Futurelander
The show cuts back and forth between the sixties and the day of Culloden, and at times it's very herky-jerky, so I'm going to split out the timelines until such time as the juxtaposition is actually useful (so, the end). I think for recapping purposes that'll be easier to digest.
We begin in a very lovely library in a familiar home -- specifically, Reverend Wakefield, ancestor to Jessica and Elizabeth and priestly friend of Frank Randall's. It's his house in which Claire and Frank stayed before her disappearance and after it, and he was Frank's confidante. The boy we saw frolicking around is his adopted charge, Roger, and now Rog is fully grown and ready to become somebody's love interest. That is, after he's finished throwing his father's wake, which is attended by none other than...
Greylander
... one stone fox named Claire Randall, who is working her one clumpy grey streak like she's a turn-of-the-seventies Jay Leno. Claire has come to pay her respects, and because Roger doesn't recognize her, this is the perfect way for Claire to tell us all that Frank is dead. We get NO other details of their life together; I suppose this doesn't preclude further flashbacks, though, as I'll wager Outlander as a show would be loath to lose Tobias Menzies (and Black Jack supposedly dies at Culloden, though we might get THAT in season three as well, so I could see a sort of split-episode where we are with Black Jack as he dies in battle and Frank as he dies from... I don't know. Disease, or boredom, or the agony of not being Jamie.)
Spawnlander
We also get to meet Brianna, who spends much of this episode reminding me of Camilla Luddington from Grey's Anatomy (and also this Will & Kate movie). Like Camilla, she is a Brit having to swallow her native accent to play an American. The results are spotty in both cases. Apparently in real life she has curlier hair, a la Sam, but they decided in the 60s she'd have straightened it so they re-shot her scenes with this 'do. I sort of hate that decision. I get it, but Brianna is described by a lot of people as their "feisty" daughter who is like Jamie in so many ways. So I would not have been thrown off if Bri had let her hair be what it is, something that would've given her great visual continuity with both Sam AND Cait, who are curlyheads in Scotland. VIVA LA CURL, y'all.
Anyway, Roger invites them to stay with him rather than hightail it back to London, and Bri clearly wants to stick around and sniff around Scotland and ask probing questions about her mother's past, so she agrees. So does Claire. DONE.
Avengerslander
Roger has turned on The Avengers of the assembled kids, in which the great and marvelous Diana Rigg is casually practicing fencing in her flat. I never saw this myself, so I will always love Diana Rigg primarily for two things: The Great Muppet Caper, and that version of The Worst Witch that starred Charlotte Rae and Fairuza Balk and Tim Curry. Let us all salute her fabness (and Her Fabness).
Robelander
Claire can't sleep, so she has a bolt of whiskey in the study, which lets the gleeful Outlander sound team cut in LOTS of their Crackling Fire sound effects and then turn the up to eleven. NOBODY lets a fire crackle like these people. It's to the point where every time a Scottish person opens his or her mouth in real life, I expect to hear that sound come out. Imagine Andy Murray's Wimbledon speeches that way.
Lallylander
Claire spends their two-day sojourn in Scotland prowling around her old haunts. There is a part of me that's surprised she didn't do this sooner -- like, right when she got back, even -- but I guess she was too busy grieving Jamie. Understandably. That is a LOT of loin to give up.
Anyway, this is Lallybroch, and as you can imagine it's fallen into some disrepair over the years. It's even chained shut. She pops by the local records office to see about it, and apparently it was in Jenny's family's hands for years. I kind of want Claire to buy it. I am SURE that's not how it works. Besides which I doubt people want season three of Outlander to chuck the books and turn into a Scottish ruins version of "Under the Tuscan Sun."
Ayyyyyelander
She does have a quick hallucination of Jamie, though, which is mighty pleasant. There are times when I get impatient with this show, but I will say that in moments like this -- which are not exactly unpredictable -- I do get my heartstrings pulled a little. Look at that man. It's not so hard to imagine, suddenly, the depth of how devastating it must be to walk in a world where you KNOW it is impossible for him turn up, because even if he lived, he is dead. There is a wretched loneliness in that idea.
Specslander
Claire also has some amazing driving glasses. I aspire to look like this someday. It will involve some very expensive and extensive facial transplant surgery, for starters, but after that it's just shopping.
Falklandlander
You most likely do not, but MIGHT, recognize this shot as being the village of Falkland, which we photographed on our trip to the UK in April.
Cullodenlander
Claire also pops by Culloden Moor, which we did NOT visit, sadly. She finds the Clan Fraser stone and sits down and gently greets Jamie, then tells him at length all about their daughter and their life the past two decades. All the other members of Clan Fraser were like, "Och, we don't want to hear about your virility compared to that Frank chap, James. Off for a beer at St. Peter's. Ye in?"
Bootslander
We also need to pay homage to Claire's sensible boots and great, basic trench.
Stuartlander
I have no idea of the actual Culloden visitor centre has a Bonnie Prince waxwork, but Claire sure is grumpy at this one. (It sort of looks like the actor they hired, but on the flip side, it's a lot of trouble to make a waxwork of someone, so would they really have done it just for this? On the OTHER other hand, shows go to a lot MORE trouble for less, so.) Charlie is portrayed as quite tall, which Claire refutes noisily, complaining that people have elevated a fool to godly status.
Amberlander
Claire also finds a dragonfly in amber, a token that she recognizes -- and which later the show reminds us was given to her and Jamie on their wedding day by Hugh Monroe. So she's fairly sure this means Jamie is the deadest of doornails. Which of course he is regardless, but still, I'm sure she hates imagining him dying there, exactly where she told him he would.
Fortlander
Bri, meanwhile, is getting a tour of the wild and woolly Scottish landmarks -- including what she does not realize is the site of her father's flogging at the hands of her other father's ancestor and doppelgänger. Brianna gets a chill, though, because DNA is sentient.
The two of them also discuss whether Roger remembers anything about Claire and Frank from when he knew them as a six-year old. Roger recalls only Mrs. Graham being disturbed by a temper tantrum wherein Frank destroyed their garden shed -- Bri rather woodenly expresses surprise at this -- and suggests that they go plow through the Reverend's old journals and letters looking for answers. Bri is pleased and immediately agrees. As well she should. The idea of riffling through someone's old diaries and correspondence -- especially when you are combing for dirt -- is TANTALIZING. You always say yes to dirt, and combing.
Geillislander
Another familiar face: They pass a rally held by a Gillian Edgars, who happens to share a face with Claire's old friend Geillis Duncan -- mistress and baby mama for Duncan Mackenzie, who was burnt as a witch and saved Claire's life. Gillian is giving an energetic speech about Scottish independence and the brilliance of the Bonnie Prince, and how much more self-actualized Scotland could be if Culloden had gone another way. Brianna takes one of her leaflets, chiefly, let's be honest, so that Claire can find it later.
Scooplander
Brianna then busies herself with the snooping, and it seems the Rev kept copies of all the stuff on Claire's mysterious disappearance. This, combined with some letters, tells her that Claire was with another man for three years. She does the math and figures out that Claire was already pregnant when she returned to Frank.
So she confronts Claire, essentially by telling her that she knows Claire is a cheating old bag full of cold, cold lies.
Truthlander
Claire, especially after having told the Fraser gravestone all of her family history, sees this as her glimmer of a chance to bring Jamie to Brianna. But Brianna's reaction is basically... exactly what yours would be if your mother said, "So, your real father is a Highlander that I knew when I walked through a stone and ended up in the 1700s for a couple years, where I had the best sex of my life but my dental care took a real hit."
Somewhere in the midst of this squabble, Claire discovers the pamphlet with Gillian's face on it. She recalls Geillis whispering, "1968," the day she was executed, and realizes "Gillian" is Geillis from BEFORE she zapped herself through Creigh Na Dun. Brianna is like, "OMG ENOUGH WITH YOUR WITCH TRIAL BULLSHIT," and essentially tells Claire she wishes SHE had died instead of Frank. Claire displays kind restraint in not pointing out that Frank was descended from a rapist of man and child (and probably also some women; he certainly tried with Claire).
Stoneslander
Claire instead leaves and creeps her way to Gillian's house. There she finds Gillian's drunk, abandoned, heartbroken husband, who babbles on about how Gillian is obsessed with Scottish independence, and then passes out. Claire noses through and finds Gillian/Geillis's journals...
Publander
... right when Brianna bumps into Gillian at a pub while trying to drink away her rage. Gillian is wearing a fantastic coat -- I hope she kept it when she time-traveled -- and natters on about how she's leaving that night to try and advance her cause in a more dramatic way. Brianna doesn't think much of it because she's too busy being bummed out that her mother might need to be institutionalized.
Planslander
Once Claire hears this, she realizes Geillis is going through the stones THAT NIGHT. She wants to go warn her; Brianna wants to scream. And here, Claire finally seems to grasp some of the magnitude of changing history: She tells Roger that there is one important consequence of warning Geillis that she's going to be torched for witchcraft if she goes through with this. And that is, Roger will cease to exist -- because at the records office, Claire looked into him and found out that his natural parents were Mackenzies who were descended from the pair who adopted Dougal's and Geillis's illegitimate child. Ergo, if Geillis never goes back, she never gets pregnant. Roger's like, "Hmm, so will I go poof?" Claire's like, "Dunno but should be fun!"
What they actually decide is that they won't STOP her from going back, but that Claire will simply tell Geillis to take a chill pill with the witchcraft. Roger, also, wisely points out to Brianna that if they go to Creigh Na Dun they will know once and for all if Claire is bonkers. He rather endearingly points out that they'll either see Gillian disappear or whack her forehead against a giant rock, which DOES hold a lot of really inherent dramatic value. Brianna agrees.
Bonnielander
And now it's the dawn of the massacre. This is our last visit with the Bonnie Prince, at least for this season; Jamie is begging him to reconsider, but the Bonnie Prince affectionately calls him a Doubting Thomas and completely refuses to hear anything that doesn't support his belief that God is totes handling all this (once he's done pre-determining all the Super Bowls).
Eyeslander
Ohhhhh, Jamie, you messy fox. The show really does lose a spark when Sam Heughan is not on-screen. Caitriona is wonderful, but her energy -- mostly in voice-over -- can be a little languid sometimes.
Anyway, this is Jamie's reaction when Claire -- out of desperation -- suggests that maybe they should poison Prince Charlie with the same yellow jasmine she gave Colum. Jamie is like, "WHAAAAT," but Claire fiercely points out that no one will know and one life is worth taking if it will lead to the survival of the rest. They go over the plan multiple times, and in detail, reminding each other that they will be COMMITTING MURDER, and MURDER OF A PRINCE, etc., all of which serves to make it perfectly clear to an eavesdropping Dougal that Jamie is about to betray the Jacobite cause.
Deadlander
This ends very badly for Dougal.
Specifically, he calls Claire horrible words and then makes it very clear that he's going to have to kill both of them for being traitors. In the ensuing fight, Jamie is finally able to pin Dougal and turn the knife around toward his uncle's chest, but he needs Claire to pop over and give the hilt an extra southerly shove.
Surpriselander
Jamie seems almost as shocked as Dougal is that his uncle was felled by a Fraser blade rather than an English one. There was some gnarly well-timed editing, too, where each deeper thrust of the knife led to some blood splattering out of Dougal's mouth.
Patchlander
No one is more surprised than Patches here, who is enraged that Jamie has murdered his clansman and proclaims their friendship TOTALLY OVER. Jamie asks him for two hours of silence, after which they can have it out, and Patches reluctantly agrees -- even while reaffirming that their friendship is as dead as Dougal. Poor Patches. He's lost a lot recently: Angus, an eye, and now Dougal. They say deaths come in threes, so maybe he'll survive.
Regrouplander
Murtagh is like FINALLY THANK GOD LET'S KILL THE PRINCE because he doesn't get what took them so damn long. He's got a point.
Deedlander
First, Claire and Murtagh witness Jamie signing a deed that passes Lallybroch into the hands of Jenny's son James -- a deed which Claire gets a copy of in the future, but which fails to convince Brianna that she's not crazy.
Ferglander
Then, they dispatch Fergie Ferg to Lallybroch with the blessed document. He refuses to go, but Jamie convinces him that he must so that -- essentially -- they will be remembered and their wishes done. The goodbyes here are terribly sad. Claire folds him into her arms and tells him they they love him as if he were their born son, and the only reason I did not get sad here is because Fergus gets to go to Jenny and we all know Jenny is the best.
Couplelander
A stirring portrait of sadness. Not a piano picture.
Yaylander
THIS, however, is a piano picture for EVERYONE. Jamie plans to take Claire to safety -- read: to the stones -- and so he instructs Murtagh to handle getting the Clan Fraser men back to Lallybroch because he refuses to let them die over a king's stupid stubborn stupid stupidity. Jamie is sure no one will notice them leaving because of all the battlefield chaos. But Murtagh refuses to leave with them; instead, he insists he'll get them going and then come back and wait for Jamie to finish taking Claire to safety. Because... sniffle... the two of them are together until the bitter end. "I won't have you die for nothing," Jamie growls. "I won't be," Murtagh replies. "I'll be dying with you." Because they are each other's platonic lobsters. I just... Murtagh, you cranky old softie, I think I'll miss you most of all.
Craighlander
And so Jamie takes Claire to the stones and explains to her why she has to go: He's figured out that she's pregnant and hadn't told him yet. (There is a whole thing about how he's been paying attention to her cycle and its regularity, and Claire is so touched that he's been charting her menses that she almost faints. See? PRACTICAL SENSIBLE DUDES ARE SEXY.) Claire weeps that Jamie could come with her, babbling about the buzzing she hears, and doesn't Jamie hear it too? But he doesn't, and he ruefully touches the stones and notes that even if he COULD come back with her, he doesn't belong in that time.
Claire promises to name their child after Jamie's father, Brian, and then gives him the dragonfly in amber from Hugh as a talisman. He, in return, gives her his father's ring -- which is the ring from the premiere, whose stone did not survive Claire's time-traveling back to the present. The pieces are all in place, except for one...
Kisslander
... so Jamie promptly puts that piece into its spot one last time, if you catch my drift. Jamie purrs that for all the sins he's committed, he can tell the lord on judgment day that he was given a wonderful woman and he loved her well. Then he and Claire have sex right there on the ground, passionate but brief, and say their goodbyes.
As he hears the battle begin in the distance, Jamie ends up almost dancing her toward the stones, her face to him and back to her destiny. Finally he turns her around and guides her hand to the stone.
Blazelander
This past-present intercutting worked: As Claire and Jamie say their goodbyes, 1968 Claire and her child come upon Geillis finishing her ritual. She believed there had to be a human sacrifice to pass through the stones - Claire is quick to tell Bri this is not the case - and so I guess Gillian's poor sad drunk husband provided the meat for this one. And then Geillis disappears before Claire can say anything to her, because of course. Claire's record of successfully executing her plans is like 5 out of infinity.
Gleelander
However, the barbecued, charred remains of a sadsack cannot dim Claire's and Brianna's enthusiasm about the fact that they witnessed Gillian/Geillis disappearing, because it means Claire is clearly not insane. They hug, as a dude burns. "Uh, get help," they lamely tell Roger.
Briannalander
Come morning, I guess Sadsack has been burnt entirely or hosed off by the fire department. And Roger comes back with a convenient piece of research that the Reverend found but never passed along to Frank. And that is: Jamie survived. It turns out five Fraser officers lived but were imprisoned, and four of them were executed. Their names are on stones at the site; process of elimination and whatnot reveals that Jamie's name was not among them, and yada yada yada, he survived Culloden.
I cannot even THINK about what this means for Murtagh. Was Murtagh an officer? I CAN'T LOSE MURTAGH. (Please don't tell me what happens to Murtagh. Let me enjoy imagining that he lived and helped raise Fergus the way he helped protect Jamie. I need this to be true. Also, it would constitute a spoiler here because we're trying not to discuss stuff that's happened in the books that haven't yet been covered by the show. So YES, MURTAGH LIVES, AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED. Until the TV tells me otherwise.)
Lightlander
And then the allegedly 50ish Claire gets a gleam in her eye, and blasted with the full force of some really artificially exciting light (we'll see why in a second). She has realized that Jamie lived, and she left for naught, and Brianna could have been born in Scotland and raised by the man who helped create her. So she goes full Lost on us. "I have to go back," she says, gazing at the buzzing Creigh na Dun stones.
F/Xlander
I laughed out loud when they cut to this. It's full Aurora Borealis up in there. Are you telling me NOBODY in Old Inverness noticed that Craigh na Dun lit up like an Arctic light orgasm one day?!?
So here's what I assume we'll get in season three: Flashes of Claire's 20 years without Jamie, juxtapositions of Frank's death and Black Jack's, the fate of the Bonnie Prince, the fate of Murtagh O CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN, and a bunch of Claire trying to figure out how to get back to the same time she left, given that Craigh na Dun doesn't come with a flux capacitor or a handy programmable computer. Also, should she just ditch her kid? Pop back and forth at will, for major holidays? Learn to draw so she can bring back lifelike sketches of Jamie for Brianna?
One thing is for sure: They are going to save some WRENCHING battlefield moments. Is it wrong that, as much as I love the drama of historical anguish and time travel and whatnot, I'm REALLY nostalgic for the part of this show we can never have again? I miss romantic Claire and Jamie from season one, as she guided her coltish new lover through his paces. Things got so heavy so fast, and now they will never be the same. I didn't appreciate it enough while we had it. At least Claire can rest easy knowing Jamie will be STOKED that she still looks the same. I hope my face weathers the next year as well as hers has 20. See you in season three.