The moral of this week’s episode would seem to be: no good deed goes unpunished, though saying that, unusually for Outlander, the opening episode of Season 4 is rather a slow burner that’s if you discount the first 10 minutes or so and the last 5, neither of which proves fortunate for either of Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) new sidekicks, Gavin Hayes (James Allenby-Kirk) and Lesley (Keith Fleming). CONTAINS SPOILERS.
Season 4 opens with Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie in North Carolina in colonial America. A country, which Claire goes on to inform Jamie, will become home to millions of immigrants, whereby the native Americans will end up being treated in a not too dissimilar way to how the English treated the Highlanders after Culloden. Not surprisingly, Jamie doesn’t seem that pleased at the idea.
As for our two star-crossed lovers, Jamie and Claire are totally loved up; so much so we are treated to a rather romantic and touching sex scene in the middle of some woods. Given that they have just been warned to be on the lookout for thieves and outlaws, that’s a pretty brave move on their part. Personally, I’m impressed that for a woman who by now is supposed to be in her late 40s, Claire doesn’t seem to suffer from those little inconveniences that tend to affect women of that age when it comes to a spontaneous shag. Or maybe that’s simply down to the effect that the prospect of sleeping with Jamie has on a woman of any age.
Meanwhile Fergus (César Dombey) and Marsali (Lauren Lyle) are also loved up and expecting their first child. However, poor Ian (John Bell) is traumatised by his dealings with Geillis (Lotte Verbeek) and to be honest who can blame him. I was traumatised just watching. Luckily for Ian, he confides in Jamie, little knowing that Jamie understands perfectly the demons he is now facing.
Having managed to salvage some of the jewels from the shipwreck, Claire and Jamie attend a posh dinner party in the hopes of flogging one of the jewels to a rich noble in order to finance their trip back to Scotland. Said foreigner, Baron Penzler (Rainer Sellien) not only takes a shine to the ruby but also, it would seem, to Claire’s décolletage, a fact which does not go unnoticed by Jamie.
It’s during said dinner party that Jamie is informed by the British crown in the form of Captain Freeman (Grant Stott) that they are interested in offering large grants of land to men like Jamie. Jamie, of course, is no fool and suspects the real reason they are being so generous to a man, who is, after all, a pardoned Jacobite, is because they need ex-soldiers like Jamie on side to deal with the dissent already brewing among some of the colonists over what are seen as unfair taxes. Claire is quick to remind Jamie that the American Revolution is only 8 years away and if they end up in cahoots with the British Government they are in danger of being on the wrong side of history yet again.
A romantic at heart, Jamie is nonetheless taken by the idea of doing something to make this country, his daughter Brianna’s birthplace, a good land in the hope that somehow his presence can be felt by her later. This seems hardly likely but it makes you realise the pain Jamie must feel at never having seen and believing he will never see his only child with Claire and how desperate he is to have any link with her no matter how tenuous.
Claire and Jamie therefore decide to stay in America. Fergus and Marsali also decide to stay in America given that a pregnant woman and a long trip back to Scotland are not a perfect combination. Ian, now with a dog (or is it a wolf?) in tow which he blithely informs his unimpressed relatives that he won on the roll of the dice (hence its name Rollo) that he too wants to stay but Jamie isn’t having it. Ian’s mother may be in Scotland but Jamie clearly doesn’t fancy getting in his sister’s bad books any more than he already is.
The gang (minus Fergus and Marsali) then head off to River Run by boat to visit Jamie’s Aunt Jocasta who seems to be quite a character, having already survived 3 husbands. Jamie shows his romantic and thoughtful side yet again by gifting Claire a medicine box. To be fair, the average woman probably wouldn’t be that impressed by receiving what is essentially a box of work tools but this is Claire and she is genuinely touched.
Then what follows is a rather moving scene between Claire and Jamie though one suspects Jamie still has insecurities about their relationship. And just as you are lulled into thinking that for once, nothing is going to happen to Claire and Jamie, the last five minutes of this episode are action packed. And while we’re at it, a shout out to the genius who chose the music (Ray Charles’s America the Beautiful) for the last few scenes: it was a fantastic choice.
Remember the caveat that no good deed goes unpunished? Earlier on in the episode, Jamie agrees to help an escaped prisoner Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers) flee from the authorities. As someone who’s been on the rough end of British justice himself more than once and having just witnessed so called British justice in action, you can understand Jamie’s motivation for doing so. Although it would seem that in Bonnet’s case, Jamie has totally misjudged the kind of man he is.
Having overheard the fact that Jamie and Claire have gems on them while he hid in their wagon during his escape, Bonnet and his gang overpower Jamie, steal the jewels, kill Lesley and in an act of thuggery Bonnet personally tries to get Claire to hand over her two wedding rings. Ever resourceful, Claire tries to swallow them; unfortunately for our heroine, Bonnet has no qualms in grabbing her by her throat and sticking his finger in her mouth to make her spit the rings out. Forced to spit out one, she manages to keep hold of the other. To her horror, it’s the one Frank gave her. Bonnet now has Jamie’s ring. Given that we just heard Jamie and Claire wax lyrical about the ring and that she’s never taken it off in the 24 years she and Jamie have been married, the look on Balfe’s face says it all about the agony she is in over its loss.
What did I make of Episode 1? Well, besides the first few minutes and the last, not much happened which is most un-Outlanderlike. As with many a first episode there was a lot of set up but it did seem as if it was taking its time about it.
As the new baddie, Bonnet seems a particularly nasty character – though it would be hard to top Black Jack Randall in the evil stakes – it would seem Bonnet might give him a run for his money. At a guess, the eventual showdown with Jamie will definitely be a fascinating episode to watch. Aunt Jocasta too sounds like she’ll be quite a character and it will be interesting to see how Claire handles living in a society built on slavery. Not very well, one suspects!
