Outlander: Written in My Own Heart's Blood

"Something feels different this time."

I like foreshadowing. Really, I do. But come on!

Like, the episode actually began with a flashback to the pilot episode showing World War II Claire covered with blood, followed by a montage of Outlander characters dying, or nearly dying, in various wars. We flashbacked to Jamie and Claire before the battle at a campfire talking about war and the abyss, where she was clearly having a premonition of death.

But this is still television, and Jamie and Claire have a certain amount of plot armor, at least until we near the end of the series. I honestly don't think Claire is about to die at the Battle of Monmouth.

That doesn't mean this episode wasn't strong dramatically. Honestly, I could watch Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan talk about anything. The story Jamie told Claire about his father loosening his dead mother's brilliant hair and the stillborn baby sheltered under it was so tragic. Jamie loves that Claire has had the opportunity to grow old when his own mother never had a single gray hair. Completely valid and heartbreaking point.

So mostly I just thought about how it would have been gently wafting curtains for Claire if she hadn't spent the past few months making Denzell Hunter the second best surgeon in the Continental Army. He is going to save Claire's life with his exceptional surgical skills plus some of Lafayette's fine Roquefort cheese. So there.

I have to give a round of applause for the appalling Dr. Leckie. He went from calling Claire a "cunning woman" and refusing to let her operate, to calling her a "bloody good surgeon" and "Doctor," to refusing to even try to save her life when she was gut-shot but only because he thought it was hopeless. A completely believable 360 in the space of a single episode.

(I don't know what a "cunning woman" is but it certainly wasn't a compliment. And actually, it was a good thing Leckie refused to treat Claire because his current level of medical knowledge would probably have killed her.)

One final observation about the Battle of Monmouth. I liked that the focus here was on our characters and the field hospital, not on the battle. The scene where Claire got shot because the retreating redcoats and the colonials were shouting insults at each other and it escalated worked for me.

David Berry rocks this eyepatch

Lord John and Ian to the rescue! And it's a good thing, too, because William would almost certainly have been killed.

The surprising thing about that rescue is that Ian was ready to let the Hessians go, but the Hessian with the ski jump nose made the mistake of threatening revenge. Arch Bug was fresh in Ian's mind and he decided that he wasn't going to let another such threat come back to haunt him, or possibly endanger Rachel. I don't like the idea of Ian simply murdering the Hessian like that.

At least William thanked Ian this time instead of punching him in the face. Progress! And John and William got a chance to discuss the fact that anyone would be proud to have a father like Jamie Fraser, and how alike Jamie and William are. About time.

Back at the British encampment, the worst has happened – Jane has been arrested for murder. I have to give young Florrie Wilkinson as Fanny Pocock gold acting stars because it's not easy to portray such serious panic and grief without overdoing it, especially for a pre-teen. She was marvelous. I just wanted to hug her.

Back in 1739, it took way too long for Roger to tell Buck the truth about his parents, and Buck made a fascinating observation – that Roger and Buck arriving at Geillis' doorstep was what brought Dougal and Geillis together. Did they create a time paradox? What does that mean, especially for Buck? Who was absolutely right that Roger gave himself time with his young father Jeremiah, but prevented Buck from interacting with his own parents.

While I doubt Buck's wife and son are better off without him, I really do love that after all this time together, Buck sees Roger as family. Buck's offer to return to 1980 to tell Bree what happened was genuinely selfless. Although part of me is worried that the letter Buck wrote to Geillis may not just be a nice housekeeping note. Buck did get Roger hung at Alamance, after all. Consider who his parents were.

So here we are back at Lallybroch, with Brian Fraser dressed to pitch hay just like our first scenes with young Jamie. A time travel letter exchange in Jamie's desk, a trip to Craigh na Dun, and will Bree and the kids be arriving soon to meet great-granddad?

Book versus Series

Mostly the same. I think Jamie wrote his resignation on the inside of a uniform coat instead of some kid's bare back, though. I really need to do some re-reading before season eight.

Bits:

— The post-credit scene was amazing. It was Frank (Tobias Menzies or just an incredible facsimile?) and a young Bree in a museum looking at a painting of the Battle of Monmouth. It included Claire on the ground attending the wounded, and Jamie in his general's uniform standing next to a cannon.

— The title of this episode as well as the eighth book is "Written in My Own Heart's Blood." That was literal. Jamie did write his resignation to General Lee in Claire's blood.

— Jamie begging Denzell to save Claire reminded me of Alamance, when Jamie begged Claire to save Murtagh. Sigh.

— Mandy pulling free and running gleefully toward the stones at Craigh na Dun was a shocker. Way to freak us out, show.

— The season finale airs January 17, a two week break instead of one. I bet that's so Starz can get three month subscriptions instead of two.

Quotes:

Claire: "War is inevitable. And death is, too."

Dr. Leckie: "I will not put those lives in the hands of a cunning woman."

Claire: "I'm not afraid of death, Rachel. What scares me is knowing that Jamie will go beyond the call of duty and may lose his life because of it."
Rachel: "And thee would be stabbed through the heart but still alive. I'm afraid Ian would hesitate to do what must be done and be killed because of me. It would be my fault he was gone, and I would be left alone with my principles."

William: "William who? Ransom? Ellesmere? Fraser? It is certainly not Grey... Who in God's name am I?"

Jamie: (to Dr. Leckie) "May the devil eat your soul and salt it well first, you whore!"
Now that's a tasty insult.

Okay. I didn't want to watch this episode a second time. I'm not sure why, or what that means, except this review is late because I'm also having some major real life crap again. So apologies for my lateness and I'll do my best to post my review of the finale more quickly,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

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