Outlander: Blessed Are the Merciful

"It is a wise man indeed who listens to his wife."

Wise, indeed.

Jamie could have listened to the revolting Mr. Cleveland and hung the loyalists that had personally betrayed him, but he didn't. He initially decided on eviction and banishment, which was indeed merciful. But Jamie had second thoughts, and they were good thoughts. Mrs. Crombie kneeling at his feet and literally begging for mercy may have made a difference, too.

So instead, and I loved this, Jamie decided to void the contracts with the men but make new contracts with their wives. Claire's face was glowing during that scene; she was understandably quite proud of him. And of course, we could all see Claire's hand in Jamie's decision. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the Crombie household that night.

And Claire could have let Cunningham die, although that arguably might have been merciful given the conditions under which he must now live. The man is lucky that he has an emotionally and physically strong mother to care for him, a mother much like Claire. Those two women could indeed have been great friends, but Elspeth was right that under the circumstances, the Cunninghams belong in England. I don't feel for Cunningham, but that last shot of him lying helplessly in the back of a cart was quite effective.

Roger and Bree discussing what happened during the siege was also quite effective. Roger never knew what exactly happened in the London Underground when he was little and his mother tossed him over the railing to save his life. Now we know that it was a paradox, that Roger saved his father Jeremiah Wakefield in 1739 so that Jeremiah could in turn catch and save little Roger during the Blitz.

This proved God's existence to Roger, and gave him the certain conviction that he is doing God's work, and specifically in the eighteenth century. I wonder if God intended the Continentals to have guns provided by Francis Marion and paid for with the French gold, though, since that was the result of Roger's bravery.

I wish it hadn't been followed by an extra long love scene. Maybe it's time to admit that many (okay, not all, but some) Outlander love scenes make me uncomfortable. And can I be shallow and talk about appearance? Sophie Skelton has always looked thin but she almost looked emaciated here, while I could say the opposite about Richard Rankin. Maybe an unclothed love scene wasn't the best choice?

The mystery of Benjamin and Amaranthus Grey has been partly resolved. Benjamin became a rebel after meeting Thomas Paine in a tavern in Philadelphia and reading his famous work Common Sense, which was indeed a big effing deal at the time. Benjamin faked his own death because he didn't want his family to suffer, and he was right; William was so appalled that he wished Benjamin dead, while after an exchange of punches, Benjamin threw William in the stockade. It was even stranger that faking Ben's death was Amaranthus' idea in the first place, probably because she wanted to retain her son's right to inherit Hal's title. Why on earth did she seduce William, then? I'm confused.

Would Benjamin have followed through and had William executed? Thankfully, and this was hilarious, Denzell Hunter once again to the rescue, this time with an enema contraption in hand. This isn't the first jailbreak he facilitated. And it was very like his mentor, Claire, to use possibly exploding bowels as a trick to make the guard go away.

Meanwhile in New York, Joseph Brant told Ian that Wahionhaweh and her children were alive, but to leave without seeing them. Brant, like Jamie, changed his mind after Rachel asked him to reconsider.

Rachel did the right thing at a possibly high cost to herself, going to Brant alone and telling him that Swiftest of Lizards (possibly my favorite name in this series) was Ian's son. She also acknowledged that Ian missed Shadow Lake, and that he would never have left Wahionhaweh if he'd had the choice. Rachel is such a good person but not at all a goodie-goodie; she took the chance because she wanted honesty with Ian, and no ghosts.

For me, the best scene in the episode, and the one that made me cry, was Swiftest of Lizards bringing his little brother a puppy descendant of Rollo's. The second and third were Wahionhaweh giving the perfect name to Rachel and Ian's baby, and Wahionhaweh giving custody of Swiftest to Ian and Rachel. That made sense, and not just because of possibly prophetic dreams. They just escaped a massacre, after all. Swiftest is probably safer in the white world right now.

Bits:

— The post-credits vignette was the silhouette of a child and a dog running through a field at sunset. Swiftest of Lizards and Rollo's grandson, I assume.

— Josiah and Kezzie Beardsley were just handsomely rewarded for their loyalty with their own trading post.

— Benjamin Moss, who played Henri-Christian Fraser, had a good-sized set of lines for such a small child. He's adorable.

— We didn't see Kaheroton in this episode, but learned that he died protecting his village. Kaheroton (Braeden Clarke) was in five episodes: the final four of season four that included a moving performance in the upsetting episode "Providence," and "Hour of the Wolf" in season six.

— Joseph Brant and his wife Catharine Brant were real people. Catharine was also a well-known leader. That was an absolutely gorgeous house/location. Where was it, does anyone know?

Quotes:

Cleveland: "Take heart. A bit of Loyalist blood is good for the soil."
Wow. Talk about the devil you know.

Jamie: "You have made your bed, Captain. So now you must lie in it."
That was directly on the nose. Pun not intended.

Roger: "We were always a part of history, Bree, even if we didn't know it yet. We didn't change God's plan. We were always part of it."

Claire: "What about the women and their children? They shouldn't be punished for their husbands' transgressions. What will they do without their homes and their land? Where will they go?"
Jamie: "A good husband would have thought of that. And a wise one would have listened to his wife."

Rachel: "All who take the sword shall perish by it. War is an endless perpetuation of violence."
Catherine: "How different things might be if we women were at the helm."
Joseph Brant: "It is a wise man indeed who listens to his wife."
Which is almost exactly what Jamie said.

William: "My arse is the only uninjured part of me."
Denzell: "Trust me."
Lol.

I thought this was a good one. Only four more episodes to go. Three out of four wise wives,

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

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