SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.
How much longer will it be before we get to see Jamie, Claire and Frank be happy? Especially the latter two. There is so much despair going around in this series so far. Sure, we’re only two episode in, but the endings of both story lines in the last episode gave some hope that joy would return to these three.
Brianna’s birth did not at all give Claire and Frank the fresh start that I thought that it would. Not that I expected her to magically fix their marriage and make Claire love Frank again, but I thought that they’d taken a step toward being happy together. This episode destroyed all hope that that could ever happen.
Firstly, masturbating in bed next to Frank as she thought about Jamie was so bad. I understand that she’s mourning Jamie and she still loves him and it’s him she wants, Â but she could have done that in the bath or something. Not lying right next to Frank. I’m surprised that they didn’t cut to him, eyes wide open, back to her, completely aware of what she was doing.
When she literally reached out to Frank and initiated sex with him, I thought that she was taking a step toward getting closer to him and rekindling their relationship. I thought she would say Jamie’s name during and bring the whole moment crashing down, but they were getting somewhere at least. Except that wasn’t at all what she was doing.
Given the stark contrast between Mille and Jerry’s affection and the lack of it between Clair and Frank, I found it incredibly strange when she initiated sex with him the second time. And so eagerly. Especially when she still seemed awkward around him at dinner and uncomfortable with his touch.
It was then that I started to suspect what Frank went on to confirm; that she was using him as little more than a glorified dildo. That he was just a warm body to lay against her as she imagined that it was Jamie that she was having sex with. What made it worse was that instead of admitting it to Frank and even to herself, she pushed the blame right on his shoulders.
I don’t hate Claire for how she is treating Frank. I get why she is. It just hurts me to see her hurting and in turn hurting him. That she and Frank now sleep in separate beds closed the door on them ever finding happiness together to me. I wish that she would leave Frank or that he would leave her. I know that they won’t, given what we saw last season, but I really wish they would divorce. It looks like Claire’s life as a medical student and eventually as a surgeon – despite the prejudice she faces – will be what brings her joy,
Jamie isn’t faring much better in 1752. Despite being without Claire, I thought that his being at home would bring him some contentment, but it didn’t. He can’t even live at Lally Broch with Jenny and the rest of his family because the Red Coats are still after him. You’d think that six years after the rebellion, they’d no longer be an issue.
So he lives the life of a hermit, shabby and unshaved, in a cave not too far from Lally Broch, wallowing in his misery. He was so broken in fact, that Fergus pretty much lost all respect for him. Because of how much the boy – now young man – worshiped the ground Jamie walked on last season, it was disheartening to see that.
Even though Fergus got older, he hasn’t really gotten wiser. He’s just as reckless and disobedient as he always was. So the second that the raven appeared and he was told it was a bad omen, I knew he was going to go for the gun and shoot it. I didn’t expect Red Coats to have been within earshot of the gunshot however. His disobedience put Jamie at risk of being found. If I had been him or Jenny, I would have been incredibly angry with him. In fact, I was.
He was reckless again when he antagonised the Red Coats. I thought that his plan was to lure them into the woods so Jamie could kill them; get rid of them so that they would no longer harass Jenny and the rest of the Murray/Mackenzie-Fraser family. But when the other Red Coats on horses appeared, I knew that that wasn’t the case.
I really thought that Jamie would have jumped in and stopped them, but it wouldn’t have been wise. As Jenny told him later – while he was blaming himself for Fergus getting his arm chopped off – if he had they would have all been killed. The silver lining of the whole incident is that it got Jamie out of his slump and he regained  his resolve. He resolved to turn himself over to the Red Coats, but still. At least Jenny now doesn’t need to worry about explaining to them how she had a baby that was supposed to be dead.
I saw Jamie and Mary McNabb coming from a mile away. I expected her to be his love interest until he found Claire again, however. Not a one night stand. That he’d come to love her in some way and they’d get married. Although his being a wanted man would have complicated things.
I was rooting for him and Mary to become a thing, just like I was rooting for Claire and Frank. Which I found strange because I’m simultaneously rooting for Claire and Jamie to find each other. I guess it’s because I know that Claire won’t go back through the stones until twenty years from now and I just want both of them to be happy in the interim.
Random thoughts:
- Fergus’ voice is so deep now!
- Jenny’s pregnant? Again?!
- Claire: “I miss my husband.” Which one?
- Go Mary! Get your man!
- Are those tears of sadness? Relief? Guilt? All of the above?
- I really feel like Claire’s womanhood didn’t present this much of a problem in the 18th century.
Outlander airs Sundays at 10 on Starz.
