Oh look, it’s an episode ofOutlanderthat’s actually full of emotion, drama, and pathos.
It’s still pretty short on much forward-moving plot.
But for now, we’ll take what we can get.
Credit: Mark Mainz/Starz
We pick up where we left off last week with Claire attempting to grow penicillin.
But so far, her experiments aren’t panning out.
Jamie returns home, thanking the lord for the sight of a sleeping Claire.
So without delay, preparations are underway.
Jamie is sending Fergus off to print a dozen broadsheets to pass out to help with recruitment.
Before long, they’re all saying goodbye to those they’re leaving behind on the Ridge.
The plan is to travel to Brownsville first.
Claire gives Marsali advice on keeping her studies up while she’s away.
And I say that as someone who namesGone with the Windher favorite movie.
Once on the road, Jamie decides it’s a good time to drop some bad news on Claire.
He tells her Stephen Bonnet is alive and there have been confirmed sightings of him in Wilmington.
While making camp in the woods, the men chase down a thief who stole food from their stores.
They think it’s Josiah Beardsley, but he doesn’t have the thief brand on his right hand.
As part of his bargain with Josiah, Jamie demands the truth.
Josiah tells their sad talethey were indentured to a man who lives not far from here.
The two sign, as Kezzy asks for more food.
Kezzy can, however, read lips.
Jamie wants Claire to cut the brand off Jo’s hand to give him a true fresh start.
Claire goes to investigate the barn, while Jamie approaches the house.
A goat startles him, but then he sees a woman in the broken window.
She tries to scare him off, saying her husband is dead and yelling at him to go away.
Jamie persists, saying he wants the boys' indenture papers and he needs them as a fail-safe.
There’s tally marks on the doorframe, tracking something?
The place smells badly enough to make Claire cover her mouth with a kerchief.
And a goat behind a bolted door gives them a scare.
Run y’alland whatever you do, don’t go upstairs.
Of course, no one ever listens to that advice.
Claire goes upstairs (why girl?)
Claire calls Jamie up to her as she surveys the scene, guessing that Beardsley suffered a stroke/apoplexy.
Mrs. Beardsley has been feeding the man just enough to keep him alive in a state of misery.
They confront Mrs. Beardsley, and she explains that her husband chased her in a rage and struck her.
She was unable to move him.
Meanwhile, back with Jamie’s men, Roger is trying to muster more troops.
Not to mention, he promises he’ll return them home safe.
Oh Roger, how have you not learned to not make promises you might’t possibly keep?
At the Beardsleys, Claire has moved the husband downstairs to examine him.
He’s in a ghastly state, maggots crawling through his wounds and he’s covered in bed sores.
Not to mention, his feet have been burned over and over.
The woman lets them heal and then does it again.
Surveying the scene, Claire needs to amputate his gangrenous leg.
They’re interrupted by Mrs. Beardsley who tries to strangle her husband with a rope.
She wants him to die, not be saved by Claire.
As they struggle, her water breaks because surprise!she’s pregnant.
Claire helps her deliver a healthy baby, a girl, who is ready for surprise number twoalso half-black.
She’s the fifth wife; the other four are buried under the rowan tree in the woods.
She sees their ghostsMr.
Beardsley killed them all and would’ve killed her too.
He beat them all, including Josiah and Keziah, terribly.
Later that night, Claire and Jamie have a heart-to-heart about if Claire should stay with Mr. Beardsley.
Jamie argues, insisting they’d be safer, but without their family.
But now it leaves the question of what to do with Mr. Beardsley.
Jamie suggests the same solution and mercy he’d offer a dog.
He sends Claire outside, returning to the blinking method of communication.
He explains the man’s situation and asks if Beardsley wants him to take his life.
But Beardsley refuses to pray for forgiveness, not acknowledging what Jamie calls his wickedness.
So Jamie instead prays for him and then dispatches with Beardsley by shooting him in the head.
Claire promises Jenny would’ve told him the truth if it were so.
So, that’s that.
