Episode 806: "Blessed Are the Merciful" (SPOILERS!)

Here are my reactions to Episode 806 of the OUTLANDER TV series, titled "Blessed Are the Merciful".

*** 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 Captain Cunningham waking up in Claire's surgery, flat on his back and unable to move, following the incident in last week's episode where he was shot in the back. This scene comes mostly from the book.

Even if his spinal cord hadn’t been severed--and I didn’t think it had--it had clearly been compressed and damaged to some extent. And spinal cord injuries were often permanent. But it would take a little time for the visible effects--wasting of muscles, twisting of limbs--to become apparent. A sharp stink made my nostrils twitch and compress.

Loss of bowel and bladder control. Expected, but not good.

“Have you seen anyone like this before?” Elspeth’s voice was sharp and she rose to her feet, as though drawn to defend her son.

“Yes,” I said, and she heard everything in my voice and sat down again as though she, too, had been shot in the back.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 111, "Morning Has Broken". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The next scene, with Jamie, Josiah Beardsley, and Benjamin Cleveland, is not in the book. We learn that Cleveland stopped about twenty Loyalists at Ninety-Six before they could reach Fraser's Ridge. The strong implication is that Cleveland hanged them.

"Make an example of [Cunningham]," Cleveland advises Jamie. "String him up, and no one will ever cross you again."

In real life, Benjamin Cleveland was indeed known for a penchant for hanging Tories (aka Loyalists), including some who were hanged from the branches of the famous Tory Oak in 1779.

"You owe me, Mr. Fraser." That's ominous, given that we know what Cleveland wants from Jamie: to join him and his band of Over-Mountain Men. Jamie has already turned him down once. He might not be able to do it a second time.

As Cleveland walks away toward his horse, Jamie hears Frank's voice in his head. "It's your own fault. You knew his help would come with a price."

The next scene is not in the book. Jamie goes to see Captain Cunningham, who asks, "Are you going to kill me?"

"I'm not sure I can kill you." Not because of Cunningham's supposed "immortality" for the next five years, but because he's a patient of Claire's. "My wife won't allow me to harm you while you're still in her care." It seems clear that this troubles Jamie.

What Cunningham says next troubles him even further. "I'm not sure I can stand it, knowing the day is coming, unable to change my stars."

Of course Jamie can't help thinking of Kings Mountain, and what Frank Randall said in his book, that a James Fraser will die there. Is Jamie fated to die at Kings Mountain a year from now?

Jamie tells Cunningham he will remain there in his custody, much like Lionel Brown in Season 6. "You have made your bed, Captain, and now you must lie in it." What a cliché! I didn't like that at all.

The "title card" in this episode shows young Totis (aka Swiftest of Lizards) running across a field with a dog, probably the same puppy we meet later in the episode.

Next, we see a montage of Ian and Rachel and Oggy's 700-mile journey to the Mohawk village of Shadow Lake, somewhere in upstate New York. The scenery is beautiful! The scene that follows is taken partly from the book. They stop near a river that Ian recognizes from his time with the Mohawk.

"I was born in Shadow Lake. Born a second time, I mean. Died a death there, too."
"Thee forgot to say 'married'," Rachel adds. Ian walks away, but she persists, saying, "I know thee loved Emily. Don't be afraid to speak of her, especially in these circumstances."

So Ian does, reluctantly at first. "Our souls weren't meant to be one. I wonder if hers is still with us." That is, after all, the point of this long journey, to see if Works With Her Hands and her children still live.

The baby starts to fuss in Rachel's arms, and Ian takes him, cradling him and saying, "I love you" to him in Mohawk. Awww, what a sweet moment!

In the next scene, Brianna and Roger are alone together for the first time since Roger's return from the Battle of Savannah. This scene isn't in the book, but I thought it was well done.

Bree is reading aloud from the letter Roger left for her in his coat pocket. "Whom shall I send? Send me? What is this?"

Roger struggles to explain.

"When I looked at the men, I was overcome with...with a sense of purpose, of renewed conviction."
"You couldn't leave them."
"No, not like that. Desperate and dying in a godforsaken place -- and I mean that in the truest sense of the word."

He tries to explain what it felt like, being in the middle of the battle. And then he says, "I want to be ordained."

I was distracted by the camera angle in this part of the scene, wondering why they filmed Roger and Bree from behind, rather than letting us have a good look at their faces. It seemed really odd to me, and made it difficult to concentrate on what Roger was saying. I think that's a shame, because Roger is explaining something very important, and it's awkward to be seeing him only from behind like that. It frustrated me enough to take me out of the story at times while he was talking, preventing me from being fully immersed in the scene. And that's unfortunate.

Roger tells Bree about the cannon blast that sent him flying backward during the battle, the sensation of falling, and his brief memory of the tunnel collapse when he was a young boy.

"I remembered the sensation of falling, just for a split-second, as a boy, and being caught by my father."

Wow! In the books, Roger never found out the identity of the man who caught him, saving his life, but in Diana Gabaldon's short story, "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows", it's very clear that it was indeed Jerry MacKenzie.

[Roger's mother] swung Roger down into the little space she’d made, and with a twist of her shoulders and the heave of her whole body, hurled the little boy up, over the rail--toward Jerry.

He saw what she was doing and was already leaning, pushing forward, straining to reach... The boy struck him high in the chest like a lump of concrete, little head smashing painfully into Jerry’s face, knocking his head back. He had one arm round the child, falling back on the people behind him, struggling to find his footing, get a firmer hold--and then something gave way in the crowd around him, he staggered into an open space, and then his knee gave way and he plunged over the lip of the track.

He didn’t hear the crack of his head against the rail or the screams of the people above; it was all lost in a roar like the end of the world as the roof over the stair fell in.

(From "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows" by Diana Gabaldon, in SEVEN STONES TO STAND OR FALL. Copyright © 2010 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I was startled that Roger actually knows for certain that it was his father, Jerry, who caught him as a child when the tunnel collapsed.

In Diana Gabaldon's story, "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows" (highly recommended, by the way!), Jerry helps to save Roger's life, only to die (along with Roger's mother) moments later in the tunnel collapse. But in the story, Roger never found out the identity of the man who caught him, meaning that only the readers of that story will ever know that he was saved by both of his parents. I have always loved that ending; I consider it a miracle, and that scene still takes my breath away on re-reading.

But in the show, we're meant to believe that Roger spent enough time in 1739 with Jerry to be able to recognize him in that split-second flash of memory. That seems a bit of a stretch to me, but possibly it's only because I love the version in "Leaf" SO much! The show's version is still a miracle (you can see that Roger recognizes that, by the expression of wonder on his face), but in a different way.

"I think I saved my father when I sent him through the stones, and he saved me. We were always a part of history, Bree, even if we didn't know it yet. We didn't change God's plan. We were always part of it."

So Roger has resolved his dilemma: how to reconcile being a time-traveler with his calling as a Presbyterian minister, whose faith requires a belief in predestination? Clearly he's decided that if they were always part of history, part of the past events, then there's no conflict with Presbyterian beliefs.

"So I know now, that I've been called to do the Lord's work. Called to be here." And knowing that, he's ready to be ordained as a minister.

The sex scene that follows starts out as very sensual, but they end up in the same pose we've seen so many times in the last couple of seasons, both of them sitting upright while they have sex. It's repetitive and boring, in my opinion.

In the next scene, we're back at the Continental Army camp, where William has just discovered that his cousin Ben is not only alive, but has switched sides and become a General in the Continental Army. Most of this scene comes from BEES chapter 104, "General Fucking Bleeker", and I thought they did a great job with it.

“Never mind being a traitor, you’re a fucking coward! You couldn’t just change your coat and be straight about it--oh, no! You had to pretend to be fucking dead, and kill your father with grief--and what do you think your mother will feel when she hears it?”

Despite the dim light, he could see the blood rush into Ben’s face and his hands clench into fists. Still, Ben kept his voice level.

“Think about it, Willie. Which would my father prefer--that I was dead, or that I was a traitor? That would bloody kill him!”

“Or he’d kill you,” William said brutally. Ben stiffened but didn’t reply.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 104, "General Fucking Bleeker". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Ben's comments about Thomas Paine's COMMON SENSE come word for word from the book. I find it completely believable that he could have been persuaded to change sides just by reading this famous pamphlet, because so many other people living in America at the time were also convinced by Paine's argument.

The whole confrontation between William and Ben is very much as described in the book, but my favorite part is when they start talking about Amaranthus.

"It was her idea that I pretend I was dead," Ben says, and William stares at him in shock. Recall that he proposed marriage to her in Episode 805, and she accepted! Now it turns out her husband is alive and she knew that all along. Amaranthus can't be trusted!

I couldn't help thinking, when William mentioned Amaranthus, of our last sight of her, in the scene with the two of them in the gazebo in last week's episode, his hand between her thighs.

“You want to know what I’ve had to do with her? Who do you think has been consoling her, comforting her in her grief?”

That last sentence is not in the book, and I think it's a good addition, because that line makes it abundantly clear exactly what sort of "consoling" and "comforting" William has been engaged in. No wonder Ben hit him!

The fight between William and Ben continues until the commotion draws the attention of two Continental officers, who pull the combatants apart. Ben, aka General Bleeker, orders William locked up in the guardhouse.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the woods near Shadow Lake, Ian and Rachel have made camp. Ian looks up to see a Mohawk friend of his. The other man warns him not to go to the village of Shadow Lake. "Nothing left there but ashes." He tells Ian that Kaheroton and some of the others died, presumably in battle. He doesn't know what happened to Works With Her Hands or her children, but says he knows someone who may be able to tell them.

Back on Fraser's Ridge, Jamie is writing a formal letter to the Loyalist tenants who were part of the group led by Cunningham who attacked Jamie in last week's episode. I love this whole sequence! This scene comes word for word from BEES chapter 113, the only difference being that we don't see the actual contents of the letter in the show until after he finishes writing it.

“Would you really shoot them if they come back?” I asked quietly.

He looked at me sharply, and I saw that while he might be heavy of heart, that heart was also burning with a deep anger.

“Sassenach,” he said, “they betrayed me, and they hunted me like a wild animal, across my own land, for the sake of what they call the King’s justice. I have had enough of that justice. Should they come within my sight, on my land, again--aye. I will kill them.”

I bit my lip. He saw and put a hand on mine.

“It must be done so,” he said quietly, looking into my eyes to make sure I understood. “Not only because they’ll make trouble themselves--but these are not the only men on the Ridge and nearby whose minds turn in that direction, and I ken that well. Many have kept quiet so far, watching to see am I weak, will I fall or be taken? Will someone come here, like Major Ferguson? They’re afraid to declare themselves one way or the other, but was I to show these”--he flicked his other hand at the notice--“mercy, allow them to keep not only their lives but their land and weapons, it would give the timid ones confidence to join them.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 113, "And We Parted On the Square". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Claire is worried about the women and children of these Loyalist families. But Jamie is unmoved, outwardly at least. "A good husband would have thought of that, and a wise one would have listened to his wife."

“Bell, book, and candle,” he says, explaining that this phrase refers to the Catholic Church's rite of excommunication. It strikes me as the sort of action a clan chieftain might have taken in the days before the Rising, to quell intra-clan fighting by banishing the troublemakers.

The next scene features Jamie reading his letter aloud in voiceover, as we see copies of it sealed with red wax and delivered to the Loyalists all over Fraser's Ridge.

As you have, each and all, conspired and acted to attack and arrest me, with the desired End of causing my Death, the Contract of Tenancy signed between us is, as of this Date, rendered Null and Void in its Entirety.

By such Actions as you have undertaken, you have broken my Trust and betrayed your sworn Word.

Therefore, you are, each and all, hereby Evicted from the Land you presently occupy, dispossessed of your Title to said Land, and are required to depart, with your Families, from Fraser’s Ridge within the Space of Ten Days. [....] Should you seek to return privily to Fraser’s Ridge, you will be shot on Sight.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 113, "And We Parted On the Square". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I've always imagined (metaphorical) flames shooting from Jamie's quill as he was writing it, to show how angry he was, and I thought Sam captured Jamie's mood here very well.

Jamie delivers the last letter, to Hiram Crombie, in person. This scene isn't in the book.

"I regret what happened at Lodge," Crombie says, rather weakly. He goes on to explain why he is siding with the Loyalists. "Does the opinion of your settlers mean so little to you?"
"It does if they try to stab me in the back," Jamie retorts.

Jamie informs Crombie that the Beardsley twins will be taking over the running of the trading post (a good idea, in my opinion), shoves the letter at him, and stalks away.

In the next scene, which is based on BEES chapter 83, "The Forefeather of a Great Horned Owl", Ian and Rachel are ushered into the very fancy home of Thayendanegea, aka Joseph Brant, a real historical figure who is both a Mohawk and a strong supporter of the Loyalist side in the war. A very influential Loyalist, at that; Ian tells Rachel that Brant has been to London to meet King George!

"When last we met, you were with the Continentals. Is that still the case?" Brant asks. This is a reference to Ian's last visit to this area, in Episode 705, "Singapore", when he was ordered to bring a message to Brant at Shadow Lake, and encountered Works With Her Hands and her young son, whom he named Swiftest of Lizards.

The conversation begins with Brant, his wife, Ian, and Rachel taking tea as though they're sitting in the drawing room of Lord John's house in London. But the atmosphere quickly turns hostile, when Ian asks politely about Works With Her Hands.

"You forfeited that knowledge when you chose to join the enemy," Brant says coldly, a blunt reminder that they are on opposite sides in the war.

Ian protests that he didn't leave in order to join the Rebel cause. No kidding! He left Shadow Lake years before the war even started. Then he says, "I didna want to go at all," which is true, but watch Rachel's reaction when he says it. She's clearly wondering if he still loves his Mohawk wife.

Brant reminds them that it was the Continental Army who burned the village of Shadow Lake. They argue back and forth over who started it, until Rachel breaks in, offering platitudes. "All who take the sword shall perish by it. War is an endless perpetuation of violence." And this, somehow, magically stops the argument between the two men.

I thought the rest of the scene was particularly weak and clunky writing, and I didn't care for it at all. It reminds me of the "Strong Woman" nonsense we saw in earlier seasons of the show, where the women have all the answers, and all the men's problems would be solved if they would only listen to their wives. Recall that Jamie made a comment like that about the Loyalist men who betrayed him, that they should have listened to their wives.

Catherine reveals that Works With Her Hands is here, with her children, in Brant's house.
"It is a shame that you will not see them," Brant says coldly. "I respectfully ask that you leave."

In the next scene, Jamie is working on the porch of his house when Mrs. Crombie arrives, along with a number of the other wives of the recently exiled Loyalists. This scene comes straight from the book, and I thought it was very well done.

Harriet MacIlhenny came in with her head up, jaw clenched, and chin trembling. She stopped abruptly before Jamie’s table and collapsed onto her knees with a thud, followed by the other wives and half the children, spilling out into the hallway, all looking bewildered but obedient.

“We have come to beg thy mercy, Laird,” she said, bowing so low that she spoke to the floor. “Not for ourselves, but for our bairns.”

“Did your husbands put ye up to this?” Jamie demanded. “Get yourselves up, for God’s sake.”

“No, Laird,” Harriet said. She rose, slowly, but her hands were pressed so hard together that the knuckles and nails showed white. “Our husbands forbade us to come to ye; said they would beat us should we stir a foot out of doors. The gomerels would sacrifice us and the bairns for the sake of their pride--but...we came anyway.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 121, "The Quality of Mercy". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

She begs Jamie to reconsider, saying they'll swear an oath that their husbands "will never raise hand nor voice against ye in any matter."

Still Jamie will not budge. That took me aback at first. It's a change from the book, where Jamie relents at once. So the women present a reasonable argument, seeking mercy and compassion from Jamie as their landlord, and he flatly refuses!

Meanwhile, back at their campsite near Shadow Lake, Ian and Rachel have a talk. This scene isn't in the book.

"Would thee have left her?" Rachel wants to know. In other words, he says he only left Shadow Lake against his will, because they told him to go. Would he have left if they hadn't forced him out?

Ian doesn't answer. The situation is complicated, after all; Works With Her Hands had a relationship with Ian's Mohawk rival, Kaheroton, and it would have been very awkward for Ian to stay, even if she'd wanted him to. But Rachel takes his silence as agreement with her view that he would have stayed with his Mohawk wife, and that only makes her feel worse.

"I know it is irrational, and when has love ever been rational?" she says.

Rachel truly seems miserable. Finally Ian says, "I dinna need to see them. Tis enough for me to know that they are alive. We'll go home."

So they've come 700 miles to check on Works With Her Hands and her children, and Ian is willing to turn around and go all the way back home without seeing them, if that's what it takes to make Rachel happy. Maybe that will be enough to get through to her that Ian still loves her very deeply.

Meanwhile, in the Continental Army camp, William is being held prisoner in the stockade. Denzell Hunter, the Quaker doctor (and Rachel's brother), comes to see him. This scene comes mostly from the book. I'm always glad to see Denny, as he often makes me laugh.

Denny announces that he's going to give William a clyster (an enema), and sends the guard for a bucket of warm water. As soon as they are alone, he and William begin discussing escape plans. Too bad they reworded the dialogue somewhat, because they left out my favorite part of this scene:

“He didn’t bolt [the door],” William whispered, sitting up abruptly. “Shall I run for it now?”

“No, thee wouldn’t get far and it’s not necessary. [....] I am meant to be administering smallpox inoculations at the church this afternoon; I will therefore insist upon accompanying thee to Washington, to support thee in thy infirmity.” Here he paused to look William over, grinned briefly, and shook his head. “Thee looks convincingly battered. I think thee might suffer an effusion of blood to the brain and unfortunately die as a result before we reach the general.”

“A fine physician you are,” William said. “Ought I to have a fit and foam at the mouth, to be convincing?”

“Moaning loudly and soiling thyself will be adequate, I think.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 104, "General Fucking Bleeker". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

In the next scene, which is not in the book, Roger and Bree are back at the printshop with Fergus's family. Little Henri-Christian is playing with his pet frog, Pierre. The little boy is very cute, and I'm glad we got to spend a bit of time with him in this episode, however briefly. (I won't say more about him here.)

Fergus hands Roger a letter that turns out to be from Col. Francis Marion, whom we met in last week's episode. Marion has changed his mind about Roger after watching him during the battle, and he's agreed to help them get the guns they came for, though it will take some time to make the arrangements.

Meanwhile, back at Joseph Brant's house, Rachel has come alone to speak to Brant. This scene is not in the book, and I didn't care for it. Rachel says she's come to beg him to allow Ian to see Works With Her Hands.

"I have burned with a jealousy I did not know I was capable of, but I do not wish to be consumed by it." Good line.

Rachel claims that she came to beg Brant to let Ian see his former wife, but she doesn't really articulate any coherent reasons why he should do what she asks. The more Rachel talks, the more I get the feeling she is talking only to herself, because Brant just sits there poker-faced, saying nothing. What difference does it make to him if Rachel "stays true to herself"? That sounds like 21st-century talk to me, meaningless to a Mohawk like Brant. The only part of this speech that seems directed at Joseph Brant is the part about not keeping Ian away from his child. It's a pretty weak argument, if you ask me. Why should he do what she wants, when he views Ian as an enemy? It feels contrived to me.

Back on Fraser's Ridge, Jamie watches from the house as Claire and the children harvest honey from the beehive. You can almost see him having second thoughts about his pledge to evict the families of the Loyalist tenants. He summons all of the Loyalists and their wives to a meeting, and announces a change in plans, addressing the women directly:

"I will revoke the letter of banishment--for your husbands--but the contracts I made with them as tenants remain void. And you’ll send your husbands to me, to swear their fealty. I willna have men on my land that may plot against me."

“But I shall write new contracts, between myself and each of you ladies, for the tenancy of the land and buildings ye live in." [....] “Mind, this means that each of ye [....] is responsible for the rents and other terms of her contract. If ye want to accept your husbands’ advice and help, that’s well and good--but the land is yours, not his, and if he should prove false, either to you or to me, he’ll answer for it to me, even unto death.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 121, "The Quality of Mercy". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The one wild card here is Hiram Crombie. He's clearly not happy about losing control of the trading post to the Beardsleys, to say nothing of the indignity of having to trade with the Beardsleys for meat instead of doing his own hunting. He's lost his livelihood. Will he stay, and be a thorn in Jamie's side, or will he leave Fraser's Ridge entirely?

At any rate, Claire says he did the right thing, and I agree.

“Blessed are the merciful, for mercy shall be shown them," Jamie says, and right on cue, Elspeth Cunningham shows up, asking for her share of his mercy. She wants to take her son home to England. This next bit is not in the book.

"Charles is all I have left. And if I am to spend the final years of his life, my life, wiping his bottom and changing his sheets, then I'd like to do it in a place that, well, is at least known to me." I like that.

"Please. Don't make me beg. But if I have to, I will. I would do anything for my child. Wouldn't you?"

I like the look that passes between Jamie and Claire at that, perhaps recalling their parting at Culloden, for the sake of keeping their child safe. No question, this is something they both understand better than Elspeth can possibly imagine.

Meanwhile, back at Joseph Brant's house, Ian, Rachel, and baby Oggy meet with Works With Her Hands at last. She and Ian are shy with one another at first.

“Do you not know this person anymore?” he said quietly in Mohawk. “Is this person a stranger to you?”

“Yes,” she said, but with the trace of a smile. “But a stranger I think I know. Do you think you know this person?” Her hand touched her breast, pale and graceful as a moth in the semi-dark.

“Wakyo’teyehsnonhsa,” he whispered, taking the hand between his own. “I would always know the work of your hands.”

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 87, "In Which Rachel Paints Her Face". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Works With Her Hands says she had a dream in which their son was captured by soldiers, beaten, and made to fight in a battle where he was killed. In desperation, she asks Ian and Rachel if they will take the boy to live with them, where he will be safe.

Rachel's reaction is straight from the book:

“Yes, of course,” she said to Emily, and turned to the boy, warmth in her eyes. “He will always be your son, but I’m honored that he will be mine, too. I’ll certainly feed him at my hearth--all he wants, ever.” Ian hadn’t realized that his wame was clenched tight, until it relaxed and he drew a very deep breath. Tòtis had been eyeing Rachel with curiosity, but no fear. He glanced at his mother, who nodded, and he went to Rachel and, taking her hand, kissed her palm.

“Oh,” Rachel said softly, and caressed his head.

“Tòtis,” Emily said, and the boy turned and went to her. She hugged him close and kissed his head, and Ian saw the shine of the tears she wouldn’t shed until her son was truly gone.

(From GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 87, "In Which Rachel Paints Her Face". Copyright © 2021 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Tòtis presents them with a large puppy, who turns out to be "one of the many grandsons of your wolf", Rollo. Awwww!

And then we get to one of my favorite moments in BEES, portrayed just beautifully here:

“So,” she said, “you named my son for me; let me do the same for yours. His name is Hunter."
Rachel is stunned. "You must be led by the Spirit. That name is meaningful to me in more ways than one."

No kidding! I've thought from the first time I read this in BEES that it's perfect, just perfect!

I love this quiet moment between Ian and Rachel, which isn't in the book:

Ian: "I love you, always."
Rachel: "I love thee too, forever."
Ian: "In spite of everything?"
Rachel: "If I'm going to spend the rest of my life with thee, I have to believe that thee loves me, as much as I love thee and our children."

So Rachel no longer seems in any doubt that Ian loves her. That's good!

In the next scene, the Cunninghams are preparing to leave the Ridge. I like Elspeth's farewell to Claire very much.

"In another lifetime, perhaps, you and I might have been great friends," Elspeth says. "But as it is, I must say farewell."

"I counted you as a friend," Claire says. Awwww! I'm going to miss these two interacting. One of the highlights of this season, for sure!

As they watch the Cunninghams' wagon drive slowly off into the distance, Jamie says, "It doesn't mean our troubles have gone away, Sassenach. Cunningham may be gone, but Major Ferguson is not." And on that ominous note, the episode ends.
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I hope you enjoyed this recap. Please come back next week for my recap of Episode 807, and look here for my recaps of all of the previous OUTLANDER episodes.

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