Outlander Recap: “Down the Rabbit Hole”

Last night’s episode of Outlander was a big one, focusing this time on Brianna and Roger with not one glimpse of Claire or Jamie. That means my recap is going to be a little different than normal.

BRIANNA’S JOURNEY DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

The opening clip showed Brianna in her kitchen in Boston making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, dressed in the period clothing she wore as she touched the tallest standing stone at Craigh Na Dun. As the episode began, viewers got to see a wintery Scotland with Brianna looking around, surveying the territory as well as a map of Scotland that she brought with her. She was on foot hoping to find her way through Scotland. Eventually she found a walking path, but it was then that she fell, hurting her ankle. Undeterred [much like her own mother] she kept going, temporarily relieving the pain in her ankle in a cold stream and then later preparing to rest by a small fire that she began thanks to a box of matches she brought with her and eating the aforementioned PB&J sandwich. The next morning, with her ankle in worse condition, she struggled to keep moving, eventually seeing a small house in the distance. Unfortunately, her body could not go any further and she collapsed.

The scene then advanced to Brianna in the future as a young girl, sleeping in the back seat of her parents’ car, being picked up by her father Frank [Tobias is back in this episode!], who was going to carry her into the house. It is then that Brianna awoke to the voice of a woman – a voice that should be very familiar to long-time viewers of the show. It was none other than Laoghaire [holy crap!] who, along with her daughter Joanie, found Brianna lying in the muck, cold to the bone. They brought Brianna into their home to help her and for brief moments we glimpsed a much different Laoghaire; someone who was kind and caring [quite a departure from what we are accustomed to seeing, of course]. They only exchanged first names so, of course, neither woman knew who the other was, but Brianna did share she was traveling from England and needed to get to the harbor so she could travel to the Americas to find her parents. Brianna ate heartily of the food provided to her by Laoghaire while Joanie and her mother talked of Marsali being in the Americas too.

That night Ian Murray arrived to pay another visit to Laoghaire, bringing money from Jamie to her. This is when viewers got to see the spiteful, all too familiar side of Laoghaire. Brianna was awoken to Ian and Laoghaire arguing, which made her remember a time when she was younger and was trying to sleep in her room only to hear Frank and Claire arguing after Claire’s graduation from medical school. It was then that Brianna decided to go downstairs to see what was happening with Laoghaire and she was introduced to Ian for the first time. After Brianna returned to her room, Ian offered his own money to Laoghaire, but she wouldn’t take a penny from him, she wanted “his” money; after all she “still has her pride.” [Good grief!]

The next morning, Brianna came out to the garden where Joanie and her mother were tending to the vegetables (and such). Briana learned more about Laoghaire’s argument with Ian and Brianna and Joanie shared information about the fathers who raised them. It was here that another memory of Brianna’s was shown where she was berating her father at his office as he was spending yet another night there. During this conversation, she found a letter and a copy of an old obituary on his desk, but Frank wouldn’t (or couldn’t) come clean about the truth behind either item. Before she stormed out of his office, after not getting answers from Frank, he said to her, “someday I promise you’ll understand.” But her remark was, “maybe someday I won’t care.”

That night as Brianna prepared for bed, Laoghaire came to check on her, eventually sharing a treasured memory of her time being married to Jamie [although Brianna still didn’t know at this point that it was Jamie]. Jamie and Laoghaire would tell bible stories to a younger Joanie and Marsali; something that is too painful to do anymore, but Brianna urged Laoghaire to tell her one. They were eventually joined by Joanie and I have to admit it was a tender moment to watch the two girls sitting together while Laoghaire told the story. However, it was during this scene that Laoghaire told Brianna there was a time that her last husband would’ve done anything for her. She said that he took a beating for her, stole kisses from her and loved her once until his heart was hardened against her by another woman.

But of course, the nice visit with Laoghaire had to come to an end. With Brianna fixing a broken cupboard while Laoghaire prepared a meal, Laoghaire mentioned Lallybroch [which, of course, Brianna knew from stories from Claire]. Brianna told Laoghaire that her mother’s family lived there; and she told Laoghaire who her mother was. You could see the frightening change in Laoghaire immediately after she heard the name Claire Fraser. It is then that Laoghaire asked about the father who raised Brianna – naturally Laoghaire had been listening to her and Joanie talking in the garden the day before.

It was then that Brianna had another memory of her life with Frank. It was the morning after their argument at his office where she brought him scones and tea; it was then that Frank had laid the groundwork of hoping that Brianna would leave Boston to go to England with him to study abroad. We were then taken back to Laoghaire, who attempted to convince Brianna that her according to gossip at Lallybroch that her birth father sent her mother away when he learned she was pregnant. She claimed that Brianna’s father “had no room in his heart for a bairn.” Brianna, obviously, looked a little taken aback by that, but she shared with Laoghaire that she had to find her parents, she needed to save them from a fire; she had to prevent their deaths. It was that comment that sparked Laoghaire into revealing all the truth. That Claire was the witch who stole Brianna’s father from her. It was clear to Brianna that she was no longer welcome in Laoghaire’s home, she moved quickly to her room to pack her things, but Laoghaire stormed into the room, telling Brianna that Claire should’ve burned at Cranesmuir – it was then that Brianna finally realized who Laoghaire was and when she told Laoghaire that Jamie never loved her, Laoghaire threatened to have Brianna arrested as a witch and locked her inside the room.

As Brianna struggled to find another way out of the room, she had another memory of Frank on the fateful night where he died. He found her walking with some friends with school and he needed to talk to her. He told her about wanting her go to England to study, to leave with him for his new job as he and Claire were getting divorced. Naturally, Brianna thought they were too old to get a divorce and that what he was telling her came as a complete surprise to her. She refused to give him an answer about going to England nor would she say she loved him when he said “I love you” to her. The next scene was Brianna talking to Frank at his gravesite sharing that she was sorry that she didn’t go with him that night, that maybe it could have prevented his car accident. But that she would soldier on and she said, “You’re my hero daddy.”

It was then that we went back to Brianna who was still attempting to get out of that room when she heard someone with keys unlocking the door. Brianna was ready to hit the person with a pitcher, thinking it was Laoghaire, but it was Joanie, who was going to help her get out. Skip to Joanie and Brianna riding up to Lallybroch. Joanie told Ian that Brianna was Jamie Fraser’s daughter, and he welcomed her with open arms. He shared with Brianna that she has her mother’s eyes, and that while he would’ve liked nothing better than for Brianna to stay until his wife Jenny returned from helping birth another grandchild, he knew she needed to get on a ship as soon as possible. He shared with her that she’s family, gave her money for her journey and a trunk filled with Claire’s clothing. He also told Brianna to find Aunt Jocasta at River Run, as she would be able to help Brianna find her parents.

The next day, Ian took Brianna to the harbor, telling her that “you have Jamie’s fire and I don’t’a just mean his hair. You’re a Fraser through and through.” He also asked her to tell young Ian to write his mother more often and Brianna called him Uncle Ian for the first time. Brianna then walked into the local tavern to book passage on the Phillip Alonso, which was set to sail for the Americas. Just as she walked in the door, a concerned father asked Brianna if she would consider taking on his daughter as her servant. Brianna was hesitant at first, but when she learned that the young girl named Elizabeth would be sold off as a concubine, she relented and booked passage for her and the girl. As they walked out onto the harbor to board the ship, Elizabeth’s father called out, “be sure to say your prayers” and it was then that Brianna saw an image of Frank standing among the people at the harbor with a happy look on his face and that gave her encouragement to continue on her journey.

ROGER’S JOURNEY DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

For Roger, his journey began at Craigh Na Dun with Fiona. He was prepared to follow Brianna through the standing stones; in fact, he shaved off his beard and had his supplies, “money, map, compass, knife and a gemstone.” He could hear the buzzing as they made their way closer to the tallest stone – but Fiona heard nothing. He embraced Fiona goodbye and walked toward the stone.

The next time we saw Roger, he was standing at the harbor, looking wistfully out to sea. He entered a tavern, asked for the captain of the Glorianna and walked over to the table where the captain and several other men were seated. He asked for passage from the captain, but the voice that greeted him could have sent shivers down the spine of viewers. That voice belonged to none other than Stephen Bonnet – the psychopath who caused so much trouble for Jamie and Claire in the season premiere. [This is NOT going to be good for Roger!] Bonnet informed him he was taking on no more passengers, but Roger wouldn’t take no for an answer. He soon enough convinced Bonnet to take him on as part of the crew. But the deciding factor was “luck” with Bonnet calling heads or tails as to whether Roger could join them. Luckily (or not) for Roger, he had the winning side of the coin.

Later in the episode, we saw Roger conducting his duties on the ship and meeting a mother and her young daughter where they talked about possible sea monsters in the ocean. Roger assured the young girl that there weren’t any sea monsters, but maybe sharks. It was a short time later that Roger met another woman with a young, crying infant. It was this scene that gave me some chills, as Bonnet showed up, taking the babe from the woman. Given what we know about the ruthless man, it was unclear what he was going to do, but he merely rubbed what was assumed to be some alcohol on the baby’s lips, quieting the babe’s crying immediately, and gave the baby back to his mother.

Later that night, Roger and the crew were awoken by the scream of a young girl. It turned out that the same young girl who Roger had talked to about the sea monsters had taken ill with the pox and Bonnet wanted her – and anyone else with a rash – off his ship. He demanded that Roger take care of the girl; in other words, he wanted the girl thrown overboard. Roger wouldn’t do it so Bonnet grabbed the girl from her mother’s arms, placed her at the open window and threw her into the sea. It was seconds later that the grieving mother jumped onto the window ledge and leapt to her death too.

Naturally, this urged Roger to find the other mother and the young baby, as he believed that Bonnet might aim for them next. He learned that the woman was a McKenzie too, and arranged to hide them from Bonnet and the rest of the crew. That seemed to work for only a short time as a galley hand saw the woman and baby, and when Roger paid a visit to the woman with some rations, Bonnet was right there. It was then that Bonnet explained where his choice of “heads or tails” came from. In his youth he worked on a crew building a house, but the men in that crew didn’t like him. The crew needed a sacrifice to safeguard the home, and Bonnet and another man were the crews’ choices. The decision of who to sacrifice came down to a coin toss; much the same as Roger’s fate – not that of the woman and her baby – came down to heads or tails. Luck was, once again, on Roger’s side as he was saved from a watery grave once again.

What was interesting about this episode was watching the parallels between Frank and Laoghaire, dealing with the spouses who didn’t love them as much as they loved their spouses. It was interesting to see just how deluded Laoghaire was about how much she believed that Jamie loved her and how much Frank and Claire had grown apart over the years of their marriage.

What did you think of this episode? Did you like seeing an entire episode dedicated to Roger and Brianna? Were you shocked to see Laoghaire again? How great was it to see Ian again even if only for a short amount of time? How happy were you to see that perhaps Joanie will not grow up to be like her mother, by saving Brianna? Please share your thoughts below.

The next new episode of Outlander will air on Starz on Sunday, December 23 at 8/7c

[Photo Credit: Starz]

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