[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 710: “A Hundredweight of Stones”
Written by Sarah H. Haught, Directed by Lisa Clarke
This episode begins with the reluctant marriage of two characters out of necessity and saving someone’s neck: Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Lord John Grey (David Berry). Claire barely makes it through, save a long glance at William (Charles Vandervaart). She immediately returns to her bed-chamber and takes off her new ring. Claire debates killing herself or at least taking the edge off like she used to do with ether. She thinks better of it, remembering Jamie’s comments about death. The depression of both Lord John and Claire becomes a joining of bodies for a night of mournful lovemaking. The post-coital chat between them greatly improved their friendship and understanding.
Ian (John Bell) visits Claire in case she decides to go back to her time. Claire says that she is staying put. Lord John and Claire visit Henry Grey (Harry Jarvis) and Mercy (Gloria Obianyo) to check on Henry’s progress. Then, Henry professes his love for Mercy and wants to marry her. Lord John disapproves of this union because of Henry’s title and duties in England and demands that they end their relationship and that Henry return to England. Claire later calls Lord John a bigot because of his reaction.
Lord John presents a grand dress made for Claire due to an upcoming dinner in support of England’s cause at their house. Claire initially declines the dress and attending, but Lord John says her attendance would go a long way in putting to rest rumors of their quick marriage and Claire’s support of the Rebel cause. When the dinner comes, she eventually comes down to join the party, wearing her new wedding ring. At the party, Claire encourages William to dance with girls in an attempt to have him forget Rachel. William uses Claire’s own advice against her when Captain Richardson (Ben Lambert) asks for a turn. It is during the dance that Captain Richardson reveals to Claire that he is spying for the Rebels. He is essentially a traitor and asks Claire to continue spying on the Rebels. This situation all sounds fishy.
The invitations to dinners and parties stack up for the Greys. Lord John and Claire are going through the invites when Jamie (Sam Heughan) breaks through the door. He’s alive. After the shock of his appearance is starting to wear off, Lord John warns Jamie that his son is coming back soon and he should make himself scarce. The problem is that the word “son” was spoken when William was right outside. Whoops, William now knows Jamie is his real father. Never mind that the English are currently hunting Jamie because he is a Rebel in an English-occupied city. Jamie takes Lord John hostage and disappears, leaving Claire shocked but happy.
Ian and Rachel (Izzy Meikle-Smalls) have a heart-to-heart about Ian’s past love and kids. I guess they are getting married. Poor William.
Rob Cameron (Chris Fulton) shows up at Lallybroch and confronts Brianna (Sophie Skelton). Rob tries to kidnap Brianna, but Brianna gets the upper hand and knocks him out. Leaving the scarf at the stones was just a distraction to get Roger (and Buck) out of the picture.
Roger (Richard Rankin) and Buck (Diarmaid Murtagh) continue to search, but it has become more of a search for Roger’s father than Jemmy. I think the hope is that Jemmy is with Roger’s father. They find the father’s service coat, but those who have it do not want to talk. Roger contemplates why he traveled to this time. Was it to find his father and meet his relatives, or was it to find Jemmy?
This episode of Outlander was quite a doozy in both positive and negative ways. What has stood out in these new episodes is how they have attempted to pack so much story into each episode. As one follower on our Twitter account said, it may be because they did not know that Starz was giving them another season. When you stack each episode with pivotal content, it lacks the moments after things happen for the actors and the audience to sit with what happened.
While Claire’s mourning started in the last episode and continued with this episode, it came off performative and lacked depth. On the other hand, Lord John Grey’s moments sitting at the chess set reverberated more with me personally than the crying and outbursts of Claire. As mentioned in the previous episode’s review, it is hard to elicit an emotional response from readers and viewers when we know Jamie is alive. While readers certainly knew what would happen, the non-readers did not, but due to the previews released for the show, non-readers knew he wasn’t dead either. Caitriona Balfe did the most with Claire’s temporary depression, almost too much. I also do not think for a minute that Claire would not have gone back to Brianna and Roger in their time if her depression and lack of pride in her situation had continued. Maybe I have just become less interested in this show; however, the return to Scotland and the reunification with the family and Old Ian brought back some positive feelings about this show. We still have five more episodes left of this season to hit some emotional high points and remind me of some of the show’s greatest moments, episodes, and seasons.
THIS WEEK, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13TH, AT 8 PM ET: EPISODE 712: “CARNAL KNOWLEDGE”
Synopsis: “Lord John Grey is put in a precarious position. William struggles to understand a surprising revelation.”
