The Small Fries

...all that was good, all that was fair/ all that was me is gone...

SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ PAST HERE IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS WEEK'S OUTLANDER!

Laird Broch Turach has finally returned! Jamie and Claire made their way home to Lallybroch in the latest episode of Outlander. However, this place harbors many dark memories for Jamie. The last time he was home, Black Jack Randall was flogging him and then was attempting to rape his sister. I’m just going to say what we are all thinking: Randall is just a terrible person.

Laird Broch Turach collecting rent from his tennants

Jamie is nervous about seeing Jenny, his sister, after hearing the rumors about her floating around. Apparently, Randall did rape her and she gave birth to his bastard. These rumors are all but confirmed when we see Jenny and her son, Wee Jamie. Of course, our Jamie flies off the handle when he sees the young lad and his pregnant sister, automatically thinking her to be a whore. Everything is put to ease when Ian Murray, Jamie’s childhood friend, limps forth and says the children are his.

Laura Donnelly as Jenny and Steven Cree as Ian

Throughout the episode, Jamie and his sister butt heads, and Jenny seems to hold some type of resentment towards Claire for the better half of the episode. Jamie is trying to be his father when he was Laird of Lallybroch instead of becoming his own man, and knowing our dear Sassenach, that doesn’t sit well with her. The atmosphere between characters is very tense while they are getting used to one another and adjusting to the drastic changes that are occurring at Lallybroch.

At one point, while Jamie is reminiscing on his father’s turn as Laird, we learn more about his time as Randall’s prisoner. Jamie’s father, Brian, was at Fort William pleading on his son’s behalf for mercy. He doesn’t want to see Jamie flogged again. However, when Randall tells Jamie that his father’s plea didn’t work, it is obvious he has something else in mind for the Highlander. He wants Jamie to submit his body for Randall’s pleasure. Yep, Randall likes the Scottish lads, and since Jamie denied him, he was flogged...again. Black Jack flogged him until he had passed out. Little did Jamie know, his father witnessed this flogging and then collapsed in the courtyard. He didn’t know at the time that Brian Fraser had died.

Randall giving Jamie an ultimatum

Though Jamie has escaped the English, he still has a price on his head. So, while he is fixing the mill, Jenny and Claire cover for him when an English patrol rides by. Jamie is underwater trying to free the clogged gears. Kudos to Jamie for being able to stay underwater for that long. However, he ends up downstream in the nude, when Jenny and Claire rush to find him after the patrol moves on. Outlander: always entertaining.

A very upset James Fraser after the English Patrol.

Jamie, instead of being grateful, is upset that Jenny even came up to the millhouse in her condition. Later that night, Claire gives him what for by yanking him out of bed in the middle of the night. She finally has his attention and says, “I did not marry the Laird of Lallybroch. I married Jamie, but I haven’t seen much him since we walked through the gates of this place.” She is right. The Jamie we know and love hasn’t been around much this episode, but she finally knocks some much needed sense into him.

Jamie in the doghouse while Claire is screwing his head on straight.

He takes her advice into consideration and visits his father’s grave for the first time the next day, and has a moment with Jenny. She blames herself for everything that happened, and Jamie blames himself. However, he is troubled by the thought that Jenny would sacrifice her virtue for his life by going with Randall. Jenny argues, “If your life is a suitable exchange for my honor, tell me why my honor is not a suitable exchange for your life?” With that, the siblings have made up and all differences have been put aside.

As the episode winds down, we see Claire and Jamie in the Laird’s Chambers where she admits feeling like she’s where she belongs. This scene is very intimate, and trust me, you will feel all the feels. Jamie tells Claire about the first time he fell in love with her. “I loved you when you first wept in my arms that first night at Leoch. But now I wake up everyday and I find that I love you more than I did the day before.” Okay, James Fraser, thank you for making me set my standards entirely too high...bloody perfect Scotsman.

Jamie telling Claire when he first fell in love with her

Now, knowing how this show works, we shouldn’t expect that to be the end. Well, it’s not. Claire wakes the next morning to find Jamie missing from bed. She gets ready and prepares for a normal day, until she walks in on her husband at gunpoint and surrounded by three men. One of them is giving Jamie instructions to stay silent or “this lovely lass is going to be scrubbing your brains off the floor.”

An intruder holding Jamie at gunpoint

This episode gives us a quick glimpse into Jamie’s family and his marriage to Claire post-Craig na Dune. We learn that the Frasers are all alike: stubborn and hot-headed. But Jamie and Jenny are truly the ultimate siblings. They were both willing to give anything to save the other. Despite their fights, they do it all for love. Jamie and Claire are definitely more comfortable with one another since Claire has FINALLY confided in him the truth of her past. However, their comfort is about to be tested.

The rest of this season is going to be the most gut-wrenching and heartbreaking program to watch. I love this part, because it shows just how strong Jamie and Claire’s connection is, but it is also a very painful milestone they will have to cross. Stock up on your kleenex, bottles of Rhenish (wine), and maybe a box or two of chocolate. You’re going to need all the comfort you can get.

Catch Outlander every Saturday night on Starz at 9ET.

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--Kasey