Outlander: Blood Of My Blood's [Spoiler] Kills [Spoiler] — Show Boss, Director Take Us Inside Episode 5

This post contains spoilers from "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" Season 2, Episode 5. Please proceed accordingly. 

Fash around and find out, eh?

In this week's "Outlander: Blood of My Blood," Seema's bid to replace Julia as Mrs. Henry Beauchamp ends in blood and death: After the unhinged Castle Leathers servant spends the episode giving an unhinged monologue about why Henry really loves her, she gathers her resolve and comes at Julia (played by Hermione Corfield) with a knife. But Julia fights back with lethal force, ultimately killing Seema (Lauren McQueen). Afterward, as a dazed Julia stumbled around the castle, she is relieved to find her infant son, William, safely in the arms of Davina (Sarah Vickers).

Elsewhere in the episode, Brian (Jamie Roy), Murtagh (Rory Alexander), and Dougal (Sam Retford) fight shoulder-to-shoulder — and opposite Henry (Jeremy Irvine), the Grants, and the king's forces — as the Jacobite uprising hits the battlefield. And when the conflict ends in a draw, Dougal's desire to mess with the Crown-loyal Duke of Argyll leads to his capture. Looks like Murtagh and Brian are heading to Fort William on a rescue mission!

Speaking of rescue, Ellen (Harriet Slater) might be in need of one soon, as well. While she and Grace (Ruby Fubara) camp after their departure from the Jacobite camp, Ellen has just confirmed her pregnancy to the servant when Robert MacKinney ambushes them and threatens to kill them to avenge his father's death at Castle Leoch. An unwavering Ellen (god, she's so cool) eventually talks him down, and young MacKinney is just about to let the ladies go when Balloch (Chick Allen) kills him... and kidnaps Ellen!

A lot going on in this episode! Let's break it all down, with expert insight from Corfield; Irvine; Emer Conroy, who directed the hour; and showrunner Matthew B. Roberts.

Seema might not have met such a violent end, Hermione Corfield tells us, had she not brought little William into the matter. 

"I think the fact that she's involved her child really tips it into a new realm," Corfield says. Julia "has dealt with the betrayal and dealt with Seema and dealt with all of, all of those other things, but I think the fact that the child's now involved — or she doesn't know where her son is — is the thing that really gives her... more of a willingness to physically fight back."

Matthew B. Roberts points out that, while to this point Julia hasn't exactly had it easy, she also hasn't been tested the way that some of the other characters have. 

"That was one of the big talking points with us: She has — I don't wanna say 'skated,' because living with Lovat is no trip to the amusement park. So she's had a lot of hardships. But Henry's been in more of the fights. And we know the women of 'Outlander' have had to do some very harsh things to live. So we wanted to get into that."

Roberts adds that the scene might've gone another way, had Seema not come to the conclusion that Julia's existence was the only thing standing between her and Henry.

"That moment where Sima says, 'Oh wait, when you died, he came to me.' That's the trigger. And then Julia goes, 'Well, that's what I've got to do. I've got to protect myself, and I want to get to my son."

He credits Corfield and Lauren McQueen with selling the tension-filled, and eventually deadly, interaction. "Hermione and Lauren, the way they played that, it was just a brilliant juxtaposition to the battle scenes."

Speaking of those battle scenes: Emer Conroy, who helmed the episode and has directed several others in the series and its predecessor, "Outlander," says she had one guiding light for the big fight. 

"I was trying not to do Culloden," she tells TVLine, referring to the historic battle depicted in the "Outlander" Season 3 premiere. Aside from the technical details (the two sequences were shot using different equipment, etc.), Culloden "was focused solely really on Jamie (Sam Heughan), and this was more of an ensemble," Matthew B. Roberts adds. "There's a bunch of little vignettes" that give characters like Murtagh, Dougal, Henry, and Arch (Terence Rae) their own moments.  

That said, there are points in which Conroy pays homage to the pivotal "Outlander" episode. "I wanted to tip my hat to when Jamie sees Randall (Tobias Menzies)," she says, an echo that plays out as Brian notices Henry on the opposite side of the fray. "It was a nod to what went before."

Behind the scenes, a horde of highly interested insects made the four-day battle shoot a challenge.

"Fake blood is made of sugar syrup and food dye," Jeremy Irvine explains. "And it's wasp season in Scotland. So we're all just walking candy with this sticky glue, just covered in wasps." He laughs. "We were just crawling with them, absolutely crawling. It was horrendous, but very funny at the same time." (For the record: Irvine somehow escaped getting stung.)

Conroy shakes her head ruefully. "We had to go again and again, because there were wasps stuck to people. I have to say: They never complained. We had [supporting actors] lying on the ground in that fake blood," she says. "At one [point] there was one on Brian's sword, like literally on the tip of it." 

The director laughs. "So yes, it wasn't pleasant."

Early in the hour, we see Colum (Seamus McLean Ross) in Castle Leoch's chapel, where he speaks openly to God about his fears. The scene offers insight into the MacKenzie laird's seldom-seen self-doubt and clan concerns.

"I think it was important that he opened up," Emer Conroy says. She recalls talking to Ross about the context of the moment. "There's nobody there. There's no men there; they're all at war. There's nobody that can hear him. That chapel is a safe space, and that's the first time he just lets rip."

Though Colum's frustration is aimed at God at first, it eventually turns toward his dead father, Red Jacob. 

"I think it's really important that we see another side of Colin, not just the boy with a disability who's become a laird. We see the hurt that he's gone through. We see the weight of what he has done and how he has used Ellen," Conroy explains. "And also that he knows, himself, that he may have to do worse to maintain it."

What did you think of Episode 5? Tell us everything in the comments!