Penultimate episodes are often heavy. When the warning card included the word... "Suicide," I spent most of this episode dreading the thought that Lord John would kill himself in order to save his family from disgrace. After losing Fergus a couple of episodes ago, that would have been too much.
Thankfully, it wasn't John. While John has always deserved love, Percy Wainwright has never worked as a romantic interest and clearly showed that he didn't deserve a man like John. I felt only a tiny bit sad when Percy killed himself.
Clever John knew that Jamie and William speak Greek and the word "lighthouse" would have been too large to etch into that ring. Clever John figured out how to defuse that blackmail attempt permanently. And John had the self-esteem to refuse to accept Jamie's half-hearted apology. I loved that Claire was on John's side of this particular situation, and that Jamie finally gave John a genuine, well deserved apology.
Another big untied plot thread was Captain Ezekiel Richardson, whose allegiances had become confusing. It turned out that we were revisiting this show's raison d'être: yet another time traveler trying desperately to change history, like Geillis, like Otter Tooth, and even Claire and Jamie with Culloden. Richardson is the great-great-grandson of a slave, and desperate to stop slavery in the eighteenth century, not in the nineteenth. In the space of five minutes, Richardson went from despicable to heroic, and everything about him made sense. No wonder Claire let Richardson go, even though I was saying out loud, "No, Claire! He's a blackmailer and completely untrustworthy! And history can't be changed, anyway!"
Thankfully, John took out Richardson. I wonder if we're going to see Hal Grey give that speech against funding the war in the series finale?
Jamie's decades-long friendship with John Grey is one of the most important relationships in his life. If death is indeed waiting at Kings Mountain, I'm glad the penultimate episode mended it, and I loved that last bit with the chess set. And Jamie and William got to indulge in some intense father/son activities while rescuing John. I particularly loved that shot of the two of them coming silently, in unison, out of the water in the boathouse.
Of course, the best moment in the episode was when Jamie and Claire were riding away and Jamie looked back at William as well as John. If we don't see William and John in the series finale, at least we had that massive bit of closure.
Meanwhile on the Ridge, Bree and Roger had their third child, David William Ian Fraser MacKenzie. At least Claire got to deliver this one like she did Mandy. And Jamie finally told Bree about Frank's prophecy. Even though Bree begged him not to go, Jamie has to do it. It's about protecting his family and the Ridge. And I get that.
At the last moment, What's-his-face Cleveland arrived with many men to tell Jamie that Ferguson was on the march. On to the series finale.
Bits:
— The post-credits vignette was of the lighthouse John saw outside of his prison shed. For what it's worth, lighthouses traditionally symbolize hope, safety and guidance.
— William dumped Amaranthus and wished her well. I'm glad. Even though her actions were explained, she just felt duplicitous.
— I loved how Claire pointed out to William how many members of their extended family had two fathers.
— In this week's hair report, Jamie had a new do for the first time in years, the Highlander top of the head mini-ponytail.
— The first few lines of Claire's book were the beginning of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, of course. Gabaldon also wrote this episode, Outlander's 100th.
Quotes:
Jamie: (sarcastically) "You look good with a beard, John."
John: "You're no oil painting yourself."
Claire: "Tell me you don't love that man and I'll never say his name again."
Jamie: "Dammit, woman."
Claire: "Your fathers are having a much needed conversation."
William: "I'll never get used to that."
I liked this episode better when I watched it the second time, not worrying about Lord John. Three out of four oil paintings,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
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