Outlander: The Watch (1x13)

I'm really glad we got to spend another week at Lallybroch. I love this location. I love Jenny, and now I'm happy to report that I love Ian as well. That doesn't mean the episode gets to coast on my feelings of love, however. There were definitely some rough patches. Let's dive in to what happened.

Last week, we saw Jamie being held at gunpoint. As this episode begins, we learn that these men are members of "the Watch," a group of men who demand payment from the local households in exchange for protecting them from the British. (They're basically like Scottish mob bosses). Jenny rushes in and saves Jamie, lying and saying that Jamie is her cousin. Jamie is furious that Jenny and Ian have allowed the Watch to interfere, but Jenny insists they have no choice. Jamie will have to stay calm and not rouse any suspicion for as long as the Watch is there.

This does not prove easy - the members of the Watch are rude and disruptive, and Jamie does not like them. Things get even more difficult when Horrocks shows up. He's the British deserter who Jamie met with earlier - he knows exactly who Jamie is, and about the price on his head. Instead of telling the Watch Jamie's secret, he offers to keep his mouth shut in exchange for money. Jamie says he'll pay up, but he's forced to use the money he had set aside for him and Claire to start raising their family. This prompts Claire to reveal to Jamie that she's not sure if she can have kids - she tried before, with Frank, but never conceived.

Jamie goes to give money to Horrocks, but Horrocks demands more, threatening to tell Jamie's secret and put his whole family at risk. Ian stabs Horrocks from behind, killing him. Later, the leader of the Watch gets suspicious, and he figures out that Horrocks has been killed. Jamie decides to come clean, telling the man that he's a wanted man with a price on his head. The Watch leader asks Jamie to come help on a highway raid. Jamie agrees to go, because the man says he won't turn him in to the British. Turns out the Watch was a bit more shady than they seemed - it was a trap after all! Jamie is taken by the Redcoats!

Meanwhile, Jenny goes into labor. The baby is breached, meaning it will be a very difficult birth. As Ian and Jamie go off with the Watch for the raid, Claire stays with Jenny to help her through the childbirth. The two of them bond, and Jenny gives birth to a healthy baby girl, Margaret (Maggie). At the end of the episode, Ian arrives back at Lallybroch, having lost his wooden leg in the altercation. He gives Claire and Jenny the news that Jamie has been taken.

So. This episode did have its flaws. For one, it felt like the pacing was stretched pretty thin. A lot of stuff technically happened, but it felt like so much of the episode was just sitting around and waiting for stuff. I'm not sure how this could have been fixed. Along the same note, we got another cliffhanger ending. I'm getting really sick of those at this point. At least now it's Claire's turn to do the saving, instead of Jamie's!

Mostly, though, I didn't really mind the slower pace of this episode, because it gave these characters a lot of room to breathe and deepen their relationships.

The Watch members were actually really fascinating and surprisingly nuanced. They're not unambiguously evil. They protect the residents of Lallybroch from a greater evil, and Ian even talks about how he identifies with MacQuarrie because they are both soldiers. We had some nice back story moments where Ian, Jamie, and the members of the Watch talked about their military service in France.

Ian got much more interesting this week! He and Jamie haven't had quite enough screen time for me to understand their deep brotherly bond, but this episode was a step in the right direction. The fact that Ian would kill Horrocks in order to protect Jamie is proof of his undying loyalty for him. Also, clearly Ian has some unresolved issues from his time as a soldier. Not only did he lose his leg, he also seems to have come away with some PTSD. After he stabs Horrocks, he's shaking so badly he can't even sheath his sword. Even so, he still goes with Jamie at the end, in order to watch his back.

We got a bit of detail about Jamie's childhood here, too. His brother finally gets a mention - Jamie and Jenny had an older brother who died when Jamie was just a little boy. He made Jamie a little wooden carving of a snake with a nickname on it. That was a cute little detail from the books that really didn't need to come into the show - but I'm glad it did!

The real highlight of this episode for me was the relationship between Jenny and Claire. These two are far too wonderful to remain at odds for very long, so despite the fact that they had a rocky introduction last week, they seem to have found common ground fairly quickly. They bonded over the idea of motherhood. Claire has never experienced it, and she obviously deeply wants to. Jenny talks about what it was like to be pregnant with Young Jamie, and now with Maggie. Great work from both actresses at cultivating a strong bond. Claire also got to put her medical knowledge to good use as she helped Jenny to give birth!

I think I'll stop there. I continue to be very happy with the atmosphere of Lallybroch, and I'll be sad to say goodbye to it in the coming weeks. Still, I'm excited for the culmination of this season! It should be nice and brutal!

7.5/10