Outlander’s Most Romantic Moments

 

“Hell hath no fury…” A recap of season 7 episode 12 by your Aussie Blogging Lass.

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There is a famous saying: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” In this case, it is more “Hell hath no fury like a Fraser in a temper.” The episode is an emotional rollercoaster, where every action seems to have a dramatic consequence. Some relationships are broken, others damaged, and one at least, restored, by the time the hour is done. But there is no let up. It was almost exhausting to watch! 

As the episode begins, Jamie is leading his “prisoner” John through the city, explaining that he won’t be safe until they have left the city behind, where the patrols will not follow. John wants to know why Jamie is being pursued in the first place and Jamie explains that on entering the city, everyone’s papers were being checked. Although his were in order, the soldiers wanted to search him. This was a problem because he was carrying something he didn’t want discovered. 

John expresses surprise that Jamie’s instincts had let him down and he had allowed himself to be cornered, to which Jamie replies that even foxes grow old. John asks why Jamie had come directly to his house instead of waiting on the edge of the city. Jamie responds that, having learned that the ship he was meant to be on had sunk and knowing that Claire would fear him dead, he had wanted to assure her that he was alive. We see John’s discomfort at Jamie’s explanation, but instead of updating Jamie with more recent events, he stays silent. Jamie drapes a coat around John to make him look less conspicuous and suggests a plan to procure some horses, insisting that should they be questioned, John is to say that Jamie forced him to accompany him. John agrees, and they are soon riding away from the city.

Once in secluded woodland, Jamie expresses his gratitude to John for taking care of Claire and apologises for the way in which William had learned the truth of his parentage.

“We’ll find the lad,” he says, handing John a flask.

John drinks deeply, and Jamie asks if he is well, as he looks pale. Unable to stay silent any longer, John blurts out, “I have had carnal knowledge of your wife.”

Initially, Jamie’s reaction is mild.

“Why?” he asks.

John is incredulous. “What do you mean why? I thought you were dead!” He goes further, asking Jamie if he has any idea what the thought of that had done to Claire.

Jamie seems almost mocking in his answer,  asking if John is suggesting that the news of his death had deranged Claire to the extent that she would forcibly take John to her bed, given John’s sexual preferences. He continues to express disbelief that John would go to Claire with desire and that she would allow him to sleep with him.

John’s temper gets the better of him. He explains that both he and Claire had been drinking, and that they had both been grieving.

“Damn you!” he says. “Neither one of us was making love to the other.” In graphic terms, he then informs Jamie that both of them had been imagining him.

This information immediately changes Jamie’s supposedly amused reaction. He punches John in the face and the opening credits begin.

Back at the house, Claire is still quietly marvelling at Jamie’s return when William walks into the room. He asks if he can speak to her and she agrees, offering him brandy. 

William is unsure how to address Claire and she points out that she is still his stepmother, regardless of the situation. William asks if Claire knew about his identity and she confirms that she did, as Jamie had told her the circumstances of his birth.

William asks if his mother was as reckless as everyone had said, but more importantly he wants to know whether he is a child of rape. Claire reassures him on that score, and he seems relieved. He asks if his true parents had loved each other and Claire replies that they only had one night together, but that they might have loved each other as much as they could have, given the circumstances. William knows that he was born almost nine months after his supposed parents’ marriage and wants to know whether Jamie and his mother had deceived his supposed father, or whether she had played the whore with her groom after her marriage. 

“I think that’s a little harsh,” Claire begins, carefully, but William disagrees. He is becoming more upset and asks Claire which of the scenarios is true. 

“Jamie would never deceive another man in his marriage,” she answers.

William then asks about Lord John and whether he had known all along.  

“Yes,” Claire confirms, “And Isobel too. But they only wanted the best for you.”

But William will not accept this, saying that his entire life is a lie. In a true display of Fraser temper, he breaks several pieces of pottery before smashing a mirror and leaving the house.

Meanwhile, William’s true father continues to hit his adoptive one. Calling John a pervert, Jamie is demanding that John tell him everything that happened. John refuses, telling Jamie to kill him instead. Indeed, it looks like Jamie might do so, but they are interrupted by the arrival of some loyalist soldiers, who want to know who they are.

“Colonel James Fraser of Morgan’s Rifles,” Jamie answers, and asks the other man’s name. 

The man introduces himself as Woodbine, and wants to know the identity of Jamie’s prisoner.

“I am Lord John Grey,” John responds, after Jamie has hauled him to his feet. 

Woodbine has noticed that John is not wearing a uniform, so asks if John is a soldier, adding that they have no business with him if he is not. 

“But if Colonel Fraser has taken you prisoner, I reckon he has reason,”the man adds. 

Unfortunately for John, one of the other men remembers him from Philadelphia, and knows that he is not only a soldier, but an officer. John explains that while he was a soldier, his commission is no longer active. Angrily he asks whether they also want to know what he had eaten for breakfast.

“He’s not a soldier,” Jamie says, adding that he has taken John prisoner because he wanted to question him about a personal matter that is none of Woodbine’s concern. But Woodbine is not about to be put off, telling Jamie that he will decide what is his business. Jamie then finds himself under suspicion, given that he isn’t wearing a uniform either. If Jamie can’t prove who he is, Woodbine says, they will take John themselves and question him back at their camp. 

“Take him,” Jamie responds, with a look at John. “I have business elsewhere.” Stalking over to John, he tells him that they are not finished.

“No,” John replies, as Woodbine takes him into custody. “We are not. And I am not bloody sorry!” he yells to Jamie’s retreating figure. 

It is not often that Jamie Fraser can be accused of being in the wrong, but this scene is an exception! Much like he beat up Roger and sending him off with the Mohawk before learning the full story, he has once again allowed the red mist to descend and has now abandoned John to an unknown fate. 

As the next scene begins, we can see that John’s condition is deteriorating. He is sagging on the horse and he groans in pain as he is dragged off it. He tries to brazen it out, telling the men to refer to him as “my lord”, but Woodbine’s only response is to demand that the men search him, and asking if General Charles Grey is a relation. John replies that the man is a sort of cousin, but Woodbine has now read the document that the men have discovered in John’s coat. John says that has not yet read it himself, having only just received it. Unfortunately for him, it confirms that his commission has been reactivated. The other men then suspect him of being a spy and begin to plan his execution. Rather than hang John on the spot, they decide to take him back to camp.  

“Remember Powley!” the men chant, much to John’s confusion.

William is stalking the streets at night,  swearing, when a woman of the night interrupts his diatribe. 

“Who’s a bastard?” she asks.

When William replies that he is, she says she is partial to them and asks if he is wicked or evil, before inviting him inside for a drink. 

William follows her into a room and takes off his coat, but things do not go as planned. The woman pours water into a bowl and goes to get the drinks. William, misunderstanding, begins to strip down to wash himself. When she returns, she laughs, saying that she had only meant the water for his injured hand, but comments that he is certainly a gentleman. This enrages William. He whirls around violently, knocking the drinks from her hand and the glass smashes to the floor. Then he tries to prevent her from yelling out for her madam, by putting his hand over her mouth, and finds it bitten as a result. She orders him to leave and he goes.

Jamie is riding back through the woods to Morgan’s camp. He finds the man in full dress uniform and hands Morgan a missive from France, saying that it will be of interest to the army’s high command. Morgan responds by asking Jamie if he can spare a quarter hour to meet someone.

The someone is none other than George Washington, who remembers Jamie’s face from their previous meeting at the theatre in Wilmington, when they had been guests of Governor Tryon.

Morgan hands Washington the letter and Jamie explains that he had had occasion to travel to France and has brought record of the generous contributions to the cause. Washington is impressed, asking if Jamie has done this of his own accord. When Jamie confirms this, Washington asks him to sit and they discuss the situation in Philadelphia and Clinton’s imminent withdrawal. Washington is impressed with Jamie’s cunning in getting the documents. Combined with Morgan’s reports of Jamie’s bravery on a battlefield, Washington offers Jamie command of a battalion, promoting him to Brigadier General, pending approval by Congress.

Rachel and Ian have come across William, who is assisting with the evacuation of loyalist citizens from the city. William is genuinely pleased to see Rachel, but less so to see Ian accompanying her. His mood only sours further when he discovers that Ian and Rachel have been in Valley Forge attempting to get permission for a marriage. Grudgingly he offers his congratulations and turns away. Ian attempts to continue the conversation, but William punches him to the ground.

Shocked, Rachel asks what William means by his actions. He apologises, assuring Rachel that she has done nothing wrong. To Ian though, he shows his anger. Ian has lied to him, he says, by not telling him the truth as to his parentage. The fact that William considers his situation to be a disgrace angers Ian, particularly when he describes himself as “the get of a Scottish criminal.” 

“Criminal forbye!” Ian responds. “Any man would be proud to be the son of James Fraser.”

“Oh,” says Rachel. “That.” She adds that she is not surprised, as she can see a resemblance. 

When William replies with “Damn the resemblance!” it is Ian’s turn to punch him. 

William is no match for Ian, and is quickly losing the fight. Two soldiers run over to break it up and William petulantly tells them to take Ian into custody for assaulting an officer. 

Rachel is furious, and they argue over who is at fault. William calls Ian a coward, like his uncle.

“Thy father,” Rachel corrects, much to his continued anger. She tells William that he must undo what he has done, prompting William to taunt her by saying that as a Quaker she cannot do violence. But Rachel promptly slaps him across the face, then admonishes William for dooming his kinsman, repudiating his father and making her betray her principles.

“What next?” she asks, not prepared for what that turns out to be. William grabs her and kisses her. Horrified, she spits at his feet, wipes her mouth and sets off to follow where Ian is being taken. 

Back at Lord John’s, Mrs Figg and Claire are assessing the damage from William’s tantrum. The older woman comments that she had never known her sweet boy to have such a temper and Claire observes that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. As they discuss the repairs that will be needed, Mrs Figg refers to Claire first as Lady John, then corrects herself to say Mistress Fraser, before adding that it will be hard to find anyone to do the work, given that people are fleeing the city in anticipation of the arrival of the rebels.

When Claire tells her not to anticipate trouble, Mrs Figg replies that it has already arrived. A soldier has visited, saying that General Clinton has been expecting Lord John and is wondering why he hasn’t appeared. 

Claire wonders why the General wants to know John’s whereabouts, given that he isn’t serving in the army.

“Apparently he is,” is Mrs Figg’s reply. “His Lordship has been recalled to duty.”

At that moment, His Lordship is being hauled into the rebel camp. He treats the man in charge, Colonel Smith, with disdain, reminding him that when they last met in civilised society, Smith had been a captain in the Royal East Kent regiment. He is equally disdainful of his supposed fate, to be hanged for being either a spy, or for being a relation to Charles Grey, who had apparently committed some sort of atrocity at a place called Powley. His sarcastic demeanour sobers somewhat when Smith informs him that Charles Grey had ordered the slaughter of 100 men in their beds using bayonets. Powley was the name of the nearby tavern and the event is now known as the Powley Massacre.

The two men discuss the possibility of John being a spy, an idea that John finds preposterous, even despite his supposedly prestigious memory. He is asked whether he had met with Jamie to exchange information, and he rejects wholeheartedly the idea that he may also have a treasonous frame of mind. 

“The encounter was of a purely personal nature,” John says. He responds to the suggestion that he will be hanged as nonsensical, refusing to believe that the high command is made up of fools. 

“My execution would yield nothing, whereas my cooperation may be of value,” he says, adding that his brother holds some parliamentary influence. It is an argument that makes sense. Smith agrees to send word to General Washington, but in the meantime, he sends John to the medical tent to have his rapidly swelling eye seen to.

The newly promoted General Fraser is riding back when he comes across the party leading Ian away. He speaks to Rachel, asking where Ian is being taken, and soon goes to confront the person responsible. 

What follows is a Fraser standoff, but Jamie has the upper hand. He threatens to reveal William’s parentage to all and sundry at the camp, unless William arranges for Ian’s release. 

“Yes,” says William at last. “I will do it.”

“Your word,” Jamie demands. 

“You have my word,” William responds, but he can’t resist a parting shot.  “God damn you, Sir,” he says. “God damn you to hell.”

“No doubt,” says Jamie, as William stalks away.

It is ironic that Jamie has insisted that William right the wrong caused by his temper, when he has not done the same service to John. 

At the medical tent, John is pleased to be reunited with Denzel Hunter, who has been summoned to tend to his injuries, which are serious. When asked how much pain he is in, John replies that everything from his scalp to his chin hurts. Denzel explains the extent of the damage. There is bleeding and swelling on the surface of the eye, that could take anywhere from a week to a month to resolve. Denzel says that he will make John an eye patch, but the real concern is the inability to move the eye. The fear is that John has a fracture that is trapping the ocular muscle.

“I do wish your wife were here,” Denzel adds.

“My wife?” John replies. “She isn’t my wife anymore. Jamie Fraser isn’t dead. He’s the one who hit me, but I was asking for it.”

His bitter sarcasm is disturbing, but Denzel is called away before the two men can talk further. 

Colonel Smith asks Denzel whether John can be moved and Denzel advises against it, given the extent of the injury to the eye. Smith agrees, saying that in that case the mountain will have to come to Mohammad, and tells Denzel to do his best to keep John coherent. 

“Why?” Denzel asks, as the two walk away.

William has arranged for Ian be released. He has the grace to look ashamed as Rachel stares at him coldly. 

Back in the town, William is listening as other soldiers are discussing what they like to do with women. It is degrading talk and he wants no part of it. The woman from his previous encounter is there, and in an act of chivalry to prevent her from being subjected to his fellow soldiers’ whims, William buys her for the night. 

Alone in the room, William assures the woman, whose name has been given as Arabella, that he will not hurt her, and that he hadn’t meant to the last time.

“You didn’t hurt me,” she replies. “You spoiled my best gown though”, adding that the spilled wine had cost her a beating and a week’s wages. 

William apologises again, offering to pay for both the wine and gown, although he is unable to do anything about the beating. He asks if her name is truly Arabella and she replies that it isn’t. She is a fancy piece though, she tells him, which requires a fancy name. William responds that he indeed knows two women called Arabella, although one is six and the other eighty-two. “Arabella” asks if he wants to send for wine, commenting that if he wants to perform during the night, he should stay away from it. 

But despite his desire for her, William says that he will not do anything. She asks why: he has certainly paid more than enough to do anything he would like. 

“Including buggery, if that’s your pleasure.”

“You think I would save you from Captain Harkness just to do the same myself?” he asks. 

The two are getting to know each other and seem easy in each other’s company. William comments that his father had once told him that a good night’s sleep was the best thing that one could give a whore. She can’t quite believe that she is actually being given permission to sleep, but William assures her again: he has no plans to molest her and will sleep in the chair, leaving her to the bed. As she gets into it, he asks what her real name is, and she tells him: Jane. 

Moments later Jane tells him to join her in the bed, where she soon takes the initiative.

Again, he resists. “The only honour I have left is my word,” he says. “I must keep it.”

But Jane kisses him and removes both his shirt and her own shift. Their lovemaking is brief, but tender.

“Why did you make me break my word?” he asks, before taking comfort in her embrace.

“A whore has a sense of honour too,” she replies. 

Denzel has brought John a plate of stew and with it a warning. Palming him a blade along with the spoon, Denzel whispers that John must leave. He has discovered that John is to be executed after all, being thought of as worth more dead than alive. He tells John to hide in his wagon, as he has to go for supplies the following morning. But John refuses to put Denzel at risk. He says he will go on foot, so Denzel gives him more advice. 

“The main road lies south west of the camp, about four miles away,” he whispers. “God go with thee.”

Claire is happy to see Jamie back at the house, but all is not yet well between them. 

“You went to bed with John Grey,” Jamie states. 

When Claire replies that she wouldn’t say that exactly, Jamie says that John confessed to having carnal knowledge of her. 

Claire is choosing her words carefully. Carnal knowledge is a reasonable description, she decides. Jamie stalks past her, heading upstairs to the bedroom, asking if it had happened in that room. 

“Yes,” she says, although she adds that the actual event had happened on the floor, and that they hadn’t made a conscious decision to make love to one another. 

“What did happen?” Jamie demands.

Claire tells him that she had been drinking brandy and trying to justify suicide, but she had run out of brandy. She was debating whether to go in search of more, or drink an entire bottle of laudanum, when John had appeared. He was drunk too, but able to be on his feet. Claire says that John had the look of a man about to throw himself off a cliff. 

“And then he said, ‘I will not mourn him alone tonight’ and he didn’t.” Claire tells Jamie that she couldn’t bear for either of them to be alone and that while she didn’t exactly know what had happened, she had grabbed John because she had needed to be touched. 

“And he obliged ye, I take it,” Jamie says, approaching her, before asking the question that turns Claire’s sorrow into anger.

“Did he bugger you?”

This time it is Claire who stalks past him, but he soon follows. She asks if Jamie has killed John and he asks if she would mind if he had.

“Yes,” she says. “I bloody well would.” 

Jamie replies that he would have been within his rights to do so, but she disagrees.

“You didn’t have any rights. You were dead.”

Jamie tells Claire that he has always loved her and that nothing she could do would ever stop him from loving her, adding that John had only told him because he had been sure that she would.

Claire agrees that she would have, but not until after he had slept, bathed and eaten. She asks Jamie when he last ate, but he tells her not to change the subject. He understands, but he needs to know what happened, he repeats. 

“You understand?” Claire asks.

“You both thought I was dead,” he replies, “and I know what you’re like when you’re drunk, Sassenach.”

She slaps him. “How dare you!” she says.

Jamie declares himself to be the aggrieved party, but Claire disagrees. He clarifies that he didn’t mean to imply she was a drunkard, only that she thinks with her body. “I’ve taken you to bed a thousand times at least. Do you not think I was paying attention?”

Jamie reminds her of the time he had lost her after Culloden, and how he had known that she wasn’t dead, which had made it worse. Mary McNab had come to him in the cave.

“And I didn’t blame you for that,” Claire interrupts. “Or ask you for any of the gory details.”

“Maybe it’s because you weren’t jealous,” Jamie replies. “I am.” He adds that he would tell her how it was: tender and sad, both of them mourning things that were lost. 

“Well it wasn’t tender and it wasn’t sad. It should have been what it wasn’t.” Claire tells him, adding that she doesn’t know what it was and that she doesn’t recall having any conscious thoughts.

“What did he give you then?” 

“Something to hit,” she says, “at least in the beginning.”

“You hit him?” Jamie asks.

Claire admits it was more like she was hitting him. It had all been a blur and she didn’t know what had happened next. There should have been a word for what John had given her, Claire says, but she doesn’t know what it is yet. Violence had been part of it. She was numb and couldn’t bear to feel. But John had had more courage than her and that was why she had hit out. Eventually, she returns to medical descriptions, and likens the situation to triage - stopping the bleeding or the patient dies.

“And that’s what he did. He stopped it by placing his grief over mine.” 

Tentatively Claire asks if John is all right.

“I’m sure he is,” Jamie replies. 

Claire asks where John is, adding the information that General Clinton has reactivated John’s commission. 

“What the hell did you do to him, Jamie?”

“I hit him. More than once.” 

Jamie then tells Claire the phrase that John had used to describe what they had done, and she agrees with it. He turns away and Claire begs him to talk to her.

Jamie says that when Geneva had died and it was his fault, it had been a knife in his heart. Then baby William had cut him open and spilled his guts into his hands.

“That bloody Englishman bandaged me with his friendship,” he says. He assures Claire that he didn’t kill John, although he doesn’t know if he is glad about this or not.

“Well I’m glad,” Claire says, grabbing onto his arm.

“I’ll not say that I dinna mind this,” Jamie tells her,  “because I do. And I’ll not say I’ll willna make a fuss about this later because I will, but there is nothing in this world or the next that can take you from me or me from you.”

Looking into her eyes, Jamie has one last important question.

“Are you my wife?”he asks.

“How could I not be?” she answers. 

“Then I’m done with talking,” he whispers.

As they finally get down to the business of make up sex, on the dining table, John is frantically using the blade to free himself from his restraints without waking Colonel Smith. At last he succeeds and makes for the cover of the woods, but it doesn’t take long before his absence is noted. The soldiers are in hot pursuit and John is desperately trying to out run them. A shot rings out, and the screen fades to black.

This was an emotional episode, with stellar performances from all the main players. Toni Graphia’s writing used many of Diana Gabaldon’s original words and the script is stronger for doing so. The hour was thoughtfully directed and we were in no doubt as to the emotional turmoil that the characters were going through. This episode marked the halfway point of season 7B, and there is certainly much drama - and much more emotion -  to come!

This recap was written by Susie Brown, a writer and teacher librarian who lives in Australia. She found herself feeling very sorry for Lord John and frustrated by the Fraser males’ tendency to think with their fists in a fit of anger!