Last week, Outlander ended with Brianna, Roger, Jemmy, and Mandy returning to their time through the stones in order to seek medical care for Mandy’s heart. We also saw a fiery explosion at Fraser’s Ridge after Wendigo arrived demanding gemstones and answers from Claire and Jamie. Let’s jump in to what happened in “Death Be Not Proud.”
Roger and Brianna Receive a Gift
Back in their time, Roger and Brianna receive a delivery at Roger’s old home. Mandy’s condition has much improved so Fiona sees to the children outside while they investigate the ancient wooden box with the engraving “Jeremiah Alexander Ian Fraser Mackenzie”. Inside the box are letters from both Claire and Jamie to Brianna written over an unknown time span. The first they open is from April 1776 which reveals the new fire that occurs on the ridge and with the survival of Claire and Jamie, Brianna realizes that they did in fact change history and save her parents.
A Fire on Fraser’s Ridge
Upon Wendigo striking the match in the surgery after bottles of ether are smashed, Jamie and Claire make a run for it. Wendigo bends down and ignites the liquid causing an explosion in the surgery which Jamie and Claire dive from the porch to survive. Ian runs for help and everyone quickly begins filling buckets with water to quell the flames. Jamie and Claire realize the house is lost when the flames spread to the main house and ultimately have to wait for the fire to burn out. In the morning, they sift through what’s left of the wreckage. Claire finds an old medical journal with illustrations. Jamie finds a trunk with some clothes intact which Ian uncovers the partially burned portrait of William. Ian is no fool and lets on that he knows that William is Jamie’s, but swears not to say a word to anyone.
Meanwhile, Lizzie offers Claire some clothing and food in the barn and Josiah offers to help move their recovered belongings to Brianna and Roger’s old cabin. Claire thanks them for the offered help clearly emotional from the loss of the house.
That night outside the burned house, Jamie and Ian track Mr. Bug who is clearly digging for the remaining bars of gold. Ian circles around and when the shovel hits the box, Jamie announces himself and tells Mr. Bug to step back. Mr. Bug whirls to fire at Jamie and Ian quickly looses an arrow. When the approach, they find that it was Mrs. Bug digging up the gold, not Mr. Bug. To both their horror, she’s dressed as her husband and dies from the arrow in moments.
Still perplexed why the Bugs chose to bury the gold at their house, Claire and Jamie prepare to lay Mrs. Bug to rest. During the funeral procession, Mr. Bug arrives to join them and Jamie moves aside. Mr. Bug asks Claire to sing and she agrees, singing “Ave Maria”. Mr. Bug places a pin on his wife before she’s buried and cries as she’s lowered into the ground. Ian approaches him after the ceremony and offers Mr. Bug his own life in payment for Mrs. Bug’s. He tells Ian that’s too easy and asks for the life of Ian’s dog who, of course, refuses. Mr. Bug tells Ian he’ll wait until Ian has something worth taking, worth losing before he appears again but threatens that he will take something from Ian before storming away.
A New Journey Ahead
Early in the morning, Jamie wakes Claire and tells her that he had another dream of the future. This time he saw Brianna and her family. He describes everything to Claire saying that Jemmy and Mandy both looked older. Roger and Brianna arrived on the doorstep of some great house and was welcomed in by a brown haired woman Roger called Fiona. Claire begins to realize there may be more to his dreams than they think as he tells her that he saw Jemmy pick up a rounded object and hold a piece to his ear. He asked to speak to his granda. Claire tells him it’s called a telephone and laments that they cannot call them.
Standing together on a cliff overlooking the water and a distant clearing, Jamie points out the patch of land telling Claire he had the idea to build the new house there. She agrees but before they commit to living in it, Jamie wants to return to Scotland to take Ian home. He promised his sister to return him, and with the impending war he wants to do it now rather than risk losing Ian during the conflict. Claire understands and agrees to the voyage though she makes him promise they will return to Fraser’s Ridge. He agrees.
With the gold now in their possession, they melt down several bars into smaller pellets to make the gold tradable. The rest he plans to stash away. He and Claire head into the woods with the box of remaining gold bars and Jamie shows her a hidden cave that he and Jemmy once found while hunting. Neither of them told anyone about the cave, but inside it is the skeleton of a Spaniard that initially startled Jamie. The memory of Jemmy finding it funny leaves Jamie hoping he’ll find the cave very memorable.
A Letter to the Future
In another letter to Brianna, Claire tells her they plan to travel to Scotland, that the men on the ridge will look after the place, and that they’ve asked the Beardsleys to look after the new house’s site. Jamie closes this letter with a cryptic story of their storing away some “property” held by the Camerons for an Italian gentleman. He tells Brianna and Roger, who are reading the letter, that Jemmy knows where to find the property if ever they have need of it. They just have to ask Jemmy about the Spaniard guarding it.
In their time, Roger speculates that it could very well be the lost Jacobite treasure that was never recovered. Brianna also thinks it likely but says though they are curious they don’t need it. Instead, she asks him to go with her to a special place. Brianna takes Roger to see Lallybroch. It’s boarded up so they only peek instead through the cracks, but take a seat on the steps and simply spend some time there. Roger notes how Brianna keeps looking to the gateway as if expecting Claire or Jamie to appear and she admits she is. It’s that moment that a car arrives and they both agree it’s time to go.
Roger apologizes the woman who gets out of the car, but she only asks if they are interested. From the nearby brush, she picks up a fallen for sale sign. Though they were just talking about how much they miss Claire and Jamie, they are suddenly faced with a new opportunity in their own time.
The Journey Begins
Ian, Jamie, and Claire begin their journey to Scotland but at the edge of Fraser Ridge Claire hears a distinct meowing and jumps from her horse. In the brush she finds Adso who has been missing since the fire. She kisses him and tells him to hunt lots of birds then head home to the warm fire with Lizzie. Seeing the cat and then finding the post Jamie first put in the ground when they arrived on the ridge is too much and Claire begins crying. Jamie comforts her and promises they will return one day. Though she’s crying she tells him he is more than enough and they share a kiss.
Outlander airs Fridays on STARZ at 8 p.m. ET and is available on the STARZ app beginning at midnight.
