Outlander S1E12: Lallybroch, A Recap

First off, I wish to apologize for the day late recap. Normally I have the recap done by ten EST  the night of the US showing but was swept up in long made plans and didn't get home until 9:30 pm, thoroughly exhausted and blah. But now I shall do my utmost to review and recap this fabulous episode of Outlander. Of course, everyone recalls the last episode where Claire made her choice to stay with Jamie and so it was time for them to go home...to Lallybroch. So let's talk about that home coming aye?

So the scene opens after the credits with a sweeping score by Bear McCreary, uplifting and beautiful like the landscape of Scotland. When we finally see Jamie and Claire riding on horseback, she's explaining the whole Airplane thing and it's something that Jamie Fraser is having a hard time imagining though he certainly seems to be in awe of it. He sees Lallybroch in the distance and you can see his face light up like a Christmas tree and see that he is finally home. Of course, there are things stopping him. His flashbacks to that day he was taken away, the look on Jenny's face. He confides in Claire that Dougal told him Jenny may have fathered Black Jack Randall's bastard. It's a layer of guilt that we continually see explored throughout the episode. 

They enter into Lallybroch and Jamie's once more swept up in flashbacks but then he is brought back by the sound of Claire engaging a small child by the entrance and then there is the sound of Jenny calling for Jamie (her son) and then she sees her brother. Dropping everything, cupping her pregnant belly, she runs to him and they embrace but it is a very short term and tender reunion as she introduces her son to his uncle. His namesake Jamie. Of course, the elder of these two asks why? After all, according to Dougal, the child is Black Jack Randall's. Jenny is of course, is rather upset that her brother is calling her a whore and sends Wee Jamie away. Once he's gone, Jamie keeps on calling her a whore in his own way. Claire's trying to diffuse the situation, to which Jenny replies thusly:

"Tell that Trollop to keep her neb out of my business"

Needless to say Jenny Fraser is not one to mess with. And one should never piss off a pregnant woman. Which Jamie has done here.

So there's that. It's a heated exchange and Jamie isn't listening to a word Jenny says and finally she gives the best few lines of the episode. 

Jenny: Do I have to do what I did when we were bairns? Grab ye by the balls to make ye stand and listen to me. 
Jamie: You're now trying to shame me in front of my own wife!
Jenny: Well, if she's your wife, I imagine she's more familiar with your balls than I am!

Eventually they all settle down, we find out that Jenny is married to Ian Murray (a kindly man with no right leg) and that the child in her belly and Wee Jamie are both his. Jamie relents but he still wants to know what happens after  he was knocked out cold. 

Jenny tells him and it was a rather difficult scene to watch because Tobias Menzies does such a great job as the evil and cruel BJR once more. He's really nailed it as the sadistic captain of dragoons and every time he's on screen as Randall, Menzies is as enrapturing as he is terrifying. BJR in this scene is of course, trying to rape Jenny but he can't *ahem* stand at attention and is stroking and stroking to no avail. Jenny of course, sees this and looks a bit mad but she starts to laugh. He slaps the shit out of her a few times but she just looks at him and laughs some more until he finally gives up and slams her head into the post of the bed, knocking her out cold and then leaving her unconscious but untouched. Now I've seen a lot of outrage because of the full frontal nudity and seeing Tobias Menzies' penis. Personally I don't understand all the outrage. I mean, women are subjected to full frontal nudity in premium channel television shows so it's almost sort of refreshing to see male nudity. I imagine for a lot of people it was very shocking but it's not nudity for the sake of nudity. It's a way of showing that he can't get it up to perform a rape on a young Scottish woman. And then there is the shame he feels, not in trying to rape her, but in the fact that she's laughing at him. It infuriates him and wounds his pride. So to those outraged, I made you a special meme:

So once all is settled, Jamie takes over the Laird's chamber and reminisces about his father and the secrets he thought had been held in this room when he'd been a child. And then he speaks of the last time he saw his father and how he'd kissed his cheek. He speaks of how he chose to be flogged again instead of buggered (which means of course sodomized), and how his father might lose respect for him should he allow himself to be broken. It's a very poignant scene and you can see the grief and guilt over the fact that his flogging and the horror of it may have caused his father to die of his stroke. 

Jenny of course, adds into the guilt with a few lines meant to sting when they all sit down to dinner, and you can see that the family is a hurting open sore in need of mending but of course, both Jamie and Jenny are a bit to proud to give in just yet. 

The next day, is quarter day. It's a collection of the Rents but because Lallybroch is so small, everyone comes to the Laird versus the Laird going out to collect. There is dancing and partying and Jamie's stepping into place as Laird, making quite a big show of it. Honestly he's coming off as a wee bit of a dick. Jenny's talking to women inside, Claire is outside speaking about herbs and healing when we meet a man by name of MacNabb for the first time. He punishes his son for daring to eat a bannock and Claire confronts him, get's called a Sassenach but she embraces the vitriol and manages to skillfully get the boy away from his father. Jenny knows all about the issues with MacNabb and his son but avoids the matter with Jamie. Claire of course confides in him but Jamie's not exactly listening, or so we think. 

Night comes and Claire is in bed and Jamie comes in drunk. Lord he is super drunk. It's the most hilarious thing I've seen in the show so far and he's just a mess, way deep in his cups. Claire's a bit amused and annoyed at the same time and he keeps smacking her backside and soon he's collapsed in a heap on the bed, out for the count and Claire's smirking at his behavior. It's a bit endearing. 

The next morning though, Jamie's hung over and not a bit endearing at all. His head is no doubt a-pounding but Jenny's in a tizzy, and gets angry at him for daring to start a fight with MacNabb the night before whilst drunk and now having another mouth to feed. Nor did he collect the rents which are needed to keep the estate running. Well that pisses him off and then he starts acting like a tee-total dick complaining about how the bannocks aren't right and the servant-woman says that the mill isn't working and that someone's been sent for to fix it but Jamie's all manly. "I can do this dammit. I'm the laird..." The whole macho man chest pounding kind of thing that's very out of character for him. Since returning home, I think it's obvious that he's trying to fill his father's shoes but not being very good at going about it. He comes off as showy and it's just not the same Jamie we have seen in past episodes. It's as though as soon as he busts through the gates of Lallybroch, he's trying to assume his position as Laird and take over where Jenny and Ian have been running the place for near on four years by himself. Even if he is Laird, he is coming off as an asshole. 

Well down to the millpond we go. Jamie's going to fix that bloody mill and strips all the way down to his shirt. Claire's rolling her eyes because Jamie really is being an idiot and there's really nothing but she can do about it. While he's in the cold ass water, Jenny comes up in a flurry. The British are Coming! The British are Coming and Jamie has to hide. No where to go but under so that's what he does. Jenny tells the Brits that they have someone to fix the mill, hiding the Fraser plaid with Claire. The British officer in question is the son of a miller and knows his way around a water wheel and is about to undress to try and fix it when all of a sudden (It's magic!) the wheel starts to work again and a shirt comes up over the top. How in hell could a shirt stop a water wheel. 

British Soldier: It's Scotland. 

The soldiers leave and Jamie comes up very much naked, cupping what's left of his balls as I imagine they're mostly shrunk up inside his body for warmth and asks for his clothes in a rather rude fashion. But he is fucking cold.  I'll give him a pass here. That night, Ian and Claire have a bit of a heart to heart and Ian tells her that Jamie must be a lot like Jenny in that they're both stubborn as fuck and need a push sometimes. Well Claire takes it literally coming into the bedroom to see Jamie sleeping peacefully and shrugs him out of bed and sets him straight. 

She lays it into him hard. Essentially she calls him out on his shit. On trying to be his father when he's not. On being a complete dick to everyone, herself included, and how's he just been the asshole to end all assholes. He tries to intervene but she isn't having it and finishes her peace and even says that if his father were here right now, he might well thrash him for being a stupid fucking idiot of a man. Well her words set in.

He goes to visit his father's grave for the first time since his return home and Jenny comes to him there. They lay out their souls on the line. Both of them feeling guilt in their own way for what happened. Jenny is horrified at his scars and blames herself for not letting BJR rape her and Jamie admits his own guilt in his father's death but comes to the conclusion that no one is to blame for the death of their father save Black Jack Randall, who's actions that day in arresting Jamie and nearly raping Jenny, set in motion the chain of events leading to his death. They mend their bond and all is well between brother and sister. Understanding and honesty bringing them together. It was a much needed scene that reconciled them and laid the hurt away. 

That night, Claire and Jamie are back to normal. He's become the Jamie we know and love again, no longer weighed down by the guilt in his heart and soul. It's in this scene that he confesses his love to Claire. Now I've never had a problem with the changes from book to screen. I've never complained because I understand that it's impossible to go word for word in a book and place it on screen. That being said, for the first time in the show, I felt a little sad that they didn't make the confession of love between Claire and Jamie humorous. The way they did it was almost verbatim so far as dialogue but there was a little tiny part of me disappointed. Even so, I know the way they did it, fit perfectly with the scene and it was perfect and beautiful and sweet.

The two make love and the next morning Claire wakes up alone and has a very satisfied grin on her face. She gets dressed and she exits the bedchamber, she hears the sound of men carrying up the stairs and there are men surrounding Jamie as he is in the hall and one points a gun to Jamie's head and then the episode ends. 

Who were these men? What did they want? We only have four episodes left before the end of the show's season. We've reached the halfway point and it's going to be a sad day in the Outlander fandom to see the show end until next year. But I'm sure there are still four fantastic hours of television left for us to watch and I can't wait to see how well they handle the upcoming scenes that will no doubt have us crying and sobbing. 

This episode had deviations as most of the episodes do but I found it a nice character study of Jamie and Jenny. At first Jenny comes off as a real bitch but then you have to realize she too is carrying stress and guilt of her father's death and her brother's imprisonment. The fact that the two of them reconcile makes this a great episode and I'm ready to see what next week has in store. Until next week my dear sweet Outlanders!

A Frank Discussion about Frank Randall

First off I will say I am completely on the side of nearly everyone when I say Claire and Jamie are the perfect match and their love is something worth wanting. They are the love story to end all love stories but everyone is quick to vilify Frank. Is he a villain that many people make him out to be?

Here are my thoughts. A few months ago I got into a heated debate on tumblr with someone who said that Frank was the worst human being on the planet, essentially, and was overall super shitty to Claire throughout the entirety of their marriage. I disagreed on several points. I will go through the accusations and explain my points on them.

Accusation #1: Frank cheated on Claire after her return through the stones.
Diana Gabaldon has said that Frank did not cheat on Claire but we are going to negate that for the sake of this argument. Claire says he was very good at hiding it but on the night Frank died, they got into quite the row and she accused him of cheating and he did not flat out deny her accusations, saying something along the lines of "I didn't think you'd care enough". Even if Frank did cheat on Claire we have to realize a few things. One being that Claire was gone for three years and even if he thought her story was crazy as shit, she came back to him, alone and pregnant with another man's child. They were not especially intimate after their return, by Claire's own words, so he was obviously a lonely man. Yes, adultery is not a good thing, but to argue he cheated on her and to make him a villain for it is silly considering she, essentially cheated on him for three years. Claire married Frank first in the chronological order of her lifespan and had the chance to go back to him when Jamie brought her to the stones and she chose to stay. So even though I'm one of the hardest hitting Jame x Claire shippers there are, she was still unfaithful to him. So no, adultery is not right and if he did cheat on her then they were both guilty of it. So feel free to berate Claire for doing the same thing that Frank may or may not of done as it is never truly confirmed.


Accusation #2: Frank was emotionally and verbally abusive to Claire throughout their entire marriage. 
The only instance that I can even see this being remotely possible, is the argument the night he died. He and Claire both said shitty things to each other and he accused her of infidelity, and said he was taking Bree away from her. By this point, Claire and Frank were less a couple and more like an arguing set of siblings, constantly on the end of each other's rope. They were both yelling and screaming at one another and yes Frank did insinuate some racism by saying part of the reason he was taking Bree away from the US was where she wouldn't date some black guy and apparently thought Claire was having an affair with her friend Joe Abernathy. It was a shitty thing to say but Claire said shitty things too and once more Frank is vilified for daring to do the same thing Claire is doing. It doesn't make it right but then again, neither of them were truly right in how they handled the situation. Both showing impulsiveness and brashness in the face of anger. There is never any other time in the books where he is spitting at her. Claire describes the later years of their marriage as very argumentative and honestly if not for the fact that divorce was so frowned upon, I'm certain they would of done it.

Accusation #3: Frank was never supportive of Claire in any way. 
Well this one is flat out wrong. Think back to Voyager for a minute and imagine that part where Bree is a baby, Frank has friends coming over for dinner and Claire is the frazzled housewife who ends up so at the end of her rope that she just leaves Bree with Frank and walks off into the night, needing to take a break. It's that night that Frank agrees being a housewife is not the job for her and suggests that she goes to school to become a doctor. Yes, he was looking at it more for Bree's sake than for hers but it is a very uncommon thing for a man in the 1950s telling his wife go and be a doctor. Back then, women were the home makers. They knitted, they sewed, and they had dinner on the table at six. He at least understood her enough to help her become a doctor, even if his motivations were more toward Bree than Claire at the time. They were not exactly a close couple after her return through the stones.

Accusation #4: Frank is the absolute douche-baggiest douche-bag on the face of the earth.
This is a general statement but I've seen it written several times over. So here is my case as to why he is not the worst man to ever walk the face of the planet. For one, he generally loved Claire when they got married. He loved her sass and her vivaciousness but they were only married for a very short time before war separated them. He started working in intrigue, he had to hide and lie and fabricate and no doubt was affected by the war as many men were. Then he and his wife are on the way to reconnecting, having only spent ten days together in the space of seven years. Of course there is some distance between them. Neither of them are the same people but he still loves her. And then his wife disappears for three years and he mourns her and searches for her and then she shows up pregnant with another man's child, wearing another man's ring telling him this cockamamie story of how she fell through time. Of course he doesn't believe her. Most men of that time would probably plop her right into an insane asylum but he doesn't. Yes he yells at her while she's laying in the hospital bed but he was listening to her tell him a story of time travel. Certain she'd lost her mind. In the end, he calms down, he apologizes and he promises to not abandon her though he is well within his rights to do so. He takes Bree and raises Bree as his own. He loves Bree so much, he treats her as if she were his own flesh and blood and prepared her for a life that she might face should she ever travel back in time with her mother. He might not of believed Claire completely but he eventually believed her enough to at least try and prepare Bree for a life in the past.

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In conclusion, I will say this. Frank and Claire's relationship after she returned through the stones, was tentative and distant through most of that 20 years, with only brief spaces of intimacy between them. He was not a perfect man. Neither was Claire a perfect woman but he did what he thought was honorable. I think the reason people are so quick to vilify him is because of the simple fact that he is boring in comparison to Jamie. Jamie, despite his faults, is charming and witty and funny and sweet. He's honorable and strong and a manly man while also treating Claire like an equal.

I don't think Frank ever stopped loving Claire but after her return, he had to watch his wife love and pine over a man she thought was dead for twenty years. He knew she was in love with someone else and tried to be a good husband to her but her heart was set on Jamie. So if he did cheat, I don't blame him for doing so. Claire was very emotionally distant from him when she returned back to him. The fact that he so willingly took her back and tried his best to be a good husband to her says something for the man of honor he was. He couldn't offer her adventure or a life of purpose tending to wounded men. He couldn't offer her the passion and love of a soulmate though he did love her. He could not offer her a love that shadowed the love she felt for Jamie Fraser. It doesn't make him evil.

Yes, Frank made mistakes. He was not a perfect man but he was not an evil villain bent on destroying Claire's happiness. Claire was imperfect and so was Jamie. They are all flawed in some way. I think people just want to villify Frank because he was an obstacle between Claire and Jamie. He was always there when he was alive in Dragonfly in Amber and Outlander. Always at the back of Claire's mind even when she was with Jamie. He was the other man in a love triangle to span the centuries. He was not perfect, but he was not the villain and for people to have so much vitriol for him is silly and wrong. At least in my opinion. Your thoughts?

Picture Credit: Starz

Outlander S1E11: The Devil's Mark, A Recap

Hello fellow Outlanders and Sassy Sassenachs. It's time to recap probably the greatest episode in the entire series thus far. Normally, I would post my recap directly to Tumblr but have found that Blogger/Blogspot is better as a medium so far as posting pictures and such. That being said, shall we commence?

Fair warning first:

When we left our dear characters last time, Jamie Fraser was being exiled along with Dougal and he told Claire to not go around Geillis Duncan, who had just killed her husband. But as this is Claire Fraser and not a biddable, obedient wife, the first thing she does when receiving a note from Geillis is go to her. Turns out that the note was merely a ruse and she and Geillis were both being put in a cart, headed to the thieves hole for being witches and Laoghaire was smiling like the cat that got the cream.

The show opens with Geillis and Claire being thrown into said thief hole. Of course, Claire is not having this shit. She's rightfully pissed off at Laoghaire and frightened. I mean, she's from the 1940s, no doubt she's heard about the Salem Witch Trials. People were hanged for nothing or pressed with rocks in order to confess. She and Geillis are not espcially amiable at this point. At first Geillis is a total bitch. Claire is astonished that the woman has the nerve to fault her and they get into a big row. Claire is having none of it. It's not her fault after all. Geillis was the one who was making potions and selling ill wishes and dancing naked in the woods, humping mother nature. How in hell is it Claire's fault that she's bat shit crazy?

Claire also isn't afraid to call her out on murdering her husband and Geillis just shrugs it off.

"Oh I've been poisoning him with arsenic but it wasn't working..." Basically what she says. For shame Geillis. For shame. Even if he wasn't that appealing a man to look at, he wasn't the worst husband I imagine. Claire shakes her head in disgust then tries to use her position as Jamie's wife to get her way out but it's no use. She's stuck.

Geillis is convinced that all will be well, that Dougal will come for them but guess what Geillis? Guess what? Colum banished him and Dougal and Jamie left without you two so you guys are well and truly stuck. So they are left to spend the night in a filthy, rat ridden hole with only some bread to eat and it doesn't look the least bit appetizing. Especially after falling on the floor where no doubt rat shit and e. coli live in harmony.

In the morning, the trial began. The pyre is being built and Geillis gives a great line.

Claire: "Is that what I think it is?"
Geillis: "Well it's not a maypole Claire..."
Me: -giggles-

Despite the severity of the situation, it's always good for a laugh, especially when everyone is crying Burn the Witches.

The court is packed, everyone's ready to see these two witches burned at the stake for daring to cast spells and call upon the devil. Whore, witch, bitch, the crowd cries. It looks bad but then Ned Gowan appears like a chicken legged man of the law, come to be Geillis' and Claire's lawyer but not before saying that this trial is illegal. Oh yeah, it's illegal under English Law but not under the Law of the Holy Mother Church. Good old Catholicism. One would think witch burnings went out of style in the 1600s but guess we're wrong.

So begins the trial. The servant that worked for Geillis, the woman who left her changeling babe in the wood, both of whom Ned manages to sway away as proper witnesses. Good man Ned. Good man. Then this man came forward saying Geillis was summing thunder and lightening and she was taking off like a bird. Well that's the end of day one. Colum wants Geillis and Claire out of the way, if what Ned says is to be believed and so it's another night in the hole.

Claire has some optimism but Geillis is like, do you not understand? They want us set up on that pyre like a pig on a spit. Roasted until crispy. We find out that Geillis wants to support Prince Charles and is a Jacobite like Dougal. Which is how the two of them became lovers. She does not admit to loving Dougal but it's completely obvious. Claire apologizes to her, but Geillis is to strong to ever have anyone give her pity.

Morning comes and the two have mended and become strong friends but this day of trial looks to be worse than the last. Things were going so well but we didn't count on two very important witnesses. Number one being, that beautiful sixteen year old bitch Laoghaire. She admits to placing an ill wish, and admits to buying potions. Even though Laoghaire gets called a jealous heartbroken bitch (essentially) it's Claire that's taken the blame for it. She plays the victim so very very well and gets the court to sympathize with her and all I want to do is wring her bloody neck. Honestly I don't think the weight of the situation really resonates with her. She just wants Claire out of the picture so she can have Jamie all to her lonesome.

The next strong witness against them is Father Bane. Remember him? "I smell the vapors of hell on you". Yeah him. Oh he's good. Really really good. He manages to convince the entire court that Claire's the worst of the worst. It started out sounding really good but it's a manipulative ploy meant to convince the court that she some how managed to hold her power over him and get him to retire. "She's a witch! She's managed to turn the Reverend away from God! Used her wiles on him! She's a witch!"

"Witch! Witch, you're a Witch!" Think about the movie Practical Magic and those mean kids yelling at the two girls. That's what I'm reminded of with this scene. 

So with the Reverend's expert manipulation things come to a head. They both know they are going to be burned but Ned steps in, manages to give them a few moments alone before they are sentenced and carried off at the stake. Ned tells Claire to betray Geillis. She can convince the court that witchcraft caused her to do all she's done and for a moment Claire considers it. Then comes the best line of the entire episode.

"Looks like I'm going to a fucking barbeque!"

All hope is lost. Or so Geillis thinks. Claire however, is now besties with her and will not see her burn by herself on that pyre. When Ned speaks for her, she declines to confess to anything or to blame anyone, determined to die with her friend. Admirable indeed. Even if Geillis is a murderer. So the court agrees that both of them are witches and "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Ned decides to go bat shit crazy, and try to protect them. He brings out his pistol and waves it around and Geillis starts to speak the number 1968. What the fuck does 1968 mean?

Claire goes insane after they hurt Ned. She calls them all murderers. They are all going to burn in hell and because she dare say Catholics are going to hell (especially as she is a convicted witch) they decide she needs a good whipping.

And then there is Laoghaire as Claire is getting prepped to feel the cut of a lash. "I shall dance upon your ashes!" she says with so much glee I want to fucking kill her. I'm no longer a sympathizer. She can go to hell in a handbasket. I'll hand deliver her myself.

It's during this whipping that our handsome hero arrives. Finally! In comes Jamie, swords at the ready, rescuing his wife from the horror of being burned alive. I jumped off the seat and cheered! Thank God and all that's holy for Jamie Fraser. -Crosses myself-. Geillis then decides to create a diversion. She reveals her smallpox scar and calls it the devils mark (hey look the title to the episode). She sacrifices herself, says that it was all her fault and even as Claire tries to defend her, knows it's no use. Geillis is carried toward the pyre and Claire and Jamie set out, away from mob and to safety. I'm just very glad that we didn't watch Geillis burn on screen.

Some time later, Jamie and Claire are in the woods, Jamie tending to her wounds. Jamie asks her to tell him the truth about herself and she does. Every single detail that led up to the moment they met. He looks so shocked, takes it all in. Surely he doesn't believe her right? I sure as hell wouldn't believe her. Let's be honest. If someone told you they fell through time by touching some stones, would you believe them? I didn't think so.

Jamie however, after pondering, says he believes her. That she isn't mad. He looks incredulous that he does believe her but he trusts her. And trust is a truth between them. This is a pivotal moment. He's just been told something insane and yet he promises to trust and believe her. That my friends, is amazing. He's already denied normality and the status quo by promising to treat her as his equal, to never lay a hand on her again and now he's going against the grain once more, trusting what she says. He even feels such guilt at "beating" her for wanting to go back to her husband. What a man eh. For all of you people who were so quick to hate his character, look at him now? This is the Jamie you love. He is a man of honor, not prone to perfection, flawed but wonderful. And this is the Jamie Fraser that I love. The flawed, handsome, beautiful Jamie Fraser that Sam Heughan makes my heart break over.

Claire: Do you really believe me?
Jamie: Aye. I believe you Sassenach. Though it would of been a good deal easier if you'd only been a witch. 

All done, they began to travel. Then there comes a scene of such intimacy. There's not even any nudity. She's sleeping and he wakes her by stroking her between her legs and when she begs for him to come into her body, he says that he only wants to watch. People have been saying that this show has been vulgar and edging on pornography so far as the sex between Jamie and Claire but I've never seen it as pornography. That said there is nothing more poignant than this moment when he's giving her pleasure and taking none for himself. I feel as though I'm peaking into a world of two people who love each other deeply and wholly.  It's more stirring than any other intimate scene between them.

When the next day comes, we find out they are back at the stones and even though it kills him, he is willing to send her back to her husband. He's willing to let her go. He wants her happy and safe and back where she belongs. It  must of been the hardest thing for him to do and before she touches the stones, he stops her, unable to help himself. He needs that one last touch. That one last kiss before he lets her go and then leaves, saying he'll stay at the camp until he's sure she's safe.

Claire sits there for hours, pondering and pondering her choices. Frank or Jamie? Which is the right choice between them? Staying in the past, or returning to her future? It must not of been easy. The camera pans toward the stones and then we are left staring at Jamie as he sleeps. Then her voice comes out of the darkness.

"On your feet Soldier."

Jamie rouses with a start, he sees her and he cries and dammit, I'm crying with him. I never cry when I watch TV shows but this moment was so perfect, so raw and emotional, I can't help but feel my heart aching. The fact that he had been willing to give her up, only for her to come back to him, and the sheer joy on his face. It was heartbreakingly wonderful. You're definitely going to use a box of tissues even watching it a second time. I know I did. It's the best episode yet just for the last ten or so minutes. Hell the last two minutes are the best when he realizes that she chose him.

It was in this moment in the books that she realized that she loved Jamie and it doesn't make her love for Frank any less but it just proves that Jamie is her soulmate, the other half to herself.

Drying my eyes, I'm so emotionally raw I can't even think straight but I can't wait to go to Lallybroch with them. This was a heavy episode, and very emotional and this is definitely one they should submit to the Emmy's to give them all nominations. They all deserve them. I can't wait to see you all next week.

Until then my fellow Outlanders. 

(Show Still Credits: Starz/Showcase)