When last we left our Scottish pals, Brian and Murtagh were fleeing for their lives after hired assassins called the gallowglasses attacked Brian at Braemar. Thankfully, the Fraser cousins are quite good on horseback, and they wind up making camp at a safe little bothy they find along the way. It gives them time to debrief on important things, like who would put a hit out on Brian? Oh, excuse me, it gives Murtagh time to ponder that question; Brian is preoccupied by his broken heart. Like the lovesick puppy he is, he just doesn’t understand why Ellen would dump him. Murtagh tells Brian not to focus on what Ellen said to him, but on what he saw in her eyes: she loves Brian. Now, that kind of advice coming from most people would be problematic, but Murtagh rules. He has suddenly become the captain of the Brillen’s ship, and we also know for certain that Ellen broke up with Brian to protect him from Colum, and that she still very much loves him. Otherwise, I very much implore you to listen to a woman’s words.
Now, you’d think it wouldn’t take long for these two to put together the two facts they’re currently dealing with: That Ellen pushed Brian away for some reason, and some mysterious person with a lot of money wants Brian dead. They do not. In fact, it’s not until the Gallowglass track these two down again and Brian and Murtagh — also quite good with axes and swords and arrows — are able to kill all but one of them. They tie the remaining assassin up and demand to know who hired him. The guy pretty quickly gives up Colum MacKenzie, but Brian still has to kill him because he’s no dummy. It’s a tough end for that man, but that’s the assassin biz, bud.
Learning this new info only fuels Brian’s desire to go to Castle Leoch and talk to Ellen before she marries Malcolm Grant, which is happening ASAP. That’s right, baby, we’re crashing a wedding. Unfortunately, Murtagh’s leg is too busted from their previous meeting with the Gallowglass, and he won’t be able to ride — Brian will have to go it alone, which increases the danger levels of this wedding crashing exponentially. Owen Wilson could never!! It’s a good thing, then, that it’s so easy to sneak into Castle Leoch. Brian bops a random Grant man on the head, steals his tartan to blend in, sneaks in through the cellar, makes a pretend gift to use as an excuse to see Ellen, and wanders the halls until he finds someone to ask for directions pretending to be an envoy for Malcolm wanting to give his bride a gift.
All of that planning is really for nothing, however, since Brian runs into Jocasta first and she immediately clocks him as the Fraser guy who was with Murtagh at Beltane. This doesn’t wind up being a bad thing, though. Leading up to the day of the wedding, Ellen and Jocasta have mended fences. Ellen apologizes to her sister for not seeking her out when their father was arranging Jo’s marriage — Ellen regrets not fighting to have Jocasta’s input. Now she understands just how wrong that was. The apology arrives a little late, but Jocasta is moved by her sister’s vulnerability nonetheless. In fact, at Ellen’s hen do (they are literally plucking chickens, in case you were wondering, a part of the tradition I wish we had kept up), Jocasta gets drunk and defends Ellen’s honor when Malcolm’s sister Maura calls into question Ellen’s real feelings for her brother. More specifically, Jocasta calls Maura a “boot-mouthed, hoity-toity Grant straight off the moor.” The version of Jocasta in the mothership Outlander always seemed like a good time at parties, so I’m glad to see that’s carried over here.
Not only is it nice that the sisters have made up, but it also means that when Brian unloads his whole story, including the bit about Colum wanting him dead, Jocasta has a sympathetic ear. She brings him right up to Ellen’s room. Once she hears that Colum broke his end of the “I won’t kill your boyfriend as long as you marry who I want you to” bargain, Ellen feels free. “I love you, Ellen MacKenzie, and I’m yours always and forever,” Brian tells her. “You have my heart, my body, and my soul,” she responds. She is his — she just has one last thing she wants to do before they make an escape. She wants to look Colum in the face and see if he will confess his treachery. The man couldn’t be more smug when she walks into his room in her wedding gown. You can see it all over his face that he’s reveling in how his plan has worked out swimmingly. He even has the audacity to tell Ellen that he hopes their friendship will remain as strong as ever. She asks him if has any burden he’d like to share. To Colum, all is well. Since we’re so interested in what Ellen’s eyes are saying, I’d like to note that here they seem to shout, “Eat shit, asshole.” She leaves and Colum is none the wiser about what she plans to do.
And what does she plan to do? She, dressed as a maid, and Brian are going to get the hell out of Leoch. There are a few problems, naturally. First, everyone is there for the big wedding. As in, everyone is already in their seats. This ceremony was supposed to begin already. When it becomes clear that Ellen is missing, well, you can imagine that neither Malcolm nor Uncle Grant is happy about it. Neither is Colum, of course, especially when Uncle Grant makes it clear that if they can’t produce a bride, the price they’ll pay will be in blood. “We’re not leaving Castle Leoch without a head or a hand,” Uncle Grant informs the MacKenzie laird. Again, Uncle Grant is bringing the bitchy energy this series needs.
Colum quickly comes up with a backup plan. He doesn’t have another bride to offer, but he does have a groom: Dougal. Admittedly, I did laugh once I realized that the “skills” Colum said he needed from his brother had nothing to do with war, but instead with the ladies. The shaky MacKenzie-Grant alliance will survive because Dougal will marry that boot-mouthed, hoity-toity Grant, Maura.
This alliance seems to satisfy Uncle Grant, but Malcolm is fuming. What does one do when they’re a laird who gets jilted at the altar and then has to sit through what was supposed to be his wedding to the woman he loved since he was seven? One drinks. Heavily. This means that when Uncle Grant tells his sad and drunk nephew that the only way to heal from this is to get revenge, it makes sense to him. And that means that when Malcolm runs into Ellen and Brian making their big escape from the castle during the reception, he draws his sword to fight Brian. He refuses to let them leave. Both Brian and Ellen plead with him to let them go, to put his weapon down. Malcolm won’t stop. Brian has to fight back and Malcolm, it seems, is terrible with a sword. Brian kills him. (Brian’s kill list is really trending upward in this episode!) You have to feel for Malcolm. He did seem like a fairly normal guy who was in love with someone who was just not that into him. Collateral damage to the epic romance nearby. I totally believe he would have hunted Brian and Ellen down to the end of time (which would’ve been kind of fun heel turn for a TV show to play with, no?), but still, what a sad little story arc. Don’t worry, you know Uncle Grant is going to blow a gasket when he learns what went down. Brian and Ellen aren’t safe for long.
But they are safe for now. They arrive at the bothy where Murtagh’s waiting for them. They have no real plan for what to do next, but are enjoying this time that feels outside of reality. Brian and Ellen especially enjoy it when Murtagh, the world’s best wingman, sees the way Brian and Ellen are looking at each other and tells his cousin that, despite that injury to his leg, he’ll be out hunting and won’t be back until morning if you catch his drift.
They catch his drift very quickly. We get a gorgeous, fire-lit sex scene between these two who do not want for chemistry. Afterward, they make more vows to one another, this time in a blood oath. “Whither thou goest, I will go,” and “Where thou diest, I will die,” that kind of swoony, world-altering stuff. They seem content with not knowing what will befall them next, as long as they are together. But soon enough, they know exactly where they’ll be going next: Brian spots fiery crosses all over the hilltops. It’s a call to the clans. The Jacobite Uprising of 1715 has begun. Brian knows that if he doesn’t answer the call — all men are supposed to gather with their laird and be prepared to fight — he’ll be a dead man. He also knows that if he does answer that call and make his whereabouts known, well, that comes with a high probability of death, too. But go he must. Ellen tells him that she’ll be by his side no matter what. “I am your wife. We are one.” As romantic as that notion is, the honeymoon is decidedly over.
Now, at this point in this recap, you may be asking yourself, Hey, isn’t there a second couple on this show that we’re supposed to be concerned about? I asked the same question multiple times while watching this episode. Boy, do Henry and Julia get the shaft in this episode. They’ve honestly gotten the shaft ever since they reunited, which feels like a major misstep in an otherwise compelling first season of a series.
But our time travels aren’t completely missing from the finale. Julia enacts her plan to have Henry come pick her and William up at Castle Leathers — she does so by faking a kidnapping, which she hopes will clear Davina of any suspicion when Lord Lovat comes looking for answers. The plan seems to work, and Henry, Julia, and baby William make a run for Craigh na Dun on horseback. Oh, how I laughed every time we’d get some lengthy scenes detailing Brian and Ellen’s story and just cut to the Beauchamps riding a horse. Just over and over. Even when they make camp for the night, we get no dialogue between them. Just a quick glimpse to let us know they still have not arrived at their destination. You’d think at least once we’d get to see these two, I don’t know, talk about how insane it is that they travelled back in time? Or, like, kiss and remind us how traumatic it was to be ripped apart? Remember when Henry had that menty b when he thought Julia was dead? Give us even half that level of drama. The flashbacks to Henry, Julia, and Claire spending time with Uncle Lamb before the couple decides to take that “little escape” to Scotland are nice, but don’t exactly match the heightened emotion we should be feeling in a finale. It’s deeply unsatisfying.
The stakes are quickly raised for these two at the very end of the episode. Arch Bug (of course) is on their tail, and when they finally do reach the stones, they realize they have no idea how this works. If all three of them go through and William can’t time travel (he doesn’t stir in Julia’s arms despite the loud buzzing his parents hear, for what that’s worth), he’ll be left on the ground alone here. They quickly devise a plan: One of them will try to go through with William while the other waits behind. If William can’t travel, the one who stayed back will have to remain in 1715 until the other returns somehow. It’s not ideal — they don’t know if Claire can travel either — but it isn’t the worst idea. And yet, once they see Arch Bug and his men closing in on them, Henry, who can’t bear to be parted from his family again, grabs Julia and William and looks as though he’s going to simply ditch the plan they just made and have all of them touch the stone. Will it work? Will it not? Will it send them somewhere — somewhen — else? Will they be stopped before they actually touch the stone? The only safe bet for next season is that these two will face some new, fresh traumatic obstacles. It is the Outlander: Blood of My Blood way. And that’s mostly a compliment.
• The boar bracelet scene between Murtagh and Ellen, alone in the bothy, is sweet. He acknowledges his feelings for Ellen but tells her not to pity him. He does, however, ask to stay a part of Ellen and Brian’s life together. The answer, of course, is yes, and she will always cherish his friendship. It’s kind of a bummer that Murtagh doesn’t find love until much later with Jocasta. This man deserves to be loved!!
• Ellen gets another wedding gift before everything goes to hell. The suitor that Dougal had lined up for his sister, if he had become laird of Clan MacKenzie, MacRonnach, gives Ellen the strand of pearls that come back in a memorable Outlander scene.
• I love that Maura Grant rattles Dougal. She knows exactly what she’s doing with him both in and out of the bedroom, and he seems undone by and enamoured with her confidence. It’s a great match. Outlander fans are aware that their marriage lasts a long time … until Geillis Duncan enters the picture.
• Okay, how skilled can Dougal really be with the ladies if he can’t even recognize a woman having an orgasm?
