily picture Marsali and her children making a success of a new printshop in their new country.
As I predicted in my last review, an angry William showed up at Fraser's Ridge in order to treat Jamie like crap. At first, he confided in his sister Bree about how Amaranthus just broke his heart.
And of course, William then confronted Jamie about his relationship with Lord John during hunting and fishing trips that brought back powerful childhood memories at the Helwater estate and the visit to Fraser's Ridge when William was ten. Definitely gold acting stars for both Sam Heughan and Charles Vandervaart. When they started crying in each other's arms, I cried, too.
Tucked into all of this drama were the family's preparations for the upcoming battle, Jamie showing his men how to throw knives, Claire and Fanny rolling bandages, an obviously pregnant Bree making bullets as well as creating a nineteenth century Hall rifle to counter Ferguson's new breech loader... something Frank showed her how to make.
At this point, it is glaringly obvious that Frank was actively working to prepare Bree, his "dearest Deadeye," for this particular battle. Frank might even have kept Claire in the twentieth century so that she would become a surgeon and save Jamie's life at Kings Mountain.
It feels like full circle, doesn't it? Back at Culloden, it felt very much as if Jamie, certain he was about to die, sent the pregnant Claire to Frank for protection; Jamie confessed here that he often prayed for Frank during their twenty year separation for that very reason. Now it feels as if Jamie and Frank are connecting again to save their family. I love that.
Roger is now officially ordained, but has been functioning as a minister for awhile now. He consoled Fanny, who is imagining Jane in Hell and coming to the understandable conclusion that God doesn't care for women. Interestingly, while talking to Jane at the cairn, Fanny picked up a shiny green stone that burned her hand and broke in half, which is exactly what happened to young Jemmy a few years back in "Journeycake."
So Fanny can time travel. Will she? Maybe she should time travel to the 1980s and join the women's movement. I'm sort of not kidding, because Fanny becoming an adult and traveling in time would be a cool way to end the series. The third generation of time travelers.
Buck also confided in Roger, and we finally know what happened. Back in 1739, frustrated by a jealous Dougal thinking Buck was hanging around Geillis for sexy reasons (and Geillis thinking the same thing and liking the idea), Buck let the stones take him wherever he was supposed to go, which turned out to be 1980. There, Buck caught Rob Cameron in eighteenth century garb getting ready to take a trip himself, and Buck killed him, took his recently acquired gemstone for travel, his knife and his hat, and found his way back to... what year is it now?... on the other side of the ocean.
This again felt like some hastily tied-up plot strings. But at least Buck did get to know his birth parents in all of their cunning and extreme sliminess. I wouldn't have minded seeing some of that, but I'm aware that there just isn't much screen time left.
Bits:
— The post-credits vignette was someone tying a fly for fishing, a reference to the "Blood of My Blood" fishing scene where Jamie and William nearly died for each other. Plot threads.
— I really enjoyed that dinner table scene with the entire extended family, and church service with Roger's ordination. There are never enough group scenes with a majority of the cast.
— Marsali is pregnant. Bree is pregnant. I hope Amaranthus isn't pregnant. There could be massive plot complications.
— Patrick Ferguson, whom we still haven't met, burned down a settlement near Aaron Whitaker's, and Aaron with some of his neighbors showed up to join the Fraser's Ridge militia. Can't they all settle at Fraser's Ridge after the battle?
— In this week's cliffhanger, Lord John went to see Percy at a solicitor's office. Captain Richardson was there and knocked John unconscious. That can't be good.
Quotes:
Marsali: "I wanted freedom. It's what America wants."
Marsali: "He used to tell the bairns that the rain meant God was sneezing. And best be sure to wipe the Lord's snot off their clothes before they came in the house. They loved it, of course. Running around, wiping the snot of the Almighty on each other with glee."
Jamie: "He had the devil's own sense of humor."
Marsali: "Got that from you."
Buck: (to Rob Cameron) "I owe Roger MacKenzie a life. Yours will do."
Roger: "Can I come in?"
Fanny: "Unlike God, I'm very welcoming."
I was using my sarcastic voice a bit while writing this review, but I'm glad Jamie and William have reconciled. They both genuinely needed it. Three out of four satisfying plot threads,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
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