Outlander: Man of Worth (4x13)

I see that this finale has been kind of polarizing in the fandom, and honestly I don't really see why. If you haven't liked the season thus far, this finale isn't going to fix things. But if you have liked it, then this finale is exactly what it should be to wrap up all of these various story beats. For the most part, I did like this season. That's not to say I don't have my complaints, though... this episode was a bit of a mixed bag, in the same way that a lot of the season was.

Cons:

I will admit that this season has felt the most unbalanced out of the seasons of Outlander we've had thus far. The later books in the series are my favorite - I love spending time at Fraser's Ridge and being around as the Revolution starts to heat up. But the further along in the series you get, the more sprawling these novels become. They're not structured like most novels are. They're very meandering and rich with incident, and it makes for a real challenge in adaptation. I definitely felt that challenge here. The whole season does feel a bit meander-y. They hit all the important plot moments they need to hit, but there's less room for some of this stuff to breathe. Claire herself has a reduced role in this season, and that's a consequence of so much going on. In the books, though, the story just expands to encapsulate everyone and nobody feels diminished. That's not entirely possible in a TV show, though.

Some smaller notes: this season still didn't grapple enough with the issues of race that it presented. We see that Brianna and Phaedra have formed a friendship at River Run, but we don't see Brianna confront the fact that her friend is a slave in any meaningful way. Also, the romance between Murtagh and Jocasta relegates Ulysses to a complete background figure in this episode, which is another significant bummer. Also, as an added consequence of elevating Bree and Phaedra's moments, Lizzie becomes almost completely useless as a character. I feel like for people who haven't read the books, Lizzie is just a non-entity. She's there to muck up the truth for dramatic irony, but she doesn't have a purpose in the show beyond that.

Murtagh and Jocasta. Oy. Let me say this: I don't object to it on principle, but do you know what I would have liked better? Keep the scene where they fight just as it is, and they we cut to Murtagh and Jocasta waking up in bed together, or one of them wakes up and realizes what happened the night before, and has a bit of a "what have I done?" moment? Then, in that final moment, instead of an expression of tender love between them, we get this awkward sort of interplay where neither of them regrets what happened, exactly, but they're not foolish enough to think anything more will come of it, so they're just trying to be considerate of each other's feelings. Basically, what I'm getting at is this: I'm cool with Jocasta and Murtagh having sex. I actually think that's pretty hilarious and fun. But suddenly being in love? Nah. I'm not about that. I literally laughed out loud when it panned over Murtagh lounging shirtless in the bed. Pretty sure that wasn't the intended reaction.

I don't blame Roger for punching Jamie, but I did think it was odd how long the scenes of violence went on. There's a lot to cram in to this hour of television, so it felt strange to have these prolonged scenes of Roger beating up Jamie, and Ian going through the gauntlet with the Mohawk. Surely we could have gotten the point with less time spent on showing the violence.

(Also, as a final note, I missed Lord John this week. A lot.)

Pros:

I actually really liked all of the stuff with the Mohawk, from learning the full story of Otter Tooth, to Jamie agreeing to stay with the Mohawk, to Ian stepping in. I thought it was well-paced, well-acted, dramatic, heartbreaking, all of that good stuff. Obviously the real stand-out moment is when Jamie and Ian are saying goodbye to each other. It was heart-wrenching, and the performances made me feel more connected to Ian than I have so far in this show. I also absolutely loved Ian's reaction when he learned he would be made part of the Mohawk. He was so elated, and his big goofy grin just told you that everything would be alright. This was meant to happen for him.

Otter Tooth traveled back in time for much the same reason that Geillis did, to try and save his people. There's an inherent heartbreak to his story, of course, but I like that the Mohawk, or at least some of them, understand that his presence could be regarded as a gift, not a curse. There's a lot of tragedy and complexity to this story, and I felt like the show did a pretty good job with it, despite some of the problems they've had throughout the season with portraying the native characters.

So, when Roger learns the full truth about what happened with Brianna, that she's having a child that might be his and might be Stephen Bonnet's, he hesitates. He doesn't come back to River Run right away, leading Bree to think she's lost him forever. I don't think Roger's hesitation on this account is excusable, necessarily, but I think it makes him a realistically flawed human. We know that Frank Randall loved Brianna as his own daughter, despite knowing the truth about her parentage, we know that Jamie has raised more than one foster child who wasn't his by blood. This story has a lot of complex child/parent relationship stuff baked into it, and here we see that Roger is conflicted, but he comes back to Brianna and makes the right choice - he wants to go meet his son.

The Brianna/Roger reunion was super cheesy, super overblown, and exactly the kind of over-the-top romance that Outlander should include. I'm not going to complain about the cheesiness level. Please. We all knew what we were getting into. I think it's adorable, and I'm glad Bree gets to have her happy ending with Roger. For the moment. And I'm glad Roger has found a way to reconcile all of the torment that he's been through, and come out the other side still devoted to his family. I've noticed people being pretty harsh on Roger as a character, but I personally think it makes sense to show a character handling adversity poorly. Not everyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and succeed against all odds. Roger is in over his head for the entire season, and I'm willing to see past a few stumbles.

Once again, I find myself pleasantly surprised by how well Murtagh has continued to fit in to the story. Sure, his romance with Jocasta is a bit much, but the fact that Governor Tryon has come to collect on Jamie's loyalty, and that Murtagh is caught in the middle - I think that's an excellent change from the source material. It's a shortcut that gives personal stakes to Jamie's decision about where his loyalties should lie going forward. Fraser's Ridge has become a haven for Jamie and Claire, but they bought that haven with a promise of fealty to King George III, and the bill has come due. This makes for an exciting jumping-off point for the next installment of the story, and I'm so bummed we have to wait for it!

That's all I've got. I had a lot to say, both good and bad, about this episode, but ultimately I still enjoyed watching it, just like I enjoyed watching the whole season. Now if we could just have a whole show about Lord John Grey please and thanks...

7.5/10