Written by Diana Gabaldon, Ronald D. Moore, and Anne Kenney
Directed by Mike Barker

After returning to Scotland, there’s not much time for Jamie and Claire to relax before trouble begins to rear its head again. After all, how boring would a drama show be without any drama? However, compared to the Outlander books, these events are handled much differently.

Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) return to Lallybroch. They immerse themselves in daily life and try to heal. The first crop of potatoes, which Claire had told Ian (Steven Cree) and Jenny (Laura Donnelly) they needed to plant, is coming in. The mail arrives, and Jamie finds out that Prince Charles (Andrew Gower) signed his name to a loyalty oath. It was published and distributed as Charles arrived in Scotland to begin gathering an army to claim his right to the throne. This means that Jamie is now a traitor to the crown, and can be hung. Jamie and Claire discuss it privately, and Jamie argues he has no real choice but to fight now.

Jamie, Ian, and Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) have to decide which of the men among their tenants can be part of the fight. Jamie intends to take Claire and appeal to his grandfather, Lord Lovat (Clive Russell). There’s bad blood there as Jenny and Jamie recount family history. Lord Lovat has been known to support the Stuart cause in the past.

Claire awakens that night to find herself alone in bed. Jamie is downstairs with Ian and Jenny’s newest child, talking to her in front of the fire. Neither of them could sleep, explains Jenny when she finds Claire watching them, and Jamie offered to take care of the baby so Ian and Jenny could get some sleep.

On the day they are to depart, Fergus (Romann Berrux) wants to come with them. At first, they want to leave him with Ian and Jenny, but Jamie relents and tells him to go with Murtagh to fetch the men and meet them later. Jamie and Claire head off to visit Lord Simon Lovat. When they arrive, they find Colum McKenzie (Gary Lewis) already there to meet with Lovat for the same reason.

Claire accuses Colum of knowing about her being sent to Geillis for the witch trial. Colum states he knew nothing, and that he had Laoghaire (Nell Hudson) beaten for what she did. If it wasn’t for Mrs. Fitz, he would have had her expelled from Castle Leoch. Simon Lovat enters, and Claire is dismissed from the conversation between the three men. Laoghaire, who has accompanied Colum, apologizes to Claire and begs her forgiveness. Claire cannot give it.

Colum wants to stay neutral and uses Jamie to make his case to Lord Lovat. Jamie meets with him privately and finds that Lord Lovat is after Lallybroch. He threatens Claire to try to force Jamie to do what he wants. Jamie says he isn’t worried. After all, Claire is La Dame Blanche.

Colum and Jamie argue. Colum says he has history on his side. The other rebellions failed due to lack of outside help and there isn’t any this time, either. He urges Jamie not to make a bargain with Lord Lovat.

Claire schemes to get Lord Lovat’s son, Simon (James Paris), and Laorghaire together. She thinks Laoghaire can influence him to stand up to his father and fight with the Jacobites. Unfortunately, Laoghaire frightens him off.

Lord Lovat states either Jamie will sign Lallybroch over to him, or he will sign a pact of neutrality with Colum McKenzie. Jamie is about to do it when Claire claims to have a vision of Lord Lovat’s execution and intimates it is by the Jacobite king. Simon then volunteers to lead the Fraser men to the war. Lord Lovat signs the neutrality pact with Colum.

Before they leave, Claire asks Jamie to thank Laoghaire. They depart with Simon Lovat, and meet up with Lord Lovat. He has manipulated the situation so that he can pretend neutrality should the British win, but by sending the men under the leadership of Simon, he can also be seen as supporting Prince Charles should he win.

In the book, Dragonfly in Amber, upon which this season is based, this is structured much differently. It is Prince Charles who sends Jamie and Claire to meet with Lord Lovat and secure the men who were already promised to the Prince. Lord Lovat isn’t overtly after Lallybroch, but he is definitely scheming. Colum isn’t present at all and doesn’t sign a pact with Lord Lovat. He comes to see Jamie and Claire while they are with the Prince preparing for a fight. Also, Laoghaire wasn’t seen during this time. In passing, Colum mentions that she is married now.

The conversation with Colum about Laoghaire shows that Jamie knew about Laoghaire’s involvement with Claire’s witch trial. In the book, this isn’t the case. Jamie never knew, and that’s why certain events take place which are detailed in the next book. It’s the subject of much debate among fans of the series and books.

I did like that they showed Colum had the intelligence to realize just how futile the Jacobite Rising was. He knew there was little to no chance of success, despite all of the Prince’s assurances to the contrary.

Lord Lovat’s temperament is true to the book. He’s not a nice man, and it’s easy to understand why Jamie’s father wanted nothing to do with him. The fact that Colum and Dougal thought their sister Ellen was marrying down when she married Jamie’s father, Brian, is ironic considering how Lord Lovat views her. I don’t know that I would have continued to have a conversation with someone who talked that way about my mother. This is also why Colum being there really doesn’t work well. I don’t think he would entertain an alliance with someone who thought of his family the way Lord Lovat does. He’s smart enough to know that the Prince’s efforts to reclaim the throne are futile, but should also be smart enough to stay away from Lord Lovat.

Claire is shut out of a lot of the meat of this episode. That means the gravitas rests on Sam Heughan’s shoulders, and he handles it well. I think it would be more believable that he was sent by the Prince rather than going to visit a man he is related to but doesn’t know of his own volition. He’s convincing, though, that Jamie is able to swallow his pride somewhat and try to hold Lord Lovat to his word. In the book, it was stressed that Jamie could not return to the Prince without the men, which was why it was so important for him to convince Simon to lead the men.

Caitriona Balfe has her own confrontation with Laoghaire here. It’s not convincing, either. Claire says she can never forgive her, but then she’s ready to enlist her help. Claire tries to be a matchmaker and doesn’t want Laoghaire to compromise herself, but Laoghaire isn’t smart enough to feign interest as a method of flirtation. For her, the easiest thing is to use her body, just as she did to “thank” Jamie when he took the lashes for her back at the beginning of season one in Castle Leoch. Balfe’s performance as she’s pretending to have a vision isn’t convincing. I’m not sure it was meant to be, though. I think the idea was to show that Lord Lovat put his faith in something ridiculous.

It was good to see them return to Scotland. They seemed to have more time among family in the book than they do here, but it’s handled very well. Jamie’s confrontation with his grandfather plays out better in the book, I think, due to his motivation for being there. It’s a solid episode that turns the focus away from France and what happened there back to Scotland. As much as they hoped, Jamie and Claire did not top the uprising and now have to face the fact that there will be a fight.

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