Blood of My Blood Episode 1.4: A Soldier’s Heart

Love is a lottery, my friends, and we all came to play. Let’s discuss another solid episode of Blood of My Blood.

Warning- Contains spoilers from Blood of My Blood Episode 1.4: A Soldier’s Heart

When is the best time to gamble? Arguably it is when we have very little to lose and much to gain. And so we see everyone this hour throwing the metaphorical dice…the Grants’ tenants chancing what little money they have to win a rent-free year, Henry risking his lottery scheme to work (and not cost him his life), Julia gambling that Simon Fraser will believe (and be enthused about) her claim that he is the father of her child, Brian risking everything to see Ellen for the briefest of moments, and Ellen willing to play along with Colum’s plans and chancing that no one will see through her. People cannot live on bread alone, Julia tells Henry. Sometimes hope is all that feeds us.

The medal of St. Anthony figures prominently in this episode. As the patron saint of lost things, he’s been mentioned before within the Outlander universe (notably, in Episode 304: Of Lost Thing). Things are lost in this world…”people go missing all the time,” if you will. Parents and children and lovers are gone without warning or reason. References to St. Anthony are appropriate and even expected, especially considering that nearly every main character in both shows is Catholic.

But St. Anthony is also the patron saint of the poor, and of travelers, and of expectant mothers. Thus, as rents are collected and miles are traveled and pregnancies are hidden and revealed, St. Anthony is likely invoked by many this hour.

But saints alone are not revered, as Julia discovers upon tipping the milk buckets and incurring the annoyance of Mistress Porter. No, it is not St. Anthony to whom offerings must be made (although the milk is lost), but rather the mischievous fairies. There is quite a bit of fairy talk in this episode with mentions of the gruagach, J.M. Barrie, and Peter Pan. And why not? Fairies can bring luck and fortune or ruin and catastrophe. In other words (keeping thematically), winning their favor is like winning a lottery.

In any case, Mistress Porter encourages Julia to belatedly give an offering to the graugach, allowing Julia to inflict herself with a rash courtesy of a nettle bush. Julia’s gamble that Simon Fraser will find her temporarily repulsive is correct, and he orders her and Brian to journey to Inverness for a remedy.

At the brothel, however, another gamble is not quite so fortunate. After a brief moment of hope, Henry lucks out when he discovers the Englishwoman the madam has found him is not Julia after all. But he is kind to Seema (the not-Julia prostitute) and she, in turn, gets a night of peace in a warm bed. Sex work is always a risk…always a gamble. For tonight, at least, Seema has a lucky hand.

Elsewhere another woman is trying to play the hand she was dealt, as Ellen MacKenzie struggles to find a way out of her betrothal to Malcom Grant. Her assumption that Colum and Dougal’s joint alliance would null the engagement was incorrect, as Colum is still keen on a Grant alliance and Dougal honestly doesn’t care.

Henry, meanwhile, has been charged with collecting rent from the Grant tenants, who are not expecting the increased fees imposed by Isaac Grant for this quarter. This is the gamble one took as a tenant in a feudal system. Rents were increased without warning and tenants could be evicted from the land. And isn’t being born as a farmer’s son instead of a laird’s son also a roll of dice?

In a flashback we see Julia and Henry debating the morality and usefulness of reviving Britain’s National Lottery. Governments gamble too much with our lives already, Henry argues, and citizens shouldn’t be tempted to spend money they don’t have. Some fortunes in this world, Julia counters, are only won by chance…sometimes luck is all we have. And the faint possibility of fortune is enough to raise the hopes of some.

With this memory comes an idea, and Henry fashions a lottery for the Grant tenants—purchase a ticket for a shilling and have a chance at living rent-free for a year. Better to seek forgiveness later rather than request permission now, Henry assumes, as Isaac Grant would surely not approve if asked. It’s a gamble but one that works…tenants come forth, shillings in hand, and Henry collects more than twice in rent money than he would have otherwise. Grant is far from pleased, but I suspect he’s more than intrigued by Henry…and willing to tolerate such gambles for such rewards.

Also traveling the countryside (so close and yet so far) are Julia and Brian. Not to Inverness as planned, but rather to Castle Leoch. Brian surreptitiously delivers a message to Ellen via Julia and Ellen and Brian plan to meet at Beltane in two months’ time. These are risky moves, but all our characters are willing to play their respective lotteries this hour.

Lotteries represent hope. So, too, do our children…our love for them is the biggest payout we can hope for. And although this episode ends with our four main characters searching and still apart, there is hope in the children that will be their next generation. Claire, as Henry predicts, will be their light. And what wouldn’t we gamble for our loved ones? We’d go all in.

Slàinte .