OUTLANDER Recap: “The Reckoning” (Season 1, Episode 9)

As every Outlander fans knows, Claire was left in a very dangerous circumstance at the end of the show’s mid-season finale back in September and with the much-anticipated return of the show last night, her fate was finally revealed.

This time, however, the episode was taken from the point of view of her new husband Jamie:

“Strange the things you remember, the people, the places. The moments in time burned into your heart forever while others fade in the mist. I’ve always known I’ve lived a life different from other man. When I was a lad, I saw no path before me. I simply took a step and then another, ever forward, ever onward. Rushing toward some place I knew not where; and one day I turned around and looked back and saw that each step I’d taken was a choice. To go left, to go right, to go forward or even not go a ’tall. Every day every man has a choice between right and wrong, between love and hate; sometimes between life and death. And, the sum of those choices becomes your life. The day I realized that is the day I became a man”.

While Claire was being taken by the redcoats then interrogated and accosted by Black Jack Randall, Jamie and the rest of the clan MacKenzie were meeting with the redcoat deserter Harrocks, learning that the man for whom Jamie was accused of murdering was supposedly done in by Black Jack himself. That revelation will not help Jamie clear his name at all.

Worse yet, learning from young Willie that Claire wandered off, ending up in the hands of the redcoats and eventually Black Jack at the dreaded Fort William – the location where Jamie was brutally flogged four years earlier – only adds to the misery that is Jamie’s day.

As the episode leads up to the cliffhanger ending, we see the story from Jamie’s viewpoint, sneaking into Fort William, taking down a guard or two, learning where Claire is being held and then risking life and limb to get to that tower window to safe her. And safe her he did, but not without a cost. Black Jack now knows that Claire is not only married to the “striped-back thief” but also that Jamie is very close at hand. Jamie may have gotten the upper-hand against Black Jack in saving Claire’s life, but this will not be the last showdown between these two men.

Speaking of showdowns, Claire and Jaime have their own heated argument once she is safely back with them. He expects an apology from her because she disobeyed his orders and being the tough-minded woman she is, she won’t relent. A string of horrible words are exchanged between the newlyweds, but once they calm down, the simple word “Forgiven” spoken by both of them nullifies the issue (for now).

That nullification is short-lived once they rejoin the rest of the clan MacKenzie. The men all give Claire the cold shoulder (and rightly so at least in their minds) and Jamie is forced to take matters into this own hands: literally. As true to the book as possible, Jamie spanks Claire (a typical punishment for 1743) for her insolence but she also gets in a few marks of her own: scratches to his neck and face and a bit of a black eye from a solid kick to his face.

Jamie quickly learns from that needful lesson that he has to change from the traditions, customs and rituals of their time in order to maintain any kind of relationship with his wife. In fact, after brokering an uneasy peace between his uncles Colum and Dougal – over the money that the War Chieftain has been collecting for the supposed Jacobite rebellion – Jamie also has to broker peace with his wife. That is a bit easier said than done, but in the end after making an oath to Claire (the same oath he was expected to make to Colum) the love that has formed between the couple wins out albeit with a little help from Jamie’s “Holy Iron”.

As they make passionate love, Claire uses his “Holy Iron” against him:

(holding the dagger at Jamie’s neck, her hand around his throat as she writhes above him)
Claire: “Listen to me. If you ever raise a hand to me again, James Frazer, I will cut your heart out and have it for breakfast. Do you understand me? Do you?!”

(Gasping for breath as they have sex and he struggles to breath because of her hand and dagger at his throat)
Jamie: “You have my word.”

But their peace agreement comes to an abrupt and disturbing end when Claire finds something hidden under their bed, which is revealed by Jamie to be an “ill wish”. Wanting to know what that means, Claire learns that: “It’s meant to bring pain or harm, or even death.” Of course, she wants to know who would do such a thing and there is only one answer: Laoghaire

What did you think of the mid-season premiere of Outlander? Please share your thoughts below and make sure to watch the next episode of Outlander, which will air on Starz on Saturday, April 11 at 9/8c.