'Outlander' Season 1 Episode 11 Recap: Trial Revelead the Unexpected in "The Devil's Mark"
1968. That may be the best way to describe Saturday's episode of "Outlander." If you have not seen Saturday's episode, do not read any further, because so much happened within that one hour needs to be watched rather than read.
"The Devil's Mark," the show's eleventh episode, has been the most emotional since the show started. It has outdone the wedding episode. The witch trial against Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Geillis (Lotte Verbeek) went as any other with trial in the mid-18th century would go. It was full of unfounded evidence and superstition.
The sneak peek revealed last week showed part of a larger conversation between Geillis and Claire in which they reveal some truth about each other, including Geillis' true love for Dougal (Graham McTavish). Despite Geillis' belief that Claire did not keep her secrets safe, the two stood side by side as the trial went on, especially after Geillis understood Dougal could not come help her.
The trial revealed some expected things as well as the unexpected. Laoghaire (Nell Hudson) and Father Bain (Tim McInnerny) made an appearance, but before them it was revealed Jeannie, Geillis's maid, also gave evidence against them as well as some random man who claimed Geillis flew during a storm. Countering their testimony's was Ned Gowan (Bill Paterson), he appeared out of nowhere as the trial begun and, though his attempt to dismiss the charges failed, he defended the two.
The two expected witnesses for the prosecution appeared on the second day of the trial and they sealed the case against them. Laoghaire used the potion she had asked Claire for earlier in the season against her, claiming Claire used the love potion for herself and took Jamie (Sam Heughan) from her.
Although Ned managed to break down some of Laoghaire's testimony, Father Bain's dramatic entrance and statement turned the court and crowd completely against Claire and Geillis despite all of Ned's attempts.
"I knew when I first laid eyes on Claire Fraser that you had welcomed the whore of Babylon into your midst," the priest said as he entered dramatically into the courthouse. Father Bain's testimony, however, proved to be misdirection. The priest told the crowd Claire saved Thomas Baxter from poisoning, saying, "He had been blinded by vanity, hubris."
Kneeling in front of the court and crowd, the priest asked to be relieved of the parish, because he failed them. His act, rather than prove Claire innocent and good, turned the court against them.
The next moments were crucial. Knowing now the two women would burn at the stake, Ned asked for a brief recess and took the women to a side room. There he told them Claire could be saved at Geillis's expense. Claire needed to repudiate Geillis to the court and say she had bewitched her. Ned gave the two a moment alone and everything began spilling out.
"Why are you here?" Geillis asked her and both began opening up. Although Geillis believes Claire's arrival has a purpose, she reveals it was all an accident. After Ned demands an answer, Geillis exits saying: "Looks like I'm going to a f**king barbecue."
The use of that word has to have been a clue. Geillis is also not from this time period. As the two women were sentenced to death, Ned attempts to protect them with a pistol.
Geillis, in the distraction, tells Claire there may be a way to go back, but Claire does not understand. Geillis then says: "1968."
After Ned is subdued, Claire's outburst leads to her being whipped but then Jamie finally appears and saves her, saying he will kill any man who stands in his way. This would have been a great moment to see Laoghaire's face but we did not get to see her expression.
Geillis then does the unthinkable and further confirms her true origins. She tells the court she is a witch and shows them "the mark of the devil," but Claire recognizes it as a vaccination scar, one she has. Now we know Geillis has been trapped in the past for years.
Geillis sacrifices herself, allowing Jamie and Claire to escape. As Jamie heals Claire's wounds, also a nice change of roles for the two, Jamie asks her to tell him the truth since he had seen the same scar on her arm and Claire reveals everything to him. Although for a moment it looked like Jamie did not understand what she was telling him, revealing she is from the future, Jamie reassures her he believes her despite not understanding.
She then revealed everything about what has happened up to when she arrived in that time period. She even told him about the Battle of Culloden when the Jacobite rebellion was smashed. Although it appeared Jamie was taking Claire to Lallybroch, he instead to her to the stones and gave her the option to leave. However, she did not.
"On your feet soldier," Claire tells Jamie as he sleeps, waking him up. "Take me home to Lallybroch." The music swells with the emotions both the characters and the audience feels and the episode ends.
Without doubt, this is the best episode of the series so far and so much awaits the couple as they return to Jamie's ancestral lands.
Time traveler's moment of the episode: Geillis offhandedly using the word "barbecue."
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