OUTLANDER Recap: “Wilmington”

Outlander aired its 50th episode last night on Starz, finding all of our familiar faces converging in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1769. While the main characters may have all been in the same place, they didn’t all realize that was the case. Let’s take a deep dive into what transpired in this important albeit heart-wrenching episode.

The opening scene found Roger writing down notes while standing in the dirt streets of Wilmington where it seemed he had been for at least awhile, attempting to track down Brianna using the sketch of her from the Scottish Festival they attended together. As he went from person to person, showing them the rendering of Brianna, it was clear that no one had seen his lass and he was becoming very forlorn and worried that he might not ever find her.

Ironically (or not), he found himself outside the Wilmington Gazette – the very newspaper that heralded the untimely death of Jamie and Claire which was the reason for both Brianna and Roget to take their fateful trips back through the stones to 1769 Colonial America. It was at the Gazette that Roger had an encounter with none other than Fergus – Jamie and Claire’s adopted son [unbeknownst to Roger, of course, as to who Fergus was], but that set up the next scene.

Fergus arrived home to greet his wife Marsali, who clearly was no longer pregnant. She obviously gave birth to their first child, and sure enough in the adjoining room there was Claire and Jamie tending to the babe and greeting their adopted son with open arms. Jamie and Claire were back in Wilmington because Jamie had been “summoned” by Governor Tryon to attend a play and to meet Tryon’s “right-hand man.” It was also during this scene that Claire and Marsali shared another poignant moment where Marsali talked about what it felt like to be a mother, wanting to protect her child at all costs. Of course, Claire knew exactly what that was like being a mother herself, but since she and Jamie have kept the truth about Brianna a secret, Claire could only “pretend” what that must feel like when speaking with Marsali.

Meanwhile at the local tavern, Roger was seemingly drowning his sorrows in a glass of ale – which he inadvertently spilled onto the sketching of him and Brianna, basically ruining the image of Brianna’s face. As he headed out of the tavern, however, he heard a VERY familiar voice. It was Brianna standing at the edge of the bar inquiring of the barkeep how to book passage to Cross Creek. As she turned around, Roger called out her name and they rushed to each other to embrace.

Naturally, it only took a moment for Brianna to fully realize that while she was happy to see Roger, he was actually right there before her, meaning he followed her through the stones even though she had never intended for him to even know – until a year later – that she had gone back in time. With others in the tavern staring at them, Roger pulled her outside so they could speak more privately. They did not know, though, that Brianna’s new “servant” Elizabeth was watching from the tavern window. From her vantage point, of course, it looked like Roger was yelling at her, seemingly meaning her some kind of harm; but while Roger was upset with her, he was also extremely relieved to have finally found her.

Grabbing her hand, pulling her along to a deserted “alley,” they enfold each other in a tight embrace and began kissing. Roger opened a nearby door that led into a small storage shed where they continued to kiss passionately, starting to pull on each other clothing; but Brianna pulled back, reminding Roger they were NOT engaged and that had been their problem at the Scottish Festival. He wouldn’t make love to her without being engaged so she surprised him by agreeing to marry him. The joy on his face was quite priceless, and while he didn’t have a ring to give her, Brianna still had the bracelet he gave her at the Festival [she used the gemstone on the bracelet to travel through the stones, in point of fact]. He then shared with Brianna that they could hand-fast, the old Scottish tradition where two people could marry for a year and a day – a temporary marriage, if you will – and she quickly answered him, “Let’s do it!”

The story then shifted to Jamie and Claire arriving at the theatre with Governor Tryon where they were introduced to his right-hand man, Edmund Fanning, whose titles are many [and who according to what Murtagh previously told Jamie and Claire had “both hands dipped into the treasury.”] It became immediately clear to Claire, as introductions were made, that Mr. Fanning was in medical distress, holding his side and walking very slowly. He explained that he had recently injured himself during the handling of a mob of insurgents in Hillsboro; but was assured by his physician that “it will go away in time.” Being the doctor she is, Claire warned him that if it was what she thought it was, he just might need to see a surgeon. Of course, given the time period, the men disregarded her comments even though Jamie interjected that she was a healer.

It then came time for Jamie to be introduced to other men by Governor Tryon and Claire was, once again, relegated to “the society of the wives” with Tryon’s wife by her side. One of the couples for whom Mrs. Tryon pointed out to Claire was none other than George and Martha Washington. Eventually all three couples and other theatre attendees were seen in conversation with Governor Tryon pointing out that Jamie now lived on the land that Washington had surveyed on Tryon’s behalf the prior year; and it was shared that Jamie was – like Washington – a former solider. Jamie mentioned that he served during the Battle of Culloden, but Washington was unfamiliar with that battle. Washington then mentioned that he grew up Virginia, and Claire let the comment of “chopping down cherry trees” slip out; and had to cover up her faux pas by saying it was merely a “figure of speech.”

It was then announced that the play would begin shortly and all the attendees started to enter the seating area. This brief interlude allowed Claire to share with Jamie the importance of George Washington to the Americas and that if Brianna were there [if she only knew, right?!] she’d have hundreds of questions to ask the legendary man.

The episode then bounced between Roger and Brianna hand-fasting to each other and consummating their “marriage” and Jamie and Claire at the theatre. While the juxtaposition of the scenes was a little jarring [as I think viewers would have preferred much more time spent on Roger and Brianna] there was importance in both storylines.

Of course, for Roger and Brianna it was the culmination of several years of desire and passion, as they were finally able to be intimate; to their great pleasure. In fact, it was rather touching that Roger said to Brianna [much like what Jamie had said to Claire when they were reunited at the brothel] that to him she “was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” Their lovemaking was tender and powerful with Roger grapping Brianna’s hand, placing it on his chest and saying, “feel my heart, tell me if it stops.” He then proceeded to pleasure her, saying “I’ve been wondering for a while what color your hair is down here,” but before she could answer, he held a finger to her mouth, saying “I’m gonna find out for myself.”

After their coupling, Brianna asked Roger if she “did it right” to which he answered “Christ, yes.” Of course since he was enraptured with all that happened, he hadn’t said much to her so Brianna was naturally worried. He then told her “behaving like you had your spinal column removed is a fair indication of male satisfaction.” Roger briefly mentioned that he had thought about what their wedding night would be like, and it was not what they had just shared, but Brianna told him “I’ve never been so happy,” and then she proceeded to pleasure him down there in return, putting a finger to his mouth to quiet him.

Back at the theatre, it was difficult for Jamie to remain still as he learned from Governor Tryon that the regulators were soon going to be arrested. It turned out that Tryon had a spy in the regulators camp, he knew that Murtagh was their leader and that the regulators were going to attack one of the redcoat’s wagons in order to get the money taken from them for taxes. It was imperative that Jamie warn his beloved godfather WITHOUT Tryon knowing what he was doing. In order to affect a ruse, Jamie “inadvertently” jabbed his arm into Edmund Fanning’s body, causing his injury to become much more severe. This caused a great disturbance, allowed him to tell Claire what he learned about Murtagh’s possible impending arrest and that he needed to sneak out of the theatre to warn him.

Claire, of course, sprang into action to help her husband as well as the injured Fanning, who required surgery. In the melee that followed this commotion, Jamie was able to slip out of the theatre, Claire was able to conduct surgery on Fanning – surprising all those viewing the incident, including the male doctors who had been called in to help Fanning – and keep Tryon so busy that he didn’t notice Jamie’s absence. And while it appeared that Jamie was riding off to warn Murtagh [after getting a ride to their residence from the departing Washington’s], it actually turned out that he sent Fergus in his place to provide the warning to Murtagh so that he could get back to the theatre before his absence was detected.

The final scenes were also a juxtaposition with Roger and Brianna – in the afterglow of their lovemaking – getting into a heated fight over a slip-up by Roger. In talking about trying to figure out a way to get a gemstone so they could return to their own time – once they warned Jamie and Claire of the impending fire, of course – Brianna stated how upset she was with the printer over the smudged date on the article that alerted her to the disaster that was to come. Roger agreed, the only problem was Brianna had just told him about the smudge – but, of course, he had known about it before her – even sharing a discussion with Fiona about it – which didn’t sit well with Brianna when the truth came out. Of course, their argument turned into their deciding they might have made a mistake with the hand-fasting and the ending result was Brianna telling Roger “no one’s stopping you” when he said that he should just leave her and go back.

What followed was heartbreaking, Brianna was crying, dejectedly walking back to the tavern from their little love shack only to be grabbed by the arm by none other than pure evil itself – Stephen Bonnet – who was losing at a round of cards with other questionable men. He held up the silver ring he stole from Claire, asking Brianna to blow luck on it for him. Of course, Brianna recognized the ring, and told the man in question that it belonged to her mother, wanting to know what happened to her. His answer wasn’t grim – since he had left Claire unharmed – but Brianna wanted the ring back, asking him how much he wanted for it, as he entered the back room of the tavern. Being a sadistic prig, Bonnet thought Brianna was offering herself in exchange for the ring, and before Brianna could get out of the room, he grabbed her, dragged her into the room, slammed the doors and proceeded to – behind closed doors – brutally assault and rape her while the men in the outer room just sat there, let that happen to Brianna and not do anything to help her. When Bonnet was finished, he calmly opened the door, made reference that he thought she was a virgin – and clearly she wasn’t – and offered up the ring to her in payment.

In what should have been the best day of her life, and briefly was that for a short time while in Roger’s arms, she had experienced one of the worst moments of her life, gently walking out of that back room in shock, picking up her tossed boots – that Bonnet had pulled off her and thrown out of the back room – and gingerly walked up the stair of the tavern.

What are your thoughts on this episode? Were you happy that Roger and Brianna were reunited, hand-fasted to each other and finally consummated their relationship? What about what almost happened to Murtagh? Were you glad to see his reunion with Fergus? What do you think Tryon will do to George Washington, who he ended up believing might be behind warning the regulators? How did you feel about the depiction of Brianna’s rape (especially if you’ve read the book and know how it was depicted in “Drums of Autumn”)? Please share your thoughts on the episode below.

The next new episode of Outlander will air on Starz on Sunday, December 30 at 8/7c.

[Photo Credit: Starz]

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