Well, Sassenachs, it’s time for me to throw a hissy fit.
We’ve arrived at my least favorite moment in the entireOutlanderbooks, when Jamie gets bit by a snake.
At first, things seem good on the Ridge.
Credit: Aimee Spinks/Starz
Meanwhile, Roger and Bree are having a lazy morning in bed.
She declines, wanting to dye cloth with Claire and insists Jamie take Roger.
But while Jamie is taking a shot at the herd, he gets bit by a snake.
Aimee Spinks/Starz
Don’t worry, he hacks his head off with a knife.
Roger works quickly to venture to fix things, slicing Jamie’s leg and sucking the venom out.
While dyeing cloth, Claire and Bree have a heart-to-heart about their dream careers and finding their purpose.
Mark Mainz/Starz
She reassures Bree that she will find a way to become an engineer in this world.
Both Bree and Roger will find their purpose, Claire is certain.
But they’re already back at the Ridge and disturbed to discover that Roger and Jamie have not returned.
Roger returns to Jamie, who has made a meal of the snake.
Fair is fair, as he says.
But Jamie’s wound looks majorly inflamed and infected.
So Jamie asks that he at least say a prayer for the sick.
Jamie also has a deathbed request for Roger.
Roger must complete Jamie’s mission to kill Stephen Bonnet.
He explains the plan they’ve set in motion using the whisky and Philip Wylie.
Jamie regrets saving Bonnet’s life only to watch him murder his friend and attack both Claire and Bree.
He fears this death is his penance, and now Roger must pay for his sins.
Bonnet’s crimes are unforgivable, and they need to rid this Earth of him.
Finally, Jamie admits that he’s glad Roger returned to the family.
He steadfastly refuses to accept Jamie could die.
The next morning Ian is perturbed to find Jamie’s horse with no rider has returned.
Roger finally is scared enough to pray over Jamie and resumes his attempts to drag him home.
They find him and get Jamie on a horse to get him home.
Claire sends Marsali and the other settlers out to find maggots to eat the dead flesh and fight infection.
It’s a good sign that Jamie has stopped vomiting, but she fears gangrene.
Claire sends Bree out to hunt for maggots and sits at Jamie’s bedside.
He says he knows he should be scared since Claire is being tender instead of scolding him.
So, she gives him some signature attitude, calling him a fool for stepping on a snake.
Later, he grabs her saw and makes her promise she won’t take his leg.
In his eyes, there is no real choice here, so he’s made his.
He’d rather die.
Bree, remind me why you don’t just want to go back to the future?
Eventually, Josiah finds some maggots, and they put them on Jamie’s wound to treat him.
Claire thinks the infection is too deep for the maggots to help now, though.
She needs a way to get penicillin in Jamie’s bloodstream.
While hanging laundry, Lizzie is terrified by a wounded bison who seems to be heading straight for Jem.
The Ridge chops up the dead animal for food.
They’re still the same people.
Fergus reminds Ian all they can do is be there for Jamie as he has been for them.
Jamie calls out to Claire in the middle of the night and asks her to touch him.
She begs him to stay with her, and after what seems an eternity, he breathes again.
The next morning he tells her she can take his leg.
At the cabin, Roger shows Bree the snake head he kept.
As he’s about to throw it into the fire, Bree is struck with inspiration.
Gathering plants on the Ridge, Marsali suddenly goes into labor.
Fergus says he’ll go fetch Claire.
But she insists there’s no time.
Jamie asks Ian to take his leg and bury it when everything is done.
Ian apologizes for what he said, but Jamie says he was right.
Ian gives Jamie a cloth to bite down on, while Claire prepares her knife with shaking hands.
But Bree rushes in just in the nick of time.
Claire is able to now inject penicillin and avoid amputation.
Later, Claire goes to meet Marsali and Fergus' baby, a girl Felicity.
Jamie awakes to find Roger at his bedside.
Roger gloats over being right that Jamie didn’t die, refusing to pass up the opportunity.
Later, Jamie and Claire have a heart-to-heart, and he admits he was ready to die.
He could feel himself slipping away, and he saw a passageway to go through.
He wanted to, and he knew it was his choice to live or die.
Because of her, he chose to say.
He says it’s because she needs him.
