Outlander Recap: “The Watch”

Having a gun pointed at his face seems to be a fairly regular occurrence anymore for Jamie Fraser on the Starz drama Outlander. But to have his wife’s life threatened too is not something the brave, young Scot will stand for; and thanks to the quick wit of his stern sister Jenny, what could have been a disastrous moment with Taran MacQuarrie was quickly sidelined.

MacQuarrie is a member of The Watch, the rather feared group of enforcers – think of them as the Scottish form of the mob – who aid their fellow Scots with protection from other clans not to mention the Redcoats but at a price. The price for the Murrays is that they house The Watch when they are ‘visiting’ Lallybroch. But with the price on Jamie’s head, the family has to tread lightly where these men are concerned. Thankfully none of the men have ever met Jamie before and Jenny passes him off as a cousin who made a surprise visiting with a Sassenach wife in tow.

This ruse only works for so long because among the members of The Watch is none other than Redcoat deserter Horrocks, the man that Jamie and the other men of clan MacKenzie met with earlier; the man who claimed to have proof that Jamie was not the one who murdered the Redcoat for whom Jamie is accused of killing. The big question during the episode: “Will Horrocks tell The Watch about Jamie being a wanted man?”

As it turns out, Horrocks can actually keep his mouth shut, but only with a bit more gold in his pocket. Yep, he fleeces money out of Jamie for his silence; but when Jamie gives him what money he has at his disposal, it is not enough for the greedy prick. Horrocks wants more money in order to go to America and open up his own shop (like we believe he’s going to open a shop, right?). Just as the tension builds toward a possible showdown between Jamie and Horrocks, the deserter is stabbed from behind; and it is revealed that Jamie’s brother-in-law Ian took the man’s life.

Now the problem is hiding Horrocks’s death from MacQuarrie and the other men from The Watch; but despite keeping mum on the subject, MacQuarrie determines fairly quickly that Jamie killed him. Rather than point fingers, and to keep Ian safe, Jamie takes the blame; and ends up joining The Watch on their latest raid as a way to fill the void left by Horrocks. It would seem that MacQuarrie never liked the man either.

Elsewhere in the story, Jenny is very, very pregnant and the birth of her baby is imminent; so imminent, in fact that her water breaks while she and Claire are tending to the laundry. Her labor is long and painful. The baby is breech and despite her best efforts Claire is unable to get the baby to shift positions to allow for a slightly easier birth. Eventually, though, Jenny brings her new daughter into this world just before Jamie departs with The Watch.

The goodbye moment between Claire and Jamie was far too short, but still just as moving with the newlyweds sharing a passionate kiss and that deep look of longing between both of them with Claire telling Jamie to return to her.

But, yes you know there’s a but in this story, the plan that The Watch used for their raid is one devised by the recently departed Horrocks and it turns out to be a trap. Ian and one of the surviving members of The Watch make it back – albeit injured – to Lallybroch to report to Jenny and Claire that the other men are dead and that Jamie has been captured by the Redcoats. So starts the saga of attempting to rescue Jamie.

What did you think of the latest episode of Outlander? Please share your thoughts below.

The next episode of Outlander will air on Starz on Saturday, May 9 at 9/8c.