'Outlander' opinion recap - Episode 112 - "Lallybroch"

The episode begins with some levity as Jamie and Claire joke about their age difference. Then, Jamie has flashbacks of being flogged by “Black Jack” at Fort William and I believe Claire recognizes that he was thinking back because she tries to soothe him by saying that it was in his past. I thought this was a very intimate loving gesture that showed her emotional attachment to him and how she cares about his feelings deeply.

When they get to Lallybroch, I thought, a very pregnant Jenny was happy to see Jamie one minute then very cold the next. Obviously, he didn’t contact her for four years for a reason, but she didn’t even give him a chance to explain why. She knows he has a price on his head, didn’t she think he was a tad busy dealing with that? I understand why she was insulted when he called her son Jamie, “’Black Jack’s’ bastard child,” but being so cold to him, I didn’t think was called for. I also thought Jenny calling Claire a “trollop” was very bad taste, but liked how Jamie got mad and demanded that she treat his wife with respect. When Ian appears, I liked how he and Jamie hugged and Claire saw what good friends they were. Then, as Jenny storms back into the house, Jamie has another flashback of “Black Jack” dragging her out of the house by her hair. I thought the back and forth between flashbacks at the present was the perfect way to “show not tell” what happened, which makes it more intense and riveting for viewers.

I thought when Jenny begins to narrate and thenwe see what happened between her and “Black Jack” in a flashback was a better way to covey Jenny’s point of view about the incident rather than Jenny simply recounting what happened. I will say that I was shocked to see a glimpse of “Black Jack’s” penis when he unzipped his fly, as if we didn’t know his intentions when he slapped Jenny, threw her on the bed and ordered her to turn around. I suppose Ron Moore did this for the shock effect, which he elicited from me!

I didn’t think Claire and Jamie’s talk in their room about Collum’s wife, Leticia, was necessary. I did like how Jamie told Claire about his father, Brian’s death, both in the present and in flashbacks. I didn’t particularly like seeing all of the blood as “Black Jack” flogged Jamie for the second time, but I guess they had to show that after showing “Black Jack” give Jamie a choice between a second flogging and being “buggered” by him, as Jamie called it. I thought actually seeing his father’s death was more powerful than it would have been if Jamie just described it. I also loved that Claire hugged him when they shot back to the present, which again showed me how deeply she cares for him and wishes she could heal all of his wounds, both physical and emotional.

The next day, I liked when Claire held her own when Jenny said that she would have trouble caring for Lallybroch if she had never been a lady of a house before. Then, I thought Jenny was being REALLY obnoxious when Claire thought a public celebration honoring Jamie’s return was risky, Jenny could have found a politer way of telling Claire that the tenants of Lallybroch would never turn Jamie into the redcoats. Also, I believed that it was even more obnoxious of Jenny to keep bringing up their father and what he would have done in regards to collecting rent from the tenants.

I LOVED that during the celebration Jamie and Claire acted like a married couple, staying close to each other and touching each other in subtle, loving ways. I also LOVED when Claire approached the father when he was beating his son for taking some bread. I thought this showed that Claire hadn’t lost her fire and willingness to protect the innocent. I also loved when Jamie gave a tenant back the half the rent he paid because, due to the tenant’s father’s death, the family couldn’t pay all of the rent. I didn’t like when that same tenant took Jamie away to drink some more as Claire was telling Jamie that he had to do something about the father beating the little boy and showing him the boy’s bruises. Jamie could have at least told her that he would deal with it before going off to get drunk.

Again, the next day, when Jenny yells at Jamie for beating up the father before consulting her reminded me of when Collum would chide Jamie back at Castle Leoch. He was home now and I thought that he didn’t need to be treated like a child yet again. I did like that Jamie wanted to fix the waterwheel himself when he was told it was broken.

I also thought it was cute, after the redcoats left and didn’t discover a naked Jamie, that he asked Jenny to turn around as he got out of the water. I also enjoyed Claire and Ian’s late-night talk about Jenny and how stubborn Frasers can be and how gentle Jenny can really be. I believed this gave Claire a bit of insight into another side of Jenny that she hasn’t yet seen.

I REALLY enjoyed Jamie and Jenny’s talk in the cemetery. In this scene, I thought we saw why Jenny had been acting so cold to Jamie up until that point. Plus, we finally saw the loving brother-sister relationship between them.

I also REALLY enjoyed when Jamie and Claire were joking around in their room, which then segued into each professing their love for each other for the first time. I believed this to be a truly romantic moment. Then, when lovingly kissed each other and he picked her up, presumably to take her to their bed and make love, my heart began to flutter. I’m glad they didn’t show them actually making love. The tenderness of each’s declaration was enough to imagine the sweet passion that followed.

Finally, I thought Jamie’s face, when he looked up and saw Claire as he was being held at gunpoint, was perfect. She looked horrified for him and he looked unhappy that she was seeing the exchange.