Let's start with Amy McCallum Lindsay, who had finally found some happiness in her sad life before it was cut short by a blueberry-eating bear. I'm glad they didn't show the actual attack, which would have been pretty much impossible to stage, anyway.
No police, no hospitals, and everyone was covered in blood long afterward, a constant reminder that this is not present day. It felt wrong to me that Jamie expected little Aiden to take part in avenging his mother, but in that day and time, it was not wrong. It gave Aiden some power over what had just happened to him, a way to face his grief. No one told him to go away and let the adults handle it.
Although the narrative got a bit waylaid when Captain Cunningham ran off and killed the bear all by himself.
Even though they're quite different, the Cunninghams, Captain and Mom, seem to be causing conflict like the Christies. Just like the icky and outright rude Benjamin Cleveland and his buddies felt like the Browns and their so-called Committee of Safety. Hanging Torys just for being Torys? Telling Jamie to go hang Cunningham? How could Cleveland et al. possibly be the ones on Jamie's side in the fight that is coming?
Starting a Lodge at the Ridge sounded like a great idea, a way to help keep the peace and create stronger bonds within their growing community. But then, Cunningham shared the supernatural story about his son Simon dying in his arms at Saratoga and coming back to life for a moment in order to tell Cunningham that Simon would see him in seven years.
This echoes the newspaper obit plotline, doesn't it? Cunningham went after the bear because of his son Simon's prophecy, because he's certain he has five more years to live. After learning about their obituary, Jamie and Claire never once acted as if they were invincible. They talked about the obit but never took it for granted.
Speaking of the obit and the book, why would Frank search so hard for Jamie in the past when he told Claire not to? Was he searching for Claire instead, as Jamie suggested? There's always been a gap in our knowledge of what was going on with Frank right before he died. What did he know? I'm actually quite fascinated with the possibility that Frank wrote the book as a direct message to Jamie and/or Claire so they can change history.
One thing I liked a lot about this episode was how it emphasized Jamie confiding in and consulting with Roger. When their relationship began, it couldn't have been rockier. Now, Jamie treats Roger like a son and close friend, and Roger clearly reciprocates. I also liked the scenes with Claire and Fanny, and how Claire is helping the girl to deal with her grief for her sister Jane as well as giving her advice on how to fit in at the Ridge (as in staying away from whoring as a topic, to begin with).
I am also liking the fact that William is now a civilian. A flashback to London 1775 set up William's close relationship with his cousins Benjamin and Henry. (We'd of course met Henry last season when Lord John asked Claire to remove the stubborn musket ball in his gut that was slowly killing him.)
William gets high marks for courage. It isn't easy to dig up a body in the middle of the night. Well, William is Jamie's son. And it did turn out that William's suspicions were correct: someone else was in that grave, and the toy soldier good luck charm that William gave Benjamin wasn't in Benjamin's uniform pocket.
So this episode wasn't all death. Henry and Mercy got married after all, even though there are laws against interracial marriage. If William doesn't find Benjamin alive, if the baby isn't Benjamin's legal heir, that means Henry is the next duke, doesn't it? Making Mercy a duchess. That's an enjoyable thought.
And Ian and Rachel had a baby boy. Jamie and Ian had a lovely scene where we were again reminded that Jamie didn't get to raise Faith, Bree or William, and Ian couldn't raise Iseabail and Swiftest of Lizards. Hopefully, Ian will get to be an active father for Oggy, whatever his name turns out to be.
Bits:
— This episode was directed by Caitríona Balfe, her first. The post-credits vignette was a bear attacking a blueberry bush. And Tobias Menzies had lines that weren't from early episodes; he was listed in the opening credits.
— The action took place in 1779 North Carolina, Philadelphia and New Jersey as well as flashing back to 1775 London.
— Buck MacKenzie decided to stay behind in 1739. Is that the last we'll hear about him? What if he stayed behind to change something with his parents Geillis Duncan and Dougal MacKenzie? Will he change his mind and show up later in the season?
— Jamie was reading Frank's book, and we saw a page. Oddly, it didn't look normal. The font and the paragraph spacing were way off for a scholarly book published around 1970. I've seen many.
— Elspeth Cunningham's practicality and willingness to clean Amy's body made her bond a bit with Claire. Mrs. Cunningham has buried three husbands and four children. She's a lot more sympathetic character when she isn't telling little Mandy that she'll go to hell.
— Denzell Hunter and one of the Beardsley twins were in this episode but had no lines. I wonder if the episode ran long?
— Marmaduke. Really, Ian. Apparently, Marmaduke Stephenson was an important Friend who was a martyr for his beliefs.
Quotes:
Fanny: "My stomach is full of snot?"
Is Fanny is going to be a healer? So far, Claire passing on her knowledge hasn't worked out that well.
Rachel: "It could have been any one of us."
Although my daughter noticed that, of the four women picking berries, Amy was the one with the least plot armor.
Mrs. Cunningham: "Mr. Lindsay told me where to find his wife's shroud."
Claire: "That's very thoughtful of you. But... she already had one made?"
Mrs. Cunningham: "Do you not, Mrs. Fraser?"
Claire: "No. Perhaps I should. Do you?"
Mrs. Cunningham: "Well, of course. At my age, I often think I should sleep in it."
(I had never heard of this particular custom before I read the Outlander books, but apparently back then when a young woman got married, she immediately started working on her burial shroud. Practical, I guess, but talk about foreshadowing.)
Mrs. Cunningham: "Salt to wash away sin, and to stop her ghost from walking."
Reminding me of Supernatural.
Jamie: "Mr. Cleveland, I turned down George Washington himself. What makes you think I would change my mind for you?"
Roger: "You doubt he heard a call from God?"
Jamie: "Oh, that's not the part I doubt. Although I do wonder what he thinks he was called here to do. A man being called by God is one thing. A man who thinks he canna die is quite another."
An interesting episode. Three out of four blueberries?
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
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