Outlandish Observations

Episode 805: "Send for the Devil" (SPOILERS!)

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:09:00 +0000

Here are my reactions to Episode 805 of the OUTLANDER TV series, titled "Send for the Devil".

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

There are SPOILERS below! If you don't want to know yet, stop reading now.

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The episode opens with Jamie and Claire at the beehive, where Claire has just finished harvesting some honey. This scene is not in the book.

Jamie watches Buck MacKenzie playing with Fanny, Jem, and Mandy in the distance. "He promised to fight wi' me at Kings Mountain," he says. That's good! I have been wondering what Buck's role in the story is going to be, now that he's living on Fraser's Ridge, and this episode goes a long way toward answering my questions.

And speaking of Buck, I loved this exchange:

Claire: "Did you tell him that we killed his father?"
Jamie: "No. Nor did I tell him you killed his mother."
Claire: "Good! Let's keep that to ourselves, shall we?"

Suddenly Buck hears a twig snap in the woods nearby. He orders the children to go back to the house. He and Jamie approach the woods with their guns trained on the intruder. The man calls out, "Don't shoot!" It turns out to be Aaron Whitaker, the free black man whose wife, Susannah, had a very difficult childbirth in Episode 803.

"You know a man named Cunningham, Mr. Fraser? The captain? He's coming for you."

The "title card" for this episode shows a drummer in Continental Army uniform. Very appropriate!

In the next scene, Aaron Whitaker tells Jamie and Buck the story of what he'd seen. He encountered some Loyalists who "let it be known that this Cunningham would soon be in charge of Fraser's Ridge." The rest of what he says is based on this passage from BEES:

"There’s a redcoat officer named Ferguson, set to go to and fro in the mountains, raising Loyalist militias and arresting rebels, hangin’ men and burning houses. Cunningham’s wrote Ferguson a letter, naming your name and saying he ought to come here with his troops, ’cuz you a king beaver ’mongst the rebels and your pelt would be worth the trouble to take it.”

[....]

"The men I talked to say he means to arrest you himself and take you to Ferguson—so’s Ferguson can hang you for show, I mean. They say”—he looked at his hands and folded down the fingers, counting—“eight days from yesterday. Cunningham’s waitin’ on a fellow name of Partland, who’s comin’ from Ninety-Six with some more men.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 107, "Away in a Manger". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie thanks Aaron for the warning, but Aaron says it's his way of repaying them for Claire's help in delivering his wife's twin babies.

In case you're wondering, yes, there really is a place called Ninety-Six in South Carolina, site of a battle in the Southern Campaign later in the Revolutionary War.

In the next scene, we're in Lord John's house in Savannah, where Brianna is painting the portrait of Amaranthus and her baby son, Trevor. She's a very good portrait painter!

Amaranthus leaves to feed the baby, and William comes in to keep Bree company while she continues painting. Bree says the painting helps to keep her mind off the sounds of cannon fire in the distance.

I really enjoyed the conversation between Bree and William about Jamie, and that shared experience of finding out that they'd been lied to all their lives about who their biological father really was. I've been hoping for a long time that we'll see a scene like this in the books, but it hasn't happened yet. This scene is just terrific, very much as I imagined the two of them talking about it.

"Everyone had lied to me all my life," Bree says, "including my mother. and I just lost sense of who I was."

William stares at her in shock, realizing that she does understand exactly how he felt. "How did you overcome it?"
"I got to know our father."

William isn't ready for that yet, but Bree has given him a lot to think about.

Back on Fraser's Ridge, Jamie, Claire, and Buck discuss Cunningham's likely next move. This scene isn't in the book.

"It'll be Lodge," Jamie says. "It's the perfect place for a surprise attack." The Freemasons don't allow weapons in Lodge meetings. Jamie says that Cunningham is a Mason of the 25th degree" who will take his oath seriously. Thanks to Aaron's warning, Jamie and his men will have the element of surprise.

There's just one problem: the Loyalists Aaron mentioned, coming from Ninety-Six. Jamie has to find a way to stop them.

"There's only one way I can see to stop it. I have to make a deal with the devil." Jamie sends Josiah Beardsley off with an urgent message, but we don't know where he's going or who the message is for.

The next scene, in which Roger writes a farewell letter to Bree just before the Battle of Savannah, comes straight from the book, and I thought it was really well done.

There was only the one thing to say, and he wrote, I’m sorry. But she deserved more, and slowly, he found his way.

I didn’t mean to be here, but I have the strongest feeling that here is where I should be. It wasn’t quite “Whom shall I send? Who shall go for us?”--but something close, and so was my answer.

God willing, I’ll see you soon. For now and for always, I am your husband and I love you.

Roger

The last few words were ghosts on the scrap of rough, rain-spotted paper; the last of the ink. His name was no more than scratches, but he supposed that was all right; she’d know who’d written it.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 92, "Like Water Spilled on the Ground, Which Cannot Be Gathered Up Again". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

While we hear his words in voiceover, we see Roger preparing for the battle, practicing with his borrowed sword, being issued a Continental Army uniform, and so on.

There's just enough time for a quick prayer:

Lord, help me do what You want me to do--but in the name of Christ Your son, let me live through it.

“Because if You don’t, You’ll have my wife to answer to,” he murmured, and touched the hilt of his borrowed sword.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 92, "Like Water Spilled on the Ground, Which Cannot Be Gathered Up Again". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Roger folds the letter carefully and puts it in the breast pocket of his coat, much as soldiers did in the Civil War, so that someone will find it if he should be killed. Just then he hears the drums start up, calling the men to battle.

In the next scene, Roger encounters a young black drummer boy. (I like the cockade the boy is wearing in his hat.) Roger sees how scared he is, and tries to reassure him, and the boy replies in French.

Roger asks him in French if he's ready, and the boy answers, "Je suis prêt," which (spelled a little differently) is the motto of Clan Fraser of Lovat! They head off to join the troops marching to battle.

Back in Lord John's house, Bree is clearly unnerved by the cannon fire in the distance. I'm sure she's having flashbacks of Alamance, and that agonizing wait for word of Roger. William comes in and confirms what she's thinking. "The battle has begun."

In the book, it's Lord John, not William, who fills Bree in on what the army is doing. William asks her where Roger is, and we can see her visibly fumbling for a plausible lie and failing to find one. "He's in the Continental camp," she says, seeming relieved to be able to tell someone about it.

And where is Lord John? "At headquarters, trying to recall what a Lieutenant Colonel is supposed to do. He's been retired for so long." This line isn't in the book, and it strikes me as a flimsy excuse to cover the fact that David Berry doesn't appear in this episode.

William hands her a wrapped parcel from Lord John, containing an American flag.

“If--and I do mean ‘in the extremely unlikely event’--the Americans do get in, hang this out a window, or tack it to the front door.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 91, "Besieged". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The next scene shifts back to Roger's point of view. I thought the battle sequence was excellent! Roger's experience at the Battle of Savannah is one of my favorite parts of the book, and I thought they captured the essence of it very well. Roger starts out looking scared and uncertain what he should be doing, and then as he begins to tend the wounded and dying men, he seems to find his place in their midst.

He didn’t run; he couldn’t. He walked forward, slowly, sword flopping at his side, stopping where he found a man down. Some he could help, with a drink or a hand to press upon a wound while a friend tied a cloth around it. A word, a blessing where he could. Some were gone, and he laid a hand on them in farewell and commended their souls to God with a hasty prayer.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 92, "Like Water Spilled on the Ground, Which Cannot Be Gathered Up Again". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

This is Roger's role in the battle. Not to fight (despite the sword he carries), but to care for them as a minister, as he does with the young private he finds dying on the field.

"You're not alone, Winslow. Can you hear me? You're not alone. God is with you. And I'm with you, too. I won't leave you."

Suddenly Roger looks up and sees the young drummer boy slumped against a tree, unconscious. He picks the boy up and carries him to the field hospital, where the surgeon he encounters is none other than Denzell Hunter, Rachel's brother, a Quaker doctor serving with the Continental Army.

I did wonder at first why Roger couldn't come up with a suitable Presbyterian prayer to use when comforting the injured boy, but then it occurred to me that this is exactly what happened in the book:

He groped for words, frantic. It was all gone. All the comforting words he’d gleaned, all his stock-in-trade...

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 92, "Like Water Spilled on the Ground, Which Cannot Be Gathered Up Again". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I just love watching Richard Rankin through this whole sequence. He did an excellent job, very much as I imagined from the book.

As harrowing as that sequence was to watch, it's only the beginning of the battle. Roger runs back toward the fighting, and a cannon blast throws him backward.

As he starts to fall, we see a brief, unexpected glimpse of memory from his early childhood: the memory of falling like that, as his mother tossed him over the wall of the staircase in the Bethnal Green tube station, moments before it collapsed -- and a stranger's arms reached out to catch him. Roger describes this fragment of memory to Bree in FIERY CROSS:

“She let go my hand,” he said. The words came more easily now; the tightness in his throat and chest was gone. “She let go my hand ... and then she picked me up. That small woman--she picked me up, and threw me over the wall. Down into the crowd of people on the platform below. I was knocked mostly out by the fall, I think--but I remember the roar as the roof went. No one on the stair survived.”

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 98, "Clever Lad". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

If you want to know more, I highly recommend Diana Gabaldon's short story, "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows", which tells the story of Roger's parents. Look here for more information.

In the next scene, we're back on Fraser's Ridge, as Jamie prepares for the confrontation he knows is coming at the Lodge meeting. Jamie turns to Claire, dressed in his kilt and looking like the fierce Highland warrior he's always been. Claire's line, "You'd scare the devil himself," comes straight from the book (BEES chapter 80), but the next part does not.

"Dinna fash, Claire. We have a plan."
"Plans fail. That's why they call them plans."

And then Jamie quotes a bit from Robert Burns: "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley." But that line comes from a poem Burns wrote in 1785, six years from now! I can only conclude that Claire must have told Jamie about it years ago.

Jamie is determined to fight, but it's very dangerous, and his men could easily be outnumbered. Claire is, naturally, worried that he could be killed.

“Will it be today?” I blurted. Twice before, he’d left me on the edge of a battlefield, telling me that while the day might come that he and I would part--it wouldn’t be today. And both times, he’d been right.

He cupped my cheek in one hand and looked at me for a long moment, and I knew he was fixing me in his memory, as I had just done to him.

“I dinna think so,” he said at last, soberly. His hand fell away, my cheek suddenly cool where he’d touched it. “But I willna lie to ye, Claire; I think it will be an evil night.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 80, "Lodge Night". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie's Ardsmuir men are waiting for him outside the Lodge. They're easy to identify, as they're the ones who refer to him as "Mac Dubh". Captain Cunningham greets him politely enough, but the tension in the air is palpable.

“Worshipful Master,” he said.

“Captain,” Jamie replied, and his heart thumped hard in his ears as he bowed, because Cunningham was no card player and the truth was written in the narrowing of his eyes and the hardness of his mouth.

[....]

“Dèan ullachadh, mo charaidean,” he said casually to the men who stood with him. Stand ready.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 80, "Lodge Night". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Back in the house, Claire is in the surgery, preparing her instruments and making sure everything is ready for any casualties from the upcoming fight. Suddenly she sees Elspeth Cunningham approaching the house on foot.

The Lodge meeting begins just like the last one, with the usual rituals and business of the Lodge. One of the men has a dispute with his neighbor over a well. As they discuss the situation, notice a number of the men filing silently out of the building, obviously preparing for the fight that's about to happen.

Cunningham volunteers to help the man settle the dispute. "Tomorrow, noon, shall we say? I have no other plans." Remember what Jamie and Claire said about plans!

The next scene, between Claire and Elspeth Cunningham, comes straight from the book, and it was just as I imagined.

“We know everything,” I said, quite gently. “And Jamie knows that the captain doesn’t mean him immediate harm. He won’t kill your son.” Unless he has to.

She looked up at me, a nerve twitching the corner of her mouth.

“Unless he has to? Let me offer you the same assurance, Mrs. Fraser.”

“Claire,” I said. “Please.” The surgery smelled of hickory smoke and healing herbs. “Do you know any good prayers suitable to the occasion?”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 109, "De Profundis". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Back in the Lodge, Cunningham is talking about loyalty. "[My son] was loyal unto death, as we all must be, or it is not loyalty." Jamie's response comes straight from the book, quoting the famous Declaration of Arbroath from the year 1320.

“I will say but one thing to ye all, a charaidean. And that is not my own, but a thing said by our forefathers, four hundred years ago.” A faint stir broke the sense of ice, and men shifted on their stools, drawing themselves up to hear. Glancing sideways, to see how matters lay.

It had been a long--a very long--time since he’d read the Declaration of Arbroath, but they weren’t words you’d forget.

“As long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours, that we are fighting...” He paused and looked Cunningham straight in the eyes. “...but for freedom--for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”

He didn’t wait for the deep rumble of response but turned on his heel and went out the door, as quick as he could, and broke into a run as soon as he was outside, knife in hand.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 80, "Lodge Night". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I loved that! Very powerful, just as it is in the book.

As Evan Lindsay recites the closing prayer of the Lodge meeting, Jamie slips quietly out the door. Cunningham looks up at the end of the prayer, notices Jamie is gone, and says, "Goddamn it!" He and his men run outside, but Jamie is nowhere in sight.

Just as in the book, Jamie had the foresight to hide a pistol under a rock nearby. He heads for the woods, where he summons Buck and Kezzie Beardsley, who have been watching for the men from Ninety-Six. No sign of them, or Josiah, as yet.

Jamie and his men list the names of the Loyalists -- including Hiram Crombie! That's a disappointment, as Hiram, in the books, definitely had Patriot sympathies, but I think it's understandable. He had evidently been working closely with Cunningham at the trading post for some time, so he may have abvorbed some of the man's Loyalist views. I was glad to see Hiram paying attention when Jamie quoted the Declaration of Arbroath, though. Maybe that will cause him to go back to the Patriot side? We'll see.

"Any man in these woods is a traitor to me," Jamie says.

Back at the house, Claire and Elspeth wait for news, listening to the sounds of an approaching thunderstorm. Elspeth is thinking about her grandson's prediction, that he'll see his father in seven years. Five years left now.

[Elspeth] tried to offer comfort, saying that Charles didn’t mean to kill Jamie, only to take him prisoner, and...

“And take him off to Patrick Ferguson to be hanged,” I finished, nastily. “For the sake of his own bloody advancement!”

“For the sake of his King and his honor as an officer of that King!” she snapped, glaring at me. “Your husband is a pardoned traitor and now he has forfeited the grace of that pardon! He has earned his own--” She realized what she was saying--what she plainly had been thinking for quite some time--and her mouth snapped shut like a trap.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 80, "Lodge Night". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

But here we see Elspeth say it out loud, to Claire's face: "He has earned his own execution."

You can see from her reaction that she regrets those words instantly, knowing how much they will hurt Claire, but she doesn't apologize or take it back.

The fight at the trading post is not in the book. I found it riveting and suspenseful, if a little hard to follow in places because it's happening at night, in the middle of a thunderstorm, with only flashes of lightning to illuminate the area. The first man Jamie encounters is Hiram Crombie.

Crombie barely gets out a few words ("Mr. Fraser, I can explain--" he starts to say) before Jamie hits him with the pistol, knocking him unconscious. Jamie makes his way inside, and a moment later Cunningham appears. He tries to be conciliatory at first, putting his gun down and indicating his willingness to talk. But Jamie isn't interested in talking.

"Not much to talk about, save you leaving my land. On foot or in a box is up to you."
"You forget, Mr. Fraser, I have a box waiting for me. But not for five more years."

Cunningham suddenly pulls a knife and lunges at Jamie. In the course of the fight that follows, Cunningham slashes Jamie in the chest with the knife, then makes a serious attempt to strangle him. Jamie eventually manages to get to his feet, but Cunningham grabs the pistol.

"How did you know it was coming?" Cunningham asks.
"It's my ridge. I ken everything!" - Great line!

Cunningham makes it clear that he intends to kill Jamie. Suddenly we hear a gunshot, and Cunningham falls to the ground. Buck MacKenzie shot him from behind with a musket, saving Jamie's life.

The next scene is not in the book. We're back in Lord John's house, where William has come to see Bree, who is still worried sick over Roger's fate. There's been no word from him since the battle, and Bree is plainly done with waiting helplessly for news. She announces her intention to go to the Continental Army camp, and William at once agrees to go with her. They'll leave at first light the next day. In the book, the circumstances leading to Bree and William going to the Continental camp are quite different, but I think it works pretty well here, condensing things so as to keep the plot moving.

Back on Fraser's Ridge, Jamie and Buck have returned with Captain Cunningham on a stretcher, alive but badly injured. This scene comes mostly straight from the book, and I thought it was done very well.

The minute Elspeth hears that her son has been shot in the back, she reacts with fury, slapping Jamie across the face.

"Coward! He had no intention of killing you!"
"You can ask your son what his intentions were," Jamie says coldly.

But Elspeth's fury is soon forgotten in the urgency of her son's condition.

I glanced at his feet. One of them twitched and Elspeth gasped. She was stanching the blood from his arm, but at this stopped and bent over him.

“Move the other, Charles,” she said urgently.

“I am,” he whispered. His eyes were closed and water ran from his hair. I looked down the table. Neither foot was moving.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 110, "Confused Noise and Garments Rolled in Blood". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Claire says the ball entered "between L3 and L4". In a modern hospital, with modern medical care, perhaps he would eventually recover from an injury like that. Here, under these primitive conditions, I'm not so sure. Just thinking about the practical realities of caring for a man with a severe spinal cord injury under 18th-century conditions rather takes my breath away, though I'm sure these things happened back then.

And this is where Charles Cunningham learns a major lesson about what happens (in Diana Gabaldon's fictional world, at least) when you Make Assumptions: Just because you think you're immortal for the next few years doesn't (AT ALL) mean that horrific, potentially life-altering things can't happen to you!

Fanny reports that Jamie has a bad cut across his chest. All of Fanny and Claire's dialogue here comes verbatim from the book.

“He wants whisky; is that all right?”

“Make him stand up,” I said, reaching the waistband of the captain’s breeches. “If he can stand upright for thirty seconds, he can have whisky. If not, give him honey-water and make him lie down flat on the floor. No matter what he says.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 110, "Confused Noise and Garments Rolled in Blood". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I had to laugh at the mental image of Fanny, approximately twelve or thirteen years old, physically forcing Jamie to do anything at all that he doesn't want to do. But I suppose Buck can help with that.

Watching Claire give Elspeth an honest assessment of her son's chances of recovery, I'm reminded that she must have had this sort of conversation with a patient's family hundreds of times. I think Cait gets her tone just right here. Matter-of-fact, but not without sympathy.

The next scene, with William and Amaranthus in the gazebo, is very close to the book. But there are a few additions, like this: "I should like to see you in my beetle waistcoat again. There are a few species I had not -- touched on -- taxonomically." William says he has been thinking about her suggestion that they should get married, and if they should have a son, William could give him his title.

“You needn’t marry me straight off, you know. We’d give it a go, and if the result is male, then you marry me, acknowledge the child, and—” She gave a flick of her hand in a silent “voilà.”

“I don’t believe I am having this conversation,” he said, shaking his head violently. “I really don’t. But for the sake of argument, just what the devil do you propose doing if the result, as you so casually put it, is female?”

“[If] the child were to be a girl, I should simply come back with the little darling (for I’m sure any child of yours would be adorable, William) and announce that a good friend of mine had died in childbed and that I had adopted her daughter, out of charity, of course, but also to give my darling Trevor a sister.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 46, "By the Dawn's Early Light". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

So Amaranthus isn't concerned about the possibility of getting pregnant out of wedlock. For the first time, we see her conniving side. She appears to be after his money, title, or both, and I don't trust her at all.

William's actions here, putting his hand up her skirts and so on, are straight from the book:

At one point, he’d slid his hand up the long bare thigh under her skirts, taken her mound in the palm of his hand, and felt the fullness, the slickness of her, wanting him. The pads of his fingers rubbed half consciously against his palm, tingling.

He swallowed and tried to put the memories of Amaranthus away. For now.

But the tenderness remained--and the thought of the baby. That’s why he’d stopped. Because it had suddenly occurred to him that what he was doing might in fact cause someone real to be born.

And that it somehow wasn’t right that he should oblige that someone to take on burdens that were--rightfully or not--his own to bear.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 102, "The Winds of Winter". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Watching this, I had the impression that they weren't about to stop there, as they did in the book. It's dark outside, they are alone, there's very little chance of being interrupted, and Amaranthus plainly isn't worried about getting pregnant. What's stopping them from having sex right then and there, after the scene ends and the camera turns away? This is only speculation, but I think it's possible.

To my dismay, William seems to be falling for her. "We will get married. That's what we'll do," he says. And Amaranthus says, "I accept." No!! I really think William deserves better.

In the next scene, which is not in the book, we're back at the battlefield, where Roger is conducting a funeral for some of the men killed during the battle. As he finishes his prayer, he turns and sees Brianna a few yards away. Awkwardly he excuses himself, and they run to embrace one another.

Bree slaps at him, furious and relieved all at once. "You scared the shit out of me, Roger! I thought you were dead!" Before Roger can say much by way of explanation, Denzell Hunter appears. The young drummer boy, Christophe, is doing well.

Roger introduces Bree and Denzell, and just then William appears. He's glad to see Denzell, and the feeling is mutual; they haven't seen one another in quite a while.

Bree says to William, "You know, for a Loyalist, you sure have a lot of Rebel friends." I had to laugh at that. She's right!

William and Denzell walk through the camp together, catching up on family news, about Rachel and Ian and baby Oggy. As they approach the commander's tent, you can faintly hear Denzell saying, "I have a list of casualties for General Bleeker", and then he steps inside.

A few moments later, Denzell emerges from the tent accompanied by a tall young man in a General's uniform. William is stunned to recognize the officer as his long-lost cousin, Ben!

Ben and William go back in the tent, and William, overcome with joy at finding him, hugs him tightly. Then William appears to notice the uniform for the first time, complete with a general's epaulets.

"Hello, cousin," Ben says, and William, enraged, hits him, saying, "You son of a bitch!"

Meanwhile, on Fraser's Ridge, everyone is recovering from Cunningham's attack. Claire tends Jamie's injuries, filling him in on what happened while he was otherwise occupied. Jamie says he sent Cunningham's men home, without their weapons. He asks Claire for a piece of paper, to write down a list of names.

“It’s a list of the Loyalists who were wi’ Cunningham last night. Put down Geordie Hallam, and Conor MacNeil, Angus MacLean, and--”

“Wait, not so fast.” I picked up the pencil. “Why do you want a list of these men? You obviously remember who they are.”

“Oh, I kent who they were, well before last night,” he assured me, with some grimness. “The list is for you and Bobby and the Lindsays, in case they kill me in the next few days.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 112, "We Met on the Level". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie says he doesn't intend to keep those men on as tenants, and I don't blame him!

Suddenly one of the men announces that a large group of riders is approaching, ten men or more. Everyone, including Jamie and Claire, grabs their guns and aims at the newcomers, but as they draw closer, a familiar voice cries out, "Hallo the house!" It's Josiah Beardsley, and he's brought Benjamin Cleveland and some of his Over-Mountain Men with him!

For the first time, Cleveland acts friendly toward Jamie, even saying that he's heard good things about Jamie's whisky. So perhaps this Cleveland is not "the devil", after all. They go inside the house to talk. And with that, the episode ends.
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I hope you enjoyed this recap. Please come back next w.eek for my recap of Episode 806, and look here for my recaps of all of the previous OUTLANDER episodes.

Looking for a place to discuss All Things OUTLANDER? Check out TheLitForum.com, formerly the Compuserve Books and Writers Community. You have to sign up in order to read or post on the forum, but it's free. For more about the forum, look here.

Episode 804: "Muskets, Liberty, and Sauerkraut" (SPOILERS!)

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 02:33:00 +0000

Here are my reactions to Episode 804 of the OUTLANDER TV series, titled "Muskets, Liberty, and Sauerkraut".

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

There are SPOILERS below! If you don't want to know yet, stop reading now.

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The episode opens with Jamie, Claire, Roger, and Bree, sitting around a table making plans for the upcoming trip to Savannah. This scene isn't in the book. In last week's episode, Jamie was strongly against Bree and Roger's plan to travel there, but now Jamie has changed his mind. According to Frank's book, the Battle of Savannah will take place on October 9th. The Continentals will lose, but as long as Bree and Roger stay in the center of the city, Jamie thinks it will be safe enough. Jamie gives Roger a note for Colonel Francis Marion, a real historical figure who was one of the leaders of the Continental Army at the Battle of Savannah.

"He has a great deal of experience with militias. He might be keen to arm men from the backcountry." Jamie is forming his own militia, as the only alternative to joining Benjamin Cleveland and his Overmountain Men. Jamie's hatred for Cleveland is obvious.

Roger nods at the three gold bars on the table, part of the Frenchman's gold. "You'd think it'd at least have the decency to shine, like in a film," he says. I was a bit annoyed with Roger here. He's looking at a fortune in gold, but he seems not to be taking it seriously, until he sees the very sober look on Jamie's face, and suddenly it occurs to him that carrying this amount of gold will put him and Bree in danger. "What about bandits?" he asks.

Jamie has a solution for that, as we'll see shortly.

The "title card" for this episode shows Bree packing up her brushes and other painting supplies, preparing to travel to Savannah at Lord John's invitation, to paint a portrait of Viscountess Amaranthus Grey and her baby son.

In the next scene, we're in Fergus and Marsali's home in Savannah, identified by the printshop sign outside the door. Bree and Roger have brought them a "wee gift", packed in several small kegs of sauerkraut: a couple of bottles of whisky, and the gold bars we saw earlier. They explain that Jamie is seeking Francis Marion's help to arm his militia.

"I don't imagine you intend to traipse into an army camp with a king's ransom in bullion?" Fergus asks. "No," Roger says. "I don't want to invite any trouble. Nor do I expect that Marion will have crates of guns just lying around the camp that he can readily part with. Arrangements will have to be made."

Marsali and Fergus agree at once that they will hide the gold. Bree is worried, but Roger shrugs off her concern, saying, "Dinna fash. There's plenty of time to find Marion and be back before the battle."

This made me shiver a bit, remembering the events leading up to the Battle of Alamance, when Roger went across the creek to talk to the leader of the Regulation (likewise intending only to talk to him and then return) only to find himself trapped there once the fighting started.

The next scene is not in the book. Back on Fraser's Ridge, Jamie returns home from visiting his tenants, having discovered that many of them are Loyalists (supporters of the British side in the war), like Captain Cunningham. Jamie will have to travel farther away, taking Ian and Josiah Beardsley with him, to recruit more men for his militia.

Claire wonders if it would be better to evict Captain Cunningham, but Jamie says no. He wants Cunningham nearby, where he can keep an eye on him. The adage, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer," comes to mind.

Jamie tells Claire what he's learned about Major Patrick Ferguson from Frank's book. Ferguson is a real historical figure who will lead the Loyalist troops at Kings Mountain -- and we learned at the end of last week's episode that Cunningham is working for Ferguson!

"The book says that Major Ferguson is vicious, ruthless on the battlefield and off, burning the homes of Rebels without warning, forcing their allegiance." Clearly, Jamie must do whatever it takes to protect his family and tenants from this man.

Back in Fergus's house in Savannah, Fergus raises a toast: "To muskets, liberty, and sauerkraut, mes amis!" Now we see where the episode title comes from. It's based on a similar bit from BEES chapter 67, "Réunion".

Fergus says he received a letter from Lord John suggesting that he meet with a man named Percival Beauchamp. Bree immediately recognizes the similarity in names; Claire's maiden name, of course, is Beauchamp, pronounced Beecham in the English fashion. "That's quite a coincidence," Bree says, but before she can finish the thought, a rock thrown from outside smashes through the window, narrowly missing her.

Fergus runs after the perpetrator but can't find him. He returns home to find the printshop sign in pieces on the ground. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Marsali says this has happened before.

"These days, when people dinna like the news, they tend to blame the printer."
"Just the life of a news printer in these troubled times," Fergus says, sounding resigned.

What does this disturbing incident have to do with Percival Beauchamp? In the book, the connection is clear, and I think it's worth mentioning.

“Why talk to him at all?”

The Adam’s apple bobbed in Fergus’s lean throat as he swallowed, but he met Roger’s eyes straight on.

“If I must lose my livelihood here [due to the escalating violence], if I can no longer be a printer--then I must find a new place, or a new way to support my family, to protect them,” he said simply. “It may be that Monsieur Beauchamp will show me such a way.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 74, "The Face of Evil". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The next scene, in which Jamie, Ian, and Josiah Beardsley try to recruit new men for the militia, is not in the book. The young men they meet seem willing enough, but they're short of weapons. Jamie assures them, "I'm expecting a shipment shortly. When the time comes, ye'll each have your own musket and shot." When Bree and Roger come back with the guns, he means.

Ian comes to Jamie with an urgent message. He met a stranger, a "Scottish fellow", who said he was heading for Fraser's Ridge, looking for Roger and Brianna. Jamie wonders if the man could be the mysterious Rob Cameron?

Jamie and Ian corner the stranger at gunpoint, and he identifies himself as William Buccleigh MacKenzie, aka "Buck", whom we last saw at the end of Season 7, in 1739.

"Come to tell Roger and Brianna that Cameron won't be botherin' them again, and to return Roger's wee book." He holds up the copy of Roger's "Time-Traveler's Manual", left behind in 1980 when Roger went back in time with Buck in search of Jem.

Jamie stares at the stranger in shock, and finally says, "Buck MacKenzie. Ye remind me of your father." That would be Dougal MacKenzie, of course.

So Buck evidently time-traveled from 1739 to 1980 (focusing on Rob Cameron, probably), disposed of Cameron somehow, retrieved the little book, and then went straight back to the stones and (focusing on Roger or Bree this time?) time-traveled AGAIN, to the 18th century, and possibly tracked the MacKenzies to the Ridge. It's awfully convoluted, to say the least! Apparently Buck's heart isn't affected by traveling through the stones anymore, because he survived not one but TWO additional trips since we last saw him in 1739.

I really want to know why. What's the point of bringing him back, beyond giving the viewers some closure to the story of Rob Cameron and the Nutters? Do they mean to have Buck settle on the Ridge for good?

Meanwhile, back in Savannah, Roger and Bree take their leave of Fergus and Marsali: Bree to go to Lord John's house to take up her painting commission, and Roger to go to the Continental Army camp in search of Francis Marion. (Oddly, Roger doesn't actually do this until the very end of this episode.)

The next scene, with Claire and Fanny, about whether houses are alive, comes straight from the book.

“I think any place that people live for a long time probably absorbs a bit of them. Certainly houses affect the people who live in them--why shouldn’t it work both ways? [....] When someone dies, naturally the people they leave behind will still sense them. I don’t know whether you’d call that haunting, though; I think it’s maybe just memory and...longing.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 63, "The Third Floor". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I definitely felt something like that in my mother's house, for months after she died. You really can't help it, when every inch of the house is filled with memories.

Fanny says that her sister Jane used to say, "Good night, ma cherie," to her every night. This seems clearly intended as a reference to that ridiculous "Faith Lived" plotline. If you accept the preposterous idea that Faith lived (!!) and may have been Jane and Fanny's mother (I for one refuse to believe that!), then it's possible that Jane learned that term of endearment from their mother, who presumably was raised in France or by French speakers. Fortunately, it's just a very brief reference and it doesn't have any bearing on the rest of the episode.

The scene that follows is VERY close to the book, and I loved it! Claire goes to close the shutters against the wind and sees Mrs. Cunningham approaching the house. The WIZARD OF OZ reference is straight from the book:

As I leaned out with the shutter hook in my hand, though, I saw a tall black figure hastening toward the house, skirts and cloak flying in the wind.

“You and your little dog, too,” I murmured, and risked a glance at the forest, in case of flying monkeys.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 63, "The Third Floor". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Mrs. Cunningham enters the house, very agitated and clearly in pain. Claire diagnoses a dislocated shoulder, similar to the injury Jamie suffered on the day he and Claire first met. Claire gives her whisky to dull the pain while she works on the injured shoulder. I liked the way they depicted the misshapen shoulder joint before Claire put it back into alignment.

"Grass-combing son of a buggering sod!" Elspeth exclaims as the shoulder joint pops back into place. The rest of this scene is almost verbatim from the book:

“It’s been a long time since I heard language like that,” Fanny said, her lips twitching.

“If you have to do with sailors, young woman, you acquire both their virtues and their vices.” Elspeth’s face was still white and shone like polished bone under a layer of sweat, but her voice was steady and her breath was coming back. “And where, might I ask, did you hear language like that?”

Fanny glanced at me, but I nodded and she said simply, “I lived in a brothel for some time, ma’am.”

“Indeed.” Mrs. Cunningham drew her wrist out of my grasp and sat up, rather shaky, but bracing herself with her good hand on the table. “I suppose whores must also have both virtues and vices, then.”

“I don’t know about the virtues,” Fanny said dubiously. “Unless you count being able to milk a man in two minutes by the clock.”

I had taken a nip of the whisky myself, and choked on it.

“I think that would be classed as a skill rather than a virtue,” Mrs. Cunningham told Fanny. “Though a valuable one, I daresay.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 63, "The Third Floor". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I'm glad they got a little of Diana's humor in this scene! This bit always makes me laugh. And I have to say I'm impressed that they included the entire scene from the book here. I love watching Claire and Elspeth interact. Frances Tomelty, who plays Elspeth, is just wonderful in the part!

In the next scene, Brianna arrives at Lord John's house in Savannah. This scene is mostly based on BEES chapter 93, "Portrait of a Dead Man", and I think it's terrific! Charles and Sophie both did an excellent job here. We've been waiting for this moment for a long time, and they didn't disappoint.

Then one of the taller figures moved, turning, and she saw in outline the same long, straight nose, the same high brow that her fingers had drawn so recently.

“Wait!” she said. She had no memory of striding down the hall but was suddenly face-to-face with him and there was no more obscuring shadow, but morning sun lighting a shockingly familiar pair of blue and slanted eyes fixed on hers.

“Bloody hell,” he said, completely startled. “It’s you!”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 93, "Portrait of a Dead Man". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

As Lord John and William usher Bree into the parlor, where Amaranthus is sitting with baby Trevor, Bree says, "It seems like a lifetime since we all met." Well, not quite! But it's been almost three years since Episode 702, "The Happiest Place on Earth", first aired. You can see the clip of Bree and William's first meeting here.

A certain amount of small talk follows. Amaranthus is clearly taken aback by Bree's sudden appearance. She makes an awkward excuse about having to feed the baby and leaves. Lord John, likewise, claims that "Various important matters require my attention" and departs, leaving Bree and William alone at last.

"Did you know? That day we met in Wilmington, did you know what we were to each other?"

I was surprised that William didn't react more strongly when she said, "Yes." After all, not that long ago he was berserk with fury at the thought that Lord John had known the truth of his paternity for years and kept it from him. But here, he seems completely relaxed, even comfortable with the idea that this woman he's barely met is in fact his half-sister.

“Well. I do apologize, though. For not telling you.”

He looked at her, expressionless, for the space of four heartbeats; she felt each small thud distinctly.

“I accept your apology,” he said dryly. “Though in all honesty, I’m glad you didn’t tell me.” He paused, then, apparently thinking this might sound ungracious, added, “I wouldn’t have known how to respond to such a revelation. At the time.”

“And you do now?”

“No, I bloody don’t,” he said frankly. “But [...] at least I haven’t blown my brains out. When I was seventeen, I might have.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 93, "Portrait of a Dead Man". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Bree understands, more than anyone else in the world, what it feels like to suddenly discover that your real father is Jamie Fraser. It's easy to see how they bonded almost instantly over that shared understanding.

In the next scene, Fergus meets with Percival Beauchamp. This scene is based on BEES chapter 74, "The Face of Evil," although the details are a bit different. Roger isn't present, and there is no mysterious man in a gray suit. Just Percy and Fergus, alone together.

Percy gets right to the point. "Have you heard of a man by the name of the Comte St. Germain?"
"Why?"
"You are his son."

Fergus calls it "preposterous", and maybe it is. On the other hand, he recognizes the name of the woman Percy claims had a "torrid affair" with the Comte: Amélie Levigne Beauchamp.

“You know that name?” Beauchamp sounded surprised but eager. He leaned forward, his face intent, nacreous in the lamplight. “J’ai connu une jeune fille de ce nom Amélie,” Fergus said. “Mais elle est morte.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 93, "Portrait of a Dead Man". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Most of the details of the story Percy tells (including the marriage contract) match the version he told Lord John in ECHO:

The girl had indeed been brought to the brothel, in the middle stages of pregnancy. That had not mattered particularly; there were patrons with such tastes. A few months later, she had been delivered of a son. She had survived childbirth but died a year later, during a plague of influenza.

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 58, "Independence Day". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Percy goes on to say that the Comte St. Germain has been missing and presumed dead for some thirty years, leaving Fergus as the only heir to his estates. When Fergus protests that a bastard cannot inherit property and turns to leave, Percy calls out, "Claudel!" to stop him. I liked the way they did this, with Percy asking, "If I may use your original name...?" and Fergus turning halfway around and saying calmly but firmly, "You may not, sir."

Percy shows Fergus the marriage contract between Amélie Levigne Beauchamp and the Comte St. Germain. It might be a forgery, but what if it is indeed real? Percy goes on to explain what Fergus would gain from this. Essentially, a large sum of money from the sale of lands in the Northwest Territory that the Comte had had a claim on.

That's giving Fergus a lot to think about, for sure! Interesting that he appears to be seriously considering it. (More on that a bit later.)

In the next scene, we're back at Lord John's house in Savannah. This scene isn't in the book. Amaranthus is clearly jealous of William spending time with Brianna, despite the fact that she's a married woman.

"Miss MacKenzie -- Brianna -- is my sister!"
"You told me that you didn't have any siblings." Oops!

So William tells her the truth about his paternity. He adds that he doesn't want to be the Ninth Earl of Ellesmere anymore, that he would renounce the title if he could, but he can't. Amaranthus's solution to that dilemma comes straight from the book:

“You can’t renounce your title, but you could hand it on. Abdicate in favor of your heir, I mean.”

“I haven’t an heir. Are you suggesting--”

“Yes, exactly.” She nodded approvingly at him. “You marry me and as soon as I have a son, you can give him your title, and either retire into private life and breed dachshunds or perhaps pretend to commit suicide and go off to become anyone you like.”

“Leaving you--”

“Leaving me as the dowager countess of whatever your estate is called, I forget. That might be slightly better than being the Duke of Pardloe’s penurious daughter-in-law, mightn’t it?”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 46, "By the Dawn's Early Light". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

This is the point, in the book, where I became convinced that Amaranthus only wants William for his title and money.

The next scene, between Claire and Elspeth Cunningham, comes straight from the book, and I really enjoyed it! I love watching these two on screen.

“The attic,” she said, after a few minutes of silence. “Why? It’s a remarkably large house, without adding a third floor.”

“Jamie insisted on it,” I said, with a one-shouldered shrug. She made a noncommittal noise of acknowledgment and went on sipping. But her sparse gray brows were drawn together, and I knew she wouldn’t stop thinking about it.

“My husband is the Fraser of Fraser’s Ridge,” I said. “If there should ever be...an emergency of some kind that compelled some of the tenants to leave their homes, they could take temporary refuge here. I’ve had that happen before,” I added. “Had refugees in my kitchen--in the old house, I mean--for months. Worse than cockroaches.”

Elspeth laughed politely at that, but she wasn’t troubling to hide her thoughts, and I knew that she appreciated exactly what sort of emergency I had in mind.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 63, "The Third Floor". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Claire asks if Elspeth believes what her son Charles told the men of the Lodge, that he would see his dead son again in seven years. "I only know that he believes it," Elspeth says.

And speak of the devil....here's Charles Cunningham, coming to pick up his mother and take her home to recuperate from her injury. This part of the scene is not in the book.

Notice the way Cunningham reacts when Elspeth says, "Her husband's away at the moment, on business." So Claire and Fanny are alone, unprotected and vulnerable, and Captain Cunningham is looking around at the house as though assessing its weaknesses, looking for the best place to stage an attack.

"You have a very fine home," Cunningham says. "It must feel very empty, with [your husband] away and you here all alone."

That sounded unmistakably like a threat. ("Nice house you've got here, Mrs. Fraser. It'd be a real shame if anything happened to it," that sort of thing.) Elspeth defuses the tension by indicating that she's ready to leave.

"Until next time, Mrs. Fraser." The words are polite, but the threat underlying them is very clear. Chilling!

In the next scene, we're back with Fergus and Marsali, who are discussing Fergus's meeting with Percy. Cesar Domboy is wonderful in this scene, which is adapted from BEES chapter 74. Fergus rarely speaks of his early life in the brothel, so it's interesting to me to hear him describe what it was like.

“Because there are children, there are whores with milk. Those who had--lost a child--would sometimes nurse other bébés. If a whore was called to attend a customer and her child was hungry, she would hand him to another jeune fille. The little ones called any whore ‘Maman,’ ” he said quietly, looking down at his feet. “Anyone who would feed them.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 74, "The Face of Evil". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

And yet, Fergus knew this Amélie. According to the story Percy told in ECHO chapter 58, she died when Fergus was about a year old, so he has no memories of her. But in this TV version of events, Fergus was about six years old -- old enough to remember Amélie, even though the memories are not pleasant ones.

"Was she kind to you?"
"She detested all of the children of the brothel, but me most of all. I understand now. I was the spawn of the man who took everything from her. Her love, her freedom, even her family."

I think this change from the books, allowing Fergus to retain a few memories of her, gives Percy's Highly Improbable story more credibility than it had in the books. Fergus has more to rely on than just the word of Percival Beauchamp or a possibly-forged marriage contract. He has his own memories, too. Fergus recalls that the other whores called her the Baroness, "because of her haughty manner" -- but the nickname is also fitting for the sister of the Baron Amandine. If it's not true, why did Amélie hate him more than the other children? Maybe those small details don't mean anything in the long run. I don't think Fergus is interested in Percy's offer. But the scenario seems a little easier to accept when it's supported by those bits of memory.

Fergus's next comments about Percival Beauchamp come straight from the book:

“He’s a whore; he has likely been one all his life.” Seeing Roger’s expression, he didn’t smile, but one corner of his mouth lifted. “What is it they say? ‘It takes one to know one.’ ”

Roger felt a sudden contraction of his stomach muscles, as though he’d been lightly punched. He’d known that Fergus had been a child-whore in Paris, before encountering Jamie Fraser, who had engaged him as a pickpocket--but he’d forgotten.

“Monsieur Beauchamp is too old to sell his arse, of course, but he will sell himself. From necessity,” Fergus added dispassionately. “A person who has lived like that for a long time ceases to believe that they have any value beyond what someone will pay for.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 74, "The Face of Evil". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

When Marsali asks why he's hesitating, Fergus said, "Monsieur Beauchamp told me what every orphan wants to hear, that I am the son of a great man. But I'm already the son of a great man."

I wish they'd kept the original quote from ECHO, which I consider one of the best Fergus quotes of the whole series.

"For a long time,” [Fergus] said at last, “when I was small, I pretended to myself that I was the bastard of some great man. All orphans do this, I think,” he added dispassionately. “It makes life easier to bear, to pretend that it will not always be as it is, that someone will come and restore you to your rightful place in the world.”

He shrugged.

“Then I grew older, and knew this was not true. No one would come to rescue me. But then--” He turned his head and gave Jamie a smile of surpassing sweetness.

“Then I grew older still, and discovered that, after all, it was true. I am the son of a great man.”

The hook touched Jamie’s hand, hard and capable.

“I wish for nothing more."

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, Chapter 18, "Pulling Teeth". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The next scene takes us back to Lord John's house, and a terrific scene between Bree and John. I love it whenever these two interact, in the books or show. Bree asks with characteristic directness, "Why didn't you tell William I was coming?"

The answer is pretty obvious: "You and he share a pretty unique experience, discovering that James Fraser is your father."

I liked John's comment about Bree and William's stubbornness: "It's exceedingly difficult to get you to do anything you don't want to do." It makes me wonder how he managed to control William as a very spoiled young child.

The story about young Willie lost in the fog was told in detail in THE SCOTTISH PRISONER, but we also see William's memory of it in ECHO:

[Willie] heard them calling out for him, voices he knew, and he tried to cry out in reply, but his throat was raw from screaming, and he made no more than desperate rasping noises, running toward where he thought the voices were. But sound moves in a fog, and nothing is as it seems: not sound, not time nor place.

[...]

Mac had found him. A big hand had suddenly reached down and grabbed him, and the next minute he was lifted up, bruised and scraped and bleeding but clutched tight against the Scottish groom’s rough shirt, strong arms holding him as though they’d never let him go.

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 36, "The Great Dismal". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Oddly, John doesn't mention that Mac the groom was the one who found the boy. Perhaps Isobel didn't tell him that.

The next couple of scenes are not in the book. We're back on Fraser's Ridge with Rachel and baby Oggy. Probably at the trading post, but if so, it's a part of it I don't recall seeing before. Rachel's eye is caught by a newspaper headline talking about a massacre along the Susquehanna River. She takes one of the papers to show Ian.

Apparently Lizzie Beardsley has been watching Jem and Mandy while their parents are in Savannah. I had to smile at Lizzie's stumbling over the 20th-century word "sleepover" as though it's in a foreign language. Suddenly they hear riders approaching: Jamie and Ian have returned, along with a man they don't recognize.

The kids remember him, though! Jem and Mandy come running out to meet the stranger, who turns out to be William Buccleigh MacKenzie.

"I told him he's welcome to stay on the Ridge as long as he likes," Jamie says.
"Of course. He's family," Claire agrees.

Buck wants to know if Claire has "any of those peanut butter sandwiches", like the ones Bree made for him at Lallybroch in 1980.

Ian finds Rachel outside, looking worried. She tells him about a massacre in the north, led by the famous Mohawk warrior, Joseph Brant, aka Thayendanegea. In the book, it's Ian who tells Rachel about it, but the gist of it is the same.

Ian reads aloud from the newspaper: "The Patriot Army marched along the Susquehanna River, razing every Indian village they could find. Forty villages were left in flames and countless scalps were...." He stops abruptly, too upset to continue.

This happened in the area where the Mohawk village of Shadow Lake (aka Snaketown, in the books) is located, in upstate New York. Clearly Ian wants to go, to see if his first wife, Works With Her Hands, and her children are still alive. Rachel immediately agrees, saying that she and baby Oggy will come with him.

Claire is sad to see them go, of course, but Rachel won't change her mind.

“Would thee let thy husband go alone seven hundred miles to rescue his first wife and her three children--one of whom might just possibly be his?”

Jenny’s mouth opened, but apparently there were no Scottish sounds appropriate to the occasion.

“Well, no,” she said mildly. “Thee has a point.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 56, "Thee Would Make a Good Friend". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie asks Ian to visit the brothel where Jane and Fanny lived, when he gets to Philadelphia. This doesn't make sense to me. We saw in the opening scene in Episode 801 that Jamie already questioned Vasquez, the smuggler who sold the girls to the brothel. Vasquez is dead. Jane is dead. What more can the whores at the brothel tell him that Jamie and Claire don't already know?

Jamie tells Ian about Frank's book and the battle that will take place at Kings Mountain next October. Ian promises that they will return before the battle.

"Da may be gone, but I'll guard your left in his stead." Awwwww! I like that.

Before they leave, Jamie blesses Ian and Rachel and Oggy with the "Prayer for Travelling" from the Carmina Gadelica:

“Traversing corries, traversing forests,
Traversing valleys long and wild.
The fair white Mary still uphold me,
The Shepherd Jesu be my shield."

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 27, "Cover Her Face". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I like that very much.

Meanwhile, in the Continental Army camp somewhere outside Savannah, Roger has come to find Colonel Francis Marion, aka the "Swamp Fox". He gives Marion a letter from Jamie. Marion is familiar with Jamie's reputation, as the notorious General who resigned his commission following the Battle of Monmouth.

"He should keep his distance from the army. They will use his militia, certainly, they need every man they can get. But the risk to him--him, personally--is very great. If it had not been for Lee’s trial and La Fayette’s good word, Fraser would have been court-martialed himself after Monmouth; perhaps even hanged.”

Marion spoke casually, but Roger felt the scar on his throat tighten and burn beneath the concealment of his high white stock, and he had the sudden uncontrollable urge to fling his arms out, burst the memory of rope and helplessness.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 90, "The Swamp Fox". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Predictably, Marion refuses to give Roger any guns. I'm glad, actually, because I thought it was a stupid idea. As Roger himself said at the beginning of this episode, "Nor do I expect that Marion will have crates of guns just lying around the camp that he can readily part with."

Roger tries to leave, only to be told, "That's not possible." It's too late. The battle will begin soon, and the sentries are not letting anyone out of the camp. Recognizing that he has no choice, Roger makes one final request:

“I’m no good with a rifle,” he said. “But if you can give me a sword, I’ll go with you.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 90, "The Swamp Fox". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

And with that, the episode ends.
----------------------------
I hope you enjoyed this recap. Please come back next w.eek for my recap of Episode 805, and look here for my recaps of all of the previous OUTLANDER episodes.

Looking for a place to discuss All Things OUTLANDER? Check out TheLitForum.com, formerly the Compuserve Books and Writers Community. You have to sign up in order to read or post on the forum, but it's free. For more about the forum, look here.

Episode 803: "Abies Fraseri" (SPOILERS!)

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:31:53 +0000

Here are my reactions to Episode 803 of the OUTLANDER TV series, titled "Abies Fraseri".

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

There are SPOILERS below! If you don't want to know yet, stop reading now.

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The "title card" for this episode features a collection of insects, like the ones Amaranthus embroaders on the waistcoat we see later in this episode.

The episode opens at the new trading post on Fraser's Ridge. Fanny, shopping with Bree, is admiring a fancy comb. "Mrs. Abbott had a comb like this [in the brothel], but she never let us touch it." Bree offers to buy it for her, and Fanny looks stunned. Probably no one has ever bought her a present before.

Bree steps away for a few minutes, and a man approaches Fanny and starts making conversation with her. We don't learn his name and I've never seen him before, but seeing him hitting on Fanny, who is perhaps twelve years old, is sickening.

"You're a pretty one, too. How'd you like to keep me company on my travels?"
"I shouldn't like that at all!"

But he won't stop, until Fanny calls him a "toad-faced foot-licker." Good for her!

Bree asks what's wrong, and Fanny's response is based on this bit from BEES:

“The young one is an officer,” she said, and nodded in affirmation of her observations. “They always think they can do anything they want.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 16, "Distant Thunder". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

We see Captain Cunningham ushering the stranger into the general store, apparently on good terms with the man.

Meanwhile, a letter has arrived for Claire. Jamie drops it on the desk in front of her as though he doesn't even want to touch it. "It's from your former husband," he says with an edge to his voice. That would be Lord John, of course, who married Claire in Season 7 when Jamie was presumed dead.

Lord John has invited Brianna to come to Savannah, where he and William are living, to paint a portrait of his nephew's wife and son. (In other words, Ben's widow, Viscountess Amaranthus Grey, and her baby son Trevor.) In the book, Bree is asked to paint a portrait of a wealthy resident of Savannah named Angelina Brumby, but I think the change works well here, to cut down on the number of new characters we're dealing with this season.

"I'll go see if she would like to go," Claire says.

The sequence that follows is just fantastic, one of those scenes that I refer to as "filming the book", because they come as close as they possibly could to portraying the scene exactly as I've always imagined. Most of the dialogue comes word for word from BEES chapter 35, "Ambsace".

“No, you’re not.” He said it calmly, though his answer had come so fast, I thought he’d said it from pure reflex. Then I looked at his eyes. I straightened my back, folded my arms, and fixed him with a stare of my own.

“Would you care to rephrase that?” I said politely.

One of the benefits of long marriage is that you can see quite clearly where some conversations are likely to lead--and occasionally you can sidestep the booby traps and choose another path by silent mutual assent.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 35, "Ambsace". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I just love watching Jamie throughout this whole scene -- the whole episode, in fact. I think this is some of Sam's best work in a long time.

The blood was rising up the column of his neck, never a good sign. “I dinna mean to be ‘involved,’ ” he said, handling the word as though it had fleas. “And I dinna mean you to be ‘involved’ with John Grey. At all,” he added as an emphatic footnote, and snatched up the shovel with which he’d been digging the new well for the garden, in a manner suggesting that he would have liked nothing better than to crown John Grey with it--or, failing that, me.

“I’m not suggesting any sort of involvement,” I said, with a fair assumption of calm.

“It’s a wee bit late for that,” he said, with a nasty emphasis that sent the blood up into my own cheeks.

“For God’s sake! You know what happened. And how. You know I--”

“Aye, I ken what happened. He laid ye down in his bed, spread your thighs, and swived ye. Ye think I’m ever going to hear the man’s name and not think of that?”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 35, "Ambsace". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

“And did I tell ye that I grudged every hour ye’d spent in another man’s bed?”

For those of you who don't recall the reference (because it's been a long time, and the scene Jamie is recalling doesn't occur in the show), he's referring to the scene in DRAGONFLY IN AMBER immediately after Alex Randall's death, when he lashed out at Claire:

“Damn right I begrudge! I grudge every memory of yours that doesna hold me, and every tear ye’ve shed for another, and every second you’ve spent in another man’s bed! Damn you!” He knocked the brandy glass from my hand--accidentally, I think--pulled me to him and kissed me hard.

He drew back enough to shake me again.

“You’re mine, damn ye, Claire Fraser! Mine, and I wilna share ye, with a man or a memory, or anything whatever, so long as we both shall live.”

(From DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 45, "Damn All Randalls". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The rest of the scene is almost word-for-word from the book, including Claire's murmured, "Pigheaded Scot!" just after Jamie leaves.

Hearing the commotion, Fanny comes in to speak to Claire. She wants to know why Jamie is so angry.

“He’s Scottish,” I amended, with a sigh. “Which means stubborn. Also unreasonable, intolerant, contumelious, froward, pigheaded, and a few other objectionable things. But don’t worry; it really isn’t anything to do with William.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 35, "Ambsace". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

"You've been good to me," Fanny says. "It's a shame I'll have to go." Back to the brothel in Philadelphia, she means. Claire is horrified. She reassures Fanny that she won't have to go anywhere. This bit comes straight from BEES chapter 24, "Alarms by Night".

In the next scene, William tells John that he believes Ben is alive, because he found another man's body in Ben's grave at the end of last week's episode. Most of this scene is not in the book. William tells John about the little tin soldier that was missing from Ben's uniform coat pocket.

"I gave it back to him when he went to war. It wasn't among his belongings."

John is skeptical, but suggests the logical next step: talk to Ben's commander, a Major-General Leslie, who will be attending a luncheon in Savannah soon with other British officers. John offers to get William an invitation to the luncheon.

In the next scene, Bree and Claire are in the kitchen, discussing Lord John's letter about the portrait he wishes Bree to paint. Bree wants to know why Jamie and John are not on speaking terms at the moment, so Claire tells her that she was compelled to marry Lord John in order to keep Richardson from arresting her as a spy.

Bree shrugs. "So why is Da mad? It sounds like John was protecting you. It's not like you slept together."

And then, of course, Claire has to tell her the rest of it:

“And I slept with him. But it’s not what you think…”

At this inauspicious moment, Jamie walked past the window with Sean McHugh. They were talking, both of them looking upward, Jamie pointing at something on the upper story. Brianna made a noise as though she’d tried to swallow a pawpaw whole, and Jamie glanced in at us, startled.

I felt as though I had swallowed a hand grenade, but I hastily pounded Brianna on the back, making an “It’s nothing” gesture at Jamie.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 36, "What Lies Unseen". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Bree's reaction to this unexpected news is just priceless! I love the look of total shock on her face as she says, "Mama!!", followed by a wide grin as she can't repress her laughter at the thought.

"Do NOT joke about that in front of your father!" Claire says sternly. No kidding!

The next brief scene is not in the book. Jamie comes to see Captain Cunningham at the trading post, to ask about his connections with the two strangers Bree and Fanny encountered earlier.

Cunningham says they gave him a pistol and a musket as part of his dead son's belongings. He apologizes for the man's behavior toward Fanny.

Jamie examines the pistol but says nothing about it. "I willna tolerate any actions that will threaten the Ridge or its settlers," he warns Cunningham, and leaves.

The next scene is taken mostly from the book, and I thought it was very well done. Amaranthus comes to see William (interrupting him when he's half-dressed!), to give him a present: a waistcoat that she has embroidered with a number of tiny insects.

"I embroidered it for Ben. You're similar in size. I'd be happy for you to get some use out of it." Interesting. This line isn't in the book, leaving us with the implication that she embroidered it specifically for William. The way it's stated here makes her seem a little more sympathetic. It seems more an act of kindness, rather than the action of someone who's "throwing herself at him", and I liked that.

[William] bowed to her, smiling. “By far the most fanciful waistcoat I’ve ever owned.”

She straightened up, looking indignant, and pulled her wrapper tight across her bosom.

“They aren’t fanciful at all! Every single one of those beetles is to be found in this colony, and all of them are the right colors and shapes! Well,” she added, her indignation subsiding, “I’ll admit that the red eyes really were a touch of fancy on my part. I just thought the pattern required more red than a single ladybird beetle would provide.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 44, "Beetles With Tiny Red Eyes". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Amaranthus explains that her father is a naturalist, "when he can afford to be," and a bookseller in Philadelphia. Her grandfather is a botanist, which is where she got the name Amaranthus. The explanation of her name comes from BEES chapter 31, "Pater Familias".

"It's a beautiful name," William says. "And a lovely waistcoat." That waistcoat really is quite beautiful!

In the next scene, which isn't in the book, Roger, Bree, Claire, and Jamie are discussing the idea of Bree going to Savannah to paint this portrait that Lord John reqeusted. Jamie is adamant. "No! Absolutely not!"

Bree says that they're going to need more weapons if the war is coming to the backcountry, "and Savannah is the place to get them!"

"Where there are armies, there are guns," Roger says. I thought that was a particularly clunky line of dialogue. He makes it sound as though they'll just walk into the nearest army camp and steal guns from under the noses of the guards!

Jamie insists it's too dangerous, even though Lord John has sent Bree a letter of safe passage that will get them into the city. He wants to know how they're going to pay for these guns.

"We were thinking [to use] some of the Frenchman's gold," Roger says, referring to the hoard of gold that Jamie found under the remains of the Big House after the fire, which Jamie has been saving in case of need.
"We were almost killed for it," Bree adds. "We might as well use it to protect ourselves."

But Jamie won't hear of it. It's too dangerous. He says, "No. I willna allow it!" and walks out of the room.

The very explosive scene between Jamie and Claire that follows comes mostly word for word from the book, and I loved it!

“I could have lied, you know.” [About having sex with Lord John, she means.]

“No, ye couldn’t. Ye canna lie to anybody, Sassenach, let alone me. And given that his lordship had already told me the truth--”

“You wouldn’t have been sure it was the truth,” I said. “Given what both parties told me about that fight. I could have told you John was talking out his backside because he wanted to annoy you, and you would have believed me.”

“Ye could choose your words wi’ a bit more care, Sassenach,” he said, a hint of grimness in his voice. “I dinna want to hear anything about his lordship’s backside."

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 37, "Maneuvers Beginning With the Letter 'V'". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The argument continues, again almost verbatim from the book. Claire turns her back to him, silently asking for help with unlacing her stays. I liked the irritated look Claire gave him when he hesitated, as if to say, "Come on, take a break from the argument for a moment and help me. You've done this a thousand times before." It's a sweet little marital moment, lowering the tension a little bit.

I also liked the way they sat down on opposite sides of the bed, facing away from one another as the argument went on. That was an effective bit of directing, letting their body language show how out of sync they are with one another.

“You can’t love somebody if you won’t bloody forgive them!”

“I forgive you,” he said.

“How f*cking dare you?” I shouted, turning on him with clenched fists.

“What’s wrong wi’ you?” He made a grab for my arm, but I jerked away from him. “First ye’re angry because I didna say I forgave ye and now ye’re outraged because I did?”

“Because I didn’t do anything wrong to start with, you fatheaded arsehole, and you know it! How dare you try to forgive me for something I didn’t do?”

“Ye did do it!”

“I didn’t! You think I was unfaithful to you, and I. Bloody. Wasn’t!” I was shrieking loudly enough to drown out the crickets, and shaking with rage.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 37, "Maneuvers Beginning With the Letter 'V'". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I couldn't help but notice that they've toned down both Claire's language and her rage considerably in the show's version of this scene, and I wonder why. This scene tends to make me uncomfortable in the book, because I always find it upsetting when Jamie and Claire argue, and they were REALLY tearing into each other, in a way we haven't seen in quite a while. I think the TV version lacks much of that emotional intensity, and that's a shame.

I'm very glad they included the following bit, because I think it's absolutely critical for understanding the state of Jamie and Lord John's relationship at this point in the story, and why they have not been able to reconcile:

“I swear to myself I will put...this...thing...out o’ my head, and mostly I manage. But then that sodomite sends me a letter, out o’ the blue--just as though it never happened! And it’s all back again.” His voice shook and he stopped for a second, shaking his head violently, as though to clear it.

[....]

“If I canna stand the notion that you and he were f*cking me behind my back, how do ye think I can stand to think that you and I are sharing a bed wi’ him in it?”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 37, "Maneuvers Beginning With the Letter 'V'". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I didn't really care for the sex scene that follows the argument. But it's a minor point, one of the few things I disliked about this episode.

The next morning, Jamie and Claire's relationship seems back to normal. They talk a little about Frank's book, and then the conversation shifts to Claire's words to Black Jack Randall at Wentworth:

“You asked me, Captain, if I were a witch,” I said, my voice low and steady. “I’ll answer you now. Witch I am. Witch, and I curse you. You will marry, Captain, and your wife will bear a child, but you shall not live to see your firstborn. I curse you with knowledge, Jack Randall--I give you the hour of your death.”

(From OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 35, "Wentworth Prison". Copyright © 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

"In that moment, it was the only weapon I had, because I wanted to torture him."
"You think Frank is torturing you?"
"Dunno. Maybe. For not forgetting about you. For not letting you go." [....] "I just don't know what's real or not anymore. That's what's worrying me."

Claire goes back inside, and suddenly Jamie hears Frank/BJR's voice in his head: "You know it's real. In your heart, you know what's written is the truth."

Meanwhile, in Savannah, William and Lord John are attending the luncheon with a number of British officers, including General Leslie, Ben's commanding officer. General Leslie can't provide any more details about Ben's death, but he wants to know more about the conditions under which British prisoners are being held. And then he mentions Lord John's experience with prisoners, and William is baffled.

“Prisoners?” William felt something small and hard bob in his midsection, as though he’d inadvertently swallowed a golf ball. “My father?”

Mr. Preston blinked, taken back. “Forgive me, my lord. I had thought--”

“That doesn’t matter.” William waved a hand. “What did you mean, though; his experience with prisoners?”

“Why--Lord John was the governor of a prison in Scotland, perhaps...twenty, twenty-five, perhaps...years ago? Now, what was the name...oh, of course. Ardsmuir. You did not know that? Dear me, I do beg your pardon.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 44, "Beetles With Tiny Red Eyes". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

You can almost see William putting the pieces together. His real father was a convicted Jacobite traitor. Lord John had commanded a prison in Scotland, before William himself had been born. Was that where they had met?

Meanwhile, back on Fraser's Ridge, an unexpected visitor arrives. It's a young black girl, perhaps fourteen years old. In the book, her name is Agnes Cloudtree, and her parents are Aaron and Susannah. They've changed the family's surname to Whitaker, and made them free blacks, but otherwise the circumstances are not too different from the situation described in the book. The girl, Agnes, has come desperately seeking Claire's help for her mother, who is having a difficult childbirth.

I'm not sure why they changed the race of these characters in the show, but I don't mind. It's a riveting story in any case. Claire brings Agnes, Susannah, and their friend Binta into her surgery. Susannah turns out to be carrying twins. At first both babies appear to be stuck. Still alive, but not moving.

“The twins are tangled together,” I said, as calmly as I could. I pressed her stomach and felt movement—one twin, at least, was still alive. I was drenched with sweat and my mouth was dry. Someone had set a cup of water near me; I hadn’t noticed. I picked it up and drank, to get enough moisture to say what had to be said next. “Susannah,” I said, leaning forward to look into her eyes. “The babies can’t get out. I can’t get them out. If we keep doing this, they’ll die--and you might die, too.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 54, "Moonrise". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Keep in mind the very high infant and maternal mortality rates in those days. The risk that mother or babies or both might die is very real.

The scene shifts back to the officers' luncheon in Savannah. Lord John finds himself seated next to Percival Beauchamp (aka Percy Wainwright), of all people! Lord John asks him whether he's still working for the Marquis de La Fayette, but Percy won't give him a straight answer.

I had to laugh at the way Percy kept putting a hand on John's leg, and John kept pushing him away.

Percy says, "I'm seeking a meeting with a Claudel Fraser." The name means nothing to Lord John, but it should set off alarm bells for anyone who remembers the young Fergus in Season 2, whom Jamie first met in Paris as an eight-year-old pickpocket named Claudel.

Percy's description of the man who rescued Claudel from the brothel is taken from AN ECHO IN THE BONE:

"I do know that roughly thirty years ago, he was taken from the brothel by a Scotsman, and that this man was described as of striking appearance, very tall, with brilliant red hair. Beyond that, I encountered a morass of possibilities ...” He smiled wryly. “Fraser was described to me variously as a wine merchant, a Jacobite, a Loyalist, a traitor, a spy, an aristocrat, a farmer, an importer--or a smuggler; the terms are interchangeable--with connections reaching from a convent to the Royal court.”

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 18, "Pulling Teeth". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Percy wants Lord John to make contact with Fergus and encourage him to meet with Percy. John says he'll consider it, and in return he asks Percy to locate Captain Richardson.

Meanwhile, back on Fraser's Ridge, Susannah's husband Aaron arrives at the Big House. At first he orders his wife and daughter to leave, saying to his daughter, "You've put all of us in danger!" As a free black man, he's reluctant to accept the help of white people, but eventually relents, seeing how serious his wife's condition is.

In the next scene, we're back in Lord John's house in Savannah. William has brought Amaranthus Ben's uniform coat, which he obtained in last week's episode. Amaranthus reacts with great shock, as though she's only just now remembered that she's supposed to be a grieving widow. "I'll put it with the rest of his belongings," she says. William follows her and notes that she has a drawer full of letters and other things -- including the missing toy soldier that he gave Ben for good luck when he joined the army!

William and Amaranthus find a private spot to talk outdoors, and she proceeds to tell him about the beetles on his waistcoat. Most of the dialogue here is taken from the book:

He looked down his nose at his chest--and Amaranthus’s long, slim index finger. Her wedding band glimmered on the fourth finger, and he took a deep breath that made her pointing finger sink slightly into the ochre silk. She smiled up at him, and slowly withdrew the finger.

“As to the beetle, I wouldn’t know. But you are [rebellious], aren’t you?”

“Me? How do you mean?”

“I mean that you don’t intend to live your life to please other people’s expectations. Do you?”

That was a lot more direct than he’d expected—but then, she was startlingly direct.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 100, "The Power of the Flesh". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

And then, unlike in the book, they kiss.

Meanwhile, back on Fraser's Ridge, Claire helps Susannah to deliver the first of her twins, a boy. But the second twin is in a breech position and Claire has a lot of difficulty getting her out. Jamie comes in while she's struggling to deliver the second baby. Finally the child emerges, but she isn't breathing. Claire tries desperately to resuscitate her, to no avail.

We can see Claire reliving the way it felt when she lost Faith all those years ago. She refuses to let Jamie take the baby.

Moved by the deepest of memories, I leaned over and picked her up, holding her against my breast, tiny head cupped in my hand. In an instant, I was holding my lost daughter, grief knifing through me. I closed my eyes, knowing I had to put her down, had to go about my job, but unable to let her go, feeling the slow beating of my heart against the fading warmth of her fragile skin.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 54, "Moonrise". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Suddenly we see fragments of memory from Episode 207, "Faith". Mother Hildegarde's voice, then Master Raymond's, and the overwhelming sense of "blueness" all around them. And somehow, from sheer desperation and a refusal to give up, Claire summons the healing blue light.

A blue spark. I saw it, saw it and looked deep into it, willing it to stay, holding it safe in the palms of my hands. Thup... My finger stilled, and the small sound answered. Tup.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 54, "Moonrise". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Finally, miraculously, the baby girl begins to cry.

I love that scene in the book, and I think they did an excellent job of adapting it here.

Afterwards, Jamie and Claire talk over what just happened. Claire says she has felt something like it once before, when she was very ill after their first daughter, Faith, was stillborn.

"I was dying, and I knew it. And in that moment, I wanted to die. Then Master Raymond came." Here's how she described it at the time, in DRAGONFLY IN AMBER:

An odd feeling of warmth now emanated from those broad, square, workman’s hands. They moved with painstaking slowness over my body, and I could feel the tiny deaths of the bacteria that inhabited my blood, small explosions as each scintilla of infection disappeared. [....] The warmth glowed and spread within each organ, illuminating it like a small sun within me, then died and moved on.

(From DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 25, "Raymond the Heretic". Copyright © 1992 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Claire describes the feeling of healing the baby, as though "a blue light seeped from my fingers into her body." But Jamie couldn't see the blue light.

"If Master Raymond was able to do that for me, maybe that's how he was able to bring Faith back. Maybe that's what he wanted forgiveness for. For taking our daughter from us."
"Then why did he not tell you? Why did he not return her to you, after?"

NOOOO!! Just NO!! I refuse to take this "Faith lived" nonsense seriously in any way at all. I wish they'd never started talking about it in the first place.

Mercifully, that small digression into pure fantasy doesn't last long. The next bit comes straight from the book:

“Jamie,” I said, a few moments later, raising my head. “What color is my hair?”

This was an absurd question; it was the depth of the night and we were standing in a pitch-black forest. But he made a small noise of appraisal and lifted my chin to look. “All the colors o’ the earth,” he said, and smoothed the hair from my face.

“But here, all about your face--it’s the color of moonlight, mo ghràidh.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 54, "Moonrise". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The next scene with Jamie and Fanny isn't in the book. Jamie takes her to see the cairn of stones he built to mark the place where Murtagh is buried. He tells Fanny that this cairn is her sister Jane's now. "Whenever you're missing her, ye can come and place a stone on top. Speak to her if ye like. Let her know you're thinking of her."

This sweet moment is interrupted by the sound of a gunshot, not far away. Jamie goes to investigate and finds Benjamin Cleveland, whom we met in last week's episode, with two crates filled with muskets.

"I caught these two smuggling guns onto your property," Cleveland says. "You're just in time to help me string 'em up as a warning to others."

Jamie is appalled and refuses to let Cleveland hang them. Fanny recognizes the men; one of them is the "horrible man" we saw at the trading post at the beginning of this episode. Jamie searches the man and finds a sealed note hidden in his boot. He orders Cleveland to get off his land, and Cleveland doesn't argue. He takes the crates of guns and rides off.

In the final scene, which is not in the book, Jamie confronts Captain Cunningham, telling him what he just witnessed. He shows him the letter he took from the dead man. It refers to "Abies fraseri", the Fraser fir that grows in the mountains of western North Carolina, but it's clearly some sort of coded message.

Jamie looks at Cunningham's pistol, now mounted on the wall like a trophy. Jamie takes it down and observes that it's lighter than normal. He removes a cartridge, only to find that it's not a standard cartridge but a rolled-up piece of paper with another message written on it. It turns out to be a coded message about recruiting men on Fraser's Ridge, presumably in support of the Loyalists.

Cunningham says the coded letter is from "my commander, Major Patrick Ferguson". Yikes! Ferguson is a real historical figure who will lead the British troops at the Battle of Kings Mountain. So Cunningham is actively working for the British, and the threat he represents to Jamie and the Patriots on the Ridge has suddenly become clear.

"You're raising a Loyalist militia, on my land." Cunningham doesn't deny it. He says that supporting the Loyalists is "the only choice to make" if Jamie wants to keep his land and people safe.

As Jamie rides away, we hear Frank's voice in his mind: "I told you, Fraser. It's coming. The pieces are falling into place. Just as I wrote, each day brings you closer to Kings Mountain, and closer to your history." Personally I thought this was a poorly written ending, and unnecessary. Give the audience credit for a little intelligence! We don't need Frank to tell us that the danger to the Ridge, and to Jamie personally, is growing. We can see that with our own eyes. And Kings Mountain is still many months away.
----------------------------
I hope you enjoyed this recap. Please come back next week for my recap of Episode 804, and look here for my recaps of all of the previous OUTLANDER episodes.

Looking for a place to discuss All Things OUTLANDER? Check out TheLitForum.com, formerly the Compuserve Books and Writers Community. You have to sign up in order to read or post on the forum, but it's free. For more about the forum, look here.

When is a "Deluxe" hardcover of OUTLANDER just too much?

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 11:57:14 +0000

I found out this week that Easton Press will be releasing a Deluxe Illustrated Edition of OUTLANDER on April 7th. This limited-edition hardcover book comes with illustrations by Dennis Lyall.

From the product description:

Features include:
Personally signed by author Diana Gabaldon and artist Dennis Lyall.
Limited to 1,200 hand-numbered copies.
Crafted in premium full-grain leather.
22kt gold deeply inlaid on the "hubbed" spine.
Superbly printed on acid-neutral paper that lasts for generations.
Sewn pages — not just glued like ordinary books.
Handsome printed endpages and a satin-ribbon page marker.
Elegantly edge printed with specially commissioned artwork.

We've seen a number of "special editions" of the OUTLANDER books popping up recently, from Suntup Press, LitJoy, and others -- including the upcoming "Deluxe" 35th Anniversary paperback which Penguin Random House will be releasing in September. So why am I telling you about this Easton Press edition in particular?

Because I was frankly astounded at the price they're charging for this book: a whopping $440.00 (!!) That's awfully steep (outrageous, IMHO) for a single book. It's almost three times what Easton Press charges for one of their "regular" OUTLANDER hardcovers.

Let me say up front that I've purchased books from Easton Press before. They put out high quality hardcovers, and I really like the look of their other hardcovers of Diana Gabaldon's books, which I began collecting about 18 months ago. I think they're classy and elegant and they look terrific on my shelf. (The image below, from their website, gives you an idea of what I mean.)

Having said that: the price of $440.00 for this Deluxe Illustrated Edition is definitely way too expensive for me, and I suspect it's more than even some of the hardcore collectors will be willing to pay. Especially at a time when prices are rising fast in the US, it strikes me as really bad timing on the part of the publisher. Do they really think that the OUTLANDER collectors out there will shell out an exorbitant amount of money for Yet Another Edition of OUTLANDER, no matter how much it costs, just because it has 22kt gold trimmings and "elegant" artwork? (Maybe they do.)

I mentioned this to Diana Gabaldon on TheLitForum yesterday, and I think she was taken aback by the price, too. She replied:

No, I definitely have no input at all with regard to pricing.

Just speaking personally, I'm not interested in any of these illustrated editions, no matter how good the artwork is. The voice in my head going, "That's not what Jamie/Claire/whoever looks like!!" would bother me too much. But it was the price that really caught my attention. That's just way beyond ridiculous for a single book, if you ask me, no matter how fancy it is.

I should note that if you do decide to order this book, that's totally your choice and I respect that! My point is only that by charging such an extreme price for this special edition, they're putting it out of reach of many OUTLANDER fans and collectors who might otherwise have been interested, and I think that's a shame.

What do you think about this? Worth the investment, or just too expensive? Please leave a comment here or on my Outlandish Observations Facebook page.

More OUTLANDER-related virtual programs from Wake County Libraries!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 11:52:00 +0000

Many of you will remember the excellent series of OUTLANDER-themed virtual programs presented last year by the Wake County (NC) Public Libraries. (In case you missed them, the recordings are available here.) They just announced that they will be putting on another set of three OUTLANDER-themed virtual programs in April and May!

"A Taste of Scotland with The Hebridean Baker" with Coinneach MacLeod (April 4, 2026 at 10 am ET)
"Toil and Trouble: Witchcraft & Folklore from the Highlands" with Hailey Beaupre (April 18, 2026 at 3 pm ET)
"History, Outlander, and the Power of Storytelling" with Alex Dold (May 3, 2026 at 2 pm ET)

Look here for details on the presenters for these three virtual programs, and click on "Register for Programs" on the left-hand side of the page to sign up. It's free!

I was especially pleased to see that Alex Dold will be one of the presenters. You may recall that Alex (aka "Doctor of OUTLANDER") received a doctorate from the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland last year, in the same ceremony where Diana Gabaldon received an honorary degree. I'm interested to hear what Alex has to say.

As a longtime resident of Wake County (I live in Raleigh, NC), I'm proud of the fact that my local library is putting on these programs that will appeal to OUTLANDER fans all over the world! I'm sure you'll enjoy them.

Please spread the word to anyone else you know who may be interested. Thanks!

Episode 802: "Prophecies" (SPOILERS!)

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:37:00 +0000

Here are my reactions to Episode 802 of the OUTLANDER TV series, titled "Prophecies". This was a fantastic episode, with a lot of material taken straight from the books. I really enjoyed it! It's also the first episode directed by Caitriona Balfe, and I thought she did a great job!

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

There are SPOILERS below! If you don't want to know yet, stop reading now.

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The episode opens with a flashback to 1775 London. This scene, which is not in the book, features William with his cousins Henry and Ben. Ben, the eldest of the Grey brothers, has just received his commission in the army, and is being posted to Boston. William gives him a small toy soldier, for luck.

"You gave him to me when I first came to this house," William says. "You made me feel a part of this family." (Presumably, when Lord John became his stepfather when William was six years old.)

Ben says he'll keep the little soldier "as long as I wear this uniform". Book-readers will see this as foreshadowing of later events!

And speaking of foreshadowing: the "title card" for this episode is a bear, munching on berries in the woods. The sight of him made me shiver a bit, knowing what's coming next.

The scene with Fanny looking into the microscope and Claire explaining about stomach acid and mucus comes almost word for word from the book.

“Your stomach has very thick walls, though, and they’re covered in mucus, so--”

“My stomach is full of snot?” She sounded so horrified that I had to bite my tongue and turn away for a moment, under the pretext of fetching a clean slide.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 26, "In the Scuppernongs". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The other part of their conversation also comes from BEES, but in a later chapter. I love it when the writers combine two unrelated scenes like this.

Claire warns Fanny that she must be careful what she says about her background (living in the brothel) when speaking to others on the Ridge.

“[Not] everyone who lives on the Ridge has had such experiences, and many of them have never met anyone who has. Most of them have lived in small villages in Scotland, many of them aren’t educated. They would be shocked, perhaps, if you told them very much about...where you lived. How you and your sister--”

“They’ve never met whores?” she said, and blinked. “I think some of the men must have.”

“Doubtless you’re right,” I said, trying to keep my grip on the conversation. “But it’s the women who talk.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 35, "Ambsace". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I liked the way Claire reassures Fanny: "[Jane] wanted to protect you from that life. And she tried to keep you safe. And now, we will keep you safe. Always."

The next scene, with Jamie and Roger sawing logs, is not in the book, but I thought it was well done. I have to say that I really like Roger's look this season! (I was never a fan of the beard.)

Jamie says it was good of Roger to forgive Buck for getting him hanged.

"He's a good man. Sometimes good men do things, thinking them right, only to realize later that they were mistaken. Shouldn't we forgive that?" Like Jamie beating the crap out of Roger in Season 4 and giving him to the Mohawk, for example? You can almost see that thought pass between them. Roger forgave Jamie for that mistake, too, eventually.

Jamie tells Roger that Frank's book mentions the Overmountain Men who will fight on the side of the Patriots -- in particular, John Sevier, Benjamin Cleveland, and Isaac Shelby. They're all real historical figures, but Roger hasn't heard of them. And he's skeptical that Frank's book was referring to Jamie specifically.

"There are a good many men named Jamie Fraser in Scotland, and I’m sure there are plenty here, too.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 62, "A Stranger's Face". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Captain Cunningham, the retired Britisn Army officer we met in last week's episode. This scene is based on an encounter between Roger and Cunningham in BEES chapter 22.

"Roger tells me that perhaps we met on the level," Jamie says.
"And we parted on the square!" Cunningham replies, giving the Masonic handshake in response.

So Cunningham, like Roger and Jamie, is a Freemason. You can feel the tension between Cunningham and Jamie ease perceptibly after that. Jamie invites him to come to their next Lodge meeting.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, William's cousin Henry is getting married to Mercy Woodcock, the free black woman we met in Episode 710, "Brotherly Love". The ceremony is a quiet affair, with only a few people in attendance (including Denzell Hunter, whom I was glad to see!), because interracial marriage is banned in Pennsylvania. (You may recall that Lord John was adamantly opposed to the idea of Henry marrying Mercy in Episode 711, for that reason.) In the books, we have no indication that Henry and Mercy actually married, though Henry was clearly in love.

I didn't care for this scene, because it seems designed mainly to give William a chance to speak to Henry alone.

Henry notices at once that something's bothering William. He demands to know what's wrong.

"We can talk tomorrow. Today is for celebration," William says, but Henry is not to be put off so easily.

I really wanted to tell Henry, "Be careful what you wish for," because the news, of course, is that Henry's brother Ben is dead. What an awful thing for William to have to say to his cousin on his wedding day! Henry is clearly devastated, even breaking down in tears. William promises to do all he can to find out the circumstances of Ben's death.

In the next scene, we're back on Fraser's Ridge, with the women (Bree, Lizzie, Rachel, and Amy) picking berries in the woods. The bantering among the women is mostly taken from the books:

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a Quaker before,” Brianna said after a slightly awkward pause. “Is ‘Quaker’ the right word, by the way? I don’t mean to—”

“We say Friend,” Rachel said, smiling again. “Quaker is not offensive, though. But I think thee must have met at least one. Thee might not know, if the Friend chose not to use Plain Speech in talking with thee. Most of us don’t have stripes, spots, or any other physical mark by which thee might discern us.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 4, "The Women Will Ha' a Fit". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Amy reminds them that she came to the Ridge a widow with two bairns. She seems amazed that Evan Lindsay wanted to marry her, but the marriage is clearly bringing her joy. Possibly for the first time in her life, judging by her tone of wonder when she speaks of her new husband.

Whatever Amy was going to say next is interrupted as she swats away biting insects with an annoyed gesture. She moves farther up the slope, a few yards away from the other women. Meanwhile, the women's talk turns to pregnancy and childbirth. Lizzie tells the story of her first child, Rodney's birth. This is taken from her account in A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES:

“My back hurt something dreadful, all last night [....] and then when I got up to go to the privy this morning, all the water burst forth from betwixt my legs--just as ye said it would, ma’am!” she said to Claire. “And so I said to Jo and Kezzie they must run fetch ye, but I didna ken quite what to do next. So I set about to mix up batter for to make hoecake for breakfast”--she waved at the table, where a bowl of flour sat with a jug of milk and two eggs--“and next thing, I had this terrible urge to--to--” She blushed, a deep, becoming peony color.

“Well, I couldna even reach the chamber-pot. I just squatted there by the table, and--and--pop! There he was, right on the ground beneath me!”

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 77, "The Eighteenth of April". Copyright © 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

As the others laugh, keep your eyes on Amy, who has moved farther up the slope. Suddenly we see a large black bear, moving quickly toward her. We don't see exactly what happened (we are spared the sight of the bear with poor Amy's head in its mouth, at least!) but we can hear the screams.

Jamie, Roger, and Cunningham hear the screaming, too. The next thing we see is Jamie, bursting through the door of the New House with Amy's bloody form cradled in his arms. He yells for Claire. The rest of this scene is riveting and emotionally intense, very much as I imagined from the book:

Brianna had evidently met Jamie on her way; he had Amy Higgins in his arms, bringing her down the hill as fast as he could manage, Bree stumbling behind him, moving like a drunk. All three of them were covered in blood.

“Oh, Jesus,” I said, and ran up the hill to meet them.

[....]

A good portion of the left side of her face had simply been torn away. The scalp was lacerated, one eye had been gouged from its socket, the orbit and cheekbone splintered, and the white bone of the broken jaw exposed, seeping blood welling up around the remaining scarlet-stained teeth and dribbling down the side of her neck.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 26, "In the Scuppernongs". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I thought they did a good job of showing how gory the wounds were, without making them so gruesome as to be unwatchable. As Claire examines Amy, we see young Aidan in the background, struggling against Bree's attempts to hold him back, desperate to reach his mother. Just as in the book, the idea that this happened with the children right there makes it all the more horrifying.

Claire looks at Jamie, and shakes her head slightly. The wounds are too severe. She can't save Amy. There's nothing any of them can do. She talks to Amy, reassuring her, "Aidan is here. Evan's on his way with Orrie." Hoping that she can hold on until they arrive.

I remember that feeling well, from my dad's final hours in 2016. Waiting for my sister's plane flight to arrive, telling my dad over and over to hold on a little longer, that she would be there soon. And somehow, he did hold on, just barely, but long enough for her to get there before he died.

Amy's husband Evan arrives with Roger. Evan wants Amy's young sons, Aidan and Orrie, to see their mother one last time before it's too late. Roger goes with them, leaving Bree to stare at her own hands, still covered in Amy's blood.

This is so heartbreaking, listening to poor Evan begging Claire to do something, when there's nothing that she can do. Watching Claire apologizing to the distraught husband, it occurred to me that she must of course have been through this many times in the course of her medical career. She and Jamie watch in silence as Evan and Aidan say goodbye.

Evan asks Roger to pray for Amy, and what follows is straight from the book:

“Lord God, be merciful unto us,” he whispered. “Be merciful. Hold her in the palm of Thy hand. Keep her always in the hearts of her children.”

Amy moved. Her head turned a little, toward the boys, and she opened her one eye, slowly, so slowly, as though it was an effort equal to lifting the world. Her mouth twitched once and then she died.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 26, "In the Scuppernongs". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I think they did a wonderful job with this whole sequence! It's very emotionally powerful, just as in the book.

The next scene is not in the book, but I thought it was well done. Ian comes home to find Rachel sitting on the front steps, her skirts bloodstained. I thought Ian's concern for her and their unborn child was touching and very believable. Then Jamie comes out and announces, "She's with the Lord now."

Meanwhile, somewhere in New Jersey, William has arrived at the Continental Army camp, to try to find out more about the circumstances of Ben's death. Unfortunately, the camp's commander doesn't have any information. William asks for Ben's personal effects, and for someone to show him the location of his grave.

Back on the Ridge, Bree is distraught over Amy's death. She had a rifle, but it happened so fast that she never had a chance to fire. She tells Claire that she intends to join the hunt for the bear. "I need to do something," she says.

Claire is surprised by Mrs. Cunningham's arrival to help lay out Amy's body. She's even brought Amy's burial shroud, just as in the book. That was a kind gesture. Maybe she's not the Wicked Witch of the West, after all.

Meanwhile, the men (and Bree) are preparing for the bear hunt. Jamie brings young Aidan a musket and says, "You're coming, too." And when Bree asks if he's sure about that, Jamie says, "Aye. He's a right to see his mother avenged."

This is a little different from the way it's described in the book, but then, Book Aidan is older than his TV counterpart, perhaps twelve years old. I thought it would be helpful to show what Book Jamie is thinking here, to explain exactly why he thinks Aidan should come. There's more to it than just vengeance.

“I-I-I’m c-c-coming,” Aidan said, though his chin wobbled so much you could scarce understand him. “T-to hunt the b-bear.”

“Of course ye are.” Jamie squeezed the fragile shoulder and, after a moment’s hesitation, let go and turned toward the house. “Come with me, a bhalaich,” he said. “We’ll need to fettle ourselves before we go out.”

Every instinct he had was for avoiding the house, where Claire and the women would be laying Amy out. But he’d been younger than Aidan was now when his own mother died, and he remembered the desolation of being shut out, sent away from the house while the women opened the windows and doors, covered the mirror, and went purposefully about with bowls of water and herbs, completing the secret rituals of taking his mother away from him.

Besides, he thought bleakly, glancing down at the blanched wee lad stumbling along beside him, the boy had seen his mother dying in her blood little more than an hour ago, her face torn half away. Nothing he might see or hear now would be worse.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 27, "Cover Her Face". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

"Dying in her blood," indeed! But Aidan is with the hunting party as they ride out.

Back in the house, Claire and Mrs. Cunningham are washing Amy's body. I was a little startled to see her nude body lying on the table. It struck me as gratuitous, even voyeuristic. Did we need to see her completely naked, when we wouldn't have seen her that way when she was alive? But maybe the point is to illustrate that it's just a corpse; it's not Amy anymore.

Most of this scene comes word for word from the book, and I thought they did a terrific job with it. Mrs. Cunningham is quite matter-of-fact through the whole process. She's done this before, many times, though possibly not with a corpse this horribly mangled. Death is inevitable, a part of daily life in the 18th century.

Claire suggests that they cover Amy's face with a cloth, to hide the horribly mutilated sight, but Mrs. Cunningham disagrees.

“I’ve buried three husbands and four bairns myself. Ye always want to look upon their faces, one last time. Nay matter what’s happened to them.”

Frank. I’d looked at him, and said my last goodbye. And was glad that I’d had the chance.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 27, "Cover Her Face". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

They are not yet friends, but they're comfortable enough with one another now to exchange first names. We learn that Mrs. Cunningham's name is Elspeth.

As the hunting party gallops through the woods, they hear gunshots. Coming to a stop in a small clearing, Jamie moves out cautiously on foot, only to find Captain Cunningham crouched beside the dead bear, already beginning to butcher it.

He tells Aidan, "Your mother's been avenged. This beast won't harm anyone else." To Jamie and the others, he explains that he stayed behind after Amy was killed, to follow the bear's tracks, and killed it himself with his rifle.

I was taken aback by that at first, but you have to admit that it's a quick and tidy way to avoid having to film the actual bear hunt! Still, it's a change from the book, and it makes me wonder: Is Cunningham really trying to be helpful, or does he have other motives? We get a clue to that in this next exchange:

Aidan: "But you could have died!"
Cunningham: "There was no danger of that, I assure you, though this bear proved a formidable foe."

Why is Cunningham so sure there's no danger of him dying? Stay tuned; the explanation will come a little later in this episode.

The next scene finds William standing by the grave of his cousin, Benjamin Grey, telling him the latest news. "Amaranthus and Trevor are well. Henry's married the love of his life." This scene, which is not in the book, seems deliberately designed to parallel the one that follows it, and I thought it didn't really add anything on its own.

In similar fashion, Claire stands by the beehive on the Ridge, telling the bees about Amy's death.

I reached out and put a hand on the hive, feeling the lovely deep hum of the workings within. Amy Higgins is gone--is dead. You know her--her dooryard is full of hollyhocks and she’s got--had--jasmine growing by her cowshed and a good patch of dogwood nearby.

I stood quite still, letting the vibration of life come into my hand and touch my heart with the strength of transparent wings.

Her flowers are still growing.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 30, "You Should Know". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I love this passage, especially that last line, and in fact I wrote a post in 2022 inspired by it: The OUTLANDER universe as a garden. So I'm delighted that they included it here. The wording is changed slightly from the original, but the deeper meaning I saw in it hasn't changed at all.

In the next scene, Rachel goes into labor. Ian is justifiably worried. I was glad to see they remembered this bit:

“If--” he started, then stopped to gather himself and started again. “When the babe is born, will ye wrap him--or her,”--he added hastily, “in this?”

It was a small skin, soft and flexible, with very thick, fine fur in shades of gray and white. A wolf, I thought, surprised. The hide of an unborn wolf pup.

“Of course, Ian,” I said, and squeezed his arm. “Don’t worry. It will be all right.”

(From WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 144, "Visit to a Haunted Garden". Copyright © 2014 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

In the next scene, William is back in the American camp, speaking with a soldier who knew Benjamin Grey and lets him look through Ben's personal effects. William checks the breast pocket of Ben's coat and finds that the little toy soldier he'd given Ben for luck at the beginning of this episode is missing. What's going on? Is Ben really dead?

Back on the Ridge, Rachel gives birth to a healthy baby boy. I loved Ian's reaction as he held the child for the first time. "He's the most beautiful lad I've ever seen." Awwwww! I'm really happy for him and Rachel.

Fanny, watching this, is clearly upset. "At the brothel, no one was ever happy about a baby coming." This line isn't in the book, but it makes sense to me. I suppose another mouth to feed wouldn't be welcome.

The discussion of baby names comes from the very end of WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD:

“The last I heard, Rachel was suggesting Fox--for George Fox, you know; he was the founder of the Society of Friends, but naturally they wouldn’t call the baby George, because of the king. Ian said he doesn’t think highly of foxes, though, and what about Wolf, instead?”

Jamie made a meditative Scottish noise.

“Aye, that’s no bad. At least he’s not wanting to call the wean Rollo.”

I laughed, opening my eyes. “Do you really think that’s what he has in mind? I know people name their children for deceased relatives, but naming one for your deceased dog ...”

“Aye, well,” Jamie said judiciously. “He was a good dog.”

(From WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 145, "And You Know That". Copyright © 2014 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The next scene, with Jamie and Ian, isn't in the books, but I liked it very much. Ian wishes his mother Jenny could see wee Oggy, and so do I. It's a shame that she isn't there with them in America, in the show.

"I'm afraid I canna offer anything in the way of advice," Jamie says. "I never got to do the things you're about to do." Awwwww!! I've always thought it's very sad that he wasn't able even to hold his own children when they were small.

Jamie offers a toast to the new baby: "Slainte mhath 'ille agus beatha fhada shona." That's something like "Good health, lad, and a long, happy life" in Gàidhlig.

In the next scene, Claire meets a stranger approaching the house on horseback, looking for Jamie. He's a very large man, but he declines to give his name. It turns out that this is Benjamin Cleveland, one of the Overmountain Men mentioned in Frank Randall's book. Most of this scene comes straight from the book.

Cleveland says that some of the landowners "over the mountains" are raising their own militia, to protect their land from the Tories, aka Loyalists who support the British side in the war. For example, Captain Cunningham.

“I hate a Tory,” Cleveland said, reflectively. He shook his head, but Jamie could see the gleam of his eyes beneath his hat brim. “Hung a few of ’em, down home. Put a scare into the others, and they left.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 8, "Visitations". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I like the way Jamie says, "I'll handle the captain, and anything that needs my attention, on MY land."

As Roger enters the shed, notice the very appropriate thunder in the distance. A storm is approaching that has nothing to do with meteorological conditions. We can already see new conflicts beginning to take shape, as the people living in the area begin to take sides. Patriot or Loyalist, Whig or Tory. The American Revolution was in many ways a civil war, and we're beginning to see evidence of that even on Fraser's Ridge.

Later, Roger and Jamie and Claire discuss Cleveland's visit, and his warning about Cunningham. Roger wants to know if Frank's book mentions Cunningham, and Jamie says no. Likewise, Roger's name isn't in the book. Frank doesn't mention any of Jamie's men in his description of the battle at Kings Mountain.

After Roger leaves, Claire tells Jamie that Frank never mentioned Kings Mountain to her, either, in all the years they lived together. Frank made her promise not to look for Jamie in the historical records. "All the while, he was searching for you. Found you. Kept it from me." And she wonders why.

"Maybe he wasna searching for me, Claire. Maybe he was searching for you, to see if you'd leave him." That's not in the book, but it's an intriguing thought!

I liked the next scene, with the Lodge meeting, very much! It's interesting to see how they conduct their Masonic rites.

"Let us invoke the assistance of the Great Architect of the Universe in all our undertakings. May our labors, thus begun in order, be conducted in peace and closed in harmony."

It makes sense to me to condense things a bit by making the Lodge meeting the setting for Captain Cunningham's big speech. The story Cunningham tells here is basically the same as in the book, with a few details changed. But the essence of it is this:

Cunningham's son fell in battle, and just before he died, he said, "Don’t worry, Father. I’ll see you again. In seven years."

The implications are clear:

If the captain believed his son’s word--and very plainly he did--then he must conclude that he was essentially immortal for the intervening years.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 109, "De Profundis". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

And this explains why Captain Cunningham could go out hunting that bear, alone, certain that he would not be killed. The question is, what else will he be tempted to do, convinced that he is, for all intents and purposes, immortal for the next few years?

As Jamie says to Roger, "A man being called by God is one thing. A man who thinks he canna die is quite another."

Meanwhile, back in New Jersey, William is going grave-digging by the light of a full moon, in an attempt to find answers to the mystery of Ben's death. Just as in the book (MOHB chapter 19), though, he discovers that the man buried in Ben's grave is not Ben! There are no answers, only more questions.

Back at the New House, Jamie is reading Frank's book in bed by candlelight. Suddenly he hears Frank's voice: "Seven years from Saratoga, Cunningham said. So he has five more years to live."

And if that wasn't unsettling enough, next he hears the unmistakable voice of Black Jack Randall: "He's not the only one who knows the day of his death."

I loved that! Remember that Claire cursed BJR in the dungeon at Wentworth Prison by telling him the exact date of his death (April 16, 1746). So BJR, too, had a sort of immortality, at least for a short time.

“I do not fear you, Madam. You cannot have it both ways, you know. You sought to terrify me at Wentworth, by giving me the day of my death. But having told me that, you cannot now threaten me, for if I shall die in April of next year, you cannot harm me now, can you?”

(From DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 38, "A Bargain With the Devil". Copyright © 1992 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I'm impressed that the TV writers saw that connection, between BJR's situation and Cunningham's. I noticed it when I first read BEES, but it's not actually stated anywhere in the latter book, as far as I'm aware.

Jamie puts the book aside, overcome with a sudden urge to have sex with Claire right then. (Notice that there's no gratuitous female nudity in this sex scene. That's one advantage of Caitriona being the director of the episode, I suppose!)

Afterward, Jamie hears BJR's voice again: "You're going to die. Who will hold her once you're gone?"

The closed captioning indicates this is Frank's voice, but I don't agree. It definitely seems like BJR to me, and I think it's totally possible that he did say things like that to Jamie in the corse of that horrific ordeal at Wentworth. This is just chilling! And on that unsettling note, the episode ends.
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I hope you enjoyed this recap. Please come back next week for my recap of Episode 803, and look here for my recaps of all of the previous OUTLANDER episodes.

Looking for a place to discuss All Things OUTLANDER? Check out TheLitForum.com, formerly the Compuserve Books and Writers Community. You have to sign up in order to read or post on the forum, but it's free. For more about the forum, look here.

Episode 801: "Soul of a Rebel" (SPOILERS!)

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 21:51:00 +0000

Here are my reactions to Episode 801 of the OUTLANDER TV series, titled "Soul of a Rebel".

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

There are SPOILERS below! If you don't want to know yet, stop reading now.

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The episode opens with a long scene involving Jamie, Claire, and a smuggler named Vasquez. Jamie heard about Vasquez from Mrs. Abbott, who runs the brothel in Philadelphia where we first met Jane. Vasquez sold Jane and her sister Fanny to the brothel as children in order to pay a debt.

"The captain -- Pocock was his name -- was foolish enough to bring his family. A wife and two daughters." So that's where Jane and Fanny got the surname Pocock.

Vasquez describes in graphic terms how he killed the father and raped the older girl, and then threw the mother overboard when she "caused too much trouble".

"Only death would shut her up," he says, laughing.

Throughout this scene, Claire has been standing quietly in the background, watching but not saying a word. At this point she steps forward quietly and stabs Vasquez in the back with a knife. Jamie doesn't react with shock or surprise, indicating (at least to me) that they planned this, that they intended to extract what information they could from the smuggler and then kill him. Whether that qualifies as "premeditated murder" or not, it seems wildly out of character for Claire, in my opinion, and I didn't like it. Jamie disposes of the body, and he and Claire return to their lodgings.

Claire is absolutely furious afterward. The depth of her rage (and her motive for murdering Vasquez) is easier to understand when you consider that she believes that this woman Vasquez killed (Jane and Fanny's mother) is none other than Jamie and Claire's stillborn daughter, Faith, somehow resurrected (!!) and grown to adulthood. As preposterous as that sounds (and I for one think it's complete and utter nonsense!), Claire is convinced because:

- Fanny has a locket with her mother's picture and the name "Faith" inscribed on it.
- She heard Fanny, in the final scene of the Season 7 finale, singing an early-20th-century song that she could only have learned from a time-traveler.
- Fanny said she learned the song from her mother.

So Claire leaps to the totally illogical conclusion that "their" Faith somehow survived, married a sea captain and bore two daughters, and then was killed by this man Vasquez. How is that possible? The only explanation she can think of is that Master Raymond must have had something to do with it.

"But why? Why would they steal our child from us?" Claire asks, through tears. She wonders what this daughter would have been like, who took care of her, and so on, tormenting both herself and Jamie with questions they'll never be able to answer.

Unlike in the book, here Jamie doesn't question this Highly Improbable speculation, or try to convince Claire it's not true. He simply tries to comfort her. And finally, 8 1/2 minutes into the episode, we have the first bit of dialogue that comes from the books. It's from the very end of WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD:

“Ye lost your parents young, mo nighean donn, and wandered about the world, rootless. Ye loved Frank”--his mouth compressed for an instant, but I thought he was unconscious of it--“and of course ye love Brianna and Roger Mac and the weans ... but, Sassenach--I am the true home of your heart, and I know that.”

He lifted my hands to his mouth and kissed my upturned palms, one and then the other, his breath warm and his beard stubble soft on my fingers.

“I have loved others, and I do love many, Sassenach--but you alone hold all my heart, whole in your hands,” he said softly. “And you know that.”

(From WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 145, "And You Know That". Copyright © 2014 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

"She was loved, Claire. I have to believe that," Jamie says, and he holds Claire close while she cries.

I did not like this opening sequence at all. I think the whole "Faith" storyline is absolute nonsense, I really hate the whole idea, but after this episode, it's clear that the writers haven't given up on it (despite the fact that it makes no sense!) That really upsets me. We get no explanation (plausible or otherwise) of how or why Faith lived, other than the vague thought that Master Raymond must have been involved. Jamie and Claire just accept that they miraculously have another grandchild, Fanny, never mind the fact that it's completely preposterous! It feels to me like a really awful fan-fiction story, and I don't find any of it remotely believable.

If the thought that "Faith lived" upsets you, just remember two things:
- "The books are the books, and the show is the show"
- Diana Gabaldon has been very clear that this whole "Faith is alive" subplot is something they invented for the show. As she said after Episode 716 came out:

But the bottom line here is that No, Faith isn’t/wasn’t alive in the Outlander novels, she’s not going to be, and neither Claire nor Jamie will ever think so.

If you haven't seen Diana's explanation of how this Faith storyline came about, look here for what she said, and my take on it.

Finally, we see the new opening credit sequence for Season 8. The new version of the OUTLANDER theme song is sung by Annie Lennox.

The "title card" for this episode is literally just that. We see Frank Randall typing the title of his book, THE SOUL OF A REBEL, on a mid-20th-century manual typewriter.
--------------------------
As the main part of the episode begins, we are in Savannah, Georgia. Claire wakes to find Jamie sitting in a chair, looking tired and stressed. He's still thinking about Faith, and Fanny. Should they tell Fanny what they've learned?

"How can we explain it to her, when we don't know how it's possible ourselves?" Claire says, and I totally agree!

Suddenly they hear a child giggling in the hallway outside. Jamie opens the door to find all four of Fergus and Marsali's children waiting to greet them. So now we know where we are: in Fergus and Marsali's home in Savannah, where Fergus runs a printshop. It's great to see Fergus (Cesar Domboy) and Marsali (Lauren Lyle) back on the show. They have definitely been missed! I liked all of the scenes with children in this episode.

Fergus seems to have settled comfortably into his role as a printer. He looks happier than we've seen him in a long time. Jamie walks around the shop, knocking on the walls, until he hears a hollow sound indicating the location of a secret compartment. Inside, Jamie finds a stack of pamphlets or something similar.

"The British dinna forgive sedition," Jamie says in a tone of warning.
"Well, I'd better not get caught, then," Fergus replies.

Jamie is still very concerned. What Fergus is doing is dangerous! This bit comes straight from BEES:

“Pfft,” Fergus said, and pulled the cork. “In these times, there’s little one can do that isn’t dangerous. If I’m going to be killed for something, I should like it to be something that matters. If it’s entertaining, so much the better.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 67, "Réunion". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The next scene, with Jamie and Claire sharing a plate of cookies with Fergus and Marsali and their children, also comes straight from the book.

With his own good instincts, Jamie waited until the mob had reassembled and were eagerly sniffing the warm cookies. Then he carried Mandy back in and deposited her among the other children without comment.

“Thirty-four?” he said, assessing the array at a glance. “One for Oggy, aye?”

“Yes. How do you do that?”

“Och, it’s no difficult, Sassenach.” He leaned over the platter and closed his eyes, inhaling beatifically. “It’s easier than goats and sheep after all--cookies dinna have legs.”

“Legs?” said Fanny, puzzled.

“Oh, aye,” he said, opening his eyes and smiling at her. “To know the number o’ goats ye have, ye just count the legs and divide by four.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 9, "Animal Nursery Tales". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

After the children have gone, the adults have a chance to talk privately. Referring to Fanny, Fergus says, "A brothel is not an ideal place for a child, but it is home, if that's the only home she's known." Of course he should know; Fergus, like Fanny, spent much of his childhood in a brothel.

The Frasers say "au revoir" to Fergus and his family, and head home to Fraser's Ridge at long last! I love the gorgeous scenery as they approach western North Carolina, including a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. Fanny is awestruck by the beauty of the landscape, and she can't believe it when Jamie and Claire assure her this is her home.

It's good to be back, though I do miss Claire's reaction from the book, her pure joy at coming home at last.

In the next scene, we're back in Savannah, at Lord John's house. John answers the door with a crying infant in his arms. (His irritated "You woke the baby, damn your eyes!" comes from BEES chapter 31, "Pater Familias".) His visitors are a British army officer, and William, who is clearly very hung over. He sprawls on the couch looking deathly ill. Lord John confirms to the messenger that William is indeed who he claims to be, i.e., the Ninth Earl of Ellesmere.

"Yes, I understand the confusion, given that his Lordship currently appears more like a HIGHWAYMAN than an Earl!" Lord John says, with a pointed look at his son. I loved that.

The baby, Trevor Wattiswade Grey, turns out to be the son of William's cousin Ben. (Wattiswade is Ben's mother Minnie's maiden name.)

Before we can begin to absorb this news, the scene switches back to Fraser's Ridge. Jamie, Claire, and Fanny are looking over the site where the Big House once stood when Ian arrives. He's delighted to see Jamie and Claire. Jamie wants to know what happened to the corn crib and the stables that used to be nearby, but before Ian can answer, we're back with Lord John and William in Savannah again. These rapid scene changes are disconcerting, and I didn't care for them.

I like this next scene between Lord John and William very much! William's shock and grief at the news that his cousin Ben is dead is very believable. John, too, is clearly upset. He explains that a young woman claiming to be Ben's widow showed up recently on his doorstep with her baby, and he invited her to stay. This next part isn't in the book, but I liked it.

William is understandably skeptical. "Wait. You'd never heard of this wife until after you received word of Ben's death? I don't believe it."

But Lord John has seen proof of the family connection: the woman carried a bundle of love letters sealed with Ben's signet ring. I liked William's angry reaction to that:

"Any charlatan hoping to profit off our family's grief could falsify love letters! Clearly you've been hoodwinked by some...some damn woman!"

And at that moment, the woman in question appears in the doorway. "Some damn woman, am I?" she says. Oops!

Lord John introduces her as Amaranthus, Viscountess Grey. Her reaction to William is cold, calling him a drunkard and a fool. Not the best way to make a first impression, to say the least!

Meanwhile, back on Fraser's Ridge, Jamie and Claire (and the viewers) get their first look at the New House, a large two-story structure roughly the same size as the house that was destroyed in the fire. Ian announces proudly, "Built your new house for ye!"

Jamie and Claire just stare in amazement at the house.

Ian explains, "I took the plans ye made before you left, called everyone together -- the Beardsleys, the Lindsays, and some of your other Ardsmuir men. Tore down the stables and used that lumber for a start."

I was rather taken aback by this (Ian as construction foreman? It seems awfully unlikely, to say the least!) but I don't really mind. I suppose it's the best solution the show writers could think of that would enable them to have a nearly-completed house ready to move into as soon as Jamie and Claire arrived. It looks suitably rustic, in a way that the former Big House never did.

Ian's wife Rachel comes out to greet them. She's obviously pregnant, but not quite ready to deliver just yet. As she and Claire walk away toward the house, Jamie turns to Ian and says, "Moran taing dhut," which means "Thank you very much" in Gàidhlig.

Looking around at the inside of the house, I find myself wondering where on earth Ian got the money to buy those expensive glass windows, but I'm not inclined to quibble all that much. We'll hope the New House will be decorated somewhat less ornately than its predecessor!

Ian tells Claire that some of the furnishings came from a new trading post that Hiram Crombie (one of the Presbyterian "fisher-folk" who arrived on the Ridge in Season 6) has set up near the meeting-house.

i like the idea of a trading post close by. Certainly it will be much more convenient than going all the way to Salem or some other settlement when they need to buy things, and it will give them an easy way to introduce new characters when they need to. I hadn't really pictured Hiram Crombie as a shopkeeper, but it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Jamie takes Fanny upstairs to see the unfinished upper story, including a room that Jamie says will be hers. She reacts with amazement. It seems clear that she's never had a room of her own before. I like her smile when she says, "It suits me well."

I really liked the next scene, with Jamie and Claire alone in their new bedroom, reminiscing about the night that Faith was conceived. The details they remember are different from the way it happened in OUTLANDER, because the sequence of events is a bit different between book and show, but I'm very glad they included this bit from the book:

“I wanted…” he whispered. “I wanted you. Had to have ye. But once I was inside ye, I wanted...”

He sighed then, deep, and moved deeper.

“I thought I’d die of it, then and there. And I wanted to. Wanted to go--while I was inside ye.” His voice had changed, still soft but somehow distant, detached--and I knew he’d moved away from the present moment, gone back to the cold stone dark and the panic, the fear and overwhelming need.

“I wanted to spill myself into ye and let that be the last I ever knew, but then I started, and I kent it wasna meant to be that way--that I’d live, but that I would keep myself inside ye forever. That I was givin’ ye a child.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 1, "The MacKenzies are Here". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Awwwww! Such a bittersweet moment, because the child Jamie gave her that night would turn out to be Faith, now lost to both of them forever.

In the next scene, we get our first look at the new trading post. "I didn't expect all this!" Jamie says, and I agree. I love the attention to detail in this set, making us feel as though these people are in fact living in the 18th century.

And here's a familiar face we haven't seen in a while: Amy McCallum, with her sons Aidan and Orrie. It turns out that she's now married to Evan Lindsay, one of Jamie's Ardsmuir men who lives on the Ridge. This is a change from the books, where she married Bobby Higgins. Since Bobby doesn't exist on the show, I think it makes sense.

Moments later, we see another familiar person: Hiram Crombie, the owner of the trading post. We haven't seen him since Season 6. Hiram says, "I've discovered that I'm quite gifted at procuring things that people need."

Hiram shows Claire his small stock of medicinal herbs and such. Claire asks if he has any Jesuit bark (a treatment for malaria), and a stranger overhears her.

"That's another name for cinchona bark, is it not? Mrs. Beardsley was asking for the very same thing just yesterday." (You may recall that Lizzie Beardsley suffers from malaria.)

And that's how Claire and Jamie meet Captain Charles Cunningham, who will be an important new character this season. Cunningham and his mother are new settlers on the Ridge. He's described as Crombie's "partner" in running the store. He seems friendly, but Jamie bristles a bit at being addressed as "General". He takes the opportunity to speak privately to Cunningham to correct that impression.

"Having resigned my commission following the Battle of Monmouth, I have no further association with the Continental Army."

Cunningham says that he is retired after serving thirty years as an officer in the British Army, but he still prefers to be addressed as Captain.

Jamie is suddenly wary. Cunningham seems friendly enough, but as a former Redcoat officer, he definitely bears watching!

"I understand that you, too, were at Saratoga," Cunningham says.
"Aye. And we would have been on opposite sides of the same battlefield."

Even though he's no longer serving in the army, if Cunningham is a Loyalist, a supporter of the British side in the war (and the book makes it clear that he is), that could spell trouble!

I liked this exchange between Jamie and Claire:

"He says he's done with the war, though I do wonder if the war is done with him."
"I suppose someone could say the same about you."
"Trust me, Sassenach, I'm done. Whether the war likes it or no."

I'm not so sure about that!

Meanwhile, back in Savannah, Lord John and William are having a private conversation. William is depressed, and John is trying to snap him out of it.

"Idleness and wallowing do not suit you, William." He's right. William still feels guilty over Jane's death, even though his father assures him he's not to blame. He needs to be doing something, to take his mind off of what happened. But he doesn't want to return to the army.

John suggests that he return to England, to take care of his estates there now that he has "attained his majority", i.e., reached the age of twenty-one. But William doesn't want to be the Ninth Earl of Ellesmere anymore. He feels he's not entitled to it, because he's a bastard. Unfortunately, his father informs him that he can't just renounce his title.

The scene that follows is just terrific! Wonderful acting by both Charles Vandevaart and David Berry. It's almost word-for-word from the book, except that in the book, William is speaking to his Uncle Hal.

“What do you mean, I can’t? Whose business is it whether I renounce my title or not?”

Uncle Hal looked at him with an affectionate impatience.

“I’m not speaking rhetorically, blockhead. I mean it literally. You can’t renounce a peerage. There’s no means set down in law or custom for doing it; ergo, it can’t be done.”

[He goes on to explain that the King might possibly revoke a peerage in the case of something really serious, like treason, but that's very rare.]

“If you consider treason and the betrayal of your King, your country, and your family a suitable means of solving your personal difficulties, William, then perhaps John hasn’t taught you as well as I supposed.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 33, "Spoilt for Choice". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Finally, fed up with the way William is behaving, Lord John insists that he go at once to Amaranthus and apologize for his rudeness.

Back on Fraser's Ridge, Lizzie Beardsley presents Claire and Jamie with a hive of bees for a homecoming gift. I was happy to see Lizzie's daughter, Claire. (In the books, Diana Gabaldon hasn't yet given the child a name, but you may remember the very harrowing childbirth scene in ECHO chapter 11, "Transverse Lie", where she came into the world.)

Jamie's explanation of the custom of "telling bees" is straight from the book, although in the book it was John Quincy Myers who provided the explanation. I wish they'd shown a few bees (even CGI ones) buzzing around that hive.

“Bees are real sociable,” Myers explained, and blew one of them gently off the back of his hand. “And they’re curious, which only makes sense, them goin’ back and forth and gatherin’ news with their pollen. So you tell ’em what’s happening--if someone’s come a-visitin’, if a new babe’s been born, if anybody new was to settle or a settler depart--or die. See, if somebody leaves or dies,” he explained, brushing a bee off my shoulder, “and you don’t tell the bees, they take offense, and the whole lot of ’em will fly right off.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 13, "What Is Not Good For The Swarm Is Not Good For The Bee (Marcus Aurelius)". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Suddenly we get a glimpse of Mandy's Raggedy Anne doll, and Roger's voice calling, "Hallo, the house!" Sure enough, it's the MacKenzies, returned at long last!!

I loved seeing this -- the hugs, the tears of relief and joy as they're all reunited. We didn't get to see that moment in the book (the final scene in WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD), and I'm glad to see it here.

The scene where Jamie reads GOODNIGHT MOON to Mandy is just adorable. I had forgotten, until I saw this, that Claire recited part of this book to Jamie while they were on board the Artemis in Season 3. Much as I love the GREEN EGGS AND HAM scene in BEES, I assume they couldn't get permission to use it on the TV show, and I think GOODNIGHT MOON works very well as a substitute.

The rest of this scene comes from the book (BEES chapter 9, "Animal Nursery Tales"). Bree's gift to Claire is a Merck Manual. I love that, although her reaction is subdued compared to the way it's portrayed in the book. Jamie's reaction to THE LORD OF THE RINGS (“Frodo Baggins,” he read aloud, and looked up, baffled. “A Welshman?”) makes me laugh out loud.

Once Jem and Mandy are asleep, the adults finally have a chance to talk. Bree pulls one last book from her bag and hands it to Claire. It turns out to be THE SOUL OF A REBEL: Scottish Roots of the American Revolution, by Franklin W. Randall, Ph.D. Bree says she hasn't read it.

And just when I had almost managed to forget all about the Faith nonsense at the beginning of this episode, Claire says to Bree, "There's something we need to tell you, too, about Fanny, and your sister, Faith." No!! Just NO! I don't want to hear about this anymore!

Fortunately for the viewers, the scene changes again, and we're back in Savannah with William, who has come to the gazebo in the garden to apologize to Amaranthus.

I admit I'm not a fan of Amaranthus in the books, but I'm willing to give her another chance on the show. She comes off as far more likeable here than she does in BEES. Not throwing herself at William, not openly after his money or title, just engaging in a little polite conversation. Making small talk, admiring baby Trevor...it's all very innocuous. Whether it will stay that way in future episodes is an open question.

"I promise, I shall do all I can for Trevor. And for you, Lady Grey." Uh-oh, William, don't make promises to total strangers you've only known for five minutes!

The next scene is not in the book. Back on the Ridge, Jamie and Bree are out hunting in the woods, talking about the threat posed by Rob Cameron and the Nutters back in 1980. Suddenly they encounter a pair of corpses hanging from a tree, with the initials G.R. (for "George Rex") carved in their chests. So they were Loyalists, and obviously this is meant as a warning.

The next scene, with Mandy and Mrs. Cunningham, is one of my favorites in BEES, and I thought they did a great job with it! The actress playing Mrs. Cunningham, Frances Tomelty, is perfectly cast; she really does look and sound like an older version of Miss Gulch, the bicycle-riding woman from THE WIZARD OF OZ.

“You are a very impertinent child and your father should beat you.”

Mandy went very red in the face and scrambled to her feet, standing on her new seat.

“You go away!” she said. “I fwush you down the toilet!” She slapped her hand at the air, miming a handle. “WOOOSH!”

“What in the name of perdition do you mean by that, you wicked child?” The woman’s face was growing rather red, too. I had stopped in fascination, but now set down the buckets, feeling that I had better take a hand before things escalated. Too late.

“I put you in the toilet and I fwush you like POOP!” Mandy shouted, stamping her feet. Quick as a snake, the woman’s hand shot out and cracked against Mandy’s cheek.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 15, "Which Old Witch". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Just as in the book, Mrs. Cunningham has come to bring Claire the Jesuit bark she was looking for at the trading post, as a peace offering of sorts. So maybe she's not the Wicked Witch of the West after all.

The next scene begins with Jamie reading Frank's book by firelight. Notice the dedication at the beginning of the book: "For my Dearest Deadeye", which you may remember from MOHB was one of Frank's nicknames for Brianna. Jamie flips to the author's photo on the dust jacket, and suddenly he hears Black Jack Randall's voice in his head: "Is it my face you see looming in the darkness?"

I found that absolutely chilling, as a reminder of Wentworth, and very effective!

The final scene, between Jamie and Claire, comes partly from the book. Jamie wants to know why Claire never told him about the resemblance between Frank and BJR. (In fact, she did tell him, long ago, but it's been more than thirty years and I guess they've both forgotten.)

“Well, to begin with--he didn’t, really. I mean--the first time I met Jack Randall, I was startled by the resemblance”--and a few times thereafter--“but that seemed to wear off. It’s--it was,” I corrected myself, “only a superficial physical resemblance, and once I was acquainted with Jack Randall…” A surprisingly cold sensation centered itself on the back of my neck, as though the gentleman in question were standing behind me, eyes fixed on me. “He didn’t remind me of Frank at all.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 76, "A Thief in the Night". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie wants to know if Frank was an honest man. Can he trust what's written in this book to be accurate? And when Claire asks why, he tells her the truth: his name is in Frank's book. In BEES, Jamie reveals this first to Ian, not to Claire, but the gist of it is the same:

“He mentions my name fourteen times, but never makin’ enough of it to be able to tell whether it’s me or someone else. He never comes right out and says, ‘Jamie Fraser of Fraser’s Ridge,’ or ‘Broch Tuarach,’ or anything o’ that sort.”

“Why are ye worried, then, Uncle?”

“Because he says there’s going to be a battle nearby us--at a place called Kings Mountain. And Jamie Fraser’s killed in it. Will be, I mean.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 62, "A Stranger's Face". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I thought that was just the perfect place to end this episode! Very suspenseful, especially for viewers who haven't read the book!
------------------------------------------
I hope you enjoyed this recap. Please come back next week for my recap of Episode 802, and look here for my recaps of all of the previous OUTLANDER episodes.

Looking for a place to discuss All Things OUTLANDER? Check out TheLitForum.com, formerly the Compuserve Books and Writers Community. You have to sign up in order to read or post on the forum, but it's free. For more about the forum, look here.

Looking for Season 8 discussions? Check out TheLitForum!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 17:39:00 +0000

Looking for a place to discuss OUTLANDER Season 8 with other fans? Check out TheLitForum! Formerly known as the Compuserve Books and Writers Community, this forum, in its various incarnations, has been Diana Gabaldon's main online hangout for more than 40 years. (It's where she posted the very first excerpts of what would become OUTLANDER, back in 1988.) Diana is on the forum most days, except when she's traveling, and she responds to comments and questions as time permits. I've been managing the discussions (aka "herding the bumblebees") in Diana's section of the forum since 2008.

TheLitForum is a community of readers, writers, book-lovers, and fans of All Things OUTLANDER, and we invite you to come and join the discussions!

You definitely don't have to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the books in order to post there. Everyone is welcome, whether you've been reading the books for 30+ years or you just discovered OUTLANDER recently as a result of the TV series. We'd love to hear what you think of OUTLANDER's final season!

Please come and check out the forum at TheLitForum.com. You'll need to sign up in order to read or post on the forum, but it's free. When you enter the forum, you'll see a list of the different sections. Scroll down until you see the Diana Gabaldon section. You'll find the Season 8 discussions there, along with many other OUTLANDER-related topics. Be sure to take the time to read this important message, which explains the spoiler policy for Season 8 discussions and how those discussions will be organized.

If you love Diana Gabaldon's books but you're not a fan of the TV adaptations, no problem! We love to discuss and speculate about any aspect of the books.

When you visit the forum, we encourage you to check out the other sections, too! TheLitForum is much more than just a place to talk about All Things OUTLANDER. If you're a writer or an aspiring writer, the forum is a great resource for feedback on your writing, advice on how to write a query letter, answers to obscure research questions, and much more! Take a look around and jump into any discussion that interests you, or start a new one.

If you have questions after you've signed up, please post on the forum (rather than leaving a comment here), and we'll do our best to try to help. Hope to see some of you there soon!

Back from the NC First in Freedom Festival!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 10:15:00 +0000

I just returned from a trip to the Wilmington, NC, area, to attend the NC First in Freedom Festival celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, which took place on February 27, 1776. This battle, depicted in Diana Gabaldon's novel A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, was a small but important Patriot victory.

I've known about this battle for many years, but I'd never been to the area before. As soon as I found out that Diana Gabaldon was going to be doing some events there for the 250th anniversary, I made up my mind to go. Obviously many others had the same idea, because the tickets sold out very quickly!

Unfortunately, the weather on Friday, the first day I was there, was a total washout. I don't think it stopped raining at all the entire day. So I decided the best way to deal with it was to adopt a Scottish attitude toward the weather, and not let the rain slow me down too much. I found other things to do during the day, including a visit to the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher, which was very interesting.

In the evening, I attended Diana Gabaldon's event (an interview with local historian Hunter Ingram) along with about 750 other OUTLANDER fans. I had an excellent seat, in the second row. We didn't really hear any news, but it's always a treat to hear Diana speak in person.

I particularly enjoyed the very interesting imagery she used when describing her writing process, about how continents form. It sounded vaguely familiar to me, and then I remembered that Diana did a podcast in 2007 on the subject of "Raising Continents", where she gave a similar explanation. It's only a few minutes long, but worth listening to! It's part of a series of short podcasts that Diana did in 2007-2008, while she was writing AN ECHO IN THE BONE (Book 7). They're no longer on her website, but fortunately they're all available on the Wayback Machine. The full list of 24 podcasts is HERE if you're interested.

After the interview, I went backstage with my friend Linda Kidwell, who recently joined the staff of TheLitForum as my "Assistant Bumblebee-Herder", to help manage the discussions in Diana Gabaldon's section of the forum. We were the first ones there for the "Meet and Greet" with Diana, so we had a couple of minutes to talk privately with her before the others arrived. As soon as Diana came in and saw me, she gave me a hug. (Yes, that's still a thrill for me, even after I've known Diana online for many years.)

I love this photo! It's one of the best pictures of the two of us that I've ever had, and I will treasure it. (The necklace I'm wearing is a replica of Claire's pearl necklace from the books, which I bought from a Scottish company called Hamilton & Young some years ago.)

I got Diana to sign the beautiful plaque I received in December from my friends at the Wake County Libraries.

I spent much of Saturday exploring Moores Creek National Battlefield. The park is much bigger than I was expecting, but there are paved paths throughout, and I was delighted to find that I could access almost all of it with my mobility scooter, including a wood-plank bridge over the creek that gives the site its name.

The creek ran through a stretch of treacherous, swampy ground, with cypress trees stretching up from water and mud. The creek itself deepened as it narrowed, though--a plumb line that some curious soul dropped into the water off the bridge said it was fifteen feet deep at that point--and the bridge was the only feasible place for an army of any size to cross.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 112, "Oathbreaker". Copyright © 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Take a good look at the wooden bridge supports in the next photo. Now imagine what it was like for the British troops that day 250 years ago. The Patriots had pried up the wooden boards, and greased the support struts to make it impossible for the enemy troops to climb back onto the remains of the bridge.

Looking down at the water (cold water at that, this being the end of February!), it's easy to imagine the scene that day, just as described in ABOSAA:

[M]ost of the Highlanders had crowded down to the banks of the creek -- some were in the water, clinging to the bridge supports, inching across. More were on the timbers, slipping, using their swords like McLeod to keep their balance.

“Fire!” and he fired, powder smoke blending with the fog. The cannon had the range, they spoke one-two, and he felt the blast push against him, felt as though the shot had torn through him. Most of those on the bridge were in the water now, more threw themselves flat upon the timbers, trying to wriggle their way across, only to be picked off by the muskets, every man firing at will from the redoubt.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 113, "The Ghosts of Culloden". Copyright © 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I enjoyed the "living history" area, a series of tents where re-enactors in period costumes demonstrated various crafts, like how to make candles and how to weave thread on a small hand loom, and showed examples of food, weaponry, and other details of 18th century life. All very interesting to me, of course. Here, in no particular order, are a few of the ones I liked best.

Tents for the soldiers. They looked barely big enough to sleep in, though I'm sure the officers' tents would have been bigger.

Supplies for an 18th-century tavern.

Rules of the Tavern. I thought these were pretty funny.

Demonstrating how to weave cloth by hand using a small wooden loom.

Making candles. It's a complicated process, as Jenny explained to Claire in OUTLANDER:

“Jenny,” I called, “how long does it take to make candles, counting everything?”

She laid the small shirt she was stitching in her lap, considering.

“Half a day to gather the combs, two to drain the honey--one if it’s hot--one day to purify the wax, unless there’s a lot or it’s verra dirty--then two. Half a day to make the wicks, one or two to make the molds, half a day to melt the wax, pour the molds and hang them to dry. Say a week altogether.”

(From OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 30, "Conversations by the Hearth". Copyright © 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Lanterns.

This is a model of a turpentine camp, perhaps similar to the one we saw in DRUMS OF AUTUMN on Jamie and Claire's first visit to River Run. Notice the two men in the background doing something to the trees with long poles.

The highlight for me (and many other visitors, judging by the large crowd that went to see it!) was the re-enactment of the actual battle, featuring at least 25 re-enactors with muskets on the Patriot side, and probably that many or more on the British side. I had seen musket demonstrations before, but nowhere near this many men firing at the same time! It was quite impressive. (We were, of course, seated behind the line of soldiers, who had their backs to us the whole time.)

After the battle re-enactment, I made my way to a nearby venue for the book-signing, where I saw Diana again briefly. By then I was just exhausted, and it was all I could do to get back to the hotel and collapse on the bed. I was glad to have a chance to rest for a while.

We saved the best part for last: a private dinner in a local restaurant, with Diana Gabaldon and a small group of people from TheLitForum, most of whom, like me, have known Diana for years. We ended up staying for about three hours (!), long after we'd finished eating, just chatting, telling stories, and so on.

I think you can tell from this group photo that we were having a wonderful evening! What a rare treat, to be able to spend so much time with Diana in a casual setting like that, out of the public eye. I'm really glad we were able to give her a chance to relax for a few hours in the midst of the whirlwind of public events. We all had a great time, and Diana was clearly enjoying herself.

Toward the end of the evening, someone asked for a photo of Diana with me and Linda Kidwell, as the two "bumblebee-herders" (moderators) in Diana's section of TheLitForum. I think this is a terrific picture!

I had a wonderful time on this trip, and I'm really glad I made the effort to go!

OUTLANDER costume exhibit at American Revolution Museum!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 21:49:00 +0000

The American Revolution Museum in Yorktown, VA (my favorite historical museum) will be featuring an exhibit of some of Terry Dresbach's costumes from OUTLANDER Seasons 1-4!

From the announcement on the museum's website:

Featuring an exclusive collection of 26 hand-selected pieces from Seasons 1–4 assembled for the museum exhibition, travel back in time to unravel the show’s origins through the acclaimed costume designs of Terry Dresbach.

The exhibit runs from March 6 - May 18, to coincide with Season 8. I would love to go see it at some point, maybe in April, when the weather is nice?

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, February 25 if you're interested. Look HERE for more details about the exhibit.

If you plan to go, be sure to take the time to look around and see what else the American Revolution Museum has to offer! I consider it my "happy place" for immersion in All Things 18th Century. The museum is well-run and very informative, and the living history areas are a lot of fun.

Here's my account of my last visit there, in 2023:
Part 1
Part 2

OUTLANDER episode recaps

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 10:44:00 +0000

In anticipation of OUTLANDER Season 8 starting on March 6, I thought this would be a good opportunity to repost the link to my detailed episode recaps from the previous seasons. (There are Major Spoilers in these posts if you haven't yet seen all the episodes!)

For those of you who are looking for a refresher on what happened in Season 7 (it's been a long time!), I think you'll find them helpful.

I put a lot of time and effort into these recaps, and I'm very gratified by the positive reaction to them over the years.

And yes, I plan to continue posting these episode recaps for Season 8. Stay tuned!

Valentine's Day quotes from the OUTLANDER books

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 11:07:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! In honor of the occasion, here are some of my favorite romantic quotes from Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER books. Hope you enjoy them!

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

If you haven't read all of the OUTLANDER books, there are SPOILERS below! Read at your own risk.

1) The blood vow from Jamie and Claire's wedding:

"Ye are Blood of my Blood, and Bone of my Bone.
I give ye my Body, that we Two might be One.
I give ye my Spirit, 'til our Life shall be Done."

(From OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 14, "A Marriage Takes Place". Copyright © 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

2) Jamie's words to Claire just before they parted at Culloden:

“I will find you,” he whispered in my ear. “I promise. If I must endure two hundred years of purgatory, two hundred years without you—then that is my punishment, which I have earned for my crimes. For I have lied, and killed, and stolen; betrayed and broken trust. But there is the one thing that shall lie in the balance. When I shall stand before God, I shall have one thing to say, to weigh against the rest.”

His voice dropped, nearly to a whisper, and his arms tightened around me.

“Lord, ye gave me a rare woman, and God! I loved her well.”

(From DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 46, "Timor Mortis Conturbat Me". Copyright © 1992 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

3) Jamie, marveling at the miracle of their reunion after twenty years.

"To have ye with me again--to talk wi’ you--to know I can say anything, not guard my words or hide my thoughts--God, Sassenach,” he said, “the Lord knows I am lust-crazed as a lad, and I canna keep my hands from you--or anything else--” he added, wryly, “but I would count that all well lost, had I no more than the pleasure of havin’ ye by me, and to tell ye all my heart."

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 27, "Up in Flames". Copyright © 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

4) This is one of my all-time favorite Jamie quotes of the whole series.

“So long as my body lives, and yours--we are one flesh,” he whispered. His fingers touched me, hair and chin and neck and breast, and I breathed his breath and felt him solid under my hand. Then I lay with my head on his shoulder, the strength of him supporting me, the words deep and soft in his chest.

"And when my body shall cease, my soul will still be yours. Claire--I swear by my hope of heaven, I will not be parted from you."

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 16, "The First Law of Thermodynamics". Copyright © 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

5) Diana Gabaldon has said that this line is based on something her husband Doug said to her one morning. What a sweet man, and what a terrific line!

“When the day shall come, that we do part,” he said softly, and turned to look at me, “if my last words are not ‘I love you’--ye’ll ken it was because I didna have time.”

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 111, "And Yet Go Out to Meet It". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

6) Roger and Bree on their wedding night.

“I love you,” [Bree] murmured against his mouth, and he seized her lip between his teeth, too moved to speak the words in reply just yet.

There had been words between them then, as there had been words tonight. The words were the same, and he had meant them the first time no less than he did now. Yet it was different.

The first time he had spoken them to her alone, and while he had done so in the sight of God, God had been discreet, hovering well in the background, face turned away from their nakedness.

Tonight he said them in the blaze of firelight, before the face of God and the world, her people and his. His heart had been hers, and whatever else he had--but now there was no question of him and her, his and hers. The vows were given, his ring put on her finger, the bond both made and witnessed. They were one body.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 16, "On the Night That Our Wedding Is On Us". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

7) I love this quote. Simple and eloquent.

“Claire,” he said, quite gently, “it was you. It’s always been you, and it always will be.”

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 31, "And So To Bed". Copyright © 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

8) Ian and Rachel are so different in many ways, but their love for one another has never been in doubt.

“Thee is a wolf, too, and I know it. But thee is my wolf, and best thee know that.”

He’d started to burn when she spoke, an ignition swift and fierce as the lighting of one of his cousin’s matches. He put out his hand, palm forward, to her, still cautious lest she, too, burst into flame.

“What I said to ye, before ... that I kent ye loved me--”

She stepped forward and pressed her palm to his, her small, cool fingers linking tight.

“What I say to thee now is that I do love thee. And if thee hunts at night, thee will come home.”

Under the sycamore, the dog yawned and laid his muzzle on his paws.

“And sleep at thy feet,” Ian whispered, and gathered her in with his one good arm, both of them blazing bright as day.

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 103, "The Hour of the Wolf". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

9) No matter what they've been through, Jamie's love for Claire endures. I find that reassuring.

“I have loved ye since I saw you, Sassenach,” he said very quietly, holding my eyes with his own, bloodshot and lined with tiredness but very blue. “I will love ye forever. It doesna matter if ye sleep with the whole English army--well, no,” he corrected himself, “it would matter, but it wouldna stop me loving you.”

(From WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 24, "Welcome Coolness in the Heat, Comfort in the Midst of Woe". Copyright © 2014 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

10) I love this line, a twist on the words we first heard on the day of Jamie and Claire's wedding.

"Dinna be afraid, Sassenach," he said at last. "There's still the two of us."

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 65, "Green Grow the Rushes, O!". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

And finally, here's a wee Valentine from Claire to Jamie!

My breath had misted the glass. I traced a small heart in the cloudiness, as I had used to do for Brianna on cold mornings. Then, I would put her initials inside the heart--B.E.R., for Brianna Ellen Randall. Would she still call herself Randall? I wondered, or Fraser, now? I hesitated, then drew two letters inside the outline of the heart--a “J” and a “C.”

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 40, "I Shall Go Down to the Sea". Copyright © 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I hope you've enjoyed this collection. Happy Valentine's Day!

Entertainment Weekly previews OUTLANDER Season 8!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 23:47:00 +0000

Entertainment Weekly has released their preview of OUTLANDER Season 8, including a number of terrific new photos from OUTLANDER's final season that we haven't seen before.

The article also includes some photos from an EW photo shoot with Sam and Cait, which I didn't care for at all. The staged photos for these EW photo shoots have always been ... odd, to put it mildly. (Like these, in the lead-up to Season 4, where Sam and Cait appeared to be bored out of their minds and desperate to be anywhere else.) And sometimes controversial, as with their Season 2 cover in 2016.

I really liked the new photos from Season 8 in this article, but I have zero interest in these staged photo shoot pics. One thing we have learned from seeing these EW photo shoots over the years is that they have little or nothing to do with the content of the actual episodes. Think of them as clickbait, nothing more, and keep that in mind when you look at the photos.

OUTLANDER Season 8 premieres on STARZ on Friday, March 6! Three and a half weeks to go. I can't wait! And yes, for those of you who are wondering, I will be doing my usual detailed episode recaps for Season 8. Stay tuned!

Diana Gabaldon to appear at annual Highland Tea on April 11

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 15:07:00 +0000

Diana Gabaldon will be appearing at the Northern Arizona Celtic Heritage Society's annual Celtic Highland Tea in Flagstaff, AZ, on Saturday, April 11th at 5pm EDT.

Virtual tickets are available here.

For those of you who don't know, Diana does this event in April every year, and I'm glad they've made a virtual option available in the last few years. It's always a treat to hear her speak, especially in front of a small group. Should be fun!

OUTLANDER quotes to keep you warm

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:21:00 +0000

Many places in the US and elsewhere have been enduring frigid temperatures, heavy snow, and other extreme weather in recent days. Here in central North Carolina, where I live, we've just recovered from an ice storm, and we're expecting snow this weekend! So I thought it would be appropriate to repost this collection of quotes from the OUTLANDER books, in an attempt to warm you up a little. Hope it helps!

1) On the Cape Fear River, Jamie and Claire cope with the heat and humidity of their first summer in North Carolina:

“I have heard of melting with passion,” I said, gasping slightly, “but this is ridiculous.”

He lifted his head from my breast with a faint sticky sound as his cheek came away. He laughed and slid slowly sideways.

“God, it’s hot!” he said. He pushed back the sweat-soaked hair from his forehead and blew out his breath, chest still heaving from exertion. “How do folk do that when it’s like this?”

“The same way we just did,” I pointed out. I was breathing heavily myself.

“They can’t,” he said with certainty. “Not all the time; they’d die.”

“Well, maybe they do it slower,” I said. “Or underwater. Or wait until the autumn.”

“Autumn?” he said. “Perhaps I dinna want to live in the south, after all. Is it hot in Boston?”

“It is at this time of year,” I assured him. “And beastly cold in the winter. I’m sure you’ll get used to the heat. And the bugs.”

He brushed a questing mosquito off his shoulder and glanced from me to the nearby creek.

"Maybe so," he said, "and maybe no, but for now..." He wrapped his arms firmly around me, and rolled. With the ponderous grace of a rolling log, we fell off the edge of the rocky shelf, and into the water.

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 2, "In Which We Meet a Ghost". Copyright © 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

2) Claire's secret to getting through cold winter nights in Paris: a nice warm bed with a very warm-blooded Scotsman in it! (The bed pictured here is from the Château de Fontainebleau)

It was still sleeting, and tiny particles of frozen rain rattled against the windows and hissed into the fire when the night wind turned to drive them down the flue. The wind was high, and it moaned and grumbled among the chimneys, making the bedroom seem all the cozier by contrast. The bed itself was an oasis of warmth and comfort, equipped with goose-down quilts, huge fluffy pillows, and Jamie, faithfully putting out British Thermal Units like an electric storage heater.

(From DRAGONFLY IN AMBER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 11, "Useful Occupations". Copyright © 1992 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

3) The barbeque at River Run in honor of Flora MacDonald (pictured above, circa 1744) took place in the hottest part of the summer:

The Major was watching Flora MacDonald now with a proprietary eye, noting with approval the way in which people clustered round her.

“She has most graciously agreed to speak today,” he told me, rocking back a little on his bootheels. “Where would be the best place, do you think, mum? From the terrace, as being the point of highest elevation? Or perhaps near the statue on the lawn, as being more central and allowing the crowd to surround her, thus increasing the chance of everyone hearing her remarks?”

“I think she’ll have a sunstroke, if you put her out on the lawn in this weather,” I said, tilting my own broad-brimmed straw hat to shade my nose. It was easily in the nineties, in terms both of temperature and humidity, and my thin petticoats clung soddenly to my lower limbs.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 54, "Flora MacDonald's Barbecue". Copyright © 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

4) William is injured and unconscious in 100 degree heat, in the middle of the Battle of Monmouth (June 1778). Thank God Ian found him in time to save him, or he might have died of heatstroke!

William was still alive; his face twitched under the feet of a half-dozen black flies feeding on his drying blood. Ian put a hand under his jaw, the way Auntie Claire did, but, with no idea how to find a pulse or what a good one should feel like, took it away again. William was lying in the shadow of a big sycamore, but his skin was still warm--it couldn’t help but be, Ian thought, even if he was dead, on a day like this.

He’d risen to his feet, thinking rapidly. He’d need to get the bugger onto the horse, but maybe best undress him? Take off the telltale coat, at least? But what if he were to take him back toward the British lines, find someone there to take charge of him, get him to a surgeon? That was closer.

Still need to take the coat off, or the man might die of the heat before he got anywhere. So resolved, he knelt again, and thus saved his own life. The tomahawk chunked into the sycamore’s trunk just where his head had been a moment before.

(From WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 78, "In The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time". Copyright © 2014 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

5) What better way to keep warm on a cold night than snuggling under a buffalo robe? I have always thought it was a real shame that Jamie and Claire didn't actually get a chance to try it out, together.

“I brought ye a present, Sassenach,” Jamie said, grinning and wiping sweat from his jaw.

“A … present,” I said faintly, looking at the enormous heap of … what?… he had dropped on the ground at my feet. Then the smell reached me.

“A buffalo robe!” I exclaimed. “Oh, Jamie! A real buffalo robe?”

Not much doubt of that. It was not--thank God--a fresh one, but the scent of its original owner was still perceptible, even in the cold. I fell to my knees, running my hands over it. It was well-cured, flexible, and relatively clean, the wool of it rough under my hands but free of mud, burrs, clumps of dung, and the other impedimenta that normally attended live buffalo. It was enormous. And warm. Wonderfully warm.

I sank my freezing hands into the depths of it, which still held Jamie’s body heat.

[....]

“This is marvelous, Jamie! It’s huge!” It was. A good eight feet long, and wide enough that two people could lie cradled in its warmth--provided they didn’t mind sleeping close. The thought of crawling into that enveloping shelter, warm and cozy, after so many nights shivering under threadbare blankets...

Jamie appeared to have been thinking along similar lines.

“Big enough for the two of us,” he said, and touched my breast, very delicately.

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 68, "Despoiler". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

6) In a time before air-conditioning or electric fans, one of the best ways to keep cool was to stay inside with the drapes closed. But that has its disadvantages, as Roger discovers in BEES:

It was a hot day outside, and the thick velvet drapes at the windows were drawn to keep as much heat out as possible. They kept out all daylight as well, and the parlor into which they were shown was so dark that the single lamp on a table near the window glowed like a pearl inside an oyster.

Roger thought it was rather like being inside an oyster himself: surrounded by a slick, oppressive moistness, the constant touch of mucus on the skin. Granted, the room in which they had been shut was not as searing as the glaring cobblestones outside, but it wasn’t a hell of a lot cooler, either.

“Like being poached, instead of fried,” he whispered to Fergus, mopping his face with the lace-trimmed handkerchief he’d forgotten to exchange for a workman’s bandanna.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 74, "The Face of Evil". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

7) Jamie and Claire return home to the Big House after it failed to burn down as predicted on January 21, 1776.

The house loomed before us, its quiet bulk somehow welcoming, in spite of the darkened windows. Snow was swirling across the porch in little eddies, piling in drifts on the sills.

"I suppose it would be harder for a fire to start if it's snowing--wouldn't you think?"

Jamie bent to unlock the front door.

"I dinna much mind if the place bursts into flame by spontaneous combustion, Sassenach, provided I have my supper first."

"A cold supper, were you thinking?" I asked dubiously.

"I was not," he said firmly. "I mean to light a roaring fire in the kitchen hearth, fry up a dozen eggs in butter, and eat them all, then lay ye down on the hearth rug and roger ye 'til you--is that all right?" he inquired, noticing my look.

"'Til I what?" I asked, fascinated by his description of the evening's program.

"'Til ye burst into flame and take me with ye, I suppose," he said, and stooping, swooped me up into his arms and carried me across the darkened threshold.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 111, "January Twenty-First". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Hope this helped distract you from the cold, at least for a little while. Stay warm!

P.S. to those of you in the Southern Hemisphere: No, I haven't forgotten about you! Here's a collection of OUTLANDER Quotes to Cool You Off.

OUTLANDER Season 8 official trailer!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 17:40:00 +0000

STARZ has released the official OUTLANDER Season 8 trailer!

I think it looks great! This trailer is focused mainly on Jamie and Claire, but naturally I'm looking forward to seeing the other characters' storylines as well.

For those of you who don't know, OUTLANDER Season 8 will premiere on STARZ on Friday, March 6, 2026! (If you live outside the US, check your local TV listings.) This final season will be 10 episodes long. I can't wait!

OUTLANDER Deluxe Edition available for pre-order!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 14:09:00 +0000

Diana Gabaldon announced yesterday that a special Deluxe Edition paperback of OUTLANDER will be published on September 29, 2026, to celebrate OUTLANDER's 35th anniversary!

The description says:

This special edition of Outlander features a gorgeous new cover, Fraser tartan stenciled edges, designed endpapers, and a new letter of introduction from Diana Gabaldon!

I think the cover art is really striking, with Jamie's sword and Claire's medical kit against a backdrop of Fraser tartan.

You can pre-order here:

Amazon (US) or Amazon (Canada)
Barnes & Noble
The Poisoned Pen (autographed copies) - this is Diana Gabaldon's local independent bookstore in Scottsdale, AZ, and they ship all over the world.

IMPORTANT NOTE IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE THE US AND CANADA: Because OUTLANDER has a different publisher for the UK edition, it's not clear whether this special Deluxe Edition paperback will be available outside the US and Canada. I asked Diana Gabaldon this question on TheLitForum today and will update this post with her response.

Please spread the word to anyone you know who may be interested. Thanks!

Caitriona has been nominated for an IFTA award!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 23:26:00 +0000

Caitriona Balfe has been nominated for an IFTA (Irish Film & Television Association) Award in the category "Lead Actress in a Drama" for her work on OUTLANDER. Here's her reaction on Instagram.

Congratulations, Cait!

You can see the list of nominees here. Winners will be announced on February 20, 2026.

Happy Birthday, Diana Gabaldon!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 10:59:00 +0000

Please join OUTLANDER fans everywhere in wishing a very happy birthday to Diana Gabaldon, author of the OUTLANDER series, who turns 74 years old today! (I took this photo of Diana at her home in Scottsdale, AZ, in 2024.)

Diana, I hope you have a wonderful birthday! Thank you so much -- again! -- for creating this AMAZING story! It's changed my life in more ways than I can count.

In celebration of Diana's birthday, here's a collection of my favorite "authorial comments" from the books. I always find it entertaining when I see these bits in the books where Diana's own voice or personality comes through on the page. Hope you enjoy them!

1) On writing novels:

“It was not Monsieur Arouet, but a colleague of his--a lady novelist--who remarked to me once that writing novels was a cannibal’s art, in which one often mixed small portions of one’s friends and one’s enemies together, seasoned them with imagination, and allowed the whole to stew together into a savory concoction.”

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 10, "The White Witch's Curse". Copyright © 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

2) On the subject of Very Long Books:

“Do you think that the size of the book is justified by the complexity of the story?” Grey asked, leaning forward to light a cheroot from the candle on the sideboard. “It must after all be a great expense to the publisher, as well as requiring a substantial effort from the reader, a book of that length.”

[....]

“What is it--twelve hundred pages? Aye, I think so. After all, it is difficult to sum up the complications of a life in a short space with any hope of constructing an accurate account.”

“True. I have heard the point made, though, that the novelist’s skill lies in the artful selection of detail. Do you not suppose that a volume of such length may indicate a lack of discipline in such selection, and hence a lack of skill?”

Fraser considered, sipping the ruby liquid slowly.

“I have seen books where that is the case, to be sure,” he said. “An author seeks by sheer inundation of detail to overwhelm the reader into belief. In this case, however, I think it isna so. Each character is most carefully considered, and all the incidents chosen seem necessary to the story. No, I think it is true that some stories simply require a greater space in which to be told.”

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 11, "The Torremolinos Gambit". Copyright © 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

3) What it's like to be an author on a book-tour. When I mentioned this one to Diana some years ago, she replied, "Well, what do they say? Write what you know."

Hal had not been joking about allowing him no time to sleep.

[....]

Grey’s days were a blur of activity, rushing from Whitehall offices to shipping offices, holding daily councils of war with the other officers, receiving and reviewing daily reports from the captains, writing daily summary reports for the colonels, reading orders, writing orders, hastily donning dress uniform and dashing out to leap on a horse in time to take his place at the head of a column to march through the London streets in a guildhall procession to the cheers of a crowd, then throwing the reins to a groom and brushing the horsehair from his uniform in a carriage on his way to a ball at Richard Joffrey’s house, where he must dance with the ladies and confer in corners with the gentlemen, the ministers who ran the machine of war, and the merchants who greased its gears.

The one redeeming aspect of such affairs was that food was served, often his only opportunity to eat since breakfast.

(From LORD JOHN AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 16, "In Which an Engagement is Broken". Copyright © 2007 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

4) On writing without an outline:

I took a sheet of paper, pristine and creamy, placed it just so, and dipped my quill, excitement thrumming in my fingers.

I closed my eyes in reflex, then opened them again. Where ought I to begin?

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop. The line from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland drifted through my mind, and I smiled. Good advice, I supposed--but only if you happened to know where the beginning was, and I didn’t quite.

I twiddled the quill a bit, thinking.

Perhaps I should have an outline? That seemed sensible--and a little less daunting than starting straight in to write. I lowered the quill and held it poised above the paper for a moment, then picked it up again. An outline would have a beginning, too, wouldn’t it?

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 74, "Twenty-Twenty". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

5) On working in the middle of the night, when it's quiet and peaceful:

He listened carefully; the night nursery was one more floor up, but he heard no outcries, no movement in the peaceful dark. Nor was there any noise from the floor below. Evidently, the whole household was now wrapped in slumber--save him.

He rather liked the feeling of solitude, like this, he alone wakeful, lord of the sleeping world.

(From THE SCOTTISH PRISONER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 13, "By Darkness Met". Copyright © 2011 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

6) Frequent use of parentheses in written communications. You may have noticed Diana doing this in particularly long posts on social media, like this post from September 2021, or in her commentary in the OUTLANDISH COMPANION books. Occasionally she even "nests" parentheses, which makes me laugh.

“It’s okay,” [Roger] said, turning to kiss her cheek. “It’s your mum, and she’s in an especially parenthetical mood. She doesn’t normally do that unless she’s feeling happy.”

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 34, "Psalms, 30". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

7) What it feels like to finish a book. (Diana shared the above image from her computer screen in 2021 when she finished BEES.)

It was an odd process, letting go of something that had lived in her for months, gradually pulling free of the growing tentacles that had gripped her brain, her heart, her fingers.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 119, "Encaustic". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

8) On finding just the right title for a book or chapter:

Roger was sitting under a tree on the creek bank, theoretically writing a sermon about the nature of the Holy Trinity but in actuality hypnotized by the clear brown water gurgling past, letting random quotes about streams and water and eternity roll round inside his skull like rocks being dragged downstream, clacking into each other as they went.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 133, "Such an Odd Feeling". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

9) Flora MacDonald's appearance in ABOSAA seems to be very similar to what Diana goes through in her public appearances:

I had to admire her; she was besieged on all sides by people wanting a word, but she kept her poise admirably, being kind and gracious to everyone--though this meant sitting sometimes for ten minutes, a forkful of food suspended in air as she listened to some interminable story.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 54, "Flora MacDonald's Barbecue". Copyright © 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

10) And last but not least, one of Diana's own favorite expressions. The Gaelic translation of "wait and see" was provided by Cathy MacGregor on the old Compuserve Books and Writers Community (now TheLitForum) around 2008. The first time I read ECHO, I actually applauded, I was so surprised and pleased to see it in the book.

"I know what will happen.”

He blinked at that, very much taken aback.

“What will happen? To whom?”

The sort of prophecy I possessed was seldom a welcome gift; in these circumstances, though, I took a rather grim pleasure in telling him.

“To you. The British army, I mean, not you personally. They’ll lose the war, in three years’ time. What price gilded peacocks then, eh?”

His face twitched, and he hid a smile.

“Indeed.”

“Yes, indeed,” I replied amiably. “Fuirich agus chi thu.”

“What?” He stared at me.

“Gaelic,” I said, with a small, deep twinge. “It means ‘Wait and see.’”

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 98, "Mischianza". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Happy Birthday, Diana!!

Which of Diana Gabaldon's books are you currently reading or listening to?

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 12:11:00 +0000

Here's a question for all of you, to pass the time while we wait for Season 8.

Which of Diana Gabaldon's books (or stories) are you currently reading or listening to?

I started listening to Kristin Atherton's version of the OUTLANDER audiobook last week, and so far I'm enjoying it. (In case you didn't know, Kristin Atherton, who played the older Jenny in OUTLANDER Season 7, is recording new versions of all of the OUTLANDER audiobooks, although the original versions read by Davina Porter will still be available.)

What about the rest of you? If you're currently reading or listening to one of Diana Gabaldon's books, please post a comment here or on my Outlandish Observations Facebook page and let us know which one.

And if you're taking a break from the OUTLANDER books for a while, to focus on other things, that's fine, too, of course! Let us know what you're reading instead.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 10:55:00 +0000

Happy New Year, everyone!

As we welcome 2026, it's time for another annual tradition here on Outlandish Observations: an old-fashioned Hogmanay celebration, as they might have celebrated it on Fraser's Ridge 250 years ago.

A firstfoot was to bring gifts to the house: an egg, a faggot of wood, a bit of salt--and a bit of whisky, thus insuring that the household would not lack for the necessities during the coming year.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 35, "Hogmanay". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I can't participate in a first-footing myself, even if I lived in Scotland (redheads being considered extremely bad luck on such an occasion), but I'd like to share these small tokens with you anyway.

Finally, here's a look at Hogmanay traditions in Scotland.

Happy New Year, and best wishes to all of you in 2026!

2025 Year in Review

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 13:33:00 +0000

As we prepare to close out 2025, here's a look back at some of the notable events in OUTLANDER fandom over the past year. Here are some of the highlights:

January 16 - STARZ released the first official "teaser" video from the new prequel TV series, OUTLANDER: BLOOD OF MY BLOOD.

January 17 - OUTLANDER Season 7B concluded with Episode 716, "A Hundred Thousand Angels". The final scene, with Fanny singing a 20th-century song, caused a huge uproar in the fandom. For the most part, though, it was a good season, staying reasonably close to the books. You can see my OUTLANDER episode recaps here.

March 4 - I posted an in-depth look at the evolution of Jamie and Roger's relationship over the course of the series. I was delighted by the positive response to this piece, and especially by Diana Gabaldon's reaction. She called it a "fantastic exegesis", which is high praise indeed!

March through mid-July - In late March, I began a Very Slow Re-Listen of GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE (Book 9 in the OUTLANDER series), taking the time to pay close attention to the details. It took about four months to get through the whole book, but I definitely think it was worth it! I noticed so many details that I hadn't understood or paid attention to before. I shared my reactions in a series of nine Re-reading BEES blog posts. Hope you find them helpful!

April 29 - Recorded Books released an all-new unabridged audiobook of OUTLANDER, read by Kristin Atherton, who played the older Jenny in OUTLANDER Season 7. Over the course of this year, they've released Kristin Atherton's versions of most of the other books in the main OUTLANDER series, with the rest to come soon. I haven't had a chance to listen to the new versions yet myself, but I plan to start after the first of the year. Everyone I've heard from says Kristin Atherton is a terrific narrator!

May 1 - Big news in honor of Jamie's birthday: Diana Gabaldon announced the title of Book 10 of the OUTLANDER series: A BLESSING FOR A WARRIOR GOING OUT. Diana also confirmed that this will be the final book in the main series. Look here for more information about the title and what it might mean.

May 17 - I spent the day at Alamance Battleground in Burlington, NC, where they held a re-enactment of the Battle of Alamance to commemorate the 254th anniversary of the battle. I had a great time! You can see my account of the visit here.

May 27 - The Complete OUTLANDER Season 7 Blu-ray, DVD, and Collector's Edition (covering all 16 episodes of Season 7) was finally released, almost two years after the first part of Season 7 premiered.

June 23 - STARZ announced that the upcoming prequel TV series, OUTLANDER: BLOOD OF MY BLOOD, has been renewed for a second season, and production has officially begun on Season 2! I was surprised to hear this, considering that none of the fans had actually seen Season 1 yet.

July 17 - STARZ released the opening credit sequence for OUTLANDER: BLOOD OF MY BLOOD.

August 8 through Mid-October - OUTLANDER: BLOOD OF MY BLOOD Season 1 aired on STARZ! I had a very mixed reaction to the prequel TV series. While I did enjoy some parts of it (for example, I thought the casting was excellent, and Rory Alexander as Murtagh stole every scene he was in), as the season progressed, the show became much too grim and depressing for my taste. I also didn't care for the way Brian and Ellen's relationship was treated as almost an afterthought, compared to Henry and Julia's storylines, when all of the marketing indicated that this was going to be the story of BOTH couples.

I didn't do detailed episode recaps for most of the BOMB episodes (except for Episode 109, "Braemar", which Diana Gabaldon wrote), but you can see my general impressions of each episode below. Please keep in mind that these are my own personal reactions, and I don't mind if you disagree!

Episode 101: Providence
Episode 102: S.W.A.K. (Sealed With a Kiss)
Episode 103: School of the Moon
Episode 104: A Soldier's Heart
Episode 105: Needfire
Episode 106: Birthright
Episode 107: Luceo Non Uro
Episode 108: A Virtuous Woman
Episode 109: Braemar
Episode 110: Something Borrowed

August 28 - I celebrated TWO blogging milestones: the 17th anniversary of Outlandish Observations, and my 2000th blog post!! (Believe it or not, on both counts!)

September 17 - Diana Gabaldon posted a comment on TheLitForum that absolutely made my day! As many of you know, I've been moderator (aka "Chief Bumblebee-Herder") of Diana's section of the forum since 2008. I had posted on the forum stating my opinion that it's totally fine to post in a long thread (discussion) without reading all of the previous messages. I said, "I'm sure Diana Gabaldon will back me up on this." And boy, did she ever! Look here for her response, which made me laugh out loud.

September 18 - STARZ released a new teaser video for OUTLANDER Season 8!

Oct. 3-6 - I took a road trip to South Carolina, to see some of the historical sites related to the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War. I had a very successful trip! My itinerary was a modified version of the one shown here, carefully researched ahead of time, because I was traveling by myself in an area I'd never been to before. I saw everything I wanted to see, except for Kings Mountain National Park and Cowpens Battlefield, which were unfortunately both affected by the government shutdown. Still, I was really happy with the way everything worked out! It was by far the most complicated trip I've ever done on my own, and as with all of my travel adventures, every trip gives me more confidence!

October 28 - December 4 - The Wake County Public Libraries (my local public library, serving Raleigh, NC, and its suburbs) held a series of eight OUTLANDER-themed virtual programs on various topics. All of the speakers were excellent, and I was glad to be able to help facilitate Diana Gabaldon's appearance in the final session! (Check out the wee giftie I received from Erin and Heidi, the librarians who put these programs together, in appreciation of my help!)

If you missed any of the sessions, you can see the videos here.

November 10 - STARZ announced that OUTLANDER Season 8 will premiere on STARZ on Friday, March 6, 2026! I think it's very appropriate that the final season of OUTLANDER will premiere on the 38th anniversary of the day that Diana Gabaldon started writing the "practice novel" that eventually became OUTLANDER.

November 11 - I posted an in-depth look at Young Ian Murray, focusing in particular on how his experience living with the Mohawk has affected him. I was delighted by the reaction!

November 13 - Diana Gabaldon received an honorary doctorate from the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) in Inverness, Scotland. Look here for details. Congratulations, Diana!

November 16 - The long-awaited Ken Burns documentary, THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, premiered on PBS. I thought this 6-part documentary was really interesting, and I learned a lot. Highly recommended for OUTLANDER fans who want to learn more about the historical background!

November 20 - We learned that Diana Gabaldon has chosen Texas A&M University's Cushing Memorial Library, located in College Station, TX (pictured above) as the permanent home for her archives! Look here for more information.

December 17 - STARZ released the opening credit sequence for OUTLANDER Season 8! It looks great, and I can't wait!

December 20 - Matthew B. Roberts, executive producer and show-runner for OUTLANDER and BLOOD OF MY BLOOD, posted some very thoughtful comments on Instagram, about the OUTLANDER TV series coming to an end. I would encourage all of you to read what he has to say, and keep it in mind as we look ahead to OUTLANDER's final season, and to the eventual publication of A BLESSING FOR A WARRIOR GOING OUT.

---------------------------

I hope you enjoyed this look back at 2025. Wishing you all a Happy New Year, and all the best in 2026!

New teaser video for OUTLANDER Season 8!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 18:26:00 +0000

As a Christmas treat, and the final entry in their "12 Days of OUTLANDER", STARZ has released a new teaser video for OUTLANDER Season 8!

I think it looks terrific! Full of foreboding, especially that bit at the end:

"Nothing can prepare you for how it ends."

Yikes!! Even though book-readers know there's more to come (Diana Gabaldon is still writing Book 10, A BLESSING FOR A WARRIOR GOING OUT), this strikes me as a little scary.

OUTLANDER Season 8 will premiere on STARZ on Friday, March 6, 2026! I can't wait!

Christmas quotes from Diana Gabaldon's books

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 11:28:00 +0000

Here's my collection of Christmas-themed quotes from Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER books. This is an annual tradition here on Outlandish Observations, and I hope you enjoy them. Merry Christmas to all of you who are celebrating this week!

*** SPOILER WARNING ***

If you haven't read all of Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER books, you may find SPOILERS below! Read at your own risk.

1) It's hard to imagine, from our 21st-century perspective, anyone losing track of the date this close to Christmas. But Roger had a lot of other things on his mind....

"What's the occasion? For our homecoming?"

She lifted her head from his chest and gave him what he privately classified as A Look.

"For Christmas," she said.

"What?" He groped blankly, trying to count the days, but the events of the last three weeks had completely erased his mental calendar. "When?"

"Tomorrow, idiot," she said with exaggerated patience.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 33, "Home for Christmas". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The photo above shows 18th-century style Christmas decorations at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

2) Here's a quote from one of my favorite scenes in DRUMS OF AUTUMN, when Claire comes to find Jamie in the snow:

"What if I tell you a story, instead?"

Highlanders loved stories, and Jamie was no exception.

"Oh, aye," he said, sounding much happier. "What sort of story is it?"

"A Christmas story," I said, settling myself along the curve of his body. "About a miser named Ebenezer Scrooge."

"An Englishman, I daresay?"

"Yes," I said. "Be quiet and listen."

I could see my own breath as I talked, white in the dim, cold air. The snow was falling heavily outside our shelter; when I paused in the story, I could hear the whisper of flakes against the hemlock branches, and the far-off whine of wind in the trees.

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 21, "Night on a Snowy Mountain". Copyright © 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The illustration above, showing Scrooge with Marley's ghost, comes from the 1843 edition of Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

3) I think it's interesting--and rather sad--that Lord John should seek out Nessie, rather than the company of his own family, on Christmas Eve. You may recall that he brought her a box of sugar plums, like the ones pictured above.

“Aye, well, it is Christmas Eve,” she said, answering his unasked question. “Any man wi’ a home to go to’s in it.” She yawned, pulled off her nightcap, and fluffed her fingers through the wild mass of curly dark hair.

“Yet you seem to have some custom,” he observed. Distant singing came from two floors below, and the parlor had seemed well populated when he passed.

“Och, aye. The desperate ones. I leave them to Maybelle to deal with; dinna like to see them, poor creatures. Pitiful. They dinna really want a woman, the ones who come on Christmas Eve--only a fire to sit by, and folk to sit with.”

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 24, "Joyeux Noel". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

4) The next quote is a reminder that Christmas was viewed differently back then than we think of it today. But of course many of today's Christmas traditions date from the 19th century or later:

Catholic as many of them were--and nominally Christian as they all were--Highland Scots regarded Christmas primarily as a religious observance, rather than a major festive occasion. Lacking priest or minister, the day was spent much like a Sunday, though with a particularly lavish meal to mark the occasion, and the exchange of small gifts.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 34, "Charms". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

5) Speaking of Christmas traditions, here's one, from THE SCOTTISH PRISONER:

They’d brought down the Yule log to the house that afternoon, all the household taking part, the women bundled to the eyebrows, the men ruddy, flushed with the labor, staggering, singing, dragging the monstrous log with ropes, its rough skin packed with snow, a great furrow left where it passed, the snow plowed high on either side.

(From THE SCOTTISH PRISONER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 43, "Succession". Copyright © 2011 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

6) And what would the holidays be without sweets?

With a certain amount of forethought, Mrs. Bug, Brianna, Marsali, Lizzie, and I had made up an enormous quantity of molasses toffee, which we had distributed as a Christmas treat to all the children within earshot. Whatever it might do to their teeth, it had the beneficial effect of gluing their mouths shut for long periods, and in consequence, the adults had enjoyed a peaceful Christmas.

(From THE FIERY CROSS by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 34, "Charms". Copyright © 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

7) Quakers don't have any special Christmas celebrations, but there's no denying that Denny and Rachel Hunter found Christmas, 1777, a particularly memorable occasion, thanks to Lord John's niece, Dottie!

"Well, that is odd,” Rachel said, turning to look first at her brother, and then at the small clock that graced their rooms. “Who goes a-visiting at nine o’clock on Christmas night? It cannot be a Friend, surely?” For Friends did not keep Christmas and would find the feast no bar to travel, but the Hunters had no connections--not yet--with the Friends of any Philadelphia meeting.

A thump of footsteps on the staircase prevented Denzell’s reply, and an instant later the door of the room burst open. The fur-clad woman stood on the threshold, white as her furs.

“Denny?” she said in a strangled voice.

(From AN ECHO IN THE BONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 86, "Valley Forge". Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

8) Nutmeg was very expensive in the 18th century, which explains why Claire was so excited to see it.

[Jamie] let go of me to fumble in his sporran and came up with a tiny round brown thing, which he held out to me. “A nutmeg.”

“Oh! I haven’t smelled nutmeg in years!” I took it from him, cold-fingered and careful lest I drop it. I held it under my nose and breathed in. My eyes were closed but I could clearly see Christmas cookies and taste the thick sweetness of eggnog. “How much was it?”

“Ye dinna want to know,” he assured me, grinning. “Worth it, though, for the look on your face, Sassenach.”

“Bring me some rum tonight, and I’ll put the same look on yours,” I said, laughing.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 65, "Green Grow the Rushes, O!". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

9) I love this quote, even though things didn't turn out the way Roger had expected. (The photo above, by krbnah on Flickr, shows Inverness at Christmas, 2009.)

She'd wanted to go to the Christmas Eve services. After that...

After that, he would ask her, make it formal. She would say yes, he knew. And then...

Why, then, they would come home, to a house dark and private. With themselves alone, on a night of sacrament and secret, with love newly come into the world. And he would lift her in his arms and carry her upstairs, on a night when virginity's sacrifice was no loss of purity, but rather the birth of everlasting joy.

(From DRUMS OF AUTUMN by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 17, "Home for the Holidays". Copyright © 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

10) And finally, here's Claire, recalling Christmases in Boston while Bree was growing up:

Making a proper Christmas for Brianna every year had been wonderful; I’d felt as though the festivity was for me, as well--the joy of doing things I’d read or heard about, but never done or seen. Frank, the only one of us who had truly experienced the traditional British Christmas, was the authority on menus, gift wrapping, carol singing, and other arcane lore. From the decorating of the tree until it came down after New Year’s, the house was full of excited secrets, with an underlying sense of peace.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 22, "Ashes, Ashes". Copyright© 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I hope you enjoyed this collection. Wishing all of you the best in this holiday season!

Matt Roberts on OUTLANDER coming to an end

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Henry) — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 11:55:00 +0000

Matthew B. Roberts, executive producer and show-runner for OUTLANDER and BLOOD OF MY BLOOD, posted this on Instagram yesterday, about the OUTLANDER TV series coming to an end. I thought his comments were worth sharing, as we look ahead to OUTLANDER's final season.

I’ve been thinking about endings lately.

As we wrapped filming on Blood of My Blood and turn our attention to bringing you the final season of Outlander this March, I’ve felt the weight of what so many of you are already feeling. The grief before the goodbye. The mourning of something that hasn’t quite left us yet.

But I want to offer you something I’ve been holding onto myself.

When we give our hearts to a story--when we let fictional people become real to us, when we carry their words with us, when we find pieces of ourselves in their journeys--that doesn’t end when the credits roll for the last time. It can’t. Because what the story gave you, it gave you. Those feelings were real. The tears were real. The comfort on hard nights, the joy, the sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself--all of it, real and yours to keep.

The characters live because you carried them. The love story endures because it moved through you. I know it’s tempting to grieve forward--to sit in the shadow of the ending before it arrives. But if I could gently ask anything of you, it would be this: don’t let the anticipation of loss steal the experience. We still have a whole season to live together. And after that, we have everything that came before, waiting for us whenever we need it.

Stories don’t die. They just finish being told. And then they belong to you forever…

"Don't let the anticipation of loss steal the experience." I think that's a really important point, and something we should all keep in mind. It applies equally to OUTLANDER Season 8 and to A BLESSING FOR A WARRIOR GOING OUT (Book 10), which Diana Gabaldon has confirmed will be the last of the Big Books in the OUTLANDER series.

It will be hard for many of us to say goodbye to these characters and these actors who've been part of our lives for so many years, but we will get through it, together.