Outlander Recap: “Je Suis Prest”

Last night’s episode of Outlander focused primarily on Jamie leading not only his grandsire’s men but also the men of Lallybroch – as well as his uncle Dougal and the until now unseen (for this season anyway) Angus and Rupert – toward the encampment of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (the Bonnie Prince Charlie).

But before they advanced toward Prince Charlie – let alone the dreaded Battle of Culloden – they desperately needed training; training that Jamie [not Dougal] could provide thanks to what Claire had shared with him.

While most of the episode seemed to consist of battle training montages and a power struggle between Jamie and his Uncle Dougal, viewers also got to see a new side of Claire where she experienced what I like to call reverse PTSD.

Throughout the duration of the training of the Scottish men – most of whom have never seen battle – Claire suffered from flashbacks to her time in World War II. We got to see her meeting two young members of the American Airborne, who were separated from their unit as well as the aftermath of Claire and those men being shot at by the Germans with Claire barely making it out with her life (when the other men perished).

It quickly became clear that Jamie has stepped up as a leader, jockeying with his Uncle Dougal for control of the men; and, remarkably, Dougal letting Jamie take control. I have to wonder, though, how long that will last.

One of the best scenes was Dougal going to Claire, hoping to use his marriage proposal against her, only to be surprised by Claire standing up to him, putting him in his place. Giving him a lesson about narcissism and what he can do with himself was priceless. But, it was also impressive of Dougal to state that he would give everything he had – including his life – to get a Stuart back on the throne. He is completely dedicated, I’ll give him that.

Elsewhere, Jamie could see that Claire was dealing with a problem; and thankfully she finally came clean with him about that dreadful night during the war that she had thought she had closed the door on. The couple have a lot more in common than most as they have both scene the horrors of war firsthand.

There was also little time for romance in this episode. However, we had small glimpses of it during Jamie and Claire’s private moments in their quarters. It was especially touching near the end of the episode when Jamie came back to Claire – after taking out the nearby British camp’s canons – when he used something she taught him about – “a commando raid” – but even that was cut short because they needed to leave before morning when the British would realize what had happened.

The show also introduced a new character – William Grey – who snuck into the camp and attempted to take Jamie’s life because he recognized him as the notorious “Red Jamie” the traitor to the crown. Thankfully, Jamie stopped him – and with the help of Claire pretending to be a prisoner – they got the young boy to reveal where the British were camped nearby.

As the episode came to an end, Jamie – with Claire by his side – led all of the men to Prince Charles’s encampment as the Jacobite Rebellion draws ever closer.

The next new episode of Outlander will air on Starz on Saturday, June 11 at 9/8c.