On the road
Claire finds herself on the road with Dougal, Jamie and other members of the MacKenzie clan to collect rent from the clans who could not make it to the gathering. There her feeling of being an "outlander" starts to weigh on her, especially being the only woman in the group. But she soon discovers that the path they are on right now may lead them to history. A history that dictates that the clans will fall, and England will triumph. A history that begins to concern Claire.
As I stated, this episode really shows Claire as an outsider more than the guest she was in previous episodes. She describes her road journey as being similar to being at Castle Leoch in that even though she's out in the open world, she still feels like a prisoner. Even when she gets a lovely encounter with some Scottish maidens using piss to help dye some cloth, she still feels like a prisoner. We really do get the sense that there is no way she can escape from the MacKenzie Clan no matter what she does. There were no opportunities that presented themselves for her to escape, and except for that one moment with the women, she never gets time to herself.
However the bulk of the episode is dedicated to Dougal, Jamie, Angus, and all the other men of the MacKenzie clan. While we are introduced to a friendly lawyer who becomes acquainted with Claire, we get a real big taste of what the men are about. We learn that Dougal uses Jamie, particularly Jamie's scars, as an example in order to bribe the other clans for extra money. Of course, they're claims are that if they pay them extra, then they can guarantee that no one will suffer like Jamie again. This bothers Jamie, yet he begrudgingly allows it, much to dismay of Claire. There is also the large amount of antagonism shown from Angus towards Claire as he clearly doesn't trust her, nor do the other members of the clan save for Jamie. This really paints a curious image to the audience as for a majority of the episode we see the men acting as the worst of men. They get drunk, they cheat, they constantly tell sex jokes, and they don't have much respect for Claire. But then the writers of this episode, and I'm guessing author Diana Gabaldon as well, throw a curveball when the men brutally attack another clan in a bar. When Claire was ready to write them off as being just men, they reveal they fought the other clan because they insulted her honer. It was definitely a small realization for Claire as she sees that they do have some respect for her. If only they didn't follow up this act of chivalry by saying, "We're the only ones allowed to insult you." Great guys, just great.
Of course it should be noted that this episode was the first one since the second episode to bring back the presence of the Red Coats. They have been referenced but never fully seen since that second outing. Here their presence is made known, and that is where Claire really starts to fear for herself. She knows what is going to happen, and she knows that the people that she is with right now will not survive this rebellion against the English. Here she finds herself torn between keeping her secret or possibly altering history. However it is so unlucky that this moment doesn't happen until the end of the episode. But what it does is leave us with a cliffhanger that would've been more stronger had this idea of her being torn between secrecy and history had been the center of this episode.
It is a pretty good episode where we learn more about the people surrounding Claire and Jamie, but there was a lot that could've been done with this to make that cliffhanger ending more effective.
SCORE: 7.5/10 - A pretty good episode, but it could've been used more effectively
STATUS: Continue to watch because that cliffhanger is still a cliffhanger
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