I wasn’t sure if we’d be getting this scene, due to the pacing of Williams storyline and how trimmed down it’s become, but I was happy to see the episode open with William arriving at Ticonderoga from Crownpoint. He’s seeking Brigadier Simon Fraser whom we learned about last episode (and who is significant in upcoming plot), and meets him for the first time there (a change from the books, where he meets him prior to the siege of the fort). They discuss their plans to March South to meet Howe, which would isolate New England. Did they hire a non Scottish man to play Simon Fraser? Cause that’s not cool if so—his accent isn’t great.
The rebels flee by boat under Jamie’s command, and he encourages the people to travel inland to avoid being seen across the water by the British. Claire tells Jamie they will need to make camp soon due to the overall state of the people they are with, and they hear the sounds of Indians nearby. They head further into the woods to hide from the Indians and Ian goes ahead to find that it is actually Red Coats pretending to be Indians to scare them. I’m fairly certain this scene happens at night in the books, and the choice to have this all play out in broad daylight, then sudden darkness when Claire goes to find Mrs Raven was slightly off putting to me.
SIDENOTE, we hear Rachel say to Mrs Raven that she already trusts Ian completely 🥰 which is cute, so I’m thrilled.
There is another abrupt cut to a super short scene where Roger talks with Lionel Menzies (his school principal, who is the cousin of our friend Rob Cameron) about Jemmy speaking Galic in class. Last episode we saw him get in trouble for that and Roger wants to speak to Menzies about her grabbing Jemmy’s ears. While they both share a love of the highlands and appreciation for the language, Menzies explains that people wish to leave the Highlands and they want to speak good English in order to leave. I love that the show continues to show the results of the rising even in the 80’s and how impactful that was culturally. Menzies asks Roger to teach a class on the language and Roger excitedly agrees, happy to be back to teaching again.
Then we immediately change to darkness and Claire walking alone in the woods searching for the Mrs Raven. She cannot handle the situation and sadly we see her take her own life right as Claire arrives. Following the gunshot, Claire is taken hostage by a red coat. Denzel comes and finds Ian and jamie to tell them that Claire is missing, and suddenly it’s daylight again. Jamie finds Mrs Raven’s body and Ian can tell soldiers have taken Claire towards the fort.
Claire is brought to a pen with other rebels and immediately begins asking a younger soldier to get water for the sick and injured. She spots Walter Woodcock who had been taken prisoner during the siege. In the books he refers to jamie as Big Red as well, but Claire did not have as close of an established relationship to him prior to this scene. He’s having issues with his chest, which Claire can tell is an embolism following his surgery. She spends the day trying to aid the people who are hostage at the fort, and continuously asking for water and food. It’s slipped up that the food is 2 days behind them.
We meet Captain Richardson again, book readers know is important. William admits that he did not deliver the messages he was tasked to at Dismal Town after he falls off his horse. This was kind of unclear to me as he does have the letters in is possession after he falls and he later gains a horse from Ian, so I’m not sure why he abandons that mission entirely without a good explanation - where did the letters go? Richardson asked why he did not read the messages for himself, and William confronts Richardson about the recipients being rebels themselves. Richardson tells him that those men are spies, and William is eager for an opportunity of redemption to prove himself again. He is given his uniform back to join the rest of the men.
In a huge change from the books, Claire walks after another red coat in search of medical supplies and—you guessed it— water, and ends up confronting William. In the show, he recognizes her, realizing she’s a rebel and she confirms that Jamie is in the militia. William confirms again that supplies are 2 days behind them, but tells Claire that he will do his best to accommodate her. I really do love Charles as William, I think he’s doing an excellent job and while I wanted to skip William’s chapters in the books, I look forward to seeing him on screen in the show.
Bree and Roger finally start discussing the tunnel and what she encountered there, which I was hoping they’d copy from the books. Last episode when she went through the portal, Bree had next to no reaction to it, so this was satisfying to see. The two of them make the connection that the dam is on the east side towards Pitlochry and the tunnel runs downwards. Roger explains that they think there’s a leyline from the Achavanic standing stones at the top of northern Scotland down to the ones at Craigh na dun. He asks if the line continues down towards the dam, and they make an educated guess that the ley lines interact with the stone circles to create some type of portal.
We finally get confirmation that the book Rogers been writing is referred to as The Hitchhikers Guide to Time Travel, and before he leaves to go and teach his Gaelic class, Bree stacks a pile of papers and hymns from his desk to bring with him.
When Roger arrives to Jemmy’s school we see him explain the cultural significance of the language and why it’s so important to hold onto it. He also tells the kids that there’s no swear words in the Gaelic, and the entire scene serves as a great reminder of the Scottish history that grabbed us back in season 1. Roger really shines in this scene, and Richard Rankin does a great job here. There’s a call back to the waulking songs which Claire partook in back in season 1 when traveling to collect the rents. He also talks about line singing, and leads a song with the students. He involves Bobby (Rob Cameron’s nephew) and Jemmy by having them pass out some hymns from Reverend Wakefield to the class. And he sings again, which we know is a big deal to him after he was hanged in season 5.
Lionel asks him to come back again and you can see Rob in the background being shady, waiting around to talk to Roger. He introduces himself to Roger and you can tell Roger isn’t thrilled after the stunt he pulled with Bree at the tunnel. Rob admits he read the hitchhikers guide to travel during the class, which is another change from the books. In the books, he only reads one page that was mixed in with the Hymns. You’d think Roger would have recognized that the book was in there, or that Jemmy wouldn’t have handed Rob a whole damn book. In the books he asks Roger if he can swing by Lallybroch to read a hymn sometime because he didn’t get to, but in the show they have him ask to come have dinner which I find weirder. Roger seems to just forgive him for locking Bree in the tunnel, and I can’t imagine she’d want him over for dinner after that.
Jamie and Ian arrive to Ticonderoga to find Claire and Ian insists he go after Claire. The Mohawk allied with the British so Ian knows they won’t bother him. They come up with a plan to lure the British away from where she’s being held. William has another soldier bring Claire her supplies and we get a great callback to the books where she asks the solider how he knew who she was. He tells her that William described her as the one with the curly wig, barking orders like a sergeant general.
Claire can just walk around and out of the gates which I find interesting, and poor Walter is faring worse now. She gives him a tea and the brandy from the flask William gave her. Walter knows he’s going to die and Claire does her best to comfort him. She asks him to think of his wife dancing and sadly she loses another patient. In the books, Claire escapes without saying goodbye to any of the people in the fort.
Ian finds her Claire in the books by sneaking up behind where she’s being held, but again there’s an change in the show and Claire spots Ian in the courtyard. Soon after, William spots Ian. Ian pretends to be a scout for Joseph Brant, and William thanks Ian for the money and care of the Hunters. William confronts him about his relationship to Claire, knowing full well he’s here to release her. At this point Jamie starts firing bows into the fort and Ian and Claire tell William the reality of his army. Claire is safest if she escapes, so Ian and William admit a life for a life. William asks to not see him again or he may not have a way to protect him. Jamie and Claire reunite and Claire has a hard time leaving the prisoners there. Claire tells Jamie she saw William and he was kind to her there. We get the line from the books “tell me of him, later when there’s time.”
They travel for a few days and rejoin the continental army and get the narration that Jamie’s term of service is almost over and they will be leaving soon for Scotland. Ian finds Rachel who had been watching Rollo. He pretends he’s come for Rollo but it’s clear he simply wanted to see her. These two falling in love is so damn cute. They have a classic meet cute hand touch and I’m really hoping we get a longer scene with the two of them soon.
We meet Daniel Morgan (look him up if you can, an absolutely fascinating man and important historical figure) who asks Jamie to come with him and tries to recruit him to join his group of rifleman. Jamie later tells Claire that he’s decided to stay and continue to fight, as he cannot leave now while the British move south. They discuss the battle of Saratoga and how it draws the French into the war and is a turning point for the American’s. She’s happy he will be fighting from a distance as a sniper. Fun fact, Daniel Morgan’s men are the ones credited for killing Simon Fraser, which book readers know is Claire and Jamie’s ticket home to Scotland.
We get the scene from the books which I love where Claire tells Jamie than women don’t make wars. Jamie explains they aren’t made for it, and Claire argues that they are just as capable for fighting for what they believe in. Jamie says women take more with them when they go, but when a man goes it’s only them when they go. A woman takes life with her when she goes, and a woman is possibility. She insists Jamie is not one man just like another but admits that it is likely the ability to create life which would make it that much harder to end it. Jamie tells Claire he’s not afraid of dying now that the kids are grown, and his grandchildren are thriving. Or rather that he’s less afraid to die, and less inclined to kill men who have not yet lived yet. In the books, this conversation happens after Denny has snuck into a camp for intelligence in the books. Claire cannot understand why he would be so wreckless and Jamie tries to explain how a young man would do anything for a cause he believes in. Even if that means getting killed in the process.
Claire tells jamie about William and I love this scene, it’s the highlight of the whole episode for me.
Then the episode ends with Roger confronting Buck after he seems him peering in through the window. Clearly this is a younger version of him. And we end with a knock out punch. I wished we got the actual confrontation in this episode but it appears we will have to wait one more to finally get that moment.
Overall another strong episode! I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to the next one, particularly Roger and Bucks storyline.
Anyone else convinced that Bree's employee, Rob Cameron, was totes hittin on Roger? Cause the way I saw it play out was this:
Roger: just having a normal, heterosexual conversation with Cameron.
Me: *watching Cameron fumble his way through the convo and forcibly invite himself to dinner at the MacKenzie house* HE'S GAY, YOUR HONOR. THAT MAN IS GAY. *points violently at the screen*
The preview for next week's episode:
Roger: Rob Cameron has a hot eye for you.
Bree: That's ridiculous.
Me: THAT'S RIGHT. CAUSE HE WANTS TO JUMP ROGER'S BONES, NOT YOURS!
Okay they did an okay job with the casting and hair and makeup but I'm still not sure who the non book reading audience is supposed to think this is? Like they framed the whole sequence around a big reveal but to most people watching this is just some guy? It's not even immediately obvious where he's from, like couldn't you have at least given him a tri corner hat or something?
Also they kinda gave up on the whole bit with Roger's damaged vocal cords, which was a big part of the conflict between them so. I guess we'll see where this ends up going.
