Outlander (The Morning After) Recap: The Gathering

Running through the forest just beyond the walls of Castle Leoch while two very vigilant sentries are on duty can be dangerous for any Sassenach, but when that Sassenach is Claire Beauchamp Randall (series lead Caitriona Balfe), it could be deadly. However, luckily for Claire this time around, she is merely playing a game with five of the children from the castle, including young Hamish MacKenzie (recurring guest star Roddy Gilkison), the son of Laird Colum Mackenzie (series regular Gary Lewis). The children and Claire are simply pretending to be the men of the clan on the upcoming boar hunt; but in actuality, it is Claire reconnoitering the area to find safe pathways out of the forest in order to get back to Inverness.

In order to make her escape, she needs to distract her guards Rupert (recurring guest star Grant O’Rourke) and Angus (recurring guest star Stephen Walters). And even though the uncle who raised her taught her how to ride a horse while they were living in Ireland that was a long time ago. She would need a gentle horse to aid in her escape. Thankfully, Old Alec (recurring guest star Liam Carney) showed her to Brimstone, a sturdy, gentle horse. And it was then that Claire learned that Jamie (series lead Sam Heughan) was not around; in fact, Old Alec told her it was best that Jamie not be present for the Gathering (more on that shortly).

As Claire goes back to the surgery, she is surprised by Geillis (series regular Lotte Verbeek) who is waiting there for her with the bottle pogarrt she requested. During their conversation, Geillis asked her about the Valerian root she had in abundant stock, sharing that she had enough to put the whole army to sleep (which is exactly what Claire is hoping to do); asked about all the extra food she had in stock – “are you with bairn?” (meaning with child), Geillis asks (obviously Claire isn’t as the food is for her escape) and that being at Castle Leoch isn’t that bad. “Sometimes you find yourself on a path you never expected, but it doesn’t mean it can’t lead you to a bonny place”, Geillis told her.

With her escape route memorized, plans to distract her guards and a mount in place, Claire now needed a weapon. She goes to the kitchen for a knife, but is interrupted by Mrs. Fitz (recurring guest star Annette Badland), who insists on helping her into a better dress for The Gathering that would happen that night. At first Claire believes this will be a hindrance to her escape, but it actually helped provide her with a better cover (so to speak). Claire watched the start of The Gathering alongside Mrs. Fitz and Murtagh (recurring guest star Duncan Lacroix), the latter of which explained to her the ritual.

As the oath to Laird Colum is first made by his brother Dougal (series regular Graham McTavish) and then followed by all the other men of the clan, Claire made her way out of the grand hall, retrieved her store of food from the surgery and then attempted to leave. But, she is surprised – yet again – by a visit from Laoghaire (recurring guest star Nell Hudson), who asked about a love potion to turn Jamie’s heart to her. Since there is no such thing, Claire gave the young lass dried horse dung, told her to sprinkle it at his threshold, tap her heels together three times and recite “There’s no place like love” (cute Wizard of Oz reference, by the way).

With all her obstacles out of the way, Claire takes the path through the castle that she set for herself only to be surprised – another time – by three drunk clansmen relieving themselves in the last corridor before she could get out of the castle. She is saved by, of all people, Dougal who is a bit drunk himself. While Dougal made sure the three men didn’t get fresh with her, he took advantage by kissing her and then receiving a firm slap to his face by a deviant Claire. In the scuffle, her food bag fell to the floor and when Dougal notices it, Claire takes her own advantage by whacking him on the head with a chair.

She eventually made her way to the stable to retrieve Brimstone only to trip over something and having Jamie – who was sleeping in the hay – hold a knife to her neck. He helped her to her feet and he quickly realized what she is doing; and while her escape plan, which she explained to him, sounds firm, Jamie told her that there are extra guards on duty. She would never make it out alive. Begrudgingly Claire goes back to the castle with Jamie, but as they are headed to a secret tunnel that will safely lead them inside, the duo is caught by some of Colum’s men. They make both of them go back to the castle with them where Jamie is made to dress appropriately to stand before Colum.

The problem is if Jamie makes his oath to Colum, he will be in line to be Laird; a position that Dougal has given to himself upon the death of his brother. If Jamie makes the oath, Dougal will take his life. But, since Jamie lives on the lands of the MacKenzie clan, he is required to take the oath. No matter what way he chooses, it could cost him his life. However, Jamie does not take the oath, but pledges his obedience to Colum, which, for now, appeases both men and saved Jamie a bloody war between the Mackenzie men (but his war with Dougal is far from over).

The next day is the hunt for the boars in the forest and Claire is walking the woods along with the huntsmen. As the men yelled and struck their shields, the boars began to build in number, taking out one poor man on horseback, who Claire tends to quickly. But, as another man is taken down, Claire rushed off to tend to him only to nearly be struck down by a boar herself. Luckily, Claire is saved at the last minute by Dougal and then they deal with the second man Geordie (guest star Bryan Larkin) who was taken down. This man was not as fortunate as the first victim, losing his life to his wounds. Dougal and Claire sit with him while he slowly died with Claire helping him to remember his home, allowing him as peaceful a death as possible.

As the huntsmen and Claire returned to Castle Leoch, they see some of the men playing a game that was obviously the Highlander version of field hockey (with no rules), Dougal ran into and rushed Jamie. They fought more than they played the game with Dougal getting the better of Jaime twice, but Jamie getting the better of Dougal in the end. The uncle and nephew have a complicated relationship to say the least. But Jamie being the better man, he helped his uncle to his feet and the game came to an end.

In the final scene, Claire resigned herself to the fact that she may never get out of her dungeon prison, but she wasn’t going to give up. Dougal then visited her to say that he is taking her with him, as he will be collecting rents from those who could not attend The Gathering. He believed that it would be wise to have a healer with them who can handle the strain. As the group of men, including Dougal, Rupert, Angus, Murtagh and Jamie, depart, Claire states: “As the confines of the castle walls faded behind me like a bad dream, I took my first full breath in weeks. I had no idea where this journey would lead me or what opportunity might present itself. I could only hope it would bring me closer to the standing stones at Craigh Na Dun. If so, I was determined to reach them, knowing this time I must not fail”.

Best Moment: When Claire told Jamie about the clansmen attacking her, he was clearly worried, stating “they touch you now?” and then learning that Claire whacked his uncle on the head with a chair. The laughs that Jamie guffawed and the admiration for her that was clear on his face were priceless to say the least.

Second Best Moment: The cameo appearances made by executive producer Ron Moore who was seen quickly in two shots of the gathering in the grand hall and that of writer Diana Gabaldon (who wrote Outlander) as Iona MacTavish, who spoke briefly with Mrs. Fitz and “shushed” Murtagh from talking to Claire.

The next episode of Outlander will air on Starz on Saturday, September 6 at 9/8c. Don’t miss out!