Last night’s Outlander episode proved that family dinners could be just as awkward in the eighteenth century as they can be today. Jamie brought Claire back to his family estate, Lallybroch, for the first time – four years after Jamie was arrested and taken away from his home but Black Jack Randall and flogged close to death at Fort William. That event kickstarted Randall’s obsession with Jamie, caused the death of Jamie’s father, who had a heart attack after witnessing the brutal treatment of his son.
In the passing years Jamie is left to wonder, what happened between Black Jack and his sister, Jenny (Laura Donnelly), during Randall’s first visit to Lallybroch, believing that the English Captain raped her and left her pregnant with his bastard — a misunderstanding that led to a painfully awkward reunion between the siblings after Jamie returned home, until he realized that Jenny had actually married his best friend, Ian (Steven Cree) and had a son with him.
“He had a lot of guilt, he felt responsible for what had happened for her — he didn’t know what had happened to her,” Heughan said of their strained encounter, conceding that coming home turns Jamie into “a little bit of a brat. He’s a guy that needs to grow up and I think that’s really important — he isn’t the king of men, he has pride and stubbornness and things he has to get over, and ultimately, he has these relationships that he hasn’t dealt with. Being with Claire forces him to do that, being back home forces him to do that — it makes him the man he is, and these are all character building to what he then becomes in season two, three, four…”
Balfe admitted that Claire
“had a lot of trepidation about going to Lallybroch, because as much as she is so in love with Jamie and ready to build a life with him, she’s never really been the ‘at home lady’ who’s going to just serve her man, and also because he’s so unsure about his place. They come in and Jamie reverts back to being the age that he was right before he left, and it’s hard for her to see this man who she loves so much go through some growing pains, but she understands that this is a process that he has to go through, and as a good partner you have to help them through it.”
“She calls him out, and being that he is this wonderful character, he does take it on board, and actually address it,” Heughan noted of the friction between Jamie and Claire at the outset. “It takes some time and he makes some mistakes, but he ultimately deals with it. And that’s who Jamie is.”
For Heughan, a lot of Jamie’s behavior is from the guilt Jamie harbored not just over Jenny’s assumed rape, but from his actions inadvertently leading to the death of his father, whom he idolized.
“It goes back to the moment that really started the whole story — when he got flogged by Black Jack. Jamie feels responsible for [his father’s death], and it’s something that Jamie’s never dealt with, and he’s always wanted to live up to his father. It’s another side of him that we see, and then realize why he becomes a bit of a brat or a little bit childish, it’s because he has a lot of expectations to live up to, and I think every guy goes through that experience.”
Overall the episode was about coming home, figuring out what kind of Laird Jamie is, fighting with siblings and learning, and forgiving. The banter between Jenny and Jamie made the episode worthwhile for me. They came to life, a new piece the Jamie Fraser puzzle.
Seeing how Jenny “outwitted” Blackjack and warded off a rape with giggles and laughter. Not something one would expect to do, but as Jenny said she just couldn’t stop, especially when she saw that Randall couldn’t perform as man.
It’s going to be interesting to see the weeks to come how the story will continue to develop, and how Claire who has never kept a house will now be in charge of the Lallybroch.
What were your reactions to last night’s episode? We want to hear from you FANdemaniacs below.
