Photo: Starz
It’s still 1768 in North Carolina as OUTLANDER’s latest episode begins and Claire and her new friend Adawehi are sorting through herbs and teaching each other words in their native languages. But we soon see that some time has passed, because Jamie and Claire’s cabin is complete and Jamie is headed to a nearby town, while Claire too is packing for a short trip to deliver a baby. Curiously, Jamie adds a silver candlestick to his bag without Claire seeing, and then asks Claire if Brianna has a birth mark on her neck. He insists that he saw in a dream the night before and it’s clear that Claire emotional at the mention of their daughter.
Claire has headed to the Mueller household to deliver a baby for Mr. Mueller’s daughter, but the happiness is interrupted when Mueller is furious that the tribe are allowing their horses to drink from his stream. Claire steps in to try and stop bloodshed between the tribe and Mueller. She is successful and the Cherokee depart, but first they give the water a blessing. This, of course, will prove to be disastrous, but no one knows it at the time.
Back at the homestead, Claire is taking care of the farm chores and awaiting Jamie’s return when she notices the missing candlestick. Days later, a pastor comes to Claire’s home to announce that Mueller’s daughter and baby have both died of the measles. He also tells Claire that Mueller insists that the natives cursed his water and is seeking revenge on them. Now the pastor is anxious to find Mueller before he does something terrible and demands that Claire leave so that she too can remain safe. But Claire is determined to stay home and loads her riffle in case Mueller comes by. On high alert that night, she sits by the fire with the rifle in her hand.
Soon after, Mueller stops by and tells Claire that he was checking to see if she too had the measles. Claire tries to tell him that his family members must have gotten the disease while traveling, but Mueller insists that it was the “savages” who cursed and killed them. He then presents Claire with the scalps of several natives, including her friend Adawehi. Claire is horrified by this and tells him to leave. She soon lovingly places her friend’s scalp in a box, along with some herbs, and then cremates it.
Later that night, arrows streak through the air, hitting the Mueller house as the natives take their revenge for what Mueller did to their people. His wife is soon hit and dies as Mueller returns home. Moments later, he too is shot and killed.
In town, Jamie and Ian are recruiting new settlers for their land. Jamie is offering up a fair deal of land and rent, but none of the men are taking up his offer. Jamie quickly realizes something is amiss and chats up one of the farmers, who tells him that the tax collectors have taken more than what they could afford, making the men wary. In other words, these are the seeds of the impending American Revolution.
Soon after, Jamie still can’t find any takers for his land offer and he rightly points out he can’t pay the taxes on his 10,000 acres himself. Upon discovering one of their horse’s ropes is broken, Ian heads to the local blacksmith for help. And it’s soon revealed that Murtagh FitzGibbons Fraser is the local blacksmith and he’s thrilled to be reunited with his godson, Jamie. As the men trade stories over a pint, Murtagh recounts how he became the town blacksmith and Jamie takes out the candlestick so that Murtagh can turn it into a gift for Claire. Jamie asks Murtagh to move to Fraser’s Ridge, but he refuses. He has important work in town — and it all revolves around the unfair taxes that Governor Tryon insists he is due. Murtagh is leading a meeting where the men in town plot to stand against the collectors. Jamie cannot stand with his godfather because of his agreement with Tryon, but he also won’t stand in Murtagh’s way and the men part.
The next morning, Claire is unaware that Mueller has been killed and so she’s startled to hear a sound outside. It turns out that Jamie has just returned home and he’s shocked to see her so frightened. Happy smiles appear on her face later, as Murtagh arrives at their homestead and she is reunited with him.
Meanwhile, in Inverness in 1971, Roger is tracking Brianna’s whereabouts, but he’s coming up against dead ends. At least until an innkeeper reveals that Brianna left a letter for Roger, but the woman was supposed to wait a year before sending it to him. Brianna’s voice narrates her letter to Roger as the episode comes to a close. We see her approach the stones as her voiceover tells Roger she found out something terrible happens to Claire and Jamie and she has to go help them. She begs him not to follow her and then touches the stones and disappears into the past.
OUTLANDER airs Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on Starz (U.S.) and 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on W Network (Canada).