[This is not a spoiler-free review of the episode. If you have not seen the episode yet, read it at your own spoiler risk.]
Episode 709: “Unfinished Business”
Written by Barbara Stepansky, Directed by Stewart Svaasand
This episode of Outlander is a premiere, but it is not a premiere because it picks up where a mid-season finale left off in 2023. With all the increased promotion for the ninth episode of season seven and the ridiculous, extended wait for it, this episode has to be amazing. It cannot drop the ball in the slightest. Can you imagine if it ended up being tedious?
Thankfully, it is one of the better episodes of season seven so far. It focuses more on the men’s journeys than the women’s, which is okay. Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Roger (Richard Rankin) lead with the voiceovers this time.
We find Jamie, Claire (Caitriona Balfe), and Young Ian (John Bell) landed safely in Scotland, having accomplished a promise to bury Simon Fraser in his homeland. Once done, they are off to Lallybroch to reunite with the Murray family. Of course, there are poignant moments between Jenny (Kristin Atherton) and Young Ian, Young Ian and his siblings, Young Ian and an ailing Old Ian (Steven Cree), and Jamie and Claire with everyone. Old Ian is close to being on his deathbed from consumption; news does not travel fast when a letter crosses an ocean.
Jamie pays a visit to the perpetual villain of the series, Laoghaire (Nell Hudson). She is still alive and well, having taken up with a farmhand, but is still adamant about not straying from the terms of Jamie’s contract. There is a whole estate and money on the line. This woman is not stupid, and her heart has suffered perceived abuse by Jamie. Jamie is the bigger man, thankfully, apologizing for his treatment of her and marrying her for the wrong reasons. The conversation between the two brings up long-harbored resentments that go back to season one.
Joanie (Layla Burns) shows up to Lallybroch to speak to her stepfather after he visits Laoghaire. Her mother’s spite and love of being taken care of financially prevents her from becoming a nun. A new contract that an absent Ned Gowan drew up rectifies things, allowing Laoghaire to marry and keep her estate and also allowing Joanie to become a nun.
Hearing Young Ian’s older brother Michael speak about endeavors in France, Claire thinks it is time to come clean to the rest of the family about her origins in order to warn them of impending dangers. They ask how she knows about the upcoming French Revolution, which gives her a segue to spill the beans on when she was born and how she knows things. Hearing this, Jenny jumps to the conclusion that Claire can heal Old Ian no matter what, but she is let down by Claire, saying she is not magic and cannot save him. He is too far gone.
There are many emotional moments in the Jamie and Claire side of the episode. Young Ian speaks to his father about his former wife, his deceased daughter, his son, and his prospects with Rachel Hunter. Jenny shows Young Ian the gravestone they made for his daughter. Jamie and Jenny have a heart-to-heart about loss and going on afterward.
A letter arrives from Lord John Grey addressed to Claire, begging for her to come and fix his nephew, who is gravely ill from being shot. Because of this, Claire separates from Jamie, leaving Lallybroch with Young Ian in tow after Old Ian and Jenny tell him to return to his love (and his dog).
On the other side of the episode, Roger and Buck (Diarmaid Murtagh) go through the stones again to track down Rob Cameron and the kidnapped Jemmy. The problem is that they do not know when in time they are. Besides seeing that the area has no hint of modern life, it is all a guessing game. Roger mentions that he taught Jemmy how to get from the stones to Lallybroch. Buck heads to Inverness, and Roger heads to Lallybroch. Upon arriving at Lallybroch, he comes face to face with Jamie’s father, Brian Fraser (Andrew Whipp), who he mistakenly thinks is Ian Murray. He also meets a younger Jenny and Old Ian’s father while in the area. Will older Jenny remember meeting Roger when they possibly meet in the future? While he cannot find Jemmy and thinks maybe Jemmy and Rob did not even come to this time, he must return to Buck, who does not feel well. They visit the local herbalist for help, who just so happens to be Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek). Uh-oh.
The episode moves fast through important scenes but can still hit emotional moments and give them the time and space to resonate with the viewers. As a fan, it is wonderful to return to Lallybroch on the Jamie and Claire timeline and reunite with characters we have not seen in a while, especially Jenny and Old Ian. On Roger’s end, there is much more of a humorous undertone when we can hear Roger’s thoughts about his mortality in reference to those he meets and screwing up his landing time so horribly. If you have not pulled out your Outlander family tree lately, Buck is Roger’s great-grandfather many times over, and Geillis is Buck’s mother.
The episode also has some callbacks to the beginning of the season, especially the gold balls handed to Laoghaire and letters being taken to a bank in Edinburgh by Jamie and Claire. These are the same letters and similar balls found and read by Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger.
The departure of Claire from Jamie and Scotland did not logically make sense. A letter takes 6-10 weeks to cross the ocean, and a return voyage would also take that long. I don’t think Claire would have taken such a lengthy return on the off-chance that John’s nephew would still be alive from such a grave injury or be healthy by that time to operate. I know; it is fiction.
The editing between the two sides of the episode worked relatively well, especially the door-knocking scene at Lallybroch. Other times, there was a brief return to Roger’s story that was unnecessary, as well as including Brianna and Mandy for about 30 seconds for no reason.
Hopefully, the rest of the seven episodes in the season will continue to keep up the pace of good television writing and directing. It is a good start to the rest of season seven.
An extreme Droughtlander is over, but was the wait worth it? What do you think?
NEXT WEEK, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, AT 8 PM ET: EPISODE 710: “BROTHERLY LOVE”
Synopsis: “Claire and Ian arrive in Philadelphia to help the ailing Henry Grey. Roger and Buck receive an unexpected clue in their search for Jemmy.”
