Outlander Recap: “To Ransom a Man’s Soul”

I thought last week’s penultimate episode of Outlander was THE most difficult episode of the show’s first season to watch. Boy I could not have been more wrong! Last night’s episode was not only hard to watch because of the graphic nature of the storyline between Jamie Fraser and Jonathan Randall but also because it was, of course, the season finale of perhaps the most groundbreaking series of our current time.

Any adaptation of the 1991 novel “Outlander” by author Diana Gabaldon was going to be difficult simply because of the dense nature of the book. And getting the ending “just right” was quite an undertaking. There were some scenes from the book that could not be included in the finale, but still plenty of story from those closing chapters that were played out in excruciating detail.

From the opening scene of Jamie lying prone on that makeshift bed in the prison cell, bloodied and battered nearly beyond recognition (to a great degree), only to see Randall lying next to him, sated from getting his fill of the man he had flogged, tortured and raped, was unsettling to say the least. But upon hearing unusual sounds in the bowels of the prison, Randall proceeded to investigate, being taken unawares by all those head of cattle racing through the halls of the prison. He was (deservedly so) taken down by those racing hooves while Murtagh, Angus and Rupert raced through the prison to retrieve Jamie.

Impatiently waiting nearby, Claire looked to the horizon for that racing wagon carrying her beloved husband and the men who were finally able to rescue him. But once he was out of Wentworth Prison and by her side, it was clear that this Jamie was not the man she was forced to leave behind the night before. He had obviously been put through hell.

At this point, we all know what happened to poor Jamie and it doesn’t need to be played out again in this review; but suffice it to say, Randall broke Jamie and the latter wanted nothing more than to die [the ‘proper’ death that Randall had promised him if he succumbed to his desires].

After taking refuge within the walls of a monastery (in Scotland not in France like in the book), Claire tended to Jamie’s damaged hand but the man refused to eat, making his recovery all that more difficult. Not even a good “talking to” by his pseudo father figure Murtagh seemed to make a difference. It wasn’t until Claire stepped “into the darkness with him”, telling him that she would die right along with him that he began to heal. Or more to the point, once the branding of Randall’s initial were burned off his body that was when things began to change for Jamie.

In the end it was clear that the couple needed to flee Scotland, as it would only be a matter of time until the Redcoats would find them at the monastery. Jamie, Claire and Murtagh boarded a ship set for France, bidding goodbye to Rupert, Angus and Willie. This farewell was the only light-hearted moment in an otherwise tense and extremely moving episode; but a thankful one at that. The closing moments found Claire leaning over the side of the ship; she was sick again. As seen previously she had thrown up after receiving Jamie’s personal effects at the prison and then again after repairing Jamie’s hand. She also fainted right before Murtagh’s eyes as they talked about Jamie’s condition. It was clear to her what was “wrong” and when she announced to her husband that she was pregnant, at first he seemed unmoved by the news; but when prodded by Claire, he admitted that for the first time since all that happened to him, he was happy.

What did you think of the season finale of Outlander? Please share your thoughts in our comments section below. Outlander will be back for a second season on Starz sometime in 2016.