Outlander Recap: “Untimely Resurrection”

As last night’s episode of Outlander opened, we saw the aftermath of the brawl that broke out in Claire and Jamie’s French home. Their many servants are in “clean-up” mode, restoring their lavish home back to order while Claire impatiently waited for word on Jamie, who – along with all the other men involved in the brawl – were taken away by the local police to the Bastille (the local prison).

Thankfully her wait (as well as young Fergus who only fell asleep shortly beforehand) was short as Jamie arrived home to find his wife had stayed up all night for him. As it turned out, the French Ministry of Finance – Joseph Duverney – arrived to get Murtagh and Jamie out of there quickly; but alas, fate did not serve poor Alex Randall quite as well. He was being accused by Cyrus Hawkins of attacking his niece Mary (which could not have been further from the truth) and he was not going to be released; not without a fully accounting of the events from Mary herself.

I have to say even though they were few – the tender kisses shared between Jamie and Claire set a flutter to my heart; and I’m sure that a lot of other viewers felt that way too especially given the difficulties they have had in their relationship.

While they were talking about the incidents of the previous night, Jamie learned that Prince Charles left with the Comte St. Germain – not a good thing at all – and then Jamie revealed that he was probably the cause of Claire being called “La Dame Blanche”. He was repeatedly being pushed by the Prince to partake of a “trollop” at the brothel and he claimed that Claire was a witch. The gossip obviously got passed around and the men who attacked them were, more likely than not, customers of the brothel.

With that lead in mind, and after a conversation between Jamie and Murtagh at the winery where they talked about an aristocratic “gang” that prowled the streets looking for maidenheads (virgins to take), Murtagh is tasked to find them and determine if St. Germain is associated with them in anyway. It should also be noted that Murtagh believed he failed Jamie – in not being able to protect that “wee lassie” as well as Claire and the bairn – but Jamie wisely told him he did no such thing. I hate to be the person behind all of this because Murtagh (nor Jamie) are going to let you get away with it all.

Then we see Claire pay a secret visit to Mary Hawkins to give her an examination, making sure that she is healing from her brutal attack. It is during this visit that Mary not only told Claire that she and Alex are in love and wish to marry; but that she has written a full account of the attack that needed to be taken to the Bastille so Alex could be released. The news of the impending nuptials, of course, caused Claire to worry about Frank’s existence. If Mark and Black Jack do not marry then Frank’s ancestor would not be born. Could see allow that future to not happen as clearly as she wanted the Battle of Culloden to be stopped? She did help to get Alex out of the Bastille – thanks to Mary’s letter – but she warned him away from Mary because of his recently losing his job with the Duke as well as his ill health.

The rest of the episode was quite intense with the Prince telling Jamie that the Comte will be his new “money man” for the impending war with England and that Jamie will have to work with this new adversary in order to get the money needed for the Jacobite Rebellion. This new revelation set Jamie and Claire to figure out a way to ruin the sale of the wine, but that had to be halted – albeit temporarily – because Jamie had to meet with the Duke of Sandringham the following day in order to help the Duke purchase new horses.

It is at this French garden “round-up” where Black Jack Randall makes his ‘untimely resurrection’, shocking Claire in his appearance and setting Jamie on the path of retribution. After an awkward encounter between Jamie, Claire, King Louis (and of the King’s men) and Black Jack, Jamie challenged Randall to a duel. That duel, however, was stopped by Claire making a false accusation to the Bastille that Black Jack was one of the attackers against her and Mary.

This lie greatly upset Jamie and Murtagh, of course. Once Jamie learned the truth behind her subterfuge, that she was trying to save Frank’s life, he begrudgingly consented to her pleas that he wait a year to get his revenge on Black Jack. But, what price will Claire pay in their relationship by asking him to wait? It was also frightening to hear Jamie tell Claire that she had to pick between him and Frank and to see how deeply angry he was with her!

There was one brief other wonderful moment between Jamie and Claire – prior to the return of Black Jack – where he gave her the christening gift for their bairn – Apostle spoons, one for each of the Apostles, that had been passed down through his family for years. It was sent to them by his sister Jenny who was overjoyed with the news they were having a child. If only that moment could have lasted a little longer especially hearing Jamie call Claire “Mo Nighean Donne”.

The next new episode of Outlander will air on Starz on Saturday, May 14 at 9/8c.