Episode 801: Soul of a Rebel

Well. Here we are…the final season! And it appears we are wasting zero time. Let’s get to work!

Warning- Contains spoilers from Outlander Episode 801: Soul of a Rebel

In these times, Fergus argues to Jamie, there is little one can do that isn’t dangerous. Ah…and there it is. It’s often difficult to parse out a theme in the first episode of a season, as so much time is spent catching up, giving exposition, and re-introducing and introducing characters old and new. But Fergus lays it out for us rather nicely: that which is worth doing in this life almost always comes with some element of danger. Falling in love, having children, traveling through time, running a printing press…there is always the danger of a broken heart or a lost loved one or an accusation of sedition. That’s what makes the good stuff matter. It would be safer to sit it out—we could choose never fall in love or make a jump through the standing stones or take a political stand in a time of war, but most of us know life is only worth living for the chances that we take. In other words, we must have the soul of a rebel.

Still with me? Good, because let’s tease apart that theme a bit more and take it one step further…let’s not take it at face value, if you will. Because that is the other driving theme of this episode: either accepting or not accepting things as they are told or presented to us. Jamie knocks about Fergus’s workshop because he knows Fergus is likely hiding something—he’s not taking those walls at face value. William presses Lord John for details of Benjamin’s death and marriage—he is not simply accepting the story as told. Jamie not-so-subtly encourages Roger to go information digging on the Cunninghams because he suspects they may be hiding something as well. Digging deeper and uncovering truths beneath facades takes a certain amount of bravery, does it not? Because often we know we may be scared or dislike what we find. What is hidden can be scary…but the scary stuff, this episode argues, is worth it.

We’re evidently going to need such fortifying thoughts to make it through this final season, because this first episode dares us to keep up. Established characters? Well, we pretty much checked in on all of them: Fergus and Marsali (way too little time in this episode after a season’s absence, in my opinion), William and Lord John (conversely, a bit too much time spent here), Ian and Rachel (yay, surprise house!), and Brianna and Roger et al (yay, surprise family!).

As if that weren’t enough, we meet the Cunninghams and mingle our way about the Crombie trading post. We interrogate (and kill) a character that maybe-killed maybe-Faith. We learn that Amy McCallum has married Evan Lindsey, and we even have a posthumous Frank appearance. It is truly exhausting living in the world of the Frasers.

But exhaustion be damned, because our duo starts the episode with a stakeout for the man who murdered the Pocock family and sold Jane and Fanny into prostitution. Jamie warns Claire to keep her mouth shut, which she does! She doesn’t say a word…she just kills the man instead. Remember when she didn’t even know how to hold a knife? Now she’s aiming straight for the kidney, just like Angus taught her nearly a lifetime ago.

But, you know? Jamie isn’t even mad. This isn’t their first murder and he knows his wife. But since there isn’t any crème de menthe this go-around they instead swiftly dispatch the rest of the gang and make haste. Also, Claire would like to go on record to say that she actually did not say anything the entire time.

And while guilt is not an emotion they feel about the whole situation, regret and anger very much are. They have spent their lives grieving Faith, but now they grieve the loss of the childhood they might have given her. I’m extremely curious to see where the writers go with this, because they appear to be leaning all the way into this book-deviating storyline. If this woman was actually their Faith so many questions remain: Who raised her? How did she manage to stay hidden from their lives for thirty years? I suspect the answers may be Master Raymond and time travel, respectively. Time will tell, pun intended.

Jamie and Claire wake the next morning in Fergus and Marsali’s bustling Savannah household, and it’s a testimony to the obvious and very natural chemistry between César Domboy and Lauren Lyle that this immediately feels like an actual family full of energy and love. Jamie and Claire fill the Farsali crew in on everything, which serves as nice exposition for the audience: Ian and Rachel are back on Fraser’s Ridge, Rachel is due any day (situating this episode approximately nine-ish months from where we left off last season), and the Frasers are headed back to the Ridge themselves after leaving Savannah.

Upon learning that Fergus is distributing seditious material on behalf of the Patriots, Jamie warns him to be careful and unsuccessfully tries to convince him to stop. Wars are not won on battlefields alone, Fergus reminds him, and this is his contribution to the cause. A printer risks his life in the same way as a soldier…perhaps even more. Battles may last for days, but words live forever.

Elsewhere in Savannah, William drunkenly stumbles into Lord John’s home (truly, how many homes does this man have?) and we learn in short order that William is still on a search for Ezekiel Richardson, Benjamin Grey (Hal’s son) is presumed dead after rebel capture and an outbreak of typhus, and Benjamin’s widow and infant son (Amaranthus and Trevor, respectively) are now living with Lord John.

I promise to non-book readers that all of this is actually relevant to the Frasers…have faith in our theme! Things are not what they seem! But while David Berry is as handsome as ever, for expediency let’s wrap up the remaining William and Lord John scenes: William is nursing a hangover and a broken heart while Lord John implores him to get his life back together, first through gentle encouragement, then by frustrated negotiation, and finally by means of politely angry admonishment. William manages to apologize to Amaranthus for insulting her and, in keeping with Outlander tradition of men helping raise children that are not their own, promises to look after Trevor.

The Frasers, meanwhile, have made their way back to the Ridge, where they discover much has changed in their absence: Hiram Crombie has established a thriving trading post with the aforementioned Captain Charles Cunningham, Amy McCollum has married Evan Lindsey, and new tenants have arrived on the Ridge.

And, oh yeah, Ian has built them a massive house! Surprise! Not in keeping with our theme, this is something we will just have to accept at face value. Our characters need a place to live and we no longer have the luxury of extra episodes in which to build a home. In a time before logging regulations and building permits, and with many, many volunteer man-hours I suppose it’s possible.

Lizzie makes a brief appearance in which her daughter (an adorable wee Claire) is introduced and she gifts a beehive to the Frasers. And while Jamie is telling Claire of a beehive’s role in communicating earthly news to the spirit world, up walks news from another world altogether.

I’ve read a few other reviews of the episode regarding this reunion scene, but for me this felt like the emotional center of the hour and overall it was really nicely done. Book readers had some idea of how this might play out, but for non-book readers the slow reveal of Esmerelda’s printed face and synthetically dyed hair is a hint to who might be approaching. By the time Richard Rankin’s voice confirms our suspicions we are emotionally invested and it’s a sweet payoff.

I suggest a slow down and observance of each actor separately on rewatches…Jamie is taking in each person like he’s solving a puzzle, while Claire is literally overcome with shock and happiness. While Brianna can only focus on her mother, Roger calmly stays back just a bit to be with the slightly nervous children. The scene was well-choreographed through and through and I have no notes.

In the novel the MacKenzies bring back a Dr. Seuss book for the children to read, but the change to Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon felt appropriate. It’s a nice follow-through on dialogue that was introduced five seasons and nearly a decade ago in Episode 309 (The Doldrums, my review of that episode here). and it shows consistency in the writing…which is not always the case for shows that have been on the air as long as Outlander.

And isn’t it actually the perfect story for a time-traveling child? In Goodnight Moon the young bunny says goodnight to all the familiar things of his world…the chair, the balloon, the picture of the cow jumping over the moon. Jem and Mandy have also said goodbye to a world they found familiar, but there is comfort in the repetition and rhythm around them. Additionally, Fanny’s delight at seeing colored illustrations felt genuine and endearing.

As for the other gifts? Claire’s new Merck Manual may be bittersweet. In Claire’s absence from the twentieth century there were so many medical advancements…the development of immunosuppressive drugs for organ transplant, antiviral medications, the eradication of smallpox, and the development of human insulin to name a few. How amazing it would be to read of all the medical discoveries of the future, but also how frustrating to know that many of them could never be replicated in the eighteenth century. Still, knowing Claire, she’ll find a way to try.

And while the assumption that Jamie might enjoy Lord of the Rings may be a correct one, the assumption that he might also enjoy a non-fiction historical tome written by his wife’s ex-husband is fairly amusing. I suspect Jamie might file this away—along with the photo of Brianna in a bikini—under “gifts I could do without.”

Ah, but how nicely Frank Randall’s book also neatly concludes this episode’s theme! Can you trust him, Jamie asks Claire? He’s a historian, Claire counters, he wouldn’t write something he didn’t believe to be true. And that’s the clincher, isn’t it? History is only as true as the people telling it. Moreover, our understanding of history is malleable and ever-changing…depending on our own lived experience and education it may or may not be something we take at face-value. What is hidden behind the walls of the history books if we knock around and take a closer look? What is the truth of a historical account when we press the people around us for details? Who really are the people in the pages when we inquire further?

Claire and Jamie seem to accept the thought that Fanny’s mother was their Faith…they take it at face value. Also assumed to be true is Jamie’s death as written by Frank. But this is Outlander, and we should know by now that things are rarely what they seem. The standing stones look innocuous, the people we meet appear unsuspecting, and the landscape appears quiet. But knock about a bit and we know…there’s a truth behind it all if we’re brave enough to seek it.

Slàinte