Outlander Recap and Reflection! “Lallybroch”

Recap – Episode #112 “Lallybroch”

Well, here’s the day Jamie has been dreading and hoping for – a return to Lallybroch. As an outlaw from the English, Jamie couldn’t stay at home, but now that the Duke of Sandringham should be clearing his name, it’s time for Jamie to return and face his failure (as he sees it). The last time he was home, his sister was being beaten and nearly raped by Black Jack Randall and he couldn’t stop it.

On the journey, Claire and Jamie really get to know each other now that they have no secrets. Jamie confesses something else that’s been torturing him — a rumor that Black Jack impregnated Jenny on that fateful day. So while Jamie wants to return home, he kind of dreads it.

They arrive at a picturesque, tidy house in a valley. Jamie can’t quite erase the echoes of that ugly day as they walk through the courtyard. A very pregnant Jenny is happy to see her brother though she scolds him for not sending any word over the past 4 years. She introduces him to her 3 year-old boy, Wee Jamie.

Instead of being happy to meet his adorable nephew, Jamie gets flustered since he believes Jenny named Black Jack’s bastard after him to remind Jamie of his mistake. Insulted, Jamie starts to accuse Jenny of being a whore for Black Jack and for another man since she’s pregnant.

Jenny is too furious to reply, but thankfully, Jenny’s husband, Ian Murray (a childhood friend of Jamie’s) breaks the tension between the feuding siblings. Ah! So Jenny is not a trollop after all!

Jamie is still puzzled by what happened that day with Black Jack so Jenny tells him the story. She and Black Jack went inside the house, but he had issues, um performing. Jenny started to laugh and that put him off his game so he knocked her unconscious. When she awoke, he was gone.

So now Jamie is laird of this great estate and he tries to jump into life as the lord of the manner. He asks for fewer public contradictions from out-spoken Claire and they take over his parent’s bedroom. Jamie reminisces about his father as he fingers his father’s old Viking sword. The last time he saw his father was just before he went to see Black Jack on the eve of his second whipping. Black Jack offered Jamie a deal – get whipped or be Jack’s boy toy. Ahhh!!! That explains his delight at seeing Jamie when he rescued Claire at Fort William! Jamie decided on the whipping where his father had a heart attack and died.

But now Jamie is Lord Broch Turach so he’s acting as the big man on the quarter day – when the tenants come to pay the rent. It’s been a tough year for Lallybroch so Jenny is looking forward to the cash flow, but then Jamie decides to be benevolent and gives people back the money.

Claire notices that one of the tenants is beating up on his boy, Rabbie McNabb. She deflects the boy’s current beating and talks Jamie into creating a more long-term plan. After a few drinks, a drunk Jamie returns to Claire at bedtime to tell her he’s had a drink, a word and a fist with Mr. McNabb. Rabbie should be safe.

The next day Jenny is peeved since they have no rent money and McNabb took insult to Jamie’s meddling and has left Rabbie for them to take care of. Grr! She had been working on getting Rabbie’s relatives to take care of the boy and now Lallybroch has another mouth to feed.

If that wasn’t enough, the mill isn’t working properly so Jamie’s breakfast is ruined with grainy bread. He decides to head to the mill and fix the wheel himself. The water wheel is caught on something so Jamie strips down to his shirt and dives into the water. While he’s in the water, Jenny runs up because the English are in the area. Uh oh! While the Duke is working to clear Jamie’s name, he hasn’t accomplished the deed yet so Jamie’s still a wanted man.

Jenny grabs Claire and they sit down on top of Jamie’s clothes and Jenny does all the talking with the troops. She says they can’t give them food since the mill isn’t working. Unfortunately, one of the troops is an expert and decides to go fix the wheel. He comes to the same conclusion as Jamie and prepares to dive in – right where Jamie is hiding underwater!

As the redcoat starts to strip, the wheel starts to turn and Jamie’s shirt is stuck to the wheel giving an excuse as to why the wheel was stuck. Crisis averted and the English move on!

Jamie, now au natural, wants Jenny to leave so he can get out. She’s shocked as she gets her first look at the impressive scars on his back (He’s mpressive all-around, really…). The sight is too much for Jenny and she runs off.

Claire and Ian get a chance to commiserate with married life to a stubborn and passionate Fraser. Ian’s key to living with a Frasier is to basically fight fire with fire. With that in mind, Claire decides to verbally flail Jamie for not being himself and not mending fences with Jenny.

The next day, Jamie visits his father’s grave and Jenny comes to have a heart to heart. Jamie starts off by making amends for his decisions as laird and he knows he should consult her in the future. Jenny is feeling awful since she sort of blamed Jamie for their dad’s death since Jamie must’ve done something to get whipped. But now that she’s seen how nasty the scars are, she now feels that Black Jack took out his embarrassment for his lack of performance at her rape on Jamie’s back. The two finally start to break through their stubbornness and bond again.

Welcome home, Jamie!

Reflection – what did we think?

Erica: An episode that proves Jamie is, after all, just a man…lol! I loved the fact that Jamie really doesn’t know everything. He was wrong about Wee Jamie, he was wrong about what Jenny’s been up to, he isn’t exactly a natural laird right now.

Alicia:That’s what is great about this story. The hero/heroine is just as fallible as everyone else and can’t automatically do everything perfectly. I like how human they all are, how flawed.

Erica: I was definitely startled, by, um, some of the imagery this episode! Jenny’s scene with Black Jack was a shocker in so many ways! Very well played by Laura and Tobias.

Alicia: That scene between Jenny and Black Jack was well played indeed. And I think she’s got some spunk in her. She definitely has a temper and stubborn streak like Jamie. Their scene at the gravesite was well done, IMHO.

Erica: I still want to see more fight in Jenny Fraser. She really should be Jamie’s equal in many ways so I’m curious to see if that comes out in the next episodes.

Alicia:I’m looking forward to some more Jenny/Claire moments. There are going to be some claws and fur flying. You can already tell 😀

Alicia:I’d like to see some more “day to day” at Lallybroch. I know there’s so much to cover, but it’d be nice to have a montage or something where it shows them all in the day to day just to give viewers an idea of what running an Estate like that means.

Erica: I think they did more of that slice of life stuff in the first half to establish eighteenth century Scotland. Right now, there’s a whole lot of story to get through in the remaining (gulp!) four episodes. Can’t wait!

—–BOOK READERS DISCUSSION – (Spoiler Alert!!)———————————

Alicia:I will say that is not how I saw Lallybroch, but I like having this visual. I think I pictured it closer to the mountains and not quite so large. It’s beautifully situated.

Erica: Agreed. The setting is gorgeous, but I pictured it more stone-laden. It’s actually a lot more grand inside than I expected as well.

Erica: Nice switch to have Jenny come to the mill to warn Jamie instead of Mrs.McNabb. It gives Jenny a chance to be smart and protective and a little sly.

Alicia:So true. The changes they’ve been making are pretty smart for the story in general and for the most part I’ve been quite pleased with them. They haven’t changed the essentials of the story at all and that’s the most important thing.

—–END OF BOOK READER DISCUSSION ——————————————————

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