That’s right, folks, Ian Murray, formerly goofy nephew, has returned.
Claire intubates him, and his eyes flicker open to see Bree.
Three months later, however, all is not well.
Medically, Roger is in good shape.
His throat is healing nicely and his scars from the rope are healing.
Claire and Bree urge him to venture to speak, but he refuses.
Claire identifies it as what she once called war neurosis or shell shock.
Bree fears Roger is lost to her forever, drowning in silence and a thousand-yard stare.
Jamie sees her off with a tearful goodbye, and he loses himself in his own memories and tears.
Bree is mad they’re trying to buy her forgiveness.
She doesn’t want land, just her husband back.
It’s a metaphor for trying to find their place in the world more broadly.
He tenderly teaches her how to use it, while reminding Bree to have patience.
Jem goes to touch a burning hot kettle, and Roger cries out, protecting him.
Jem starts to cry, but Bree is overjoyed that Roger spoke and urges him to say more.
He can’t and walks away looking overwhelmed.
Claire and Jamie play hide-and-seek in the woods when a wild boar starts to attack.
He’s fully assimilated into the Mohawk now with tattoos, a shaved head, feathers, and more.
For those hoping Ian’s arrival might finally bring Roger to speak, no such luck.
The two stare at each other, and a lot passes between them without words.
Ian did, after all, sacrifice himself in Roger’s place.
But all they can manage is a silent embrace.
Ian seems quite changed, insisting on butchering the boar himself and begging to stay outside.
Marsali is reading tarot cards for herself and Roger.
Things go dreadfully wrong when Marsali draws the Hanged Man card.
It triggers another PTSD episode for Roger.
She needs him now to fight for them in return.
Everyone welcomes Ian back with a large meal at the big house.
Conversation turns to Tyron’s land grant, which they need to survey.
Jamie suggests Ian and Roger go do it together, which Ian looks less than thrilled about.
Similarly, Ian can’t face sleeping inside, and Jamie wakes to find him sleeping on the deck.
He doesn’t have the words.
But all the talk of children and family only seems to sadden Ian more.
But she wants the strength of a 60-year marriage, reminding Roger she loves him.
Roger and Ian find an uneasy rhythm with each other, surveying the land.
Roger questioningly touches a bracelet on Ian’s arm, but he shakes him off.
Ian dwells on his memories of talking to the birds when he could not understand the Mohawk.
They both still seem haunted by nightmares, waking and sleeping alike.
In the middle of the night, Claire worries to Jamie that Roger might want to come home.
Roger stands on the edge of a cliff, and it seems as if he might jump.
This memory makes him throw the paper plane from the cliff and step away from its edge.
The next morning Roger wakes to find Rollo tied to a post and whining with no sign of Ian.
It turns out Ian is the one who stole the hemlock.
He prepares for his death in the woods, burying his tomahawk and cooking the hemlock over a fire.
But Roger storms in and kicks the pot away.
Roger has a wife and child, so he has something worth living for, Ian accuses.
Ian finally pushes him to speak, demanding to know what Roger saw when he was dying.
Ian touches his bracelet, and we see that is his link to his lost wife.
Roger asks if she died, and Ian says no, but she’s lost to him.
Roger admits he did, but now he has to fight again, as should Ian.
Roger comes home to Bree and whispers her name, leaving her at a loss for words.
He confesses that a part of him died the day he was hanged.
Bree reminds him that she, of all people, knows how that feels.
He says that everyone wants the old Roger back, but he’ll never be that man again.
He once taught history and now he’s living it.
He wonders if he wasn’t meant to exist since his own ancestor tried to kill him.
Bree assures him that’s not true.
It mattered what the last face he saw wasand it was Brianna’s.
He pledges to sing for her no matter what, even if his voice isn’t able.
