Previously… Claire goes through the stones and meets Jamie. Le sigh. But she has some problems and wants to go back to the stones. After meeting Jamie it still eludes me why she wants to go back. But… oh well.
Opening Titles. Still make me cry. Oh! Was it just me or did you all fill a shiver when seeing the MacKenzie clan badge and motto at the ending of the opening titles?
Armed guards stand watch over a misty landscape. Eerie. Claire is running through the woods. Eerie. Guards have her on sight. Oh, no! Don’t shoot! Claire comes out of the woods and she is playing with Hamish and some other kids. We breathe. Angus, still my favorite, shows Claire his family jewels. Question: why does Claire keep seeing asses and… other bits from several Scots other than Jamie? Claire wants to keep on playing with the kids, but her other kids (Angus and Rupert, that is), want to join the festivities. Claire takes pity on them. Though she wants to continue on with her plan to escape the castle. No. No Jamie in this scene if you were wondering.
Back at the camp, Claire likes what she sees. No, not Angus’s family jewels!!! But the people of the clan coming together and having fun. Claire, smart lassie that she is, knows she needs to get rid of her guards. So she tempts them with one very well endowed lassie. Off goes Angus. By the way, these two are still my very favorite. Now that Claire dispatched Angus, she needs a horse. Yay! Off to the stables to see Jamie!!! Who didn’t appear in this scene either.
Claire doing some voice over gets to the stables. We hold our collective breaths. But Old Alec shots all our hopes with just one phrase: “there’s no one in need of healing here”. Boooh!!! Where’s Jamie??? Claire, trying not to show her disappointment, asks for a horse. Girl, please ask where Jamie is!!! After Old Alec keeps being a spoilsport, Claire asks if Mr McTavish could be able to help her. Finally some sense! But the lad ain’t there and shouldn’t be bothered. WTH??? Finally, Claire gets a horse. But no Jamie. I’d say she lost this one.
Claire goes back to her surgery and Geilis scares her out of her skin. She’s there cuz she brought Claire a bottle of wine. When seeing a basket of food, she asks Claire if she’s pregnant. Cuz that’s the only reason for having food at hand. Like… I also have a basket of food when I binge-watch a show. Come on Geilis, don’t you do that also? In this scene, we also learn the difference between “dead” and “not alive”. After that, conversation turns to one of Geilis favorite subjects: drugs. And she starts doing some girl-talk, to encourage Claire to spill her secrets. But Claire ain’t talking. After shooing Geilis out, Claire hides the food. Sneaky. Still no Jamie.
Claire, still voicing over, goes to the kitchen to get herself a weapon. But the omnipresent Mrs Fitz tells her off for not being appropriately dressed for the ceremony. You are screwed Claire. How the heck are you gonna get out of this one?
Obviously, she doesn’t. Cuz Mrs Fitz is a powerhouse. So in comes Claire into the Hall, wearing a stunning dress that will have Jamie drooling like a a puppy. By the way, where is he??? 15 minutes into the episode and he hasn’t appeared! What show is this? Am I in the right channel?. Oh, look! There’s Ron Moore! And there’s Herself!!! Ok, I’m on the right show. Thanks for clarifying it.
Here comes Colum. He’s shaved. This must be important. A lone bagpipe playing on the background and I wanna cry. He gives a powerful speech in Gaelic. I don’t understand a word. Murtagh takes pity on Claire (and us, thanks God), and he translates. First comes Dougal, of course, to swear his oath. I swear a chill went down my spine. I’ve read this scene so many times, I felt I was right there with the characters. All the men line up to swear their oaths. But no… No Jamie yet. Damn! Claire gets bored and gets out of the room. Please go find Jamie, lass.
Now comes Claire’s plan to get rid of Angus. Best scene ever!!! I can’t even describe it. You just have to watch it. Still no Jamie though. But I swear I love Angus.
Claire runs to the surgery, gets her stuff and when she is about to leave, Laoghaire is at the door. Damn! The blond lassie is all cute and shy asking for a love potion and Claire, bless her soul, takes pity on her gives her something. Oh Claire, if you only knew…
Now, Claire makes a run for it, but not without giving us a full voice over narration of her plan. 3 drunk clansmen find her. Oops! This ain’t good. But Dougal comes for the rescue. Though it turns out he isn’t a knight in shinning armour, drunk as he is. He makes a pass on Claire who knocks him over the head with a chair and leaves him unconscious. 10 points for Team Girl Power!
I wanna take a moment to point out that it’s 30 minutes into the episode and still no Jamie. I want my money back.
Claire runs into the stables to get her horse but stumbles with something. Damn! To the ground she goes. “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ”, she says. “No Sassenach, it’s just me”, answers Jamie with a sideways smile. Oh, there you are! Jamie knocks all of Claire’s hopes and plans in like a second. She takes offense to the “sassenach”. He says he is sorry. Oh Jamie, we do forgive you. Specially when Claire tells him about his unpleasant encounter with the drunk clansmen and Dougal. He is all protective and angry that they might have touched her. My knees go weak. And then he laughs. And I die.
Jamie is taking her back to the castle when they are ambushed by other clansmen to knock Jamie out cold to take him back to the oath swearing. Claire sticks around while Jamie gets dressed (heck, we all would) and then Jamie not only says his clan motto for the first time, but gives us a look that might kill even the strongest of us. Needless is to say, I have every GIF ever made of that scene and the video on a loop.
Back at the Hall, Jamie goes to take the oath and the air is so tense you could cut it with a knife. Murtagh explains the whole mess to Claire who is totally clueless. Whatever Jamie does, he ends up dead: if he takes the oath, Dougal kills him cuz he would be up to take the laird-ship from him. If he declines to take the oath, every MacKenzie clansmen will kill him for disloyalty. Claire says it’s her fault. “Well, duh”, says Murtagh. We hold our collective breaths. But Jamie is “prest” indeed and comes out of it alive. I remember reading this scene and knowing right then and there how smart, clever, intelligent and quick Jamie is.
The next day, we all go for a little boar hunt. This is all because there was no Playstation back then. Geordie gets mortally wounded and Dougal and Claire embark on the difficult task of accompanying a man to his death. This makes Dougal have some respect for Claire. Very good scene. You could feel the emotions going through the 3 characters.
When arriving at Leoch, Jamie, Murtagh and some other clansmen are playing a weird version of old, Scottish hockey. Dougal, in need of some testosterone release (and cuz Jamie had it coming) gets in the Jamie basically to beat the heck out of Jamie. But Jamie, being Jamie, wins. Yay!
Claire’s now alone at the surgery when Dougal enters. We get tense. But Dougal asks her if she’s seen men die before by violence. He makes some small talk until he comes up with the courage to thank her for what she did for Geordie. These are the moments when I feel free to like Dougal without any guilt. Not only that, but Doudal tells her that she’ll take her on the road as of tomorrow. I smile. I know what’s coming.
