Outlander (The Morning After) Recap: The Mid-Season Finale “Both Sides Now”

Frank Randall (series regular Tobias Menzies) is once again at the Inverness Police Station seeking information on his missing wife; but he is far from receiving the answers he seeks. In fact, he tells the detective who has been on the case, “My expectations of your department were low to begin with and I can assure you that you’ve meet those expectations at every turn”. To this Detective Collins (guest star John Wark) counters that the police have “spent the past six weeks searching a hundred square miles of rugged terrain, conducted 175 interviews and invested over 1000 man hours” in their search for Claire; and yet they have not been able to find a trace of her anywhere. To cement the police departments’ belief, Collins shouts at Frank that Claire obviously ran off with the Highlander for whom Frank identified outside the inn the night before she disappeared. That comment does not make Frank happy, of course, with him shouting in return, “My wife is not with another man”.

Sadly, though, that is not the case since Jamie (series lead Sam Heughan) and Claire (series lead Caitriona Balfe) are sitting together on a blanket on a hillside, having a meal and sharing a stolen moment or two away from the rest of the MacKenzie clan. After stumbling over his words when asking Claire a question, Jamie finally asks: “Is it usual what it is between us when I touch you? When you lie with me? Was it always so between a man and a woman?” As they hold and caress each other’s hands, Claire admits: “It’s often something like this, but no, this isn’t usual. It’s different”.

At that precise moment the couple is startled by an arrow landing nearby; but upon inspection Jamie recognizes the source of the arrow coming from an old friend, Hugh Munro (guest star Simon Meacock). Hugh is a rough-looking backwoodsman, who not only has many tokens strapped to his coat that gives him license to beg within any single parish but also, as Jamie explains to Claire, Hugh was captured by Turks while at sea, held as a slave for years in Algiers and lost his tongue to the Muslim men.

During their conversation, Jamie learns there is a redcoat deserter named Horrocks who wants to meet with him. Horrocks claims that he was a witness on the day that Jamie escaped from Fort William and he can attest to who really killed the Sergeant for whom Jamie was accused of murdering. The thought of getting the price lifted from his head fills Jamie with joy, especially if it means he can return to his home with his brand new wife – the Lady Lallybrach; but Jamie doesn’t trust this unknown man.

Meanwhile, Frank and Rev. Wakefield (recurring guest star James Fleet) discuss the possible, albeit unlikely, circumstances that could have led to Claire’s disappearance with Frank deciding to take refuge at a local pub, drinking away his worry. There he is approached by a woman calling herself Sally (guest star Olivia Morgan), who claims she knows the Highlander featured on the “wanted” posters in conjunction with Claire’s disappearance. He meets her later that night only to be jumped by two men who simply wanted the reward money; and much like his predecessor Black Jack Randall (Menzies in a dual role), Frank lashes out at the men, beating them down and severely choking Sally in the process.

For Claire, Jamie and the MacKenzie men, they are having a rough go of it as well because they are attacked by raiders who want their horses and goods. The men are aware of the raiders approach because of the restlessness of the horses, and Claire is directed to hide behind a fallen tree while the men handle the situation. Thankfully the MacKenzie men battle off the raiders in quick and due course with none of them sustaining any real injuries and only losing one horse and three bags of grain. But because of that situation, Jamie wants to make sure that Claire knows how to defend herself. She gets a few quick lessons from Angus (recurring guest star Stephen Walters), which pay off heartily soon enough.

Back to Frank in 1945, though, where Rev. Wakefield suggests that he should move on with his life since it seems apparent that Claire has done the same; but before he leaves Inverness for Oxford, Mrs. Graham (guest star Tracey Wilkinson) shares with him the story of the standing stones at Craigh Na Dun and her belief that Claire may have traveled through time. While Frank listens to the woman and her tale, he does not believe her and he leaves Inverness. But, as he heads out of the city, he decides to make one last detour to Craigh Na Dun.

Meanwhile, Jamie and Claire have a romantic interlude away from the rest of the men, delighting in being newlyweds:

Jamie: “Does it ever stop, the wanting you?”
Claire: Gasping and kissing him…
Jamie: “Now I know why the church calls it a sacrament”.
Claire: Between more gasps and kisses – “Why?”
Jamie: “Coz I feel like God himself when I’m inside you.”
Claire: Laughing
Jamie: “What, is that a foolish thing to say? Are you laughing at me?”
Claire: Between more laughter and kisses “Yes, I most certainly am”.
Jamie: “And you’ll get what you deserve”.

As their coupling escalates, the click of a gun shocks them both with Jamie turning to see a redcoat holding a gun close to his head. Jamie is brusquely pulled away from his wife while Claire attempts to conceal her partial unclothed body. One redcoat who holds Jamie by the arm and at gunpoint while the other decides to take pleasure in Claire. As the brute climbs on top of her, though, Claire is momentarily frozen; but then she grabs her dagger and, using the lesson she learned from Angus, strikes the redcoat twice in the back, killing him instantly. Jamie takes that very moment to push the other redcoat’s arm out of the way and as his gun fires into the air, Jamie slices his neck wide open; wherein he rushes to Claire’s aid, removing her from that horrific scene and attempting to comfort his now in shock wife. But he is called back down to the scene by Dougal (series regular Graham McTavish) and the other men.

Still reeling from this horrible encounter they are next seen riding away, heading toward a meeting with Horrocks, but Jamie does not want Claire with them; he doesn’t want to risk her safety again. He leaves her behind with Willie (recurring guest star Finn Den Hertog), begging her to stay put and promising that she will be there when he returns. She consents, but the anger that has been brewing inside her since the encounter spurns her to wander away from Willie. She comes to the realization that she isn’t angry at Jamie or even the redcoats who attacked them but at herself for forgetting her plan to return to the stones, her own time and to Frank. That is when she realizes where they are. They are at Craigh Na Dun.

“My mind had been so clouded and confused I didn’t recognize the road when we rode in, but there was no mistaking it. I was back! To the place where it had all begun. So much had happened, so much had changed. Last I was here I was Claire Randall, then Claire Beauchamp then Claire Fraser, but the question was who did I want to be?”

Seeming to make up her mind, Claire races toward the hillside where the standing stones are located, just as Frank is walking up the hill toward them as well in his own time. A juxtaposition then takes place with Frank reaching the stones while Claire races her way across the countryside. While Frank cries over the loss of his wife, yelling out her name, the wind picks up his voice and for a moment Claire hears him. She cries out “Frank” and for a moment Frank hears her as well. Just as she reaches the stones, though, she is grabbed from behind by three redcoats and dragged back down the hill to an awaiting wagon while Frank walks dejectedly back to his car.

Claire knows where she is being taken – Fort William to be interrogated by Black Jack Randall – but he does not have any foreknowledge of her arrival, allowing her time to plan a ruse. Once in a dining room with Black Jack, Claire attempts to pass herself off as a spy for the Duke of Sandringham, Black Jack’s own benefactor, but just as she believes she has the sadistic bastard fooled, he turns the tables on her, tripping her up by mentioning that if she is working for the Duke she is working for the Duchess. But there is only one problem with that: the Duke is not married. Black Jack tripped her up and now she is truly in jeopardy.

The final, intense scene has Black Jack tying Claire’s hands behind her back with a rope that he conveniently keeps inside his desk – what kind of ‘gentleman’ does that? As she moves backward toward the nearest wall trying to stay away from him, Randall uses his knife to cut through the laces on her dress, rips it to shreds with his hands, exposing her breasts, and then drags her over to the table by her hair and pushes her to her stomach. As he lifts her skirts and spreads her legs, he finds her dagger tucked inside her shoe; but just as he is ready to not only rape her but also cut off one of her nipples with her own dagger, Jamie knocks open a window and says:

“I’ll thank you to take your hands off my wife!”

And in that moment, Randall reacts in surprise that his prey is right there in front of him while Jamie is intent on saving his wife and Claire is obviously relieved but still terrified of what will happen next.

With the first half of the debut season of Outlander now at a close, fans will have to hold out until April 4, 2015 for the remaining eight episodes to roll out on Starz.

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