How many times did your parents tell you, “don’t play with matches”? While it’s likely that you didn’t have a jug of ether in your home, you now know why you listened to your mother. Apparently, Wendigo Donner, despite coming from an era when he should have known better, didn’t. And BOOM! There goes the big house, Jamie and Claire’s beautiful home.
My Mama, She Wrote Me a Letter
This week, I’m not going to get into a lot of the nuances from the episode – I only want to focus on two of the several storylines that kept bouncing through the hour. First, let’s talk about Roger and Bree back in their original time! I had gotten used to seeing them in 18th century clothing, so miniskirts, sweaters, and other pieces of 20th century clothing were quite jarring! I wonder how long it took both of them to get re-used to brighter colored clothes, hot showers, restaurants… Even though we didn’t see the kids this episode, we heard – from Jamie, of all people, that Mandy came through surgery, and is healthy and alive. Phew! 🙂 As photos of the children from future episodes were released today, we know we’ll see aged up actors playing them, and that will be fun!
How do you think Claire and Jamie came up with the idea to write letters and leave them in a bank vault? And when? When did the box make its way to the vault? Oh, sure, I’m getting caught up in trivia – but the relief on Brianna and Roger’s faces when they read that first letter – “My dear daughter, as you will see if you ever receive this, we are alive,” was a bit of a thrill.
I understand Brianna’s wish to savor the letters, although it has to be a terrible temptation! “I don’t want to read them all at once,” she says to Roger. “It’s like once we’ve read them, Mama and Da will really be gone.” This is her second time leaving her mother, sure she’ll never see her again – the prospect of facing that for what will feel like the third time has to be terrible. But what surprises await? What important revelations, endearing stories, or adventures will come? They got one surprise, with the word that something has been hidden, belonging to “the Italian gentleman,” and that Jemmy would know the place that’s guarded by the Spaniard. That would certainly tempt me, “need” or no!
One thing I particularly loved from this episode, but only because I’m an avid Outlander book reader, is how much of the story and the dialogue came directly from Diana’s books. I’ve always felt that straying from the original text has led to some of the worst decisions in the show (depending on how you feel about Murtagh’s resurrection). Yes, if you’ve read the books, you have some idea of what’s coming, or at least what you hope is coming (please please A Leaf on the Wind…). These letters, plus some others that haven’t yet come up, have played a delightful, sometimes mysterious, if not necessarily highly important, role in the books.
And it was certainly fun to see Brianna and Roger go to check out Lallybroch (which Roger had not seen, but Brianna had) – and find it’s for sale!! Hm, do you think…. of course you do. So do I.
Thar’s Gold in Them Thar….
One of the biggest mysteries throughout the books, but unfortunately underplayed in the show, is the Frenchman’s Gold. Mentioned as early as season 3, when a dying man, whose seeming prattle doesn’t make much sense, is found by prison guards. Jamie is pressed into listening to him tell his tale, and subsequently escapes briefly to find out if a possible meaning to something the man says could be referring to Claire (it doesn’t, rather it refers to Geillis, which we only find out later). And in S5, Jocasta tells about her escape from Scotland with her husband Hector Cameron, and the tragedy that occurs when the gold they’re carrying results in the death of her daughter.
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- Hector Cameron, episode 5065
But much of the story that is told in the books is dropped from the show, and fans have talked about this quite a bit. Did this mean that the entire storyline would be dropped? The lack of nearly any screentime for Arch and Murdina Bug fueled that fear. But no!! At the end of the last episode, one of the thieves finds a gold bar, and Jamie is properly baffled. Another writer, Angela Hickey, mentioned on last week’s The Outlander Gab that there should have been no reason, therefore, for Jamie to be outraged at Arch in that moment – he doesn’t know what it is, why it’s there or who it belongs to. I admit that’s something I missed! But it’s absolutely true.
So this week, we got the rest of the story. And I’m very glad we did, but very sorry that it was given such short shrift in the past seasons. The lack of interaction with the Bugs meant that we developed no relationship with them, so the impact of Murdina’s death was barely an emotional blip (except for our reaction to Ian). There was so little leadup to the mystery that it wasn’t satisfying! You can’t just drop something this big into a show without much more leadup – and there certainly were some fantastic scenes that could have been done. I’m not going to go through them – I’m sure some of you reading this have not read the books, and if you want to know more about all of this, read them!!
Arch’s tale of three men going to pick up the gold as it came from France was enthralling. Dougal Mackenzie, Hector Cameron and Arch, as tacksman (trusted man for the Grant clan) each took 1/3 of the gold – arriving too late to help with the Bonnie Prince’s campaign. Grant, he says, used his third for the good of his clan, no arguments. Dougal’s share was a mystery, and was not explained in the books. But Hector Cameron kept it for himself, and the use was obvious – setting himself up in royal style in the New World. And Arch, rightly or wrongly, felt that he had a claim to it, and set out to take it back. Now, it can be argued that he already got the benefit of the share that came to his clan, and had no additional right to this gold. But he set out to steal it away from under Jocasta’s nose (and Hector’s bones) – and hid it underneath the Big House. This gold was going to be the Bugs’ retirement fund. “No sir, we’ve spent years on our knees,” his wife says, “scrubbing their floors, washing their clothes. We’ve slaughtered their pigs, we’ve served them their meals. We’ve heard things. And yet we look the other way. We’ve earned this, heart. This is our time.”
And it’s this belief that sets up the tragedy of the episode. Murdina goes to retrieve the gold in the middle of the night, while Jamie and Ian secretly waited for someone to come. When Jamie confronts who he thinks is Arch, and the person turns and shoots at him, Ian kills her. This is Ian’s second kill in two episodes – the first one, Alan Christie, will cause him no sleepless nights. But mistakenly killing Mrs. Bug, a woman he loved, maybe saw her as aunt figure, will distress him greatly, for some time to come. “She was always kind to me. She took care of us. Of all of us. And I -” he cries to Claire. This is more the Ian we know – remember back at the beginning of Season 4, after they were washed ashore in the New World, Ian confessed to Jamie that he had killed the man he thought was an exciseman at Jamie’s printshop, setting the fire that destroyed it. And that death ate him up, justified or not. He’s grown in many ways, becoming harder – but it was good to see that the core of the young man remains.
However, he now will have to have eyes in the back of his head, as Arch has vowed revenge. Ian offers his own life in return (although do you think Jamie would have stepped in, had Arch wanted this?). But Arch is having none of it. “Too easy, lad. Will ye give me your hound to kill?” he asks Ian. “No, twas my crime!” responds Ian. “Aye, ye see then. He’s no but a flea-ridden beast. Not a wife. When you have something worth taking, ye’ll see me again. That I promise you.” And it may be, soon, that Ian has something.
Talking With …
Earlier this week, I talked with Hugh Ross (Arch Bug) and Sarah Collier (Murdina Bug) about their roles in the show vs. the books; the Bugs’ loyalty – or not – to the Frasers; their experience with a much younger cast; and more! Here’s our exclusive chat.
What did you think of this episode? What are you looking forward to in coming episodes? Leave a comment below!
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