Outlander: Blood Of My Blood Episode 3 Recap: A Castle Siege Reveals Ellen's Huge Secret

Holy hell, Ellen MacKenzie for president.

In week's "Outlander: Blood of My Blood," the redhead is pretty much everyone's saving grace when Castle Leoch finds itself under attack while most of the men are off to battle. And I don't mean that she bats her eyelashes and coquettishly uses her feminine wiles to trick the invaders into doing something they don't want to do. I mean what I said: Girlfriend ties back her hair, grabs bow and arrow, and commands an all-girl gang as they fight and kill to protect the MacKenzie's ancestral seat.

It's glorious — as is the secret Ellen shares during the course of the hour. Read on for the highlights of "Rabbits Don't Swim."

After Dougal, Brian, and the rest of the combined pro-Jacobite forces ride off to fight, everyone left behind — including Colum, Ned, Jocasta, Ellen, Letitia, and Maura — sit for a meal. Colum is still very angry at his sister, so the conversation turns nasty quickly; Ellen chooses to leave the table rather than continue the verbal sniping. Soon after she leaves, James MacKinney — you'll recall him as the man who really wanted to lead the clan last season — arrives, unannounced, with backup. One of his men kills one of Colum's, and just like that, MacKinney says he's taking what's his: "I'm claiming Leoch."

MacKinney's guys march Mrs. Fitz into the great hall and demand that she feed them. When she refuses, they punch her in the belly (how DARE YOU sir) and MacKinney orders all of the women locked up. Then he demands that Colum hand over the castle's keys and treasury. Joke's on you, dude: As Column informs him (and we already knew), the estate belongs to Ellen. "Every acre, every stone, all in her name," Colum says smugly. "Kill me, and you'll be laird of nothing."

Meanwhile, Ellen has realized some badness is afoot, and she's tiptoeing around the castle, hiding and listening and generally trying to form a plan. As she eavesdrops on the conversation about ownership, she flashes back to when she was a young girl, and her father reminded her to play to her strengths. "When the fox hunts rabbits, he doesn't look in the loch," Jacob said. "Remember that... Let their blindness be their downfall, lass."

So Ellen arms herself with a bow and arrow and neatly takes out the MacKinney man who's leading the rest of the ladies to be locked up. Merida FTW! Jocasta & Co. are shocked, but Ellen is all business: She orders them to take his sword and dirk, and then they all hide in the chapel to decide their next step.

Maura quickly reminds everyone that she's actually a Grant, so this isn't really her fight, and maybe she'll just be going now? Ellen is like, "Yeah, I'm sure the MacKinney men will see that very subtle distinction." She then quotes from Red Jacob's Guide to What Passed for Feminism in 1700s Scotland: To be successful, the ladies will have to subvert the men's expectations of them. As they're planning, Ellen's sister, Janet, pulls her aside and begs the redhead not to think of her as small or weak... despite all evidence to the contrary. (Sorry, Janet!) Ellen, who is much nicer than I am, assures her she does not.

Elsewhere, MacKinney demands that Ellen be brought forward so she can sign the estate over to him. Colum angrily warns that Dougal will be back soon, and then there'll be bearded hell to pay, but MacKinney scoffs as he gives up some intel: Lord Lovat's actually backing the Crown now, so the fight won't play out out the way the Jacobite rebels hope it will. Then Colum warns that, if MacKinney hurts Ellen, Brian Fraser will make it his mission to destroy him. "Not even God could stop this man from coming for her," Colum warns.

All of that is cute, boys. But while you've been chatting, Ellen pulled her hair into a side ponytail and laid waste to multiple MacKinney men. With that sorted, Janet acts as as decoy and lures some of the other men into the chapel, where the rest of the women drop a tapestry on them and stab them through the fabric. (Side note: Anyone else notice Maura holding back in that scene? Interesting.) When it's done, the men are dead — but, oh no, Janet got knifed in the scuffle, and she is bleeding copiously.

Everyone knows that she's a goner. Ellen holds her as Janet cries and, practical to the end, gives her sister instructions on where to find her burial shroud and such. To offer some comfort in her sister's final moments, Ellen whispers to Janet that Colum's wife, Letitia, "is not the only one with child. If mine's a lass, she'll bear your name." That makes Janet very happy. "Janet Fraser," she says weakly, trying it out. Then they pray softly as Janet slips away. (Side note: It's very sad, and what a way to learn that Ellen is pregnant! But I really wish we'd gotten to know Janet better, especially given that she shares a name with one of the most kickass women in "Outlander" lore.)

Anyway, Maura's had enough: "I am Grant-born," she proclaims. "I would rather take my chance with MacKinney than die here with you." And she leaves to plead her case to the invaders in the great hall.

Ellen's next order of business is to destroy the last two MacKinney guards standing. When they chase her into the belfry,she rings the bell, which ruffles the bats who live there. In the ensuing chaos, she kills the men.

Then Ellen marches into the great hall with her arrow nocked and pointed straight at MacKinney, who grabs Maura and holds a knife to her. Ellen sniffs that her sister-in-law made her choice, so who cares? There's a scuffle, and when a dirk falls, Ned kicks it to Colum, who stabs MacKinney. MacKinney drops Maura as a result, leaving him open, and Ellen shoots him. "Rabbits do swim," she says triumphantly, and even Colum is like RESPECT.

In the aftermath, Colum shares what MacKinney told him about Lovat. Ellen realizes that's why there were so few men with him: The others are embedded with the Jacobite sympathizers, waiting to spring a trap. She adamantly rebukes Colum's and Ned's suspicions that Brian might be part of Simon's underhanded plan. Then she snarks at Maura for choosing herself over the survival of the group, but Ned and Colum correct her: Maura tried to leverage Grant influence to get MacKinney to back off. "A Grant learns to survive, whatever the cost," Maura says by way of explanation. "You have that wrong, then, Maura MacKenzie," Ellen replies with a hint of admiration for her crafty sister-in-law.

Now that the carnage is contained, Ellen plans to ride to Brian and inform him of Lovat's treachery. Jocasta volunteers Grace to accompany her. "I've handled knives since I was 7, m'lady," Grace offers. "Whitechapel teaches you young. Man or beast, cutting's the same, I imagine." Mrs. Fitz is impressed. "Oh, I like this one," she says. "She'll do." (Ha!)

After promising Maura that she'll bring Dougal home safely (aw!), Colum asks Ellen again about Brian's loyalty. Will he choose her over Simon Fraser? "Aye, just as you chose the clan over me," she shoots back. He tries to smooth things over, telling her that Leoch "is still your home," but she won't hear it. "My home is with the man you couldn't kill," she says. So he vows to keep trying to make it right between them, and she vows to never forgive him. Then she and Grace ride off to warn the men.

Let's back up and see what's going on over at Castle Leathers. When Julia can't get out of being summoned to Simon's bedroom, she opens the door and is shocked to find Seema and Simon in a compromising position. "What a joy to discover our new scullery maid's talents go far beyond the kitchen," Simon gloats. Seema coos that many wives require guidance in matters of coupling, but Simon grouses that Julia just usually practices "silent endurance" when they're together. Ick.

Later, as Julia takes a bath in her room, Seema comes in to help her. Julia offers her preferred way of avoiding Simon's attention — claim to have your period — and Seema thanks her. Then the servant gets right into it, saying she knew a "kind" man once: Henry, the Grants' bladier. "I knew him intimately," she adds. Julia stiffens, her back to Seema, as the other woman goes on about the details of the Beauchamps' life together. She even knows Claire's name. "That's why Mr. Bug sent me, to watch for him if he returns," she says. "I know how to manage him."

A highly agitated Julia immediately stands, done with the bath and this interloper. She later tells Simon that Seema "unsettles" her, and she'd like her sent back to the Grants. But Lovat won't hear of it. While he's gone, he says, "Seema will ensure that you remain safe and faithful." Neither of them know that Seema stands just out of view and overhears the whole conversation.

So Simon rides off, and Seema gently confronts Julia about what she heard. Julia doubles down on the reasoning that Seema's affiliation with the Grants just brings back the trauma of the day Henry "took" her. Seema says she understands but begs Julia not to hold it against her. Then she promises to protect both Julia and little William with her life.

Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Hit the comments, and let us know!