Outlander – S4E9 – The Birds and the Bees

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Previously on Outlander, “Wilmington”

That’s quite a jaunty theme song considering what we’re about to deal with. Brianna finally made it back to her room and the shock is about to set in. There is nothing fun about this story: she’s shaking, covered in welts, and flinches even when Lizzie touches her. Sweet Lizzie is trying her best to be supportive even though all Brianna wants to do is sob silently into her pillow and forget the “happiest day of her life”.

The next morning Roger comes looking for her at her inn; he finds Captain Bonnet instead, who reminds him under friendly threat of cutting off an arm that he’s still part of the crew and they’ll be shipping off as soon as he’s done with his full English. Roger clearly has no idea what’s transpired the night before, and doesn’t even know if Brianna is looking for him or if she’s already over him. But he does know that Bonnet’s a crazy person and he’s already in so far over his head with this guy. He leaves word for Brianna—he literally tells the innkeeper to tell her he was there, as if that conveys anything at all—and then gets hustled out the door and on his way to Philadelphia.

Bri sleeps past noon, and would stay in bed for days if Lizzie has anything to do with it. But she’s a woman on a mission, and even if everything else in her life has gone to complete shit in the last 24 hours, she can at least save her mom and Jamie. Passing through the dining room she gets Roger’s message, but her long morning in bed means she missed the boat. I guess she’s not mad at Roger anymore, but in all the wedding excitement yesterday did he even have time to tell her he was a sailor on a route? Or does she now think that he’s still mad and stormed off to sea?

Lizzie has got some exciting albeit long-winded news: a crazy Scots-wife cut a man open at the theater last night! Bri knows enough to know that sounds just like her mama, and if that was only the night before, they’ve got to still be nearby. It only takes a few directions before Brianna finds herself face-to-back with a tall redheaded man pissing a wall at the end of an alley. I hope to God this is not how she always pictured meeting her dad. She and Jamie pass each other and exchange words, but it’s not until he turns around and really looks into her face that he realizes who he’s talking to. Also, she says she’s his daughter, so that probably tipped him off. They cry, they hug, they exchange lovely words, he touches her face with the hands that were just touching his penis. It’s…as sweet a reunion as it can be with someone who traveled across time and space to meet her father who may or may not have urine on his hands.

Claire, though, that’s a different story. She walks out of a store to see Jamie and Brianna sitting on a bench together, and it’s actually a really beautiful series of expressions that cross her face as she realizes what is going on. I mean, when she said goodbye to Brianna in the 20th century, she knew that she was never going to see her daughter again. And now, to have her here, to be with Jamie and Brianna at the same time? She probably never even dared to dream.

Bri wastes no time in quashing the moment with news of their impending death, and before she knows it she’s met cousin Ian, and the family (and Lizzie) are on their way to Fraser’s Ridge. They’re taking the same raft and the same route that they took last time, which seems like a good way to tempt fate, but maybe it’s the only way home. At least we know Bonnet’s already on a boat to Philly and won’t be bothering them this time around. Below deck, Brianna spills almost all of the details of the night before, from the trip to the handfasting to the big fight and how Roger has gone back to Scotland to go through the stones. She stops short of the rape, though, and later when Young Ian is recounting their disastrous first trip she realizes that Stephen Bonnet is one and the same, the Fraser family curse.

Murtaugh is holding down the Fraser fort, and it’s hard to believe ALL of that stuff happened just the night before. He gets to meet Bri, makes a little time travel joke, and regales them all with embarrassing Jamie stories around family dinner that night. It doesn’t take much time or effort for Brianna to fit right into the rhythm of the idyllic frontier lifestyle, but her smiles never seem to reach her eyes. She’s obviously still shaken, either about Roger or about Bonnet, probably both. Jamie takes her bee hunting, which is really just a ruse to spend time alone with her and finally beat Frank for that Dad of the Year trophy. Just kidding—now that Jamie has both Claire and Brianna, he generously holds no grudges towards Frank.

It’s Claire who finally gets Brianna to open up to her, although she does it more by guessing at how pregnant her daughter is than actually getting her to say anything. She makes short work of Bri’s defenses, and Bri is so relieved to have it out in the open that she tells Claire the whole story: the rape, the pregnancy, how Roger pulled out, but her attacker didn’t. It’s devastating for both of them, but the next day Claire discovers the ring that Brianna rescued from Bonnet and finds out the whole whole story and why Brianna didn’t tell her about Bonnet. If you think Claire feels guilty about Brianna saving her ring, Jamie’s going to be destroyed that both his wife and his daughter (and that guy who got his throat slit) have been attacked by a guy he should have killed in the first place.

Roger’s naval career is finally over, and as soon as he can cash his check he’s heading south. It feels unfortunate that Bonnet knows exactly where he’s going, but I’m sure that won’t come back to bite Roger in the ass later on. In lieu of actual money, he asks to be paid in one or two of Bonnet’s tiny gemstones—he’ll need them to go back through the stones, but Bonnet only gives him one tiny sliver of a ruby. Does that mean he’ll be going back alone?

He’s made his way back to North Carolina and is practically knocking on the doorstep of Fraser’s Ridge when he’s spotted by Lizzie and Ian. In a case of hilarious mistaken identity, Lizzie points him out to Jamie as Brianna’s rapist, and Jamie beats the ever loving shit out of Roger’s face. Okay, maybe it’s not that hilarious, and it’s only because someone comes down the path that he doesn’t beat Roger to death.