After taking a week off, Outlander is back with the beginning of the end. There are just two episodes left, and a lot to fit into a short time frame.
It’s easy to worry that the show won’t be able to stick the landing, but Outlander, the series, is telling its own ending, and there’s a good reason for it to differ from the source material.
There is no ending to the books just yet, offering the series some free rein to tell the most important stories of the lot, and in my opinion, this first hour manages it.
Lord John Grey Knows His People
At the end of Outlander Season 8 Episode 8, Lord John Grey was knocked unconscious by Captain Ezekiel Richardson.
Now, I do think the series should probably have included Richardson a little more throughout Outlander Season 8.
We got the odd mention of him between Percy and John, but that was about it, and with the little inclusion of him during Outlander Season 7 that we did get, it was always going to be easy to forget about him.
However, once you catch up on the story, there were always clues that Richardson was up to something, and it didn’t take too long in this hour to get all the details.
Richardson captured John to get to Hal, and he used Percy and a man from John’s past we’ve never met before to coerce John into writing a letter.
Fortunately, Outlander’s John is a man of his word. He is a gentleman, and he’s not going to encourage his brother not to do something just for his own honor.
He will think ahead, though. While he may not be on the best of terms with William and Jamie right now, he can trust them.
Carving “Pharos” — the title of Outlander Season 8 Episode 9 — into his ring with a rusty nail, John gets the message he needs, and the best part is, it takes everyone working together to figure it out.
William knows that John wouldn’t take the ring off without a reason, Jamie knows the meaning of “Pharos,” and Claire knows where a lighthouse is.
They each have a part in saving Lord John Grey, and they trust in each other to get there.
Now, I do have to question why Jamie and William would let Claire rush ahead when they reach the island where John is being kept, but that’s just a small gripe.
With so little time to play this story out, it had to be done in this way, and I appreciate that we had a whole hour saving Lord John Grey instead of jumping between other characters.
A Reminder That the Past Can’t Be Changed
While we see Jamie and William working effortlessly together to save John, Claire deals with the Richardson problem.
She was only supposed to keep an eye on him, but opportunity strikes as she needs to delay his return from fishing — and he is the man who says “Mrs. Fraser” in the trailer!
That’s when his full story comes out, and it’s all in a matter of phrasing that the two realize they are both time travelers.
As Richardson goes on about preventing war and slavery, Claire realizes he’s talking about the Civil War.
The realization on Richardson’s face actually made me feel for him.
No, he’s not gone about trying to prevent America from becoming America in the right way, but he did what he thought he had to do.
If this were Jamie or Claire taking these steps in the lead-up to Culloden, we would have been on their side.
Because it’s someone going up against Lord John Grey, Richardson has become the villain.
But in his heart, he is trying to do the wrong thing for the right reasons. He just wants to bring an end to slavery, and he explains why the British winning the war will do just that.
We never really get a clear idea of where he came from, but we know it was around the 1960s or 1970s.
He knows about the Jim Crow laws, and he understands segregation. That, mixed with the fact that his great-great-great-grandmother was a slave, gives us enough of an idea.
It also tells us that this is personal.
However, I do have to question whether he has thought all of this through. If his ancestor doesn’t become a slave, what happens to him?
Nobody brings this up, but Richardson must have thought about it. Maybe he doesn’t mind the risk of not being born if it means making the world a better place.
The problem is that Claire has tried to change history before. She tried at Culloden and then again at Alamance.
It can’t be done.
It looks like Roger and Claire haven’t discussed Roger’s theories about already being in this time period.
Time is linear, and everything that is playing out now has already played out.
Claire mentions that she has saved lives and lost lives, but if Roger’s theory is right, she has already done both. She hasn’t changed any part of history.
This is where the time travel headaches start, so I don’t like to go down the rabbit hole too much. Just let’s agree that big moments in history can’t change.
Claire wants Richardson to try, though. Sadly for Richardson, he doesn’t get the chance, as Lord John Grey gets free and takes matters into his own hands.
You can see in Claire’s face that she knows what this means. That glimmer of hope that she can change Jamie’s death has gone. What is written must happen.
It seems like Jamie has also accepted this when he tells Brianna about exactly what Frank wrote about Kings Mountain — although, I do find myself questioning why Bree didn’t read the whole book before she traveled through time with it!
A Hope of Forgiveness
In the end, John is saved, and we get a chance to see forgiveness.
Not only has William decided to forgive John for the lies and the secrets, but Jamie has also forgiven John for sleeping with Claire.
Jamie may want to pay attention to the elephant in the room, though! He’s not the one who should be sharing; he forgives.
He’s the one who owes John an apology, and both John and Claire point that out.
I love that people are willing to put Jamie in his place at times, and that it’s not just Claire. After all, the way he held on to the grudge for John protecting Claire was just ridiculous.
Yes, I know there was a little more to it, but it all came down to John protecting Claire, and Jamie should be thankful.
So, John finally getting the chance to air out his anger was cathartic to watch. It was about time!
The best thing was the connection back to Outlander Season 3.
What’s the best way for Jamie and John to air out their differences and for John to get revenge? Beat Jamie in a chess match, of course!
I wish we could find out who won, but I do love the ambiguity. At least, it’s clear that both Jamie and John are back on good terms.
As Jamie and Claire ride away — and Jamie looks back! — John has a smile on his face, just like William.
We get hope of forgiveness and a positive future for them, as long as Jamie survives!
There is also the beautiful mention of how multiple people have had two fathers growing up, including Brianna, Roger, and even Claire.
It helps show that nature and nurture work together, and now William needs to reconcile with who he wants to be rather than with what he thinks his parentage says about him.
He takes that step by turning Amaranthus down.
He accepts that he doesn’t love her, and while he appreciates her time and help when he needed it the most, she is his cousin’s wife.
While it’s great for the core unit, there is someone John cannot forgive for transgressions against him, and that’s because of the threat to himself and his family.
John needs to see Percy and give him the ultimatum: death or prison. I have a lot of respect for John right now.
John could have just gone in and killed Percy, but the affidavit is far more useful and powerful to him. As he said, there are potentially copies of those letters about his sexuality out there.
I just hope that Marsali got everything she needed in order to set up her children for life, because that affidavit and Percy’s decision to take his own life would cause some problems there!
We get a good idea of the time lapse between Davy’s birth, John’s beard, and the mention of seven weeks, but I just had to question whether that was enough time for Marsali, and I’d like some confirmation.
Of course, the penultimate episode of Outlander can’t end without some sort of threat.
Cleveland shows up calling for Jamie. It’s time!
And now we have to wait a week for the Outlander series finale.
So, Sassenachs, how do you feel?
This is where we turn it over to you, because I love to chat about Outlander with fellow fans.
Did this work as a penultimate episode? Does it offer hope or fear for the series finale?
Let us know in the comments below, and let’s keep the conversation alive!
-
Outlander Season 8 Episode 9 Gives Us a Haunting Feeling That Jamie Won’t Survive
As Claire learns a shocking secret about Captain Richardson, we’re left with the reminder that history has already been written.
-
Outlander Season 8 Episode 8 Brings an Essence of Hope in the Loss
As Marsali figures out what to do next, William realizes that he needs to let go of some of the anger on Outlander Season 8 Episode 8.
-
Outlander Season 8 Episode 7 Brings a Major Death We Weren’t Expecting
We knew a death was likely coming on Outlander Season 8, but not the one that happens on Episode 7. And the final episodes will hurt.
The post Outlander Season 8 Episode 9 Gives Us a Haunting Feeling That Jamie Won’t Survive appeared first on TV Fanatic.