Review: Outlander 4×13 – Man of Worth
The Outlander season finale, Outlander 4×13 – Man of Worth, left fans with tons to mull over while we count down the days until season 5 premieres… And so #droughtlander begins
Outlander Season 4 brought forth an interesting finale for Outlander fans who’ve been following the Fraser’s journey as they settle into life in North Carolina.
In some ways, the finale offered up closure on some storylines that have taken center stage over the course of the past four episodes. And of course, the season wrapped up in true Outlander fashion with a looming conflict that’s bound to make things interesting for all of our favorite characters come season 5.
We should probably start off by talking about Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan). Our favorite couple along with Young Ian (John Bell) finally made it to the Mohawk village in New York after months of traveling, and lucky for them, Roger’s (Richard Rankin) still alive despite what he did last episode.
The Mohawk and their ways
Sadly, plans to trade for Roger hit a snag almost immediately after the Frasers reach the Mohawk. It turns out the unusual necklace Claire has been wearing belonged to a fellow time traveler known by the Mohawk as Otter Tooth (Trevor Carroll).
The traveler came back to warn the Mohawk not to trust the colonials in an attempt to prevent genocide from ever occurring. While many brushed off his warning, others have long since remembered Otter Tooth’s grim warning.
In Jamie and Claire’s current time, the presence of Otter Tooth riles up the Mohawk— many who remember the animosity Otter Tooth’s proclamation brought with him. It’s clear they see Claire’s necklace as a bad omen so the chief (Tom Jackson)orders Claire, Jamie and Ian to leave and take the necklace with them.
Though many fear the necklace for what it represents, it’s clear others still hold Otter Tooth’s warning to heart. There’s a group of Mohawk in particular who follow Jamie, Claire and Ian into the woods intending to steal the necklace from Claire. In the end, the Frasers and the intruding group strike a bargain: Claire promises to help them “preserve the memory of the man who fought for your future,” if the group promises to help them rescue Roger.
To say that the rescue attempt goes belly up pretty fast is an understatement. But Claire is able to stop any further bloodshed from occurring by calling for peace.
Things come to a head when Jamie orders Ian to tell the Mohawk he will trade himself and stay in Roger’s place. True to Diana Gabaldon’s book however, in the end it’s Ian who offers up to stay in Roger’s place.
Young Ian and Jamie share an emotional goodbye, fueled by Ian asking Jamie not to come back to rescue him. It’s a bittersweet moment to say the least— especially given that there’s no telling whether or not we’ll ever see him again.
The silver lining in all of it though is that regardless of whether or not this is the last we’ll see of Ian, it’s nice to have seen that he was genuinely happy about having been accepted by the Mohawk after going through the gauntlet.
As for Roger, Claire, Jamie and Ian may have finessed his release, but it’s clear it’s going to take more than a successful rescue for Roger to forgive Jamie.
What were you thinking?
In the end, Jamie concedes to let Roger use him as a punching bag for a while to make up for everything. It should be noted that Claire’s face during the entire moment is priceless— she’s basically just standing there thinking what we’re all feeling which is that this is the most ridiculous way to square away the history both men share.
Punches aside, the most important part about this whole scene is that Roger finally gets clued in to why Jamie felt the need to pummel him before selling him to the Mohawk in the first place.
It also serves as an opportunity for Claire to fill Roger in on everything he’s missed— including the part about Bree (Sophie Skelton) being pregnant.
There’s a heartbreaking moment where Roger looks elated at the thought that Bree is carrying his child. It doesn’t last long though. When Claire explains that the baby might actually be Bonnet’s (Ed Speleers), Roger looks as though he’s received another swift blow to the stomach.
In the end, while Jamie and Claire planned to reunite Roger and Bree, Claire begs Roger to think long and hard about whether or not he’d be able to live with Bree knowing the child may not be his.
It’s a difficult choice to say the least— especially when you think about how utterly old fashioned Roger is in general, which is something we’ve seen time and time again over the course of Outlander season 4.
A Happy Time?
While all this is happening, Bree has gone into labor at River Run and lucky for her, she’s in the capable hands of Aunt Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy,), Phaedra (Natalie Simpson), and Lizzie (Caitlin O’Ryan). Even Murtagh is there pacing outside Bree’s room waiting for the baby to be born.
Fans holding out hope that Claire, Jamie and possibly Roger would make it back for the birth of Bree’s baby were left wanting although we should have seen that coming. Over the past few episodes they’ve been dropping hints that Bree would have to give birth without her immediate family present. Even so, it was a missed opportunity for the series to bring to life what is arguably one of the most touching scenes of book 4.
In the fourth installment of the Outlander books, Bree asks Jamie to be present for the birth of the baby— which would have made for a lovely moment between father and daughter on the show. Especially given that they parted ways before Bree was ready to forgive her Da.
There’s no doubt it would have made for an incredibly heartwarming way to see the pair make amends so it’s unfortunate it ended up being one of the scenes from the books that wasn’t brought to life.
Reunited and it feels so…..
Even so, it was lovely to see Bree reunite with her parents two months later although the happy reunion was laced with a heavy dose of heartache once Bree discovered that Roger hadn’t returned with them.
We have got to give props to, Sophie for executing this particular scene perfectly. The realization on Bree’s face that Roger had decided not to return after Claire filled him in on everything was heartbreaking to watch.
It was also a bit shocking to realize that Roger had decided not to travel back with Jamie and Claire— especially given how much he’s sacrificed and all he’s been through to return to Bree. I would have thought his choice would have been easy despite Claire telling him he’d better be absolutely sure he could still be with Bree despite everything that had happened.
It’s very much in his character (Roger) to take a moment to weigh out all his options before ending up at River Run after all.
I would have really loved to have seen is a scene featuring Roger mulling over choosing between going back to his own time or heading to River Run to finally reunite with Brianna.
Richard Rankin, executed the idea of Roger grappling with the idea of staying or going beautifully just last week on Outlander when we saw him debating over running away from his Mohawk captors or running back to save Father Alexandre (Yan Tual) from a terribly agonizing death. It would have been fantastic to have seen him do the same this in this week episode, Outlander 4×13 – Man of Worth, before ultimately coming to the realization that it didn’t matter whether Bree was carrying his child or Bonnet’s.
A Happy Ending At last?
Thankfully, the writers offered up a pretty great consolation prize in the form of Roger’s utterly beautiful “take me to meet our son” line, which he says to Bree after they’re finally reunited at River Run.
Let’s all bee honest our hearts melted into a puddle of goo. For me, the episode could have just ended there, but it wouldn’t be a season finale of Outlander if it did. We need our huge cliffhanger, and it’s safe to say the series delivered.
It turns out the Red Coats we saw riding up the road toward River Run weren’t there to arrest Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix). Instead, they were there to deliver a message to Jamie.
By order of the Governor (Tim Downie), Jamie is meant to lead the charge against the Regulator movement. His first task? To hunt down their leader, Murtagh.
The Governor’s marching orders definitely puts Jamie between a rock and a hard place. I can’t imagine a world in which Jamie would ever actually kill his godfather. That being said, there’s no denying that come next season, we’ll likely see Jamie and Murtagh butting heads about how they’re going to go about jumping over this particular hurdle.
It’s bound to make for quite the sticky situation— especially given that Murtagh is nowhere near ready to back down when it comes to what the Regulators are fighting for.
We saw Murtagh and Jamie argue over this very fact earlier on this season shortly after they were reunited. And then earlier on in the season finale, we saw Murtagh and Jocasta have a heated conversation in regards to Murtagh’s role and stance just before they fell into bed together.
The fact that the writers decided to keep Murtagh alive in deviation to his fate in the books has definitely made the Fraser’s time in America all the more interesting. His character has been one of the most interesting to watch this whole season, so it’s exciting to know that actor Duncan Lacroix will be retuning to reprise his role for Outlander season 5.
Droughtlander may be upon us once more, but it’s safe to say Outlander season 4 has given us TONS to think about while we wait with bated breath for season 5 to premiere!
Things That Make You Go Hmmmm
- What will Murtagh’s fate be
- Will Murtagh stay with Jacosta?
- How will Jamie keep the governor at bay
- Will we see young Ian again
- Will Bree and Roger finally get married
- When will we see Marsali (Lauren Lyle) and Fergus (César Domboy)
- Will Roger build a home for him and Bree
- Have we seen the last of Stephen Bonnet
- Can Murtagh get some of the regulators to settle on Fraser’s Ridge
- What will happen to, with the stone circle in the America’s
- Can Roger find it again
- How many other people can go through the stones
Thank you all for reading our previews of Outlander, tweeting weekly with us and reading our Outlander reviews. What did you want to happen in this season finale of Outlander 4×13 – Man of Worth? Was this season all you wanted it to be? What will you do during #droughtlander? Let us know all of this in the comments below!
