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    Jamie Beats Claire in "The Reckoning": Outlander Season 1, Episode 9 Review



    After six months of waiting, Outlander is finally back with its ninth episode called “The Reckoning.”  The first half of the season is filled with drama and romance for Claire Beauchamp who travelled back in time to 1743 Scotland and encountered another love. After leaving us with a huge cliff-hanger last year, the show has been greatly missed and its return is much highly-anticipated. Well, here are some of the highlights in the latest episode of Outlander: 

    The rescue. The eight episode left off with a scene of Black Jack Randall almost raping Claire, but was interrupted by Jamie’s sudden arrival. In “The Reckoning,” there is a flash back as to how Jamie and the crew came to save her. In accomplishing her wish to touch the standing stones of Craigh na Dun, Claire is instead kidnapped by the Redcoats, led by Randall of course, and taken to Fort Williams. Jamie learns about the abduction from a Mr. Horrocks. In order to prevent killing anyone and raising conflict with the Redcoats, Jamie and his men raid the Fort with unloaded guns. This action turns out to be a good bluff for Randall. In the end, the crew rescues Claire with a huge explosion in the Fort. 


    First fight. As Jamie puts it, Claire’s action has put all men in jeopardy. Opposed to the order of remaining with her guard, Claire evades and is consequently caught by the Redcoats. Though the operation is successful, Jamie is pissed off that Claire did not obey her order. Claire, being the outspoken and hard-headed woman from another place and time, justifies herself and the arguments turn bitter and heated. Though they have insulted each other more than they meant, they reconcile. But nah, the fight does not end there. Later, in order to assure that Claire will not really disobey him again, Jamie beats her with his belt in accordance to their custom. Claire is not happy with this sadistic and Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-like method and this led to conflict between them. 

    Return to Castle Leoch. After the incident, the team returns to Castle Leoch. As the people already heard about the wedding in advance, Jamie and his men are greeted with a huge party. But Colum McKenzie, laird of the castle, is not too pleased with the idea that his successor has married a Sassenach or outlander.

    Warring brothers. The McKenzie brothers, always at odds with each other, have openly expressed their feud against each other. Colum learns about the effort to raise fund for the Jacobite army behind his back and he takes the collected gold coins away. Angry, Dougal lashes out at him and even reveals to Jamie and Ned Gowan that Colum’s son Hamish is his child. But at the end, through Jamie’s advise, the brothers reach a certain compromise.



    Renewed vow. Desperate to make amends with Claire, Jamie swears another vow to her, this time with his knife as the witness. Though Claire is quite unsure about what to do, her feelings toward him gets the better of her. And yes, the two ends up with some hot steamy roll on the floor (beware Game of Thrones!). Later, Jamie asks her about what she meant with “fucking bastard” and “sadist,” words which are not spoken in his time. Claire answers him, but still keeps secret about her true story.

    The ill wish. Before the show ended, Claire finds a strange bundle of branches and leaves under their bed. According to Jamie, it is an ill wish and it can even mean death. Jamie can think of only one person to do it – Laoghaire, the distraught virgin who he cannot never love. 

    FINAL THOUGHTS. The ninth episode of Outlander is truly a great come back. It is full of actions, story lines and nudities. It is very exciting and contrary to most previous episodes, it is fast-paced. I hope the incoming episodes will be as thrilling as this and not take on a sluggish turn. There are several things I really look forward to, such as Black Jack Randall’s counteraction against Jamie and Claire. He is a cunning and vengeful man so I am really curious as to how he will respond to the raid’s success. Also, up to what extend will Laoghaire do to destroy Jamie’s and Claire’s romance? A bitter person can only do so much. Lastly, what happen to Frank, Claire’s future husband? Has he totally forgotten about her? I have not read Gabaldon’s books so I am very clueless as to what events to expect. Hopefully, some of these questions will be addressed in the upcoming tenth episode.

     


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