Written by Diana Gabaldon, Ronald D. Moore, and Toni Graphia
Directed by Metin Hüseyin

Although the series Outlander is a serial where an overall story is being told and episodes generally don’t stand on their own, most of the time viewers don’t see cliffhangers from one episode to the next. The Watch is the rare case where the story picks up exactly where the previous one left off, with Jamie (Sam Heughan) being held at gunpoint by an unknown man.

The man seems to know his way around Lallybroch and who should be here. With Claire (Caitriona Balfe) looking on, afraid to speak, he questions Jamie. Jenny (Laura Donnelly) walks in and says Jamie is her cousin, Jamie MacTavish. They learn the man with the gun is Taran MacQuarrie (Douglas Henshall), the leader of the local Watch. Jenny and Ian (Steven Cree) pay he and his men for protection from the English and other Clans. Jamie behaves himself at dinner, but he’s eager to see the men leave. The men trade war stories and Taran offers to let Jaimie in on something big they’re planning.

The next day, as Jamie is trying to reshoe one of their horses, an argument ensues. One of MacQuarrie’s men lights a wagon of hay on fire and the men end up fighting. Jamie subdues all of them, and MacQuarrie is impressed. However, when his other men arrive, Jamie sees a familiar face. Back in the episode The Reckoning, Horrocks (Lochlann O’Mearáin) was the man who told Jamie that Captain Randall (Tobias Menzies) is the man who actually committed the murder that Jamie is charged with. Jamie meets Horrocks in the house. Horrocks wants to blackmail him for passage to the colonies.

Horrocks is trying to convince Taran and his men to go along with his plan to rob the rent party. It sounds all too easy, but Taran is lured by the possibility of a big score.

Jenny goes into labor. Claire realizes the baby is breech and she attempts to turn it, unsuccessfully. They learn the midwife was called away and Claire will have to deliver the baby.

Ian chides Jamie for provoking the men of the Watch. Ian says he appreciates them, and he likes Taran. Ian can’t protect the family the way he would like to, and Taran doesn’t look on Ian with pity. Ian offers Jamie some money left by his father to pay off Horrocks, but Jamie doesn’t want to touch it. He turns to Claire, who confesses she’s not so sure that she can have children, so he is saving the money for something that might never happen.

Jamie goes to pay off Horrocks, but Horrocks isn’t satisfied and wants more. Unbeknownst to Jamie, Ian followed him and when Horrocks starts threatening Jamie, Ian kills him.

When Ian and Jamie return to the house, then men are eating while Jenny is in labor. Taran comments about not having seen Horrocks in a while. When he hasn’t turned up by the next morning, Taran asks Jamie why he killed him, having figured it out. Jamie tells Taran the truth: that he’s a wanted man and Horrocks knew it. However, Taran now wants Jamie to come along on their raid. Ian says he is going as well.

Taran tries to entice Jamie into joining him on a permanent basis, but Jamie won’t leave Claire. As the men arrive at where Horrocks told them, Jamie has a bad feeling and it turns out to be justified: Horrocks set them up for an ambush by the British.

Jenny delivers a baby girl after a hard labor. The two of them wait for Ian and Jamie to return and are nervous. Ian finally comes hobbling up the road, aided by one of the men of The Watch who also escaped the ambush. Jamie was captured by the British.

It’s relatively early in the series, but The Watch manages to draw on a lot of the history that’s already been presented. The Watch was talked about in earlier episodes when Claire was traveling with the men of Castle Leoch, and Horrocks was someone Jamie knew was all about money. Still, he didn’t recognize the possible betrayal until he was there with Taran and his men.

Ian has some of the more personal growth here as he has to stand up to his brother-in-law and best friend. He lost the lower part of his leg in the war and can’t run Lallybroch the way a man in this era should be able to. However, he loves Jenny deeply and does as much as he can with the hand life has dealt him. He puts Jamie in his place with all of his protesting about the way things were done while he was gone. Ian doesn’t ask Jamie for pity; he just asks for understanding. 

On rewatching this, I recognized the actor who portrayed Taran, but I couldn’t place him until I looked it up. Douglas Henshall portrays D.I. Perez on the series Shetland, which I have also been enjoying. He gives a great performance here as Taran, which is why I didn’t recognize him right off. It’s a character I wish we’d see more of, but he won’t be around much longer.

For the first time, Claire voices her misgivings about being able to have children. She and Jamie have only been together for a few months, but she has a history before being with him and she didn’t become pregnant then, either. Of course, later on she will learn that Frank is the one who can’t have children, but at this point she doesn’t know that. It’s a hard cross for a woman to bear at a time when her value was mostly defined as a wife and mother.

Episodes like The Watch make me wonder where Jamie would be different without Claire being there. Would he have just married Laoghaire and stayed at Castle Leoch? Would he have ridden around with Taran and the others of The Watch? Would he have made it to Culloden and died there? It’s something interesting to explore: what would have happened to Jamie if a beautiful time-traveler hadn’t dropped into his life?

The Watch is a solid episode that really sets the tone for what it was like in this time and place. Even though the Frasers fare better than most, life is still a struggle. Ian and Jenny must pay for protection, especially since Ian struggles so much with a missing leg. Not only do they have to worry about taking care of their tenants, but also dealing with the British and their demands as well as other Clans. It’s not an easy life by any means, even though they are Clan Chiefs. Where would Jenny have been without Claire there? It would have been up to one of her servants to help her deliver a breech baby. Perhaps she would have died, leaving Ian with one or two young children to care for.

It’s also beautifully filmed. The shadows when they are really help to set the mood. Outside, it’s beautiful as well, even with the chores and struggles the families face. It almost makes me want to live back then, except for no indoor plumbing.

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