The Small Fries

...billow and breeze, islands and seas / mountains of rain and sun...

Last week we were left with Claire and Geillis being arrested for witch craft, thanks to Laoghaire. The trial over their charges is the centerpiece of this episode. Claire and Geillis have been thrown into the thieves’ hole to await their trial; each blaming the other for their current situation. They sleep in the freezing pit overnight, until they are abruptly awakened by screaming villagers and their escorts across town. Despite the severity of the situation, the whole first half of this episode just reminds me of the Witch Trial from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I was just waiting for someone to shout, “She turned me into a newt!” SPOILER ALERT BEYOND THIS POINT!

The Witch Trial from Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Anyway, as the trial begins, Ned Gowan comes to the rescue and offers to serve as both Claire and Geillis’s legal representative, to which the church agrees. During the first half of the trial we go through three witnesses: one, Geillis’s parlor maid; two, a weeping mother; three, a bystander who witnessed Geillis’s witch craft.

The maid swears that Geillis was a witch and used her magic to kill her husband. She was known to make potions and charms for various customers without hesitation. She was often seen with Claire picking herbs and even concocting potions with her. She even explains how Geillis would go into the fields at night to perform ceremonies to her master, like the one Claire witnessed in the previous episode.

Lotte Verbeek as Geillis and Caitriona Balfe as Claire at the Witch Trial

The weeping mother claims to have witnessed Claire casting spells over her sick child she left on the faerie hill; the changeling child that was to be switched by the faeries for the healthy human child. She said that Claire killed the baby and now her own child is lost to the faeries forever. I am thinking the entire time, “So faeries are okay, but witches are out?” Makes sense, peasants. Gotta love their logic.

Ned Gowan manages to thwart these accusations by blaming the maid’s testimony on being a disgruntled house maid. He brings up the fact she was looking for work in Leoch because she felt underpaid and underappreciated in the Duncan house. He also consoles the grieving mother by saying Claire merely helped take the changeling away, and now her baby will live a healthy life with the faeries. Instead of condemning her, they should be thanking her for saving the baby.

Everything seems to be going smoothly and working in their favor, that is until the last witness of the day testifies. He is a townsman that claims to have seen Geillis in the middle of a storm commanding the lightening and sprouting wings to take flight into the chaos of the storm. Claire and Geillis share an amused look, and honestly I lost it myself. Picturing Geillis Duncan sprouting wings and taking flight like a bat in the night cracked me up, but villagers aren’t known to be reasonable when on a witch hunt.

Geillis and Claire being led to their trial

The trial ends for the day, and our witches are escorted back to their hole. They share a flask and sit patiently waiting until the following morning. Claire learns that Geillis is a Jacobite that has been stealing money from her now deceased husband for years and giving it to Dougal, proving she is actually in love with Dougal McKenzie.

The next morning, the pair are escorted back through the Monty Python scene to begin the second half of their trial, where things take a turn for the worse. Laoghaire is our first witness of the day (ode to joy). She doesn’t attack Geillis so much as she does Claire. She explains that Claire gave her a potion to persuade Jamie to love her, but instead bewitched Jamie herself and stole him away. Claire tires to defend herself, but is silenced when Laoghaire continues. She says that she struck her for trying to seduce Jamie. Claire explained that Laoghaire placed an ill-wish under their bed and had every right to confront the young girl about her actions. Claire defending herself makes everything worse as Laoghaire starts crying. Ned tries to defend Claire by saying Laoghaire is just a jealous, broken-hearted woman.

That is completely overlooked when Father Bain approaches as the final witness. For those of us who have seen the first half of the season and/or read the book, we know that Father Bain completely despises Claire and has called her a witch from the beginning. He gives a very “heartwarming” court room performance by claiming how wrong he was about Claire, because she was able to determine a young boy at a poisonous plant, whereas he believed it was the work of the devil. He states he is going to leave the priesthood, because he has failed the citizens of Crainesmur and isn’t fit to serve God.

Nell Hudson as Laoghaire testifying against Claire

This, of course, enrages the villagers. Many are shouting that it takes a witch to make a man of God turn his back on Him. As Father Bain takes his seat next to Laoghaire, he gives the witches a smirk of satisfaction. Seeing the trial taking a turn for the worst, Ned calls for a recess.

He gives Claire and Geillis a new plan. Since he is certain they are going to burn, he wants Claire to forsake everything and claim Geillis had her under her control the whole time without her knowledge. To which, Claire will repent her sins and be forgiven. Ned leaves to tame the crowd while the women discuss, and with Geillis contemplating on following through with the plan, she asks Claire for the truth. She knows that Claire is lying about why she is at Leoch. Claire doesn’t divulge everything, but Geillis knows she is not from this time. She, somehow, understands. Claire ends up not following through with the plan, but instead screams and damns every villager to hell. Leading to her being whipped. Before she is being taken to the center of the room, Geillis keeps telling her “1968! 1968.”

Geillis confessing her "sins"

Claire is dragged kicking and screaming to the middle of the room and is whipped for her outburst, but a very angry Jamie bursts through the room, swords drawn, ready to protect his wife exclaiming, “I swore an oath on the altar of God to protect this woman! And if you’re telling me you’re considering your authority to be greater than that of the Almighty, then I must inform you that I am not of that opinion myself. The first man forward will be the first man down.” All I can say is, Praise the good Lord for Jamie Fraser!

Geillis being led to her fate

Geillis takes this moment to condemn herself and save Claire. She says she placed the poor Sassenach under her spell and controlled her. She shows her small-pox vaccine scar and claims it to be a mark of the devil. That’s when Claire, along with the viewers, realizes Geillis is from 1968. Geillis continues to stir the crowd by revealing her pregnant body and claiming her child is the child of Satan. The villagers seize her and take her to the pyre to burn. Claire and Jamie then make a quick escape and leave Leoch for good.

Jamie stops in the woods to help care for Claire’s wounds while also asking her for the honest truth. He’s seen the same mark on Claire’s arm. Finally, Claire tells him the whole truth, and Jamie believes her. He says he asked for the truth, and he can tell she is not lying to him; no matter how outlandish it sounds. Jamie wants her to tell him everything about her time and how she came to the stones, and Claire does just that. He realizes that he beat Claire for running away the day she was trying to make it back to the stones, and he hates himself for that.

Claire confessing everything to Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser

As they continue on their journey away from Leoch, Jamie talks of Lallybroch and the life they could have together, but little does Claire know, he is taking her to Craig na Dune. *start crying here* They finally reach the stones, and the uncertainty is written all over her face. Who will she choose? Right when she is about to touch the stones, he stops her. Only to apologize and say he wasn’t ready. *sobs* Jamie tells her to go, saying, “There’s nothing for you on this side. Nothing except violence and danger.” He leaves her at the rocks to pass through to her own time, but says he will stay at the campsite until he knows she is safely across. “Goodbye, Sassenach.”

Goodbye, Sassenach. *still crying*

*sobs even more* Claire turns to the rocks with her hands outstretched and everything goes black. Only to focus on Jamie asleep by a fire and…

“On your feet, soldier,” a voice calls. It’s Claire! “Take me home to Lallybroch.”

This ending destroyed my emotions. I knew what was going to happen, but just like it did in the book, it made curl into a ball and sob. Claire and Jamie’s story is both gut-wrenching and heartwarming. The chemistry between Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan can be felt through the screen, especially in these emotionally intimate scenes. They work well together, conveying the raw emotion behind each character’s actions. Jamie takes Claire to Craig na Dune to save her from the dangers of 1746 Scotland. He loves her that much to send her away. Heughan does a phenomenal job convincing viewers how in love Jamie really is. When Geillis asks Claire is she loves Jamie, Balfe is able to show the gears turning in Claire’s mind as she comes to realize she just may be in love with James Fraser.

During the trial, Lotte Verbeek has her final shining moment in the show. Her very dramatic sacrifice was a major high point in Saturday’s episode. Despite the obvious fear she has of burning at the stake, she displays a very convincing performance that she is indeed the witch the villagers claim she is. “The Devil’s Mark” was full of breathtaking dramatic performances from the leads to the minor characters at the trial. It really showed the versatility of the show and the true talent of the cast. I can hardly wait until this Saturday’s episode, where we finally make our way to Lallybroch!

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--Kasey