Outlander Recap: Tunnel Vision
Poor Bree.
Of course Outlander's Brianna misses her parents; time-traveling 200 years into the future, to a time when Claire and Jamie have long since died, will do that to a girl. But this week's episode lets us see the depths of Bree's longing and grief — not to mention her ire at being the butt of male chauvinistic hazing at work — and is it any wonder all she wants is to reconnect with her folks?
Oh, and on top of all of that, she stumbles upon a stone circle-like portal that I'm sure will just exist peacefully without causing any havoc for the MacKenzies whatsoever, right?
Meanwhile, in the 1700s, William has some bad stew and kills a guy. Read on for the highlights of "Singapore."
BREE'S NO-GOOD, VERY BAD DAY | When Brianna finds Jem and Mandy playing in Lallybroch's graveyard, she gets anxious. "You haven't found Grandda's grave, have you, Jem?" she wonders. He says no, and she hustles them out of there lest they come across concrete reminders of her parents' deaths. The encounter sends her to the chest of letters, and she's reading one from June 18, 1777, and crying when Roger finds her in the study. They'd agreed to hold off on reading more, "but I was missing them," she says, sniffly. So Rog hugs her and they open the missive, which stymies them with the mention of Fort Ticonderoga as the Frasers' temporary home.
We'll get to Big Red and Herself at war in a moment. First, though, let's deal with Brianna's first day at work, which goes very badly when a guy named Rob Cameron and his fellow lunkhead dam workers lock Bree in a dark tunnel near Loch Errochty. They drive off, leaving Bree to find her way back to the main building alone. She's annoyed but not too put out, but then she comes across a weird, shimmering patch of tunnel that buzzes in her head the way the standing stones do. She's somehow able to leap through it without getting yeeted back to the olden days, but she's visibly shaken as she finds an exit and steps out into fresh air afterward.
At home, Roger finds Jem holed up in the dovecote and wonders what's wrong. The little boy says he got in trouble for speaking Gaelic at school, and his teacher wrung his ear so hard it's still red. An irate Rog says he'll take things up with the headmaster, then admonishes Jem for leaving some food wrappers in the brush outside the house. But Jem maintains that the garbage isn't his. And later that night, when Mandy screams and swears she saw the Nuckelavee outside, Roger investigates but can't find anything. Still, someone is definitely watching Lallybroch from the woods nearby.
Back to Bree, though. Shortly after her unplanned tunnel trip, she summons her courage and finds Rob and the boys at the pub, where she makes it clear she's a good sport but also threatens to have them all fired if they try a stunt like that again. "And don't call me hen," she says in a low voice to Rob. "Fair enough, gov," he replies, seemingly on board.
At the end of the hour, Bree visits the family graveyard and talks aloud to her father, updating him on their lives in the 20th century.
TROUBLE'S STEWING | In the wayback portion of this week's hour, William and the Hunters are traveling together when a man informs them they're headed in the wrong direction for Albany. But he offers them dinner and a night at his place before they set out again in the morning, and they gratefully take him up on it... until they see that the stew his wife has prepared has, like, a whole dead rat in it? Gross.
William is awake later that night, his gut rumbling, when the man and his wife creep down from their lofted bedroom and attack the travelers. The man goes after William with a knife; William winds up putting a fireplace poker through his abdomen, then punches the wife out cold. The day is saved, but Willie is the worse for wear. Rachel finds him outside later to tell him that the wife confessed about their trap to kill "guests" and steal their belongings. When she notices he's teary, she presses him about what's wrong. "I've never killed anyone before," he says, adding that he always thought his first kill would be on a battlefield. "I do not quite know what to do about it." He worries that she thinks he's disgraceful, but she gently assures him she does not. (Side note: The night at the murder house is another place where I'm glad the show didn't include every detail from the book. No one needs that much intestinal distress in their romantic drama, right?)
When they set out the next morning, William gives them what's left of the money Ian gave him, but keeps the rosary.
CONGRATULATIONS, DAD! | Honestly? Jamie and Claire's time at the fort is a little zzz this week. He warns the higher-ups that the Brits will probably climb a nearby hill and fire from there, but his superiors laugh at him... then get mad at him when he and his men haul a cannon up and shoot, just to prove his point. Though the fort surely is vulnerable to attack from that angle, all Jamie gets for his efforts are orders to stay in the fort for the foreseeable future.
Let's see, what else? Ian gets an assignment to bring a letter to the Mohawk leader. Before he goes, he runs to Claire and urgently asks: "Bairns. I want to know how they come to be." She looks at him with a lot of disbelief until he clarifies that he wants to know why his and Emily's daughter was stillborn, especially because his ex now has a child with her new partner. Ian worries that if the problem lies with him, he can never marry again. He wants her to look at his sperm. There's a lot going on here.
They're both a little teary as they talk about lost babies — and she obliquely references Faith — but she makes sure that he knows there's probably nothing wrong with his "spirit," as the Mohawk call it. He's relieved. And when he runs into Emily in the Mohawk camp, he realizes that her son, Swiftest of Lizards, looks a heck of a lot like he's half Scot. She asks Ian to choose an English name for him "for when he walks in that world," and Ian declares that his son — because, c'mon, that's what he is — is called "Ian James."
Back at Ticonderoga, Claire and the surly "surgeon" are arguing over where on a man's leg an amputation should take place when the new doctor — Denzell — backs Claire. He's instantly in awe of her, and together they perform the correct procedure. And when Ian runs into Rachel upon his return to the fort, they're very smiley and flirty as he offers her his "protection" whenever she needs it. Down, boy!
ADIOS! | Eventually, Jamie's prediction comes true: The fort is attacked on its vulnerable side, and the higher-ups order an emergency evacuation. Jamie oversees the departure of several boats, including the ones carrying Claire, Denzell, Rachel and a bunch of the patients. But Mr. Woodcock is too weak and fresh off surgery to make the trip, so Claire hands him some laudanum and sadly bids him farewell.
Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!