Outlander (The Morning After) Recap: The Wedding

“You may kiss your bride”.

With those five words Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp (series lead Caitriona Balfe) and James Alexander Malcolm MacKenize Fraser (series lead Sam Heughan) became husband and wife not out of undying love between the two, but to save Claire’s life from the sadistic bastard Captain Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall (series regular Tobias Menizes). But since the clan MacKenzie was to “embark on a boat built entirely of paper” – as stated by Ned Gowan (recurring guest star Bill Paterson) – the wedding had to follow the letter of the law. Not to mention three conditions by the groom, as he plans “to be wed one time” and he wanted it done properly.

Jamie

After the ceremony, as Claire stares at herself in the mirror of their “bridal suite” before her husband Jamie walks through the door, you hear her thoughts on her present situation: “Things you cherish and hold dear are like pearls on a string. Cut the knot and they scatter across the floor, rolling into dark corners never to be found again. So you move on and eventually you forget what the pearls even looked like or at least you try”.

Claire is lamenting about her marriage to young Jamie; namely because she is already married to Frank Randall (Menzies) but for all intents and purposes she has had to play the part of a widowed woman. With Claire and Jamie alone in their bedchamber and under “orders” to consummate their marriage – otherwise the marriage will not be legal and Claire will be left at the hands of Randall – Claire is both nervous and wary. Jamie assures her that he is not “suddenly going to force myself on you”. In fact, he pledges to her that “You have my name, my clan, my family. And, if necessary, the protection of my body as well”.

They spend the next few hours talking and drinking, getting to “know (their) new spouses for the first time” before Rupert (recurring guest star Grant O’Rourke) and Angus (recurring guest star Stephen Walters) barge in the room to learn of their ‘progress’. It is then that Claire seems to be relaxed enough to allow their wedding night to begin when she suggests it is time for them to go to bed. Jamie helps her out of her underskirt and corset [she was already out of her wedding dress], leaving her in nothing but her shift and she removes his belt. Before she can drop his kilt to the floor, though, he does it himself and kisses her passionately.

Claire: “Where did you learn to kiss like that”?
Jamie: “I said I was a virgin, not a monk. If I need guidance, I’ll ask”.

Their joining is quick and a little awkward with Claire breathlessly telling Jamie that he is crushing her, he adjusts himself, bracing himself above her. When asked if ‘it’ was what he thought it would be, Jamie admitted that he didn’t realize it was done face-to-face, he thought it was down “the back way like horses”. This little sign of his naivety allows to soften the moment with Claire admitting to him (as well as to herself) that she enjoyed the sex, saying in her mind “Not only was I a bigamist and an adulteress, but I’d enjoyed it”.

Claire then abruptly leaves the room to seek food only to find most of the McKenzie clan – that had been on the road with Dougal (series regular Graham McTavish) – downstairs in the tap room, awaiting world of their coupling. The couple are both teased with Jamie sending Claire back into the room and his taking the chiding in good spirits.

Once back in the room with sustenance, Claire and Jamie drink and talk more about their wedding and the three demands that Jamie made of Dougal before the ceremony could happen. First, he wanted to be married in a church before a priest. Second, Jamie wanted a wedding ring made out of a key that he kept in his sporran, the leather pouch that Scotsmen wear because their kilts have no pockets. And third, he wanted an appropriate wedding dress for Claire to wear, which was found at – of all places – a whorehouse by Ned.

As they talked about the wedding, Jamie declared that he “remembers every moment, every second” of it; and when he saw Claire for the first time in her wedding dress, it was as if he “stepped outside on a cloudy day and suddenly the sun came out”. [SIDEBAR: The dress she wore was really beautiful!] For Claire, however, she was quite hung over from the day before when she drank herself silly because of having to marry Jamie in order to stay safe. However, she did recall bits and pieces of the ceremony, specifically taking off the gold wedding band that Frank put on her finger in her own time, slipping it into the front fold of her dress and the Gaelic vow that they took after Dougal sliced their wrists and joined their arms with a white cloth.

“You are blood of my blood; and bone of my bone. I give you my body that we two may be one. I will give you my spirit till our life shall be done”.

Jamie and Claire

With Jamie sharing how Claire kissed him when they were pronounced man and wife, he felt that perhaps she wasn’t so sorry to be marrying him after all. It was this precise moment that Claire walked into the middle of the room, told Jamie to remove his shirt and said, “I want to look at you”. He compiles willingly and after she walks around him admiring his body, he said, “Well then, fairs fair. Take off yours as well”. She drops her shift and stands before him with no reservations and he admires his beautiful wife. Their coupling this time is much more pleasurable for both of them with Jamie learning a few new ‘tricks’ about mating along the way.

Sated from their lovemaking and the copious amounts of liquor consumed, Jamie falls asleep, allowing Claire to walk downstairs – wrapped in his tartan – to a now empty tap room in search of drink. It is at this moment that Dougal enters the room, sharing that he has returned from a meeting with Black Jack Randall, informing him of their nuptials. Dougal also commends her for what she has done in marrying Jamie, but reminding her that she can still partake of other pleasures. Claire is offending by that offer simply by stating, “I am Jamie’s wife”. Before he can make another move, though, they are interrupted by Rupert.

Back in their bridal chamber, Jamie awakens to find his wife sitting on the settee before the fire. He reaches inside his sporran, walks up to his wife and places a strand of beautiful pearls around her neck. He shared that, “They belonged to my mother and now they belong to my wife. They’re one of the few things I have left of her and are very precious to me. As are you Claire”. This proclamation touches Claire’s heart and she straddles his lap and they make slow, passionate love on the settee with Claire tenderly wrapping his kilt around him.

Claire

The final scene finds them the next morning, Jamie is fully clothed and heading downstairs to get food and telling Claire to come down before there is nothing but crumbs left. As she takes a few moments to pick up her clothes from the floor, she shakes out her wedding dress and her other wedding band rolls onto the floor. She retrieves it from a crack in the flooring and places it back on her left hand – her wedding ring to Jamie is actually on her right hand – and she raises her palms up and simple stares at her hands, realizing just how unbelievable her life has become.

Fans should take special note that there are only 8 episodes of Outlander in 2014 with the mid-season finale set to air on Starz on Saturday, September 27 at 9/8c. And then it will return with 8 more episodes in 2015. Make sure you don’t miss out!