Surprise Visitors (Again), Secrets and Confessions.
Contains SPOILERS
For somewhere that is at the back of beyond, Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) don’t half get their fair share of unexpected visitors at Fraser’s Ridge. This time it’s none other than Jamie’s would-be paramour, Lord John Grey (David Berry) who has made a rather considerable detour on his way to Virginia. Well, that’s the effect Jamie has on people I suppose. Moreover, Grey has his son and Jamie’s bastard, William (Oliver Finnegan) in tow. Meanwhile, an unexpected guest from last week, Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) is still at Fraser’s Ridge.
As it happens, it is Murtagh and Claire who first stumble upon young William, and take him up to the cabin, where Jamie gets to see his son for the first time in years, and Claire realises exactly who William is. Nice acting here from both Heughan and Balfe as we see their respective characters feel a variety of emotions if not exactly similar ones. As Jamie is usually adept at keeping his cards close to his chest, you know he must be in one hell of an emotional turmoil to be that obvious about how he is feeling.
Not surprisingly, William doesn’t remember Jamie from his time at Helwater, until Jamie speaks some Gaelic and William finally recalls who he is. Grey and Jamie had previously agreed to keep Jamie’s former acquaintanceship with William from him, but you suspect that Jamie may have accidentally, on purpose, given William a nudge in the memory stakes. And who can blame him.
Meanwhile, Murtagh and Grey bash heads over the matter of taxes while Claire and Jamie try to keep the peace. Then it’s Claire’s turn to butt heads with Grey when the two of them are left alone and she makes it pretty clear she’s not that happy with Grey’s visit either. Not one for hiding her feelings at the best of times, Claire doesn’t bother to conceal her antipathy towards Grey, fuelled by her jealously of his and Jamie’s friendship.
Then just as it seems as if Claire is about to have her wish come true and Grey and son are about to leave, Claire realises that Grey has contracted measles. Given that measles back then was not only highly contagious but could prove fatal, Jamie takes William, however unwillingly on William’s part, on a tour of his property to keep him out of harm’s way (or so he thinks), while Claire goes into full healer mode.
However, the patient/healer tête à tête also provides Grey and Claire the opportunity to say what they think of each other and surprisingly, for such a well-mannered English gent, Grey is just as direct as Claire this time, accusing her of being envious of the time Jamie shared with him and William, and the fact that he’s raising Jamie’s son. Claire concedes he might have a point but reminds him that she and Jamie were robbed of bringing up their own child together thanks to the vicissitudes of history. And then pulling no punches, she informs Grey that she believes his real motivation in coming to Fraser’s Ridge was so that he could see Jamie. (You think?) Particularly lovely acting by Berry in this scene, and rather touching too, especially at the end when he says to himself “So was I [born that way]” and a tear runs down his cheek, and you simply feel the pain of someone born gay in a world where it’s not permitted.
Later on, thinking he’s about to die, Grey pulls no punches himself, admitting he finds it hard to watch Claire and Jamie together, and then drops the bombshell that Jamie had offered himself to him in payment for Grey agreeing to look after his son; and even worse, from Claire’s perspective, that it was only Grey’s sense of propriety that he refused to take up Jamie’s offer.Understandably, Claire is totally taken aback by this little snippet from Jamie’s past. Claire always seemed to suspect their friendship was intimate, but it would seem their friendship went deeper than even she had feared. It probably also brought home to her how much Jamie is prepared to sacrifice for his loved ones.
Then, as if to confirm this, moments later we see Jamie ready to sacrifice his life for William, who, having been caught by a group of Cherokee in stealing their fish, seem to be intent on killing him. (The Cherokee evidently take poaching very seriously). In desperation, Jamie admits William is his son and as they share the same blood, they should shed his blood instead. William, who assumes Jamie is merely lying to protect him, tells the Cherokee that Jamie isn’t his father and that he should be the one who is punished, thus proving he is a chip of the old block when it comes to bravery. The Cherokee, impressed by William’s courage, show mercy and only scratch William with their axe. (Thus showing that, on this occasion at least, Cherokee justice was a lot more merciful than the Georgian variety).
By the end of the episode, however, Grey and Claire are reconciled, having both admitted a few home truths as are Jamie and William, when it turns out part of William’s anger towards Jamie was his memory of Jamie riding off from Helwater, him running after Jamie and Jamie not looking back at him. When he realises Jamie did it to protect him, he can’t help but smile.
The episode ends with Jamie and Claire getting close in the way they do best – steamy sex with Jamie winning even more fantasy male points (I think the current score is 6,345,567,812) when he bathes Claire, gives her a new silver wedding ring he has made on the sly and lifts her from the bath and takes her to bed. (Well, if nothing else, it gives a new meaning to the phrase “wet patch”). Then the foreplay starts, initiated by Jamie of course (fantasy male score just gone up a few more points then) and as Claire melts under his kisses (who can blame her?) the screen fades to black, leaving us poor viewers to imagine what happens next.
All in all, it was a nice little episode. I really like David Berry’s portrayal of Grey: he has the role of the decent English gentleman down to a tee, and though as a rival for Jamie’s affections I thought I’d take against him, you can’t help liking him and feeling sorry for him.
It’s also interesting to see Claire so jealous despite knowing how much Jamie loves her and the minor technicality that he is not gay. Humans, even fictional ones, it would seem, are brilliant at letting their insecurities eat away at them. As for Jamie, we get yet another glimpse of the pain he carries around with him at having to forego a life as a father to his children.
One also suspects that the regulator issue is about to explode and may put Murtagh and Jamie’s friendship to the test very soon. As for next week, I can’t wait to see who the next unexpected guest is. Presumably we have to wait a while till Brianna turns up (I’m guessing she will at some point) or Roger in de rigueur 18th century brown knitwear. Fingers crossed though it’s not bloody Laoghaire or Jamie and Claire will seriously have to rethink where they are living.
Thanks to @sarsketches for the wonderful illustration.
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