Outlander: Untimely Resurrection (2x05)

I'm so pumped about this show. Honestly. Every episode is such a treat. Love it, love it, love it.

Cons:

Uhh.... nothing? I don't know. Not enough Fergus, I guess? But that's not a real complaint, that's a personal preference thing. Maybe the Comte St. Germain is still too on the nose with his evilness? But actually he was better this week too. Okay why am I trying to force complaints? This episode rocked!

Pros:

The continuing political plot takes a few steps forward this week. Turns out that the Duke of Sandringham is now convinced that Charles Stuart is a total idiot, and doesn't want to back his plans. Good news for Jamie and Claire, right? Well, unfortunately Sandringham has been replaced by a new investor for the Jacobite cause: the Comte St. Germain. Prince Charles has arranged to loan the Comte some funds for a big shipment of wine. With Jamie's help selling the wine, they will make a lot of money. Jamie and Claire decide to stop the shipment from being sold, so that this new revenue stream will dry up.

Like I mentioned, the Comte St. Germain is improved somewhat this week by his entrance into the story proper. Now that he's allied to Charles Stuart in a business venture, we can start to understand his character even more. Claire's plan to try and stop the money is to fake another smallpox outbreak and get Germain's ship condemned. Again. It's a risky move, but one I'm excited to see explored. The best scene in this plot line was Jamie and St. Germain sitting in the brothel together, united by a supposedly common goal and yet not bothering to hide their disdain. Jamie, in quite a pleasant tone of voice, promises that he will make the Comte suffer if he ever gets proof that he's responsible for Claire getting poisoned, or for Mary Hawkins' rape. My favorite Claire moment in this plot thread was when Sandringham was greeting her and kissing her hand, and Claire says: "I may be ill." She's ostensibly referring to morning sickness, but I think she was also put off by the Duke's mere presence. That made me chuckle. A lot of this plot thread was setup for things to come later down the pipe, and it's all got me very anxious for more.

Meanwhile, Mary is recovering from her traumatic experience, while poor Alex remains in the Bastille. Mary writes a note explaining Alex's innocence to get him released, and she tells Claire about her plan to marry Alex. Claire has now reached a dilemma - if Mary and Alex get married, it will cut off the lineage leading to Frank, since Mary is supposed to have a child with Jack Randall. Claire considers burning Mary's letter and keeping Alex imprisoned, but she can't bring herself to go that far. Instead, she convinces Alex to leave Mary, since he was fired by Sandringham and doesn't have a life of comfort to offer her any longer.

My heart just breaks for both of them, especially since I know where this whole thing is headed. What's interesting is that Claire knows firsthand that love can be enough to overcome less than ideal circumstances. Her entire relationship with Jamie happened that way. They've been on the run, kidnapped, nearly hanged, kidnapped again, Jamie was raped... and yet even at the lowest depths of their despair, Claire's love for Jamie was enough to sustain her. And yet, even knowing this, Claire uses the excuse of Mary not being prepared for a hard life to get Alex to walk away from her. It's underhanded, and Claire knows it. Her heart breaks for Mary and Alex even as she convinces herself she's doing the right thing for Frank.

A few other things to mention before we get to the real meaty center of the episode. Murtagh didn't have a lot to do in this episode, but he did have one moment where he expresses his guilt to Jamie. He says: "I failed you," referring to the attack in the streets. He shudders to think what might have happened to Claire and the baby, and grieves what did happen to Mary Hawkins. Murtagh is one of those characters that I love so much more in the show vs. the books. I liked him in the books, but this portrayal of him is really warming my heart, and making me really emotional for what's to come. Being a book reader really heightens my appreciation for certain elements.

Speaking of which, it's time for the weekly Fergus Watch. To those who haven't read the books, I'm sure my fixation on this as-yet insignificant character seems unfounded, but seriously. He's the cutest. I love him so much. We start this episode with Claire and Fergus sitting up waiting for Jamie to return from Bastille, where he was carted off in the wake of the disturbance at the dinner party. Fergus falls asleep shortly before Jamie gets home, and when Jamie sees his young charge asleep on the couch, he picks him up in his arms to carry him to bed. Fergus, asleep in his master's arms, doesn't stir as Claire comes up to Jamie and gives him a kiss. I'm definitely reading too much into this, but it was almost like a role-reversed "new baby" pose. Jamie was the one holding Fergus, but if you think about it, he was the one who brought Fergus into their lives. This was a good way to visually suggest the future parent/child bond that will develop between this young boy and our two heroes.

One last thing before the big thing. I promise this is the last time. Claire and Jamie have this really wonderful conversation where Claire expresses her fears about motherhood. She knows she's a good healer, but she's never been a mother, and she can't really remember having a mother, either. It was a lovely moment, because we, the audience, know that Claire will make a fantastic mother. Jamie knows it too. Just looking at the way she acts towards Mary Hawkins proves that she has a great maternal instinct. But sharing her doubts with Jamie brings them closer together. Jamie assures her that they will learn how to be parents together. Knowing what's coming of course makes this conversation extra-strength tragic, but we won't go into that just yet.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the real reason we all freaked out at this episode: Black Jack Randall has made his creepy, unwanted, disgusting, evil return to the scene. He and Claire run into each other at the court, and King Louis XV shows up to humiliate Jack in front of Claire and Jamie both. Jamie then challenges Jack to a duel, and Jack accepts. Claire interferes, telling Jamie that he cannot duel Jack. Not only is dueling illegal in France - if he kills Jack before Mary conceives a child with him, Frank will never exist! Claire tells Jamie that he owes her a life, since she saved him. She is cashing in that debt now, asking Jamie to wait one year before killing Black Jack Randall. Jamie, a man of his word, agrees. But he is not happy about it.

Let's just unpack this. The suspense and buildup and delivery of Jack's reappearance is just... perfect. Last season he came across as a truly monstrous villain of the mustache-twirling type. This appearance is just as creepy, but very different. The way he acts around Claire and Jamie is so... familiar. He acts like they all share a personal secret that binds them together. In a way, that's true, which is what makes it so disgusting. There's this moment when Claire watches Jamie and Jack agree to the duel, and Jack places a familiar hand on Jamie's chest. Ugh. It made me want to throw up! Tobias Menzies is just incredible. As is Sam Heughan. One of the most incredible and subtle moments in this scene was when Jamie walks up and talks to Jack, all while looking directly at King Louis. His tone is mild and polite, and all I kept thinking was how proud I was of Jamie for holding it together and keeping things civil. But then of course you slowly realize - he's holding it together because he's overjoyed at the chance to finally get his revenge.

King Louis XV was a lot stronger in this episode than he was when we first met him. I like the fact that he seems to truly like Claire, and when he picks up on the fact that Claire is uncomfortable with Jack, he does all he can to humiliate the English soldier, forcing him to kneel and then laughing and telling him he had misunderstood the request. Jack looks furious at being thus treated, but it was lovely to see Louis turn in to something of an ally for Claire specifically. That will be coming back later.

Appropriately, we'll end with the ending. Oh. My. God. I didn't think it was possible to see Jamie look so furious at Claire. It was heartbreaking to see. Claire has been fixating a lot on Frank's future existence, what with Mary and Alex's relationship and all that. But Jamie hasn't been privy to any of this. Suddenly, Claire is telling Jamie to let the man who raped and tortured him go free, all for the sake of a distant future. Specifically, Claire's distant future (or, I guess past) husband. That has got to hurt. And then for Claire to say that Jamie owes her a debt because she saved his life? Yikes. That was extra brutal. Jamie looked utterly destroyed when she said that, and I can't really blame him. Until that point, Claire never would have dreamed of using the fact that she saved him as a bargaining chip. For it to come up now just added a whole extra level to the drama and tragedy. And when Jamie agrees to wait one year before killing Jack, Claire doesn't seem to understand the full enormity of what she's asking. She tries to reach for Jamie, but he pulls away: "Do not. Touch me." Yikes. Wow. What a powerful performance from both of these actors. This is the kind of intensity I can look forward to with this show. I can't wait to see the fallout!

10/10