Wow, I was going to get on here and be all like, Claire’s alive, hooray! because even though that was a given, it is still something to celebrate. But then Outlander had to go and give us the death of a major character anyway. A death so brutal the loss will reverberate through the rest of the series. A death so heartbreaking, reader, I sobbed my face off. Rollo is dead. The sweetest, goodest boy there ever was is dead!! And to make that dog’s death even more gutting, it happens the morning after Rachel tells Ian she’s pregnant and the two decide to ditch the war effort and move back to Fraser’s Ridge in North Carolina with Jamie and Claire. “He waited, I think, until he knew you were here for me,” Ian says through tears to Rachel. He was taking care of Ian until the very end! Rollo! Outlander really loves to kick us when we’re down, huh?
Fine, it is nice that Jamie and Claire will be headed back to the Ridge and will have Ian and Rachel and their future progeny with them. Unbeknownst to our Mom and Dad, they’ll have even more family to tend to on the homestead in the near future: Bree, Jem, and Mandy make it through the stones and reunite with Roger (and Buck) at Lallybroch, where Bree and Roger decide not to return in 1980 and instead, return to Claire and Jamie’s time. Travel of both the time and trans-Atlantic varieties is never without obstacles on this show, so let’s assume these two face some issues getting home, but still, it will admittedly be nice to have the Frasers back together (for the love of god, tell me Marsali and Fergus will appear in season eight). It’ll also be sweet to watch Bree tell Jamie about meeting his father. The scene shared between granddaughter and her unknowing grandfather was gorgeous and a perfect pitch for that Outlander prequel in the works. If you thought Jamie loved Claire, just wait until you listen to a grieving Brian talk about how much he loved his wife, Ellen. I was getting misty-eyed just hearing him share that he hasn’t been able to close the door on their love and move on and how he might never be able to. Now imagine watching their full love story play out on screen — I am ready, willing, and able to prequel weep.
And if Fraser’s Ridge already sounds like it’ll be buzzing once again in season eight, wait until you hear about its newest resident. We’ll get to her, but first, let’s check on Claire’s healing process.
The patient is doing great! Denny is certainly relieved. Once Claire is up walking around again, he finds her to tell her just how horrible it was to operate on someone he knows — more than knows, someone he loves. She tells him that if she ever has to operate on family, she hopes she does it as well as he did. This mentor/mentee relationship has been one of the real treats in season seven, and although there are no plans at the moment, I do hope Denny somehow winds up setting down roots in North Carolina eventually. What a dream team.
Denny isn’t the only person who has recently helped to save Claire’s life, though. We finally, mercifully, get some closure to the strange and strangely satisfying throuple mess we had going on between Claire, Jamie, and Lord John. When Lord John learns that Claire has been shot, he comes to check in on her as soon as he can. Claire seems grateful to see him and also wildly annoyed that the ding-dong version of her husband has arrived right on time to mark his territory, informing Lord John that he isn’t allowed to call Claire “my dear” and demanding to know why he’s here. Thankfully, Lord John isn’t looking to poke the bear that is Jamie’s jealousy and ego; perhaps he doesn’t feel like getting his other eye punched into his brain, just a guess. The two men don’t exactly have a friendly bit of closure, but they both agree that there’s nothing more to discuss about what happened and are moving on with it all.
Claire, however, gives us the moment this whole messy situation deserves when she calls John back to her side and takes his hand. Jamie might punch a hole in the wall, but to his credit, does not. With tears in her eyes, she apologizes to John for never properly thanking him for everything he did for her — he saved her life, she tells him. “We saved each other,” he replies. Jamie almost, almost looks as though he is starting to get some perspective on what happened, and maybe one day, he and John can get back to being old friends again. His exit from the makeshift hospital does seem to have a hint of finality to it, though. Will this be the last time Jamie and Claire actually lay eyes on Lord John Grey? Say it ain’t so!
Regardless, it’s hard to be too angry with Jamie in this episode because, once again, he remains so goddamn swoony when it comes to his wife. Outlander has given us countless examples of sweeping romantic moments between ride-or-dies Claire and Jamie, but what we get between the long-time married couple in this finale is perhaps the most romantic of all? I’m sorry, but a husband not even flinching to hold up his wife as she takes a pee post-gun shot wound is so fucking hot. I mean, I don’t for one minute buy that Dr. Claire Fraser would be embarrassed about peeing in front of her husband after all they’ve been through, but for the sake of that look she gives him before she says “It’s just, I love you,” I will suspend all disbelief. When Claire wakes up to Jamie sleeping in a chair beside her and asks him if he’s been there all night, his simple “where else would I be?” response really makes me forgive him for all the murders. I’m willing to admit that in writing, okay?! Remember when they first met and Jamie would sleep outside Claire’s door to make sure she was always safe? He’s still doing that 40-some years later. No love is like their love!
There is another reason Claire needs to know if Jamie was by her side all night, though: She has a strange dream that for a moment felt real, in which Master Raymond — yup, the mysterious (definitely time traveling) apothecary from Paris way back in season two — appears and asks her for her forgiveness. “For what?” she responds, confused. “Someday you will know,” he says. That cryptic weirdo never fails!
Since Master Raymond was with Claire during another near-death experience, when she almost died giving birth to her and Jamie’s stillborn first child, Faith, she and Jamie come to a consensus that it would make sense he might pop up in a dream. But the encounter feels more visceral than a dream, and Claire can’t shake the memories of losing Faith. Her daughter begins to show up elsewhere as the Frasers prepare to head back to the Ridge.
One night, William appears at their door. He needs Jamie’s help, and you know it is dire because that boy would not interact with Jamie unless he is desperate. It’s about Jane. Lord John discovered that Jane was being held in a nearby meetinghouse. She signed a confession stating she murdered Captain Harkness, and since they’re currently under martial law, there would be no trial — she’s set to be executed. John tries to tell his son that there’s nothing more they can do and that at least she will not be dying in vain; she did save her sister. But William has Jamie’s blood coursing through his body — there is always something more they can do. William wants to break Jane out of her jail. Of course, Jamie agrees to help because he wants nothing more than the love of his son, and while the duo makes a great little team, by the time they get to the meetinghouse, it is too late. Jane has slit her wrists — she is already dead. William refuses to leave her like that and instead fixes her body up on the bed and removes her handcuffs, laying her to rest in the most respectful way he can. Jamie cuts a lock of her hair to give to Jane’s sister.
The next morning, William brings Frances to see Jamie and Claire. The Frasers have, apparently, agreed to look after Frances — she can live with them on Fraser’s Ridge, where Jamie promises her no man will ever hurt her as long as he lives. It’s very lovely and William ruins the whole vibe by asking for another word with Jamie and once again demanding the deets on how he was conceived. Like, get an actual grip, my man!! Jamie calmly explains pretty much everything he’s already been told and also adds in some kind words about William’s mother being brave and bold and maybe that’s really all William wanted to know — that he has some good in him. Jamie also tells him that he will never regret what happened between him and Geneva as he reaches for William’s face. He doesn’t need to finish the sentence with … because it brought me you for William to understand. And just when you think the guy might be coming around on Jamie Fraser — he remembers how much he loved him as a child — he quietly assures Jamie that he will never call him father. Sam Hueghan plays this moment so well; Jamie tries to keep his composure in front of William, but you can see it in his eyes, this is a wound from which he will never heal. Anyway, William can get bent for all I care!
There’s not a ton of time to unpack that gutting moment anyway because we have to talk about Frances. Jamie and Claire bring her to see her sister’s grave and the young girl breaks down in tears. She is wracked with guilt — her sister died trying to save her life, and she refuses to leave her. Claire sits with her, making sure she knows how much Jane loved her, how none of this is her fault. She has Frances tell her about Jane and she tells Claire a story about catching dragonflies with Jane and their mother. Claire loves dragonflies, remember? And Claire hands over Jane’s belongings so Frances will always have pieces of her. One of those belongings is their mother’s locket adorned with a drawing of their mother and her name inscribed on the back: Faith. Hmm, that’s weird, isn’t it?
Later, as the Frasers pack up their wagon for the start of their journey home, Claire hears Frances singing a strangely familiar song inside. As she gets closer to the girl, it’s unmistakable, Frances is singing “I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside,” the song Claire once sang while holding Faith’s body in her hands. It’s a song that was written in 1907 so there is no way Frances could know this song. But she does. When Claire asks how, Frances says her mother used to sing it to her. Claire is reeling. In tears and utter shock, she looks over to Jamie. Was Frances and Jane’s mother … her not actually dead daughter Faith? “I think Faith lived. I think our daughter lived.”
This seems absolutely insane. First of all, even if Faith did survive birth, how did she know that song? Did Master Raymond sing it to her? Can he sing?? There are obviously lots of questions that will need to be answered in the coming eighth and final (!!) season that are more important than that (by just a hair!): Why would Master Raymond, assuming this is what he came to ask forgiveness for, want to take Faith and have Claire believe she died? What was Faith’s life like? How will Claire and Jamie process this news if it’s true? But at the moment, I have one pressing question I’ll be mulling over throughout our next droughtlander: Uhhh, if this is real, how’s William going to feel when he finds out he had sex with his niece? Honestly, I hope they never, ever tell him. That poor guy has had enough identity crises for one lifetime.
