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Outlander Recap: “The Ballad of Roger Mac”

By Rueben | March 31, 2020

Sunday night’s new episode of Outlander – the episode that lead actor Sam Heughan has shared was his favorite from this season – focused on Jamie’s militia preparing for war alongside Governor Tryon and his Redcoat army (and all the weaponry that accompanies them) against Murtagh and his Regulators.

The events of the episode took place in Hillsborough, North Carolina in 1771 with Roger bidding his wife goodbye after singing “My Darling Clementine” to their son Jemmy. Brianna was staying with friends of her Aunt Jocasta while Roger rode off to join Jamie and Claire (and Tryon’s army) at Alamance Creek.

Ironic (or not), the day of the battle was also Jamie’s 50th birthday [Jamie’s birthday is May 1 and the actual Battle of Alamance was on May 16 – but let’s not focus on that slight TV alteration], as we got to see yet another wonderful intimate moment between Jamie and Claire. They woke up in bed together with Jamie talking about his living for half a century, that he was older than his father (his dad died at 49); and they jokingly spoke about his body not falling apart either. In fact, Jamie said to his wife “the world and each day in it is a gift” before they made love while she sang “Happy Birthday” to him.

Not that much later Jamie was cleaning himself in the nearby creek bed – looking mighty fine, I might add!! – and he muttered words in Gaelic that Claire thought was a prayer to God, but was actually Jamie’s way of calling the spirit of MacKenzie War Chief Dougal MacKeznie to him in preparation for the upcoming battle.

Reality soon set in with Jamie having to round up his militia to stand before Governor Tryon and Captain Chadwick (played by U.K. actor Miles Richardson, who eagle eye viewers will recognize as Paisley Winterbottom from the holiday movie A Princess for Christmas, which starred Sam Heughan as Prince Ashton) as they talked about how many men they had – 1,068 to be exact, according to Governor Tryon – and all the munitions at their disposal.

It was clear that Jamie was very apprehensive and worried about what was to transpire that day. His worry wasn’t made any better by the unexpected reappearance of Isaiah Morton, the young man who rode out of Brownsville with Alicia Brown. The girl’s father and family were none too pleased to see him to say the least. But they had bigger issues than a family dispute to deal with.

Before the actual battle got underway, Reverend Caldwell arrived in camp, carrying a message from the Regulators; a message that Governor Tryon saw as nothing more than as a list of demands. Demands that he didn’t believe the Regulators deserved. His return message to Murtagh, as read out loud by the Regulator’s leader (with an accompanying voiceover by Tryon) made it clear that Tryon believed he was not in the wrong at all. Needless to say, the battle was not going to be halted.

Even when Brianna showed up in the Redcoat’s camp with a message for her parents and Roger about the battle of Alamance Creek – which she remembered from one of her history classes as the event that sparked the impending revolution – the battle couldn’t be stopped. Roger volunteered to go to Murtagh in the Regulator’s camp to tell him to give up before disaster befell them. Murtagh knew he would not be able to convince his men to give up. “This battle will happen,” Murtagh told Roger.

As Roger prepared to leave the Regulator’s camp, however, he recognized a face: Morag MacKenzie, the woman from Stephen Bonnet’s ship, who jumped overboard when Bonnet threw her daughter out one of the windows of the ship into the churning sea because he believed she was plagued with an ilness. Remarkably, Morag and her daughter survived that horror, and was in the camp of the Regulators because she and her husband had nowhere else to go.

Roger made the mistake of giving the woman an innocent hug goodbye, but her husband – Buck MacKenzie (a dead ringer for Dougal MacKenzie – because he is the love child of Dougal and Geillis Duncan – played by former cast member Graham McTavish) didn’t see it as a harmless gesture. Buck treated Morag roughly, causing Roger to strike out at Buck; and that led to another downfall for Roger. He was eventually smacked in the face by the butt of Buck’s rifle. Before and after the battle, the Fraser family kept looking for Roger, but he was nowhere to be seen until the final scene where the family learned that Governor Tryon ordered three men to be hung in a nearby tree. One of the bodies hanging from that tree was wearing the same clothing worn by Roger when he departed for the Regulator’s camp with the white handkerchief – to be used as a sign of truce or parley – dangling out of the pocket. His head was covered, but given Jamie, Claire and especially Brianna’s reactions, it was clear they believed it was Roger.

What’s wors, during the battle, Jamie was “forced” to wear a Redcoat officer’s jacket– watching Claire’s facial expression when she saw Jamie in that coat was ominous to say the least – but even harder to watch was Jamie’s reaction when one of the young militiamen shot and killed Murtagh. In clear denial, Jamie yelled for some of his men to help him, dragging Murtagh’s body to Claire in the encampment, demanding that she “heal him.” Watching her tell Jamie that there was nothing she could do for Murtagh was heartbreaking.

Jamie’s anger and grief were palpable. His reaction towards Tryon was a long time in coming. His barely contained fervor was harrowing, as he threw off that damn Redcoat jacket and told Tryon, in no uncertain terms, that he was finished with his debt to the man and his obligation to the crown. “Is the slaughter of men a reason to celebrate,” he seethed to Tryon.

What are your thoughts on the episode? Please share them below.

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