Season 3

Episode 309, The Doldrums, was a bit doldrumey for me. Is that a word?  Wait, don’t beat me up yet! I’m not saying I didn’t like it.

I did like it, Jamie.

Ooops! Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to.  (I’ve watched The Wedding maybe ten x 1000 too many times. I hear the lines in my head. Do you?) Yes, I did like the episode but I guess after First Wife almost anything that follows would be somewhat of a letdown – unless it’s a repeat of The Wedding episode, of course.  There were some moments I truly loved.  The Man in the Moon scene was wonderful, Jamie’s comments about Claire’s silver hair and her reply that he would be considered the King of All Men in the 20^th century for saying such things made me giggle and then Mr. Willoughby’s tale was great! You know, I didn’t like Willoughby in the book but I really like his character in the show.  The show has done for Willoughby what it did for Murtagh – made his character layered,  lovable and sympathetic.  I went back to last week’s blog post for my Top Ten Must See Moments for Episode 309 and I didn’t include Willoughby’s tale.  In the book, it just wasn’t something I cared about seeing on screen but the way it was adapted into this episode was a nice touch. Speaking of last week’s post, I have gathered my statistics and six of my top ten “must see moments” were included – #’s 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 10 – although maybe not exactly as written in the books.  I’m pretty excited about that and hope I can continue with my better than 50 percent streak in Episode 310, Heaven & Earth. It’s getting more difficult as we go along because I have to guess where the episode may be going in relation to the book. There’s a lot of material to cover and not a lot of time to do it in.

Just so you know, I’ve tried to figure out the meaning of the title of Episode 310, Heaven & Earth. Last week I could give you a pretty sure guess on The Doldrums. I can’t do that for this upcoming episode.  Of course, we’ve all heard the expression “move heaven and earth” to do something.  Maybe it will be a line? Or perhaps a scene or scenes? Or perhaps it has a more literal meaning.  I guess we will see.  Do you have any ideas? If so, please share. If not, we will find out soon enough as Season 3 seems to be going by at warp speed.  Nooooooooo!!!!  I can’t believe we only have four more episodes!!!  Let’s not talk about it because I will slip into the doldrums!

OK, now it’s time for me to get on with listing my Top Ten Must See Moments for Episode 310, Heaven & Earth.

Number One: The Gunner’s Wife

In Mrs. Johansen, the gunner’s wife, I had found an unexpected ally. An intelligent woman in her thirties, she had understood—despite her having only a few words of broken English, and my having no Swedish at all—what I wanted done, and had done it.

If Elias was my right hand, Annekje Johansen was the left. She had single-handedly taken over the responsibility of scalding the goats’ milk, patiently pounding hard biscuit—removing the weevils as she did so—to be mixed with it, and feeding the resulting mixture to those hands strong enough to digest it.

Just as I said last week about Aloysius O’Shaughnessy Murphy, the cook for the Artemis, I’m not sure the role of Annekje Johansen has been cast.  I love her in the books and it would be nice to see her in the show. She is such a key character for Claire (and Jamie) on board The Porpoise and I would love to hear her broken English! Ja?

Number Two: The One-Eyed Man From Edinburgh

He knew who I was, all right; I had seen it in his face when I opened the door. There was a great deal of tension in the leg under my hand. The injury was gory, but not serious, given suitable care; a deep gash scored down the calf of the leg. It had bled substantially, but there were no deep arteries cut; it had been well-wrapped with a piece of someone’s shirt, and the bleeding had nearly stopped when I unwound the homemade bandage.

“How did you do this, Mr. Tompkins?” I asked, standing up and reaching for the bottle of alcohol. He glanced up, his single eye alert and wary.

“Splinter wound, ma’am,” he answered, in the nasal tones I had heard once before. “A spar broke as I was a-standing on it.” The tip of his tongue stole out, furtively wetting his lower lip.

“I see.” I turned and flipped open the lid of my empty medicine box, pretending to survey the available remedies. I studied him out of the corner of one eye, while I tried to think how best to approach him. He was on his guard; tricking him into revelations or winning his trust were clearly out of the question.

My eyes flicked over the tabletop, seeking inspiration. And found it. With a mental apology to the shade of Aesculapius the physician, I picked up the late surgeon’s bone-saw, a wicked thing some eighteen inches long, a rust-flecked steel. I looked at this thoughtfully, turned, and laid the toothed edge of the instrument gently against the injured leg, just above the knee. I smiled charmingly into the seaman’s terrified single eye.

“Mr. Tompkins,” I said, “let us talk frankly.”

He’s back!!! Remember Sir Percival’s sidekick in Episode 307, Creme De Menthe? He was in the Print Shop when Young Ian and Brighid were, ah, let’s say getting better acquainted.  After the fire started, he made off with Jamie’s stash of seditious pamphlets putting Jamie at risk of being hangit – again.

Since it would be terribly tragic to subject that gorgeous neck to a hanging, Claire is loaded for bear – well, actually, she is loaded with a bone-saw. In the book, that’s enough to get Tompkins talking about everything and everybody, especially Sir Percival.

Number Three: The Moment of Grace

As I came up from the galley, the sun was going down into the ocean in a blaze that paved the western sea with gold like the streets of Heaven. I stopped for a moment, just a moment, transfixed by the sight.

It had happened many times before, but it always took me by surprise. Always in the midst of great stress, wading waist-deep in trouble and sorrow, as doctors do, I would glance out a window, open a door, look into a face, and there it would be, unexpected and unmistakable. A moment of peace.

The light spread from the sky to the ship, and the great horizon was no longer a blank threat of emptiness, but the habitation of joy. For a moment, I lived in the center of the sun, warmed and cleansed, and the smell and sight of sickness fell away; the bitterness lifted from my heart.

I never looked for it, gave it no name; yet I knew it always, when the gift of peace came. I stood quite still for the moment that it lasted, thinking it strange and not strange that grace should find me here, too.

Beautifully written by Diana.  Is this where the “Heaven” reference in the episode title comes into play, I wonder? This would be a wonderful scene with a voice over by Claire, in my opinion.

Number Four: The Death of a Friend

It was a virulent infection; he came to the sickbay heavy-eyed with fever and wincing at the light; six hours later he was delirious and unable to rise. The next dawn he pressed his cropped round head against my bosom, called me “Mother,” and died in my arms.

I did what had to be done throughout the day, and stood by Captain Leonard at sunset, when he read the burial service.

I don’t really want this to happen but it happens in the book. It is such a moving and emotional moment for Claire and leads her out onto the deck for the meeting with…

Number Five: The Governor

“Stop that!” a voice spoke behind me, and a hand seized my wrist, preventing me from slapping the rail yet again.

“Let go!” I struggled, but his grip was too strong.

“Stop,” he said again, firmly. His other arm came around my waist, and he pulled me back, away from the rail. “You mustn’t do that,” he said. “You’ll hurt yourself.”

“I don’t bloody care!” I wrenched against his grasp, but then slumped, defeated. What did it matter?

He let go of me then, and I turned to find myself facing a man I had never seen before. He wasn’t a sailor; while his clothes were crumpled and stale with long wear, they had originally been very fine; the dove-gray coat and waistcoat had been tailored to flatter his slender frame, and the wilted lace at his throat had come from Brussels.

“Who the hell are you?” I said in astonishment. I brushed at my wet cheeks, sniffed, and made an instinctive effort to smooth down my hair. I hoped the shadows hid my face.

He smiled slightly, and handed me a handkerchief, crumpled, but clean.

and this…

“I hear you,” he said quietly. “You shame me, Madam. I had kept to my cabin at the Captain’s orders, but I had no idea that the circumstances were such as you describe, or I assure you that I should have come to help, in spite of them.”

“Why?” I said blankly. “It isn’t your job.”

“Is it yours?” He swung around to face me, and I saw that he was handsome, in his late thirties, perhaps, with sensitive, fine-cut features, and large blue eyes, open in astonishment.

“Yes,” I said. He studied my face for a moment, and his own expression changed, fading from surprise to thoughtfulness.

That’s right. His expression changed, fading from surprise. Claire doesn’t recognize him but he sure recognizes her….and should!

“What it comes to, I think, is the knowledge that you are not God.” He paused, then added, softly, “And the very real regret that you cannot be.”

I sighed, feeling some of the tension drain out of me. The cool wind lifted the weight of my hair from my neck, and the curling ends drifted across my face, gentle as a touch.

“Yes,” I said.

He hesitated a moment, as though not knowing what to say next, then bent, picked up my hand, and kissed it, very simply, without affectation.

“Good night, Mrs. Malcolm,” he said, and turned away, the sound of his footsteps loud on the deck.

Good night, Governor. We’ll see you again soon!

Number Six: The Escape Plan

“We come to land?” I asked, and she nodded, with a wide, happy smile. She waved expansively upward, where sunlight fell through the grating overhead.

“Ja. Smell?” she said, sniffing vigorously in illustration. She beamed. “Land, ja! Water, grass. Is goot, goot!”

“I need to go to land,” I said, watching her carefully. “Go quiet. Secret. Not tell.”

“Ah?” Annekje’s eyes widened, and she looked at me speculatively. “Not tell Captain, ja?”

“Not tell anyone,” I said, nodding hard. “You can help?”

She was quiet for a moment, thinking. A big, placid woman, she reminded me of her own goats, adapting cheerfully to the queer life of shipboard, enjoying the pleasures of hay and warm company, thriving despite the lurching deck and stuffy shadows of the hold.

With that same air of capable adaptation, she looked up at me and nodded calmly.

“Ja, I help.”

Ja, I love Annekje! How do you pronounce her name anyway?  It sounds like this in my North Carolina brain – Ank-e-gee.  I am quite sure that is not correct.  Help!!!

Number Seven: The Disclosure

Captain Leonard bit his lip, then looked up.

“I had not meant to say anything to you, ma’am. But I—really I cannot in honor keep silence. Mrs. Fraser, I know your name, and I know what your husband is.”

“Really?” I said, trying to keep control of my own emotions. “What is he?”

The boy looked surprised at that. “Why, ma’am, he is a criminal.” He paled a little. “You mean—you did not know?”

“Yes, I knew that,” I said dryly. “Why are you telling me, though?”

He licked his lips, but met my eyes bravely enough. “When I discovered your husband’s identity, I wrote it in the ship’s log. I regret that action now, but it is too late; the information is official. Once I reach Jamaica, I must report his name and destination to the authorities there, and likewise to the commander at the naval barracks on Antigua. He will be taken when the Artemis docks.” He swallowed. “And if he is taken—”

“He’ll be hanged,” I said, finishing what he could not.

Captain Leonard, do you want Claire to take the bone-saw to you too? You might want to talk to Harry Tompkins, then just take your quill and mark through your entry in the log.  Mistakes happen, dude. You’ll thank me later, believe me!

Number Eight: The Foiled Escape

Standing just out of sight, I watched as she went on arguing, thrusting her goatling urgently in his face, forcing him a step back, a step to the side, maneuvering him artfully just far enough that I could slip past behind him. No more than a moment, now; he was almost in place. When she had drawn him away from the head of the gangplank, she would drop the goat and cause sufficient confusion in the catching of it that I would have a minute or two to make my escape.

I shifted nervously from foot to foot. My feet were bare; it would be easier to run on the sandy beach. The sentry moved, his red-coated back fully turned to me. A foot more, I thought, just a foot more.

Run for it, Claire!

Directly before him stood Annekje Johansen and her goat, still in heated conversation with the sentry.

“What is this?” Captain Leonard demanded angrily. “Remove this animal from the deck at once! Mr. Holford, what are you thinking of?”

Annekje’s eyes flicked from the captain to my face, instantly divining what had gone wrong. She stood still, head bowed to the captain’s scolding, then marched away toward the hatchway to the goats’ hold, clutching her yearling. As she passed, one big blue eye winked solemnly. We would try again. But how?

Dang! Captain Leonard is such a spoilsport but I shall not give up on Annekje!

Number Nine: The Leap

“Jump,” she said simply.

“You’re crazy!” I said in horror.

She chuckled in deep satisfaction at my understanding. “Ja,” she said. “But it vork. Vater move you.” She pointed to the end of the Mouchoir Passage, to the coast of Hispaniola, and stirred the water in the pan once more. We stood side by side, watching the ripples of her manufactured current die away.

Annekje glanced thoughtfully sideways at me. “You try not drown, ja?”

I took a deep breath and brushed the hair out of my eyes.

“Ja,” I said. “I’ll try.”

Ja, ja, Claire! It vill vork. Vhat vould be vorse than drowning? Living vithout Jamie, you silly voman!

Number Ten: The Search

“Tell me where my wife is!” he said, in a tone that had made stronger men than Harry Tompkins fall over their feet to obey.

“She’s lost!” the man blurted. “Gone overboard!” “What!” He was so stunned that he let go his hold. Overboard. Gone overboard. Lost.

“When?” he demanded. “How? Damn you, tell me what happened!” He advanced on the seaman, fists clenched.

The seaman was backing away, rubbing his arm and panting, a look of furtive satisfaction in his one eye.

“Don’t worry, your honor,” he said, a queer, jeering tone in his voice. “You won’t be lonesome long. You’ll join her in hell in a few days—dancing from the yardarm over Kingston Harbor!”

Too late, Jamie heard the footfall on the boards behind him. He had no time even to turn his head before the blow fell.

Somebody just stepped into a big pile of doo doo and don’t blame the goat! There will be a price to pay for that!

There was the sound of a door opening, and bright light struck him in the eyes with the force of a blow.He winced, closing his eyes against the glare of the lantern.

“Mr. Fraser,” a soft, well-bred voice said. “I am—truly sorry. I wish you to know that, at least.”

Through a cracked eyelid, he saw the drawn, harried face of young Leonard—the man who had taken Claire. The man wore a look of regret. Regret! Regret, for killing her.

Fury pulled him up against the weakness, and sent him lunging across the slanted deck in an instant. There was an outcry as he hit Leonard and bore him backward into the passage, and a good, juicy thunk! as the bugger’s head hit the boards. People were shouting, and shadows leapt crazily all round him as the lanterns swayed, but he paid no attention.

He smashed Leonard’s jaw with one great blow, his nose with the next. The weakness mattered nothing. He would spend all his strength and die here glad, but let him batter and maim now, feel the bones crack and the blood hot and slick on his fists. Blessed Michael, let him avenge her first!

There were hands on him, snatching and jerking, but they didn’t matter. They would kill him now, he thought dimly, and that didn’t matter, either. The body under him jerked and twitched between his legs, and lay still.

Sorry about your nose, Captain, but obviously you only thought you knew who Jamie Fraser was.  See, if you had only just taken your quill as I suggested earlier and scratched out that log entry then Claire wouldn’t have been forced to jump overboard and Jamie wouldn’t have had to beat you to a pulp.

He had been nearly unconscious, in fact, when the door to his prison had opened, and a strong smell of goat assailed his nostrils. He had no idea how the woman had got him up the ladder to the afterdeck, or why. He had only a confused memory of her babbling urgently to him in broken English as she pulled him along, half-supporting his weight as he stumbled and slid on the rain-wet decking.

He remembered the last thing she had said, though, as she pushed him toward the tilting taffrail.

“She is not dead,” the woman had said. “She go there”—pointing at the rolling sea—“you go, too. Find her!” and then she had bent, got a hand in his crutch and a sturdy shoulder under his rump, and heaved him neatly over the rail and into the churning water.

Hummmm….according to Merriam-Webster, crutch is defined as follows:

Vell, Annekje, you sly voman! It’s all goot, right? Vink, Vink!

So, there you have my ten moments of Outlander Must See TV for Episode 310, Heaven & Earth. What’s your thoughts about the upcoming episode? If you are book reader, what are the moments you most want to see?  If you’re not a book reader, I hope I haven’t spoiled too much for you and would love to hear what you think might happen in the episode.

I’ll be taking a break from the blog next week to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. I have so many things to be thankful for this year and I am especially thankful for the people this blog has brought into my life and for the new friendships I have made.  Yes, I am talking about you, my dear readers. I am very humbled by the support I have received. Thank you so much for allowing me into your lives and for taking time out of your busy day to read my crazy ramblings. I do not take it for granted and I pray all of you who will be celebrating Thanksgiving (I know all of you don’t live in the US) have a wonderful holiday with family, friends and loved ones.

By the way and speaking of family, if you haven’t joined the Outlander North Carolina Facebook group, you’re missing out! The group is a great Outlander family!  Being a resident of North Carolina is not a requirement to join the group and we’d love to have you! Click here to join:  Outlander North Carolina Facebook Group.

Until next time, Je Suis Prest! Are you?

All quotes used in this article are from Voyager by Diana Gabaldon. Photo credits: STARZ

Post by Contributing Author, Traci Wood Thompson

The title of episode 305 is from a Robert Burns poem, which Claire quotes to Jamie, then Jamie re-quotes in print, and the paper travels down the years back to Claire in that anachronistic circle of life which is Outlander. True to the title and the poem, in this episode freedom and whisky often do “gang thegither.” The metaphor of Claire being a trapped in the cage of her current life is a recurring one this season, pointed out very obviously in episode 301 when she stares longingly out of her kitchen window at a sparrow living freely outside. In “Freedom & Whisky” Claire ponders freedom and the consequences of it, while many parallel themes move the story along.

The episode opens with Claire elbow deep in surgery, completely in her element and illustrating how much her skills have grown. She successfully performs a risky maneuver as Joe nervously watches; his incredulous look, and the improbability of what she has done, suggests her skills have gone beyond the normal scope. Maybe even into the realm of the supernatural, perhaps? After all, there is also the scene with Claire, Joe, and “dem bones.” (As a book reader, I won’t comment here on who “dem bones” might belong to.) There is certainly a hint of the supernatural there, as Claire suddenly knows the deceased was a 150 year old murder victim merely by touching the skull. But whatever the nature of Claire’s skills, and whether she is operating on a patient or engaged in forensics, practicing medicine is part of Claire’s freedom within whatever circumstances she finds herself. The expansion of her medical talents is one way she breaks out of limitations.

Claire and Joe have the first glasses of whisky we see in the episode.  He asks what happened in Scotland, and she explains vaguely about wanting to reconnect with the man from her past, “…but fate had other ideas.” Joe replies, “F*** fate.”  Freedom and whisky gang thegither here for sure; Joe is one of the few people – and maybe the only person at this point – Claire feels she can freely talk to, especially about something so important and so deeply personal. His reply is an affirmation that she should not give up and not let go, but should  pursue what she wants against all odds.  He encourages her to allow herself that freedom.

We see Claire having the second glass of whisky after Roger shows up like an adorable puppy on the doorstep. Roger has news, but before he breaks it, he asks, “Can I pour you a whisky?” Sure, says Claire. (Like she would ever refuse!)  Roger drops the bomb – he has found Jamie, and only a year ago in the parallel timeline.  He expects Claire to be overjoyed, but she has reached a limit of hope and disappointment and she just can’t take it. Roger has offered, along with the whisky, the hope of being free to return to Jamie – but such freedom comes with a high price.

A major theme for Claire is that of guilt.  To both book readers and show watchers, many of Claire’s actions and decisions sometimes seem hard to understand; but they are clearer if one understands her motivation, and nine times out of ten, her motivator is guilt. At this point in the story, Claire’s main guilt is maternal in nature. How can I leave Brianna? she asks. (And book readers know there is a backstory to her maternal guilt where Brianna is concerned.) She may be guilt-ridden no matter what choice she makes; while it is clearer in the book than the show, she probably has some inkling that Jamie, since he did not die at Culloden, has suffered through the years without her, just as she has suffered without him. To not return to him means his suffering continues; to return to him means abandoning their daughter. Freedom from the guilt of letting someone down seems out of reach for Claire, no matter how much whisky is involved.

The guilt theme is also brought up in a fairly obvious way by the “other woman,” Sandy, at the Harvard reception honoring Frank. “You should have let him go…You never wanted him, but you wouldn’t give him up,” Sandy accuses, “A part of him was still in love with you and always would be, no matter how much you broke his heart…you were selfish. You wanted it all. So you lived a lie and made Frank and Brianna live it too.” Some viewers have wondered why Claire stood there and listened. I propose that she did because Sandy is merely a symbol of Claire’s own conscience, and she might as well have been talking to herself. How many of the accusations are true or not is very debatable; but the fact that Claire has always carried guilt over Frank and Brianna is clear, and this scene is a manifestation of it. The accusation of “living a lie” reaffirms Claire and Brianna’s agreement to only have the truth between them now and spurs Claire on to share Roger’s news, which she had previously hidden.

Meanwhile, Brianna’s journey – which seems sadly abbreviated, due to lack of time – is a parallel of Claire’s journey through the stones.  Claire had a former life in her own time, then a new one in the past, and then the former life was thrust back on her again, a pattern referenced often in this episode. “How can you take a trip like that, and come back to life as you knew it?” asks Joe, as they watch the space flight of Apollo 8 on t.v. Claire’s voice-over affirms, yes, you can come back to your life after an impossible journey, but it is never the same.

Similarly, Brianna had a former life, one in which she believed Frank was her father and time travel was a fantasy; after she knows the truth, she comes back to her life in Boston, but it cannot be the same. Brianna thus wrestles with an identity crisis –  who is she? Is she a Randall, is she a Fraser?  Is she both? Is she neither? Even without any dialogue or voice-overs, Brianna’s struggle is clear as she looks at the smoking pipes, photos, and other artifacts of Frank’s life.

Brianna’s talk with Roger under the arches at Harvard is an illustration of her identity problem, as well as being a nice bit of foreshadowing for the future choices of her character. “What is history?” she questions bitterly.  “It’s just a story. It changes depending on who’s telling it….like Bonnie Prince Charlie…like my parents.” Likewise, Brianna had a story; but now that her parent’s story is different than what she thought, as a consequence her narrative is also changed irrevocably. After questioning her mother about herself (under the same arches, another nice parallel) Claire affirms that she loves Brianna for herself, not for the man who fathered her. Brianna ultimately decides she is more like Claire than either of her fathers, a realization that promises to help her begin to forge a new identity.

Brianna’s resolution of her identity problem enables her to more fully accept the idea of Jamie. She is able to think about the sacrifice Jamie made for her, and how he must have wondered about and missed his wife and child over the years. Her eventual response is to be willing to send her mother back to him, so Jamie can know that they are both alive and well and Claire can experience again the happiness she once had. This selfless act is the absolution Claire needs to free her from her guilt and enable her to return to the past.  Brianna also begins to be more open to forging new bonds of family and tradition, illustrated by her grateful expression when Claire gives her Ellen’s pearls and suggests she wear them on her own wedding day. The ornament appearing in the episode’s title card, “Brianna’s 1st Christmas, 1948,” symbolizes her life as the child of Frank Randall; the Christmas of 1968 is her first Christmas as the child of Jamie Fraser.

The Christmas ornament illustrates perhaps another way Claire pursues freedom in this episode: through creativity.  Here is an interesting side of Claire we have not seen much of before; “artsy-crafty Claire” makes hand-painted ornaments and sews homemade clothing, customized with hidden pockets. And to the Batman theme, no less.

Freedom and whisky gang thegither the last time, appropriately enough, as Claire prepares to leave for Scotland. Roger brings out a celebratory bottle and he, Claire, and Brianna toast simply, “To freedom and whisky.” Claire is now as free as she will ever be to return to the past and to the freedom of the kind of love she had with Jamie.  

Brianna, after maintaining a brave face for her mother, collapses into Roger’s arms in tears after Claire leaves. She is now on her own, free to make her own choices; but like Roger, she is now an orphan, another new identity for Brianna and a new bond to bring them even closer together.

At the end of the episode, the Voyager monologue is used. Claire expresses a childhood distrust of puddles, fearing they are really portals to a fathomless space, but even so she pushes onward past them. Likewise she manages to push past her empty life with Frank, her guilt and fears, and move onward. However, in the book monologue, she says if she saw a star reflected in the puddle, she could splash through unafraid, because “I could grab hold of the star, and be safe.”

In her journey through the portal of the stones, Jamie is her star, and she is guided towards him and towards a most anticipated and satisfying conclusion to this episode. We can look forward to Claire “grabbing hold of him and being safe” next week – if she can get him off the floor!

Traci Thompson is a married mother of two who lives in eastern North Carolina, and is, of course, an avid Outlander fan.  Traci is a Certified Genealogist and Local History & Genealogy Librarian. She is a contributing author for Outlander North Carolina.