Fergus! Yayyyyy! This was everything I could have hoped for, honestly. I'm beyond thrilled about his introduction. I'm pretty happy with everything in this episode, honestly. I have a few quips, but this season is shaping up to be just as impressive as the first.
Cons:
Claire and Jamie's main goal in France is to prevent the Jacobite rebellion, and we as the audience have got to hear them talking out loud about it so we can understand where they are in their goal. I get all that. But sometimes they just talk willy-nilly in front of the servants in their household, and I'm sitting here thinking - use discretion! They could let something slip that could get back to Jared, at the very least, or potentially a more important Jacobite who could hear that they're trying to undermine the effort. It seems like carelessness on the part of Jamie and Claire, all for the sake of streamlining the plot.
There's this moment where Claire goes to Master Raymond's shop, and she sees Raymond talking to Comte St. Germain about some shared venture. The Comte is openly hostile to Claire. Book readers know where this is leading, but honestly... the Comte is a little bit too obvious of a villain. They keep having him pop up to remind us of how evil he is and how much he hates Claire, and it's lacking in subtlety. (Wow, that it seriously my one consistent complaint about this show, isn't it? Too on the nose!)
Pros:
The strength of this episode lies in its two separate plots, one for Jamie and one for Claire, and how these two plots intersect throughout the hour. Let's start with Jamie's side of things.
Jamie has been busy staying up all night with Bonnie Prince Charlie to gain his trust, playing chess with the French finance minister Duverney, and running Jared's wine business as well. He is run ragged, disliking the deception he is forced to endure in support of the larger cause. Real progress is made when he convinces Duverney to come meet Charles Stuart at the brothel. Jamie believes Duverney will tell Charles that the French cannot support his efforts. He is shocked, therefore, when Charles reveals that he already has a bunch of money from important British conspirators. He offers Duverney an alliance between France and Britain, if only King Louis will support the Jacobites now, offering more funds and standing in line with them as they fight against the usurper. Duverney agrees that funds could be made available to the Jacobites, to Jamie's dismay.
I love how quickly we're moving along with this plot, although I'm still reeling a bit with how quickly Jamie was able to get an audience with Charles. This week, we see that time has passed, as Jamie continues to gain the trust of these important men. I think my favorite scene was when Jamie and Duverney were playing chess. I love that Jamie seems just as at home discussing politics over a civilized game of strategy as he does wrestling with Murtagh and the other highlanders in Scotland. Jamie's chameleon-like ability to fit in wherever he goes is one of his most important traits from the books, and I'm glad to see it portrayed here. Plus, chess games between Jamie and Duverney remind me of the games he'll play in future with Lord John Grey. He's one of my two favorite characters in the whole book series, and I can't wait to meet him.
And speaking of favorite characters, Jamie's plot continues with the introduction of my other favorite: Fergus! Jamie has just discovered that Charles has funding for the rebellion, and he is feeling very discouraged. At the brothel, he notices a young boy pickpocketing from the customers, and follows him, chasing him into an alley. He stops this boy, threatens to tell the Madame that he's been pickpocketing, and then offers him a job. Jamie wants this boy to steal for him, from now on. The idea is that he'll steal letters, and then Jamie will copy them out and Fergus can replace them before they've been missed. Fergus' name is actually Claudel, but Jamie decides that's not manly enough, and rechristens him "Fergus." He also takes the boy home with him and lets him move in, essentially.
So, I know where this is going, obviously, having read the books. Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that Fergus becomes a sort of foster son for Jamie and Claire, and I'm already seeing the seeds of that relationship take root. The kid they got to play young Fergus is absolutely perfect. I think my favorite moment with him is when Claire walks in and sees him at the dining table. She has no idea who this kid is. Fergus stands up, gives an awkward bow, and tells Claire she has lovely breasts. It's just so... hilariously endearing. Murtagh chastises the kid, because apparently he just told Suzette, the lady's maid, the same thing about her breasts. Claire says: "well, that doesn't make me feel very special." Ha! Too funny. I also love the fact that Jamie finds him and immediately rechristens him. Jamie has no way of knowing that Fergus is basically going to end up being his child, but this moment of naming and claiming responsibility for him really starts him along that path. I hope we get to see lots more of Fergus moving forward!
Now let's talk about Claire's plot. While Jamie is off meeting with royalty, Claire spends her time having tea with Louise de Rohan and Mary Hawkins, which she finds tedious after a while. She learns that young Mary doesn't know what sex is, which is amusing enough, but she also remembers something very important: Mary Hawkins is Frank's ancestor! She is the woman who marries Jonathan Randall and has a child who is to be Frank's direct ancestor. This gives Claire quite a shock, and also gives her another reason to hide the truth from Jamie about Jack being alive. If Jack dies before Mary becomes pregnant with his child, Frank will never exist. Unlike with the Comte, where the seeds of his character are being dropped with a rather unsubtle touch, the stuff with Mary is wonderfully integrated into the story. She's just so innocent and adorable. The thought that she is supposed to end up with Jack Randall is rather nauseating, although of course I know where all this is going. Additionally, Louise continues to be delightful. I want more of her.
Claire, chafing under her boredom and the stress from her secret about Jack, is none too happy to walk in on her lady's maid Suzette in bed with Murtagh. Claire snaps at Murtagh, but then eventually confides in him about what's bothering her. Murtagh is shocked to learn that Jack is alive, but agrees with Claire's decision to keep it a secret. If Jamie knew, he might drop everything and rush back to Scotland to kill his rapist. And even if he didn't succeed, he'd likely be captured and hanged. He's still a wanted man, after all. I liked the scene between Claire and Murtagh because it reinforces the bond we've been seeing grow between them since Season One. I didn't really like the episode where Claire and Murtagh traveled around looking for Jamie last season, but I did like the affinity it established between these two characters who seem to share nothing in common except for love for Jamie. It's a strong enough foundation to build on, and I love seeing it here.
Claire's aforementioned trip to Master Raymond's was actually in search of birth control for Suzette. It's there that she learns about a charity hospital that might be in need of her assistance. Claire goes to the hospital and meets Mother Hildegard, the remarkable old woman who runs the place. She is relegated to scut work at first, but after tasting a patient's urine and diagnosing her with diabetes, she earns Mother Hildegard's respect. Claire is thrilled to have found a place where she can feel useful.
This hospital is super important, and I'm really glad to be introducing it early. Mother Hildegard is awesome, and her miracle diagnosing dog Bouton is also adorable. I liked that they didn't shy away from the grossness of the hospital - we even saw pus coming out of an infected wound, in graphic detail. Ew.
These two plots on their own show each Jamie and Claire settling in to a routine in Paris, figuring out the highs and lows of their new life. The real meat of the episode comes in the conflict between them, as these two plots touch together. Claire and Jamie are just not on the same page. Claire is combating pregnancy hormones, while Jamie hasn't been getting any sleep. Claire is feeling useless without something to do, and Jamie is feeling useless when he realizes that Charles has money for his rebellion after all. When Claire comes home late, jubilant about her experience at the hospital, it's to find Jamie stewing in some fairly unreasonable resentment that Claire wasn't waiting to talk to him when he got home. Tensions bubble over, and things don't exactly improve when Jamie takes Fergus in without even discussing it with his wife. To top it off, Jamie's PTSD is still preventing them from having an active sex life.
This is great. Honestly, it's great. The idea that Claire and Jamie could possibly remain perfectly devoted and happy during such a stressful situation is crazy, and here we're seeing the cracks start to show. They love each other and they're loyal, but that doesn't mean things are smooth sailing. It's not a blow-out fight, but merely a manifestation of their situation. We're never led to believe that Jamie is going to cheat on Claire, for example, despite his long hours in the brothel. But the disconnect between them leads to real hurt on both sides, as Claire is upset Jamie isn't happy for her when she finds work at the hospital, and Jamie wonders when his sacrifices are going to start paying dividends.
The brilliance of the two plots is in how they come together in the end. Fergus, who Jamie brought into their lives, brings them letters he steals from important figures involved in Jacobite communications. Several of these missives are in code, and one happens to be in a musical code. Guess who happens to be a musical prodigy? Mother Hildegard. I'll admit that this might seem too convenient. All I can say is, in the books this same material is covered in chapters and chapters, and the idea of going to Mother Hildegard isn't quite as sudden. Even so, I think it works quite well. I love the reveal that Hildegard is friends with Bach, who Claire knows to be an extremely famous composer, but who is not well known in his own time. Hildegard is able to examine the musical code and finds something odd about the numerous key changes. From there, Jamie is able to untangle the secret message.
The news is both good and bad. Turns out, the British financers for the Jacobite effort do exist - and there's significant money being promised to Charles Stuart. The good news is that Claire and Jamie have figured out who among the British is heading this little treasonous action: the Duke of Sandringham. Although the Duke's support of the Jacobites is bad news for Jamie and Claire, knowing who's responsible only gets them one step closer to trying to stop the funds in their tracks. However... meeting with Sandringham will probably involve a run-in with Alex Randall, and the truth about Black Jack will come out. Murtagh encourages Claire to tell Jamie the truth, but Claire can't bring herself to do it just yet.
I've seen some people complaining that this episode ended much the same way as the last one, with Claire wondering what to do about the Jack problem. To me, it works well because this same dilemma is backed by much more serious and immediate consequences. Not only is Jack alive, but his continuing existence is the only way to ensure that Claire's former/future husband Frank will be born. And Claire and Jamie need to talk to the Duke of Sandringham - it's the natural next step. How can they do that without Jamie finding out about Jack, and potentially derailing both their lives? The conflict is juicy. I can't wait for more.
We're moving along at a nice clip, which I guess is necessary if we only have thirteen episodes to get us from the arrival in Paris to Claire going back through the stones. Even knowing what's to come, I'm still anxiously awaiting the next installment!
8.5/10
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