'Outlander' Season 1 Episode 9 Recap: 'The Reckoning' Brings Darkness, Change in Jamie & Claire's Relationship
It has returned. "Outlander" made its triumphant return with an episode much darker than anticipated.
It also changed the show's pace and the relationship between Jamie and Claire as well as revealing more secrets.
The show opened in an interesting way. The "Outlander" Facebook page released last week a video that showed the first couple of minutes of the April 4 episode, titled "The Reckoning." However, it left out something very important.
The episode's early minutes, before the title sequence, revealed that the episode was being narrated by Jamie (Sam Heughan) instead of Claire (Caitriona Balfe), who had previously narrated.
The first scene showed what we were only told in the previous episode, "On Both Sides Now," in which Jamie and most of the group leave Claire with a younger clansman while they go meet a British army deserter named Horrocks. He reveals to Jamie that the man Jamie is accused of killing was killed by Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies)
Claire's rescue from the Jack Randall's latest rape attempt was no simple feat as Black Jack held the upper hand for most of the encounter, even teasing Jamie into joining the rape of his new wife. However, Jamie managed to trick him with an unloaded pistol and he and Claire escaped amidst a giant explosion.
Here is where the episode turns what happened on the previous episodes on its head. Or, at least begins to. While the earlier half of the season had shown Claire as a strong female lead, a woman from the future with vast medical knowledge in a male-dominated and superstitious place. But, following Claire's disobedience and endangering the lives of the clansmen, her position has been compromised.
They do not see her as a spy, as previously suspected. However, she is viewed as reckless, including by Jamie, leading to an amazing fight showcasing not only how to characters' personalities collide and change but also how 20th Century ideas clash with those of the Georgian Era.
The explosive fight placed alongside a calm river made for an interesting scene, especially since soon after asking if she was ok, Jamie demanded an apology from Claire.
"I don't have to do what you tell me to," Claire shot back at Jamie when he telling her she should not have gone against his orders and left where she was hiding.
"Aye, you do," Jamie shot back angrily, his face right in front of hers. "You are my wife."
"Oh, you think I'm your property, don't you?" Claire said. "You think I belong to you." Jamie, surprisingly, said yes, she is his property and his wife.
The argument exploded with insults and a furious Jamie calling Claire a "foul-mouthed b**ch." Soon after, however, the two make up and apologize as Jamie breaks down following his outburst.
Though the couple appears to make up with each other, the episode showcased some of the ways in which the time period differed from Claire's. Jamie's spanking of Claire reversed the authority roles the relationship as well as how Jamie believes "a good hiding makes you understand things in a more serious light."
However, Claire gets back at Jamie by the episode's end. During an intense coital scene, Claire pulls out a dagger and threatens Jamie, turning a romantic moment on its head.
"Listen to me," Claire says mid-coitus, pointing the knife at Jamie's throat. "If you ever raise a hand to me James Fraser, I will cut your heart out and have it for breakfast. Do you understand me?"
Obviously Jamie agreed and the two returned to being the happy couple we know.
Will the rest of the season be from Jamie's perspective?
Time traveler's moment of the episode: Claire explaining to Jamie what "sadist" means.
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