Outlander: Double Recap Season 7 Episode 11 “A Hundredweight of Stones” and Season 7 Episode 12 “Carnal Knowledge”

I have been avoiding watching last week’s episode of Outlander entitled “A Hundredweight of Stones” for a full week because I knew most of what was going to play out in the episode because of reading the book, and I was extremely hesitant to have to see some of the scenes play out.

But since I was presuming how some of the scenes would actually play out, I knew I had to just sit down and watch, so I made it a double feature on Friday night, watching both last week’s episode and this week’s episode entitled “Carnal Knowledge.”

Rather than write a full recap of both episodes, however, I decided to just point out the key moments from each episode.

A Hundredweight of Stones Moments:

Claire looks like death warmed over while she and Lord John Grey get married
Lord John Grey and Claire get married – UGH!
It was touching to hear Young Ian speak in Gaelic in remembrance of his uncle
Roger and Buck are STILL looking for Jemmy and now Roger’s thought-to-be dead/MIA father
Rachel is clearly upset learning about Young Ian’s first wife Emily
It’s just so typical that William is concerned about his “Papa’s” marriage to Claire since she has been branded as a rebel
It was sweet to watch Rachel and Young Ian express their love for each other
Watching Claire’s struggle with grief was scary, worrying about what she would try to do to herself
Worse yet she got blind drunk, and so did Lord John
Then there were those partial glimpses of them fighting and yelling on the floor
Even worse, they woke up in bed together the next morning – UGH!
[Thank God, they didn’t play that whole sex scene out!!!]
The pillow talk between Claire and Lord John was rather enlightening because of John’s revelation about his Indian lover Manoke
Bree slams her hand in the kitchen drawer [side note: Sophie Skelton, who plays Bree actually broke her finger so they wrote that injury into the show]
Rob Cameron, the guy who took Jemmy, shows up inside Lallybroch to confront Bree about the gold [damn, he tricked them into thinking he and Jemmy went through the stones]
Way to go, Bree, for whacking Rob with that pot – YES!!
It’s admirable to watch Claire continue to deal with her grief and talk to Young Ian about losing two fathers so close together
Lord John’s nephew Henry is doing so much better thanks in great part to the tender care of Mercy Woodcock
How about that revelation that Henry wants to stay in Philadelphia to marry Mercy
I’m disappointed in Lord John’s reaction over that announcement despite how “well-meaning” he might be looking out for his nephew’s and Mercy’s futures
Really, this is the time for a dinner party, Lord John?
Roger and Buck have run-in with three men, one who has what appears to be a World War II military uniform jacket
Captain Richardson, the man who was going to arrest Claire as a rebel, shows up at the dinner party and then during a dance with Claire admits he’s a spy and asks for her to spy too
She refuses, of course, but I have to wonder is that a set-up or is Captain Richardson an actual spy
Then, the moment we’d been waiting for, Jamie barges into Lord John’s house, then into Claire’s bedroom – startling and shocking both Lord John and Claire
Jamie tells them both that he didn’t make it onto the Euterpe, the boat that went down in that horrible storm, the same boat that Jamie had told Claire in his last letter that he would be aboard, coming back to her in American from Scotland
Watching Claire come back to life in mere seconds, after seeing Jamie standing in that doorway, was incredible
But with only a few words from Lord John to Jamie – “your son” – William, who overheard them, reacted as expected – with outrage and anger
Then redcoats who were on the hunt for Jamie (for some reason) stormed Lord John’s home, making Jamie react by threatening Lord John’s life and then they run off
Watching Claire in that final scene, with the first real smile we’ve seen on her face for a while, it was like everything was back to normal even though there were so many new problems for all of them

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Carnal Knowledge Moments:

Lord John and Jamie are fast-walking through the dirt streets of Philadelphia, dodging one Redcoat soldier after another
Jamie explains that when he arrived at the port, his papers were in order, but one of the Redcoat soldiers wanted to search him
Jamie shared that he was carrying something that the soldiers couldn’t find on him so he refused and now they are searching the city for him
Taking Lord John from his own home doesn’t help Jamie’s current situation so they find some horses and race out of the city
Then Lord John just can’t keep his mouth shut about his night with Claire and tells Jamie that he has had “carnal knowledge” of his wife
Jamie, at first, didn’t believe John but after saying “we were both f*cking you,” Jamie landed his first punch
Back at Lord John’s home, William is flipping out at Claire about the truth he just learned about his parentage, and also learning that everyone else knew about it
William then starts throwing a hissy fit like a temperamental two-year-old – UGH!
As William punches his reflection in a mirror, Jamie is landing more punches upon his best friend Lord John, who falls and rolls down a leaf-covered hillside
Just at that time, a group of rebels encounter Lord John and Jamie, quickly accusing them of being spies
After identifying Lord John as a British officer, the men take him and Jamie lets them (he is pissed at Lord John after all; reminiscent of what he and Young Ian did to Roger without learning the whole truth of the situation)
Besides, Jamie has somewhere he needs to be, leading back to what he was carrying on his person that the Redcoats at the port could not be allowed to find
Jamie has French missives (aka messages) for the rebels, which he takes to Colonel Morgan (who Jamie served with previously)
Colonel Morgan then takes Jamie to – of all people – General George Washington – who, after a conversation about Jamie’s past helping the colonists, asks Jamie to command a battalion, appointing him now as Brigadier General
Then there was the run-in just outside the city between Young Ian, Rachel and William – UGH!
Naturally Rachel is angry with William for what he did to Young Ian (starting that fight), after learning they are betrothed, not to mention kissing her
Young Ian is led off by redcoat soldiers and Rachel is following
Then Jamie rides into the outskirts of the city, seeing Young Ian being led off (what joy was on Young Ian’s face upon seeing his beloved uncle alive)
Jamie then finds William and forces him to arrange for Young Ian to be freed by threatening to reveal his true parentage; William obviously agree to have Young Ian released to keep the truth secret
Meanwhile, Lord John is led to one of the rebel’s camps and presented to Colonel Smith
Quickly enough it is understood that Lord John is in deep trouble at the camp, but the injuries he sustained from fighting with Jamie had to be tended to first
Ironically, or not, Rachel’s brother Denzell is the doctor at that rebel camp and he tells Lord John he will need to wear an eye patch as his facial injury is quite serious
Denzell not only tends to Lord John’s injury but also gives him some soup as well as a sharp knife so he can attempt an escape
Meanwhile, William spends the night with Arabella (aka Jane) at the brothel while Jamie and Claire deal with what happened between her and Lord John when they thought he was dead, culminating in sex on Lord John’s dining room table
And, lastly, Lord John is able to cut his restraints, and he runs for his life – but soon enough his escape is discovered, and shots ring out in the woods

So, what did you think of the last two new episodes of Outlander?

The next new episode of the show will air on Starz on Friday, December 20 at 8 PM.