Castle: XX (8x02)

Yikes. I've gotta say - I did not see that one coming. I'm really not sure how to process everything that I just witnessed. I admire this show for not resting on its laurels, and giving us something truly different to contemplate. I have no idea how we're supposed to go forward from here. Let's start with some of my complaints.

Cons:

The mystery itself is sort of... incidental. It turns out that there's a secret memo that's connected with Bracken's criminal activity. Because of this memo, Beckett's old team at the FBI ends up dead, and Beckett finds out that she might be next. The guy she runs off with tells her that anybody that she contacts will be in danger, so Beckett has to go off the grid. They end up meeting Castle's mother-in-law Rita, a bad ass spy lady who's married to Castle's wayward father. We watch as Castle, with Alexis and Hayley assisting, puts together the pieces of the puzzle at the same time that Beckett and Vikram do the same. In the end, Bracken ends up dead in his prison cell, and the Attorney General is revealed to be connected in some way. It all turns out... sort of unfinished. The details are hazy, and we're left uncertain as to the truth.

Honestly, the reason this is a con is because it doesn't matter. I honestly could not care less about the specifics behind this mystery. It's just not compelling to rehash old material like this. I also thought the introduction of Rita came right out of left field. It was almost like they wanted to bring Castle's father back in, but they had to settle for an awkward replacement. Why include her at all? I mean, I guess it was cute to see Beckett welcomed to Castle's family by another mother figure, but otherwise it was totally out of place.

The Big Bang Theory: The Separation Oscillation (9x02)

Underwhelming, but mostly okay. Let's just get straight to it.

Cons:

Are Penny and Leonard really okay now? In this episode, they had some relationship woes as Penny struggled to accept that Leonard had kissed another woman. But by the end of the twenty minute episode, it appeared everything had sorted itself out. If that's really all we're getting, then I'm annoyed. This show needs to learn to stick to its guns and give us some real A-plot every once in a while!

There were a few typically sexist and unfeeling comments from Sheldon, but surprisingly they didn't piss me off to much. Unlike last week, I think we're supposed to feel derision for Sheldon's behavior here. Even so, I wish we could find other ways of getting to the point without having Sheldon come across as such a misogynist.

Once Upon a Time: The Dark Swan (5x01)

Yay! Awesome episode is awesomeeeee! I'm so happy that this show is back. I've been looking forward to Emma Swan as the Dark One since the second I realized it was going to happen. Let's start with a few little annoyances, so I can spend the bulk of the review gushing about how awesome this is going to be.

Cons:

At the very end of this episode, after all of our heroes have followed Emma into the Enchanted Forest and pulled her away from the Darkness, everybody wakes up back in Storybrooke. And they can't remember the past six weeks. Emma has gone full Dark, and nobody knows why. So... in reality, it's probably a good idea to tell the story in flashbacks. That's one of this show's strengths. But at the same time, isn't the amnesia thing getting a little tired? We've already done the memory loss thing several times on this show! I'm getting really sick of it!

The other potential flaw is with our new characters. I'm reserving judgment - maybe they will become more interesting in future, but so far they're not doing much for me. Merida's personality is basically "Scottish person," and Arthur's is "generic kingly Brit." To be fair, it's still early. Hopefully these characters will gain some interesting personalities as we move forward.

Let's talk about all the good stuff!

Doctor Who: The Witch's Familiar (9x02)

I'm pretty happy. The Moffat-itis appears to be mild, here. Let's just get right into the thick of it.

Cons:

There are a couple of "twists" in this episode that I think were a bit too twisty. Not in the sense that they were too confusing, but in the sense that they were trying too hard to be like "gotcha!" The first was that Missy and Clara aren't really dead. Oh, please. Quelle surprise. The next one was that Davros wasn't really connecting compassionately with the Doctor at the end of his life. There's this moment when the Doctor, in a fit of pity, uses a bit of his regeneration energy to try and allow Davros the strength to see one more sunset. The minute the Doctor exposes some of his energy to Davros, Davros uses it to power up all of the Daleks on Skaro. There was even a twist on the twist, because apparently the Doctor knew all along what Davros was up to. This annoys me because I hate it when protagonists are impossibly ahead of the game all of the time. It makes it hard to find anybody who's an actual threat.

The third "twist" was the resolution of last week's cliffhanger, when we saw the Doctor "exterminate" the young Davros in a desperate effort to save Clara. But this time we see what really happened - the Doctor exterminated the hand mines and saved young Davros, thus giving him the ounce of compassion that he needed for years later, so that Clara could be saved. I guess the reason this is a con is because I would have been annoyed either way. I'm annoyed at the attempted trickery - of course the Doctor didn't kill an innocent boy for crimes he had not yet committed. But I don't know what I would have preferred instead... I would have been even more annoyed if the Doctor had actually killed him somehow.

Grey's Anatomy: Sledgehammer (12x01)

Twelve seasons! That's insane. I read in a promo article that things are going to be "lighter" this season, and I think I'm seeing the hints of it already in this premiere. It wasn't a non-stop barrel of laughs, but nobody died, and there was a great deal of hope and humor. I'm a fan. We've jumped forward three months from where we left off, and things are settling back in to a routine at Grey-Sloan. Let's jump in.

Cons:

The only real flaw I found in this episode was a small subplot centered around Arizona and Stephanie. Apparently, Arizona and Callie sold the house, and Arizona needs some help paying the rent on her new place. The only problem is, nobody wants to live with her. Arizona asks Stephanie why, and Stephanie finally admits it's because Arizona is kind of a legend. She survived a plane crash, a car crash, and myriad other disasters. She talks really fast, she sleeps with interns and gets them fired, and people say she's faking having an amputated leg. In the end, the new intern who accidentally impersonated an attending in the season finale last year, opts to move in with Arizona. He says that the other interns have turned on him due to his little stunt. So... this plot thread was trying to be... funny? I think? I don't really know, but I do know that whatever it was going for, it didn't really land it. I guess the only good thing going on here is that it's setting up a promising new dynamic between Arizona and this new intern guy. I'm always interested to see what Grey's is going to do with new characters.

Modern Family: Summer Lovin' (7x01)

What a cute start to the season! Let's go over some of the pros and cons.

Cons:

I think this show is too clever to get away with putting someone in a fat suit. In this episode, we saw two versions of a person who has let himself fall apart. One is Mitchell, who quite cleverly starts to resemble Van Gogh, and the other is Andy, who just suddenly gets fat. I don't think the joke quite landed.

There was one plot thread in this episode that was a bit weak - Jay and Gloria are trying to find a preschool for Joe. The really good, fancy one with the kids of a bunch of celebrities has a long waiting list. Instead, Joe ends up at a hippy school where the kids run around with chickens in a park. This plot thread was... well, it lacked the usual creativity of Modern Family's humor. I thought there were a few funny moments, mostly with the teacher of the first school, as she gave hints as to the celebrities whose kids attended. I also liked when Gloria said that the "Learnin' Barn" seemed like a good school, because in her village only the richest children got to go to school in the barn. But other than a few clever jokes, I found myself bored.

But other than those few weaknesses, I was very happy!

Castle: XY (8x01)

Starting things off with a bang, apparently. This episode brought back in the sinister Senator Bracken, and added new intrigue with Kate going missing. I'm going to dive straight in to some of the pros/cons of this episode.

Cons:

Esposito and Ryan had very little to do in this opening episode. Beckett goes missing, and she appears to be working under her own power. They figure out very quickly that she's not kidnapped. I feel like Espo and Ryan could have had a bit more to do in terms of finding her... they mostly took a backseat. The episode starts with a brief subplot - Ryan tells Espo that Jenny is pregnant again, but he's worried about money, and worried about his stagnating career. Interesting in theory, but it didn't go anywhere.

So... Beckett getting kidnapped is sort of a cliche, which is fine in theory, but I hate the fact that she's hiding some big secret from Castle. It makes me not believe in them as a couple, and that sucks. I don't honestly think there's anything that could be going on that would justify Beckett lying to Castle like this. It's not believable in a couple that's supposed to be committed and supportive of each other.

The Big Bang Theory: The Matrimonial Momentum (9x01)

Sigh. This show is sooo hit and miss. I never know what I'm going to get. There were some good elements here, but I also found myself deeply annoyed by a few things. Let's get started with some of the negatives.

Cons:

Sheldon's sexism. So, in this episode, Sheldon is deeply hurt that Amy has broken up with him. He continually pesters her, to the point where Amy insists that she doesn't need any more time to think things over - they are definitely broke up, for good. Sheldon, instead of railing against Amy specifically, keeps talking about how all women are terrible, and women do nothing but talk about "girl stuff," and how men are clearly the better gender. Give me a break. I understand it's supposed to be comedy, and that I shouldn't take it seriously. But if that was the case, then we need to see that the joke is on Sheldon. Sheldon should be mocked by the show for the ridiculous things he's saying. But that's not what's happening here. We're meant to laugh at what Sheldon is saying about women, not at the fact that he's saying it in the first place. Highly annoying.

Raj, Stuart, Bernadette and Howard were all in this episode, but they had nothing to do. As everybody gathered around to watch Penny and Leonard get married in Vegas, via a video on the internet, I kept waiting for the banter to start between this fun group of characters. But nothing. All of the focus was on Sheldon and Amy and their bickering. Sort of a letdown, particularly for a season opener.
 

Doctor Who: The Magician's Apprentice (9x01)

Well, we're back. Not only is this the start of a new season of Doctor Who, it also marks the beginning of fall premiere season, meaning I've got to get back into the swing of writing these things. I'm going to try something a little different, starting with today's review. Instead of going in to an in-depth plot summary, I'm just going to jump straight in to pros and cons and talk about what happened throughout. We'll see how it goes. As always, however, we're going to start with the negatives.

Cons:

This episode suffered from a bit of Moffat-itis, although I am happy to say the symptoms are so far mild. One of my biggest complaints about Moffat as show-runner is his need to "epic-ify" everything. Now, for a series premiere, I'm rather okay with that. But I must admit it gets annoying when we continually focus on the Doctor as the center of events. Everything is about him. About how extraordinary he is. I guess I miss the occasional simple episode where the Doctor and his companion travel somewhere for fun and get swept up in somebody else's drama. I don't like the grandness implied by the Doctor's presence.

What the hell are they doing with Clara? Only Jenna Coleman's acting has saved this character from being one of the most truly awful things to come out of Doctor Who in a long while. She is seriously nothing but a pawn! In this episode, she finds the Doctor, and then goes with him when he turns himself over to Davros, and then gets herself trapped and killed. She doesn't solve anything, figure anything out other than that the Doctor is probably at a party, and she is just generally useless as a companion. When she died, I didn't even feel particularly sad, because the visual cues in the episode kept saying "wait for it... wait for it..." and so I can't even register this as a character death until I see what next week's episode brings. Here's the thing about Clara: in the beginning, she was a puzzle for the Doctor to solve, which was, as I've discussed, annoying. But now, it's flipped. The Doctor is a puzzle for her to solve. She's always trying to get inside his head, think like he thinks, so that she can figure out what to do about him. This is another one of those things that I always find problematic. The Doctor is an enigma, sure, but it seems like he purposefully obfuscates his intentions just to piss people off. Why? I don't get it.

Suits: Faith (5x10)

They're really not pulling their punches, are they? Yeesh, this was an emotional finale. I really wanted to hug Mike, and Harvey, and Jessica, and Rachel, and Donna, and just... tell them everything is going to be okay. But if that last few seconds of the episode are anything to go by, things are not going to be okay. At least not for the foreseeable future. Let's take a look.

The big plot development in this episode is that Jack Soloff has called for an emergency vote, the results of which will determine if Jessica will continue to manage the firm or not. Harvey is MIA, and Jessica turns to Louis for help. Louis goes to Daniel Hardman, but Hardman won't back down - in fact, he threatens to use Forstman's money to ruin Esther's company if Louis doesn't flip his vote and vote against Jessica. Jessica is devastated to hear this, but she's not mad at Louis for it. She knows she'd do the same thing, if it was her sister on the line. It looks like time is up for Jessica.

However, meanwhile, Harvey has been talking to Dr. Agard. He's struggling with a terrible decision - if he agrees to step down, Forstman will stop backing Hardman, and all this trouble goes away. As he's talking to Dr. Agard, he tells the story of when he caught his mother cheating on his father, and how he decided to tell his dad about it. We see in flashbacks how Harvey told his dad, spur of the moment and in anger, and how that action brought about the ruin of his family. His mother left, his father fell into a depression, and his brother felt abandoned by everybody, especially when Harvey decided to move away and never look back. We see flashback-Harvey briefly talk with Jessica about his dilemma. Jessica comes home to her husband, who announces that he wants an divorce, because Jessica's real love is for her work. 

Suits: Uninvited Guests (5x09)

Daniel Hardman. You jerk. Big surprise: he's a bad dude. Annoying surprise: Jack Soloff is working with him. This episode, to be honest, didn't do a lot for me. I had some problems with the predictable nature of a lot of what was going on here, and I wasn't really feeling it for most of the time. Let's start with a brief plot summary (I'm on a time crunch!)

At the vote over Harvey's suspension, Harvey announces that he'll be cutting his compensation and giving more to the other partners. He does this on Soloff's recommendation that he do something to humble himself to the other partners. Harvey is not suspended, but it's a close thing. Jack then announces that he wants to bring in a new client to the firm - one that they will be splitting with Daniel Hardman, who wants to come back to the firm on a trial basis. Jessica immediately says no.

Turns out, Daniel was hoping that Jessica would say no. He wants to poach a bunch of Jessica's clients right out from under her nose, and take the firm back by force. Mike figures out that Daniel's first target is going to be McKernan Motors. Mike also comes up with a  way to save the day - they have to privatize McKernan. They need money to do that, so they go to Giannopoulos and Sidwell. These two men hate each other, so they both agree to put money up front so they'll be besting each other. However, this plan doesn't work either - Daniel Hardman is able to outbid them. Harvey figures something out - Charles Forstman is backing Daniel! Harvey goes to talk to Forstman, asking him to back down. Forstman says he'll stop giving Hardman money... as long as Harvey resigns. All Forstman wants is Harvey's humiliation.

Suits: Mea Culpa (5x08)

Seriously, Louis? Seriously?! I can't. I'm so done with him. I've been done with him for a while, but this... this crosses a line, and it also makes me seriously question what the hell this show thinks they're doing with his character. Let's slow down and look at the plot first.

Louis is livid about Harvey's attack. Donna tries to get him to calm down, but Louis is out for blood. He wants to sue Harvey. Donna manages to convince him to keep it within the family. Jessica wants Harvey to take two weeks off, and to humbly apologize to Louis. Louis doesn't think this is sufficient, and wants Harvey to have a three month suspension without pay. Jessica convinces Louis to wait for two weeks, because she hopes that he'll calm down by then. Harvey talks to Dr. Agard, who makes him realize that Louis was wrong to lash out at Harvey, but the reverse is also true. Harvey has to apologize.

And Harvey does. In one of the bravest, most emotional moments this show has ever had, Harvey sincerely apologizes for what he did to Louis, and he opens up to him about his panic attacks, and how they're triggered by Donna leaving, and by stuff with his family and his relationships. Louis is shocked at Harvey's confession. He invites Harvey to come back the next day, especially because the next day is Mike's partnership vote.
 

Suits: Hitting Home (5x07)

Oh dear. Ohhhhh no. This is... this is not good. Very, very not good. I guess we should just jump right in and take each plot thread separately. Much like last week, there's really not a lot of overlap between the two main plot threads.

First of all, we've got Mike and Jack Soloff. Jessica told Jack to make peace and learn his place, and he tries to do so by approaching Mike to work a case. Mike shuts him down, still angry about his antics of the previous week. However, Jessica then tells Mike to make peace with Jack and solidify his loyalty within the firm. Mike and Jack reluctantly start to work together. In the case, Mike has a lot of trouble trusting Jack at first. He keeps accusing him of breaking the law. But eventually, Mike sees that Jack is actually not such a bad guy. Jack realizes the same thing about Mike - he decides to put Mike up for a junior partnership. Jessica tells Mike that he has to find a way to turn it down. She can't justify announcing Mike as a junior partner, thus getting him more attention and risking exposing his secret. Jessica tells Mike that he deserves the promotion - he's the best associate she's ever seen. But Mike has to turn it down.

Jessica confronts Daniel Hardman and tells him to stay out of her business. Hardman of course denies any involvement in Jessica's firm, but later he approaches Jack Soloff, wanting to work with him on taking Jessica down. It appears that Jack really has chosen a side, however. He tells Hardman that he's gained Jessica's trust, and he's not going to break it.

Suits: Privilege (5x06)

Another very solid episode. Good drama, good fluff. I do have a few complaints, but let's start with a plot summary first. For this episode, I think I'm going to divide the three plots and talk about each in turn, since they don't really intersect much.

Harvey and Rachel are working on a case to defend a man falsely accused of illegal activity on the stock market. Harvey feels confident that he can save the man from prison - that is, until he sees that Dr. Agard is being deposed to talk about what the accused person talked about during their sessions together. Turns out, Agard works for this guy's company. Harvey tells Agard to lie to protect his client, but she won't. She shows up the next day and says that her patient said he felt guilty about the money he lost. Harvey knows he has a way to discredit her testimony, but he is loathe to do it. He has no choice: Harvey brings up the fact that Agard lied because she cared about a patient, and that her patient died as a result. Harvey makes it seem like Agard has a history of lying because of her affection for her patients. Agard is livid, insisting that Harvey did what he did in order to get back at her for bringing up his mother. Harvey avidly insists that he did it to help his client.

At this point, Rachel talks to Harvey, revealing that she knows he's been having panic attacks. She has an idea that could help save their client from jail - Dr. Agard's files could contain information from other company employees that would prove his innocence. Harvey goes to Agard to ask for her help. He feels terrible about what he did, but this isn't about them - it's about Dr. Agard's patient - Harvey's client. Agard hands over the files, even though they don't have the information Harvey needs. Harvey uses the files to bluff the opposition, and he is successful.

Suits: Toe to Toe (5x05)

Yikes, Harvey! That was intense. And once again, Jessica is the ultimate bad-ass. Let's dive right in.

Harvey, in an attempt to get back to his normal fighting self, decides to take on a case against Travis Tanner. He brings Mike in on the case, so it can be like old times. At first, everything goes to plan, but Mike starts to notice that Harvey is obsessed with beating Travis. The case takes some interesting turns, and they learn that Travis' client is claiming that Harvey's client sexually harrassed her. Harvey thinks this is a lie, that Travis is playing them. Mike goes to talk to Travis' client, and finds out it was actually her idea. As the case continues, Mike becomes more and more convinced that the right thing to do is take the settlement offer. Harvey, however, is determined to beat Tanner.

Things escalate even further when Harvey and Tanner get into it on the street. Tanner makes crass jokes about Donna, and about Harvey's mother, and Harvey punches him. Mike has to hold him back and tell Tanner to leave. Eventually, Tanner asks Mike to come meet with him, and Mike does. He convinces Tanner to take his name off the case and give it to somebody else. Once Mike shows Harvey that he can settle on the case without losing to Travis Tanner, Harvey capitulates, realizing that he'd let Tanner get in his head.

Suits: No Puedo Hacerlo (5x04)

Okay, so I obviously love Amy Acker, and it was really cool to see her in this episode. However... I have some serious reservations. Let's get started with the plot.

Louis' sister Esther, played by the incredible Amy Acker, shows up at the firm to ask for help handling her divorce. She wants Harvey to handle the case, saying that Louis is too close to the situation to be objective. The issue is that Esther's husband wants a larger share of Esther's company than was originally agreed upon. Harvey agrees to fight on Esther's behalf, but he learns that she had agreed years ago that he could have half of the company. With Rachel's help, Harvey works to find something fair. They end up giving 5% more to Esther's husband than the agreement, so that Esther can finally get closure and admit that she and her husband both had parts to play in their divorce. He cheated on her, but she was emotionally distant and always put her needs first.

While all of this is going on, Louis is trying to eavesdrop on the case. Donna warns him to butt out. Harvey, through his experience with Esther and her husband, realizes that he needs to acknowledge all that Donna has done for him over the years, and he sincerely thanks her for the last twelve years. Harvey also goes to Louis and seems to be mending fences. He asks Louis to fix the compensation disaster.

Suits: No Refills (5x03)

This was not an episode built around Mike/Harvey bromance, but the moments that we got were extremely adorable. so I'm pretty happy. On top of that, there were a lot of other really strong relationships being showcased. Let's take a look.

Jessica tells Harvey to make things right with Jack. When Harvey tries to clear the air between them, Jack shoots him down, and Harvey decides to beat him back. With the aid of Gretchen, his new secretary, he finds a way to steal one of Jack's clients. Louis tells Jack he doesn't want to be part of the feud with Harvey anymore, but Jack blackmails him, saying he'll tell everybody about Louis leaving Harvey's salary out. Donna is furious at Louis for continuing to put her in situations where she has to hurt Harvey, but when Louis tells her that Harvey threatened to take her back, Donna's anger turns to Harvey instead. She tells him that even if she did leave Louis, she wouldn't come back to him. After a conversation with Jessica about his abandonment issues, Harvey has another panic attack. Mike witnesses it, when suddenly Jack comes into the room to continue his fight with Harvey. Harvey says he's in the process of stealing Jack's other clients. He asks Mike to help him find a way to make that happen.

Mike has been working on the case with Robert Zane. Rachel warns Mike that Robert might not treat him fairly, and it turns out she was right. Jessica had asked Robert to treat Mike as his full and equal partner, because Mike was the one representing her firm. However, Robert treats Mike as nothing more than an associate. Mike has to ditch Harvey to work on the case, but after witnessing Harvey's panic attack, he agrees to help him with his problem with Jack. He still manages to succeed in his case with Zane, however, prompting Zane to acknowledge him as a partner.

Suits: Compensation (5x02)

Mike and Harvey did not interact at all in this episode. That makes me sad. But this episode was really awesome, and that makes me happy. Let's try and discuss all the new plot developments, because there was actually a lot going on here!

Harvey looks for a replacement for Donna, foregoing several beautiful Donna-like candidates for an older woman with a practical head on her shoulders.

Meanwhile, Jack, one of the firm's senior partners, comes to Louis with an idea to change the structure of the company's salaries. This new idea would favor Louis, and leave Harvey with less. Louis decides to encourage Jack so that he can later shoot down Jack's idea at a meeting, in order to solidify his loyalty to Harvey. During the meeting, however, Harvey acts like a jerk and storms out. Louis is now on Jack's side, and decides to "accidentally" leave Harvey's salary lying around so that the other partners will see it and get mad about how much Harvey makes.

However, at this point Harvey comes to Louis and apologizes. Louis wants to stop the plan, but it's too late - Harvey's salary has been leaked. Harvey realizes that this whole thing started when Louis found out that Harvey helped pay Donna's salary, since Donna deserved more than the standard rate. Louis is intimidated by how much money it is. Harvey goes to Donna and asks her to tell the truth about Louis' plan to share his salary with everybody. Donna knows she can't betray Louis' trust, because Louis will lose his job. She accuses Harvey of being jealous of Donna and Louis' new relationship. Her feelings are only confirmed when Harvey reveals that he's been paying her salary all these years.

Suits: Denial (5x01)

Oh my God Harvey. You poor dear! And poor Donna! Seriously I'm so upset. But also so excited about this season! This episode was honestly really hard to watch, but at the same time when it ended I had the biggest grin on my face. Let's go over the plot.

Basically, Donna has left Harvey and is going to start working for Louis. Donna tries to be an adult about it, but Harvey insists that they rip off the band-aid and just get it over with. Donna doesn't stay with Harvey for her final two weeks, therefore, and instead goes straight to working with Louis. Harvey is in denial. He thinks that Donna will come back. Louis is also uncertain about Donna's new position, as he thinks that Donna will abandon him and run back to Harvey. Harvey goes to see a therapist, hoping to be given anti-anxiety medication. He has been suffering from panic attacks due to losing Donna. He fears that he's going to drop the ball and mess things up.

Meanwhile, Rachel and Mike decide to keep their engagement a secret for the time being. Originally, they were going to tell Donna, but the news about Donna now working for Louis eclipses all else from their minds. Rachel misses a test in school because she sticks around and helps Harvey. Harvey is still refusing to hire a new secretary, thinking that Donna will come back. The case that Harvey and Mike are working on nearly gets screwed up because of a minor oversight of Rachel's, but Mike tells him it's his own fault for not hiring a new secretary. Rachel shouldn't be blamed, since this isn't even her job!

Outlander: To Ransom a Man's Soul (1x16)

Well then. That's one way to end a season. Honestly, this episode was even tougher than the last one, so if you couldn't stomach, 1x15, steer clear of the followup. Let's take a look at the plot.

Murtagh and the MacKenzie men successfully enter Wentworth Prison by causing chaos with a herd of cows. They get Jamie out, but he is badly injured, both physically and psychologically. Jamie, Claire, and the other men stay at the nearby Scotsman's house while Jamie recovers from his ordeal. It seems no matter what anybody says, Jamie is convinced there's no coming back from what happened to him. He is suicidal, and he actually asks one of the men to kill him. When Claire finds out, she realizes she cannot keep coddling him. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened.