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Outlander Recap for Season 7, Episode 7 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers”

By Rueben | August 7, 2023

Last week’s penultimate episode of Outlander found Jamie and William both gearing up for the First Battle of Saratoga while Roger and Brianna were not only dealing with the very unexpected arrival of Buck Mackenzie but also dealing with Rob Cameron in more ways than one.

First let’s review how William Buccleigh “Buck” Mackenzie came to be at Lallybroch. It would seem he, his wife and their child were near Inverness – Craig Na Dun to be exact – when he started to hear what sounded like a hive of bees and the next thing he knew he was in the future where he saw Roger. But rather than just knock on the door to ask for help because “only a fool would knock on your door without expecting your wrath” – after all, Buck was the one who orchestrated Roger nearly getting hung by the neck by the British.

During the “telling” of how he came to be in their time, Buck learned that he is the five or six time grandda of Roger; after all he is the bastard child of Geillis Duncan and Dougal Mackenzie, which means he can travel (as viewers will remember Geillis was able to travel back in time from 1968). It was around this time that Roger checked his family tree to learn about Buck’s timeline. His recorded year of death was 1778, which is when he came through the stones. That meant he either never made it back to his family in 1778 or if he did, he died in that year; not great options either way, honestly.

Then in the middle of their talk with Buck, Rob Cameron, Brianna’s co-worker who pulled that horrible prank on her, showed up for dinner. Nothing like just inviting yourself, dude, even if Roger had told him they could get together…at some point There was clearly a bigger reason he was there, and it seemed that Rob wanted to read Roger’s father’s journals and hymnals, but as the story played out he had a much more nefarious agenda.

Roger – who in hindsight should have known better – left Rob alone in his study, which is where the trunk with the letters from Jamie and Claire were left sitting on Roger’s desk. It became clear – after inviting young Jemmy to spend the night with his nephew – that that Dam bastard (see what I did there?!) read all of Jamie and Claire’s letters and took Jemmy. That night out at the movies and the sleepover that Rob invited Jemmy to have with his nephew were lies, and if it hadn’t been for Mandy having a really bad dream about her brother (the siblings have a connection), they might not have learned the truth until much later than they did.

Although it should be noted that Buck, who spent the day with Brianna at the Dam the day of the sleepover, had an uneasy feeling about Rob because Rob was being a bit too familiar with her at work. If only Roger and Brianna had both listened to Buck’s old-fashioned ideals of how an unmarried man should present himself to a married woman.

It was also good that Buck was right there with Roger as they approached Craig Na Dun in the scene at the end of the episode where they tried to track down Rob and young Jemmy only to find the scarf the boy wore to school with that pin from “The Tufty Club” on it. It was lying on the ground near one of the stones.

During their part of the story, Roger and Brianna had a love scene that while being very hot – they are still a fairly young married couple, it was surprising to hear the Phil Collins single “In the Air Tonight” playing, as that song was released in January of 1981. So are we to believe that it’s now 1981 for Roger and Brianna

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As for those in 1777, Jamie, Claire, Young Ian and the Continental Army as well as William and the entire British Army, they were all near Saratoga (in New York), getting ready for the impending battle that was expected to happen in three days’ time.

William and his friend Sandy, who actually helped Claire in the previous episode, were in a tent with all of the commanding officers talking about “getting this rebellion under control” (if they only knew, right?) while Jamie and the rest of Daniel Morgan’s men were preparing on their side.

There were two special moments shared between Jamie and Claire prior to the battle when he teased her about needing spectacles to read and his asking for a kiss from her before he left for battle.

William was able to convince General Fraser to allow him to stay behind to fight in the battle rather than be one of the Captain’s errand boy, but in the long run perhaps he should have chosen to accompany the man, as his friend Sandy was shot in the head – the first man down on the British side as the battle got underway.

William had been very keen on getting into the fight, and now that he had his first taste of what real battle entails – not the glorified vision of what he thought it would be – that experience had clearly changed him. It also doesn’t help that the British Army’s idea of fighting a battle is standing side-by-side in a long line without flinching and only firing when they are given an order. No wonder so many perished in this First Battle of Saratoga, but what was even more troubling and upsetting was as the final scene in 1777 scanned over one body after another after another on the ground, there was Jamie lying face down in the dirt. Is he dead? Is he seriously injured? What happened? One thing is clear, the words that Claire said to him a few days before the battle will ring clear: “You’ll come back to me, you always do. And if you don’t, I’ll come looking for you.” We know from experience that Claire has always been a woman on her word.