The latest episode of Outlander opens with Roger (Richard Rankin) singing to little Jemmy, and once again, book readers of this series will suspect what is coming in this episode.
Brianna (Sophie Skelton) then laments about what life would be like if they were in their original timeframe, followed by more mentions of Roger’s singing voice.
So, strap yourselves in viewers; this is going to be one tough episode.
But, let’s distract everyone by mentioning that it’s Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) birthday and, by golly, he is looking mighty fine for a half-century.
Claire (Caitriona Balfe) agrees, and so does Entertainment Weekly, calling him the best looking 50-year-old “quite possibly in the history of the world.”
Preparations for war begins
Now that that’s out of the way, it’s also time to get down to war talk.
Jamie, who still wants to not end up on the wrong side (i.e. the British) once the dust settles regarding the Regulators, is trying to talk the Brits down, but they are not standing for that.
Who knows how he’ll get out of this mess in the end.
There is some talk of negotiating between the sides, but Governor Tryon (Tim Downie) is not at all up for that. He wants a fight, and he wants it now.
Isaiah Morton (Jon Tarcy) also turns up, and the Browns are sh*tty that he’s there since he stole Alicia (Anna Burnett) in Episode 4. It gets sorted but, somehow, I don’t think that’s the end of that argument.
Once all that is out of the way, Jamie ducks off to do some praying. Claire interrupts him and, seriously, it’s not gratuitous at all, I promise.
#Outlander #TheBalladofRogerMac
Wet Jamie praying is every woman watching now? pic.twitter.com/OdH97gQctz
— Pelly (@pellicott1) March 30, 2020
Meanwhile, Brianna remembers something about the battle location but can’t quite work out what thanks to not having Google in 1771. Finally, she remembers what and rushes to tell Roger, Jamie, and Claire.
As a result of this, Jamie wants to try and convince Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) not to fight because they will lose and sends Roger to tell Murtagh that the battle is doomed for his side.
When he arrives, Roger tries to convince Jamie’s godfather, but Murtagh is not willing to stop, though.
Roger gets friendly with a relative
Roger leaves after that and comes across a familiar face, Morag (Elysia Welch), who he met on the ship run by Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers).
They chat, bump heads, and get overly familiar with each other. He then warns her and her husband to leave before the fighting starts. She says they have no family to go back to so they might as well stay.
Roger offers them sanctuary at Fraser’s Ridge before hugging her. Morag’s husband busts them at this point, and book fans will be well aware of the misunderstanding this causes…
While Jamie may have been trying to hedge his bets to keep Fraser’s Ridge and not fight with the Brits, Tryon is insisting that Jamie wears the red coat during battle.
Not able to back out Jamie dons the jacket and then gives a speech that warns to scare and not kill, as well as to take prisoners, which is about as good he can get to speaking against Tryon, I guess.
And, they do manage to scare the Regulators, but it isn’t enough, and the battle continues into the woods.
The Browns don’t appreciate Claire’s secret weapon. They don’t want Isaiah saved. #Outlander #TheBalladofRogerMac pic.twitter.com/RhG7IuzDml
— Rita (Riota) ???? (@ritagwood) March 30, 2020
Claire picks sides regarding the Browns
While this goes on, Claire is up to her armpits in injuries, and Isaiah is one of them. However, later, Alicia’s father turns up, and it is discovered that Isaiah was shot by one of the Browns.
In the argument, Claire’s needle gets broken, which means no more penicillin for anyone, and I suspect more grief for Claire further on now that she took Isaiah’s side.
The battle rages on, but, as the history books predicted, the Regulators are defeated. In the crossfire is Murtagh, shot after he saves Jamie’s life and then dies in his godson’s arms.
NO!!!!!!!!!!! You canna do this to us…ye ken??? ??#outlander #JamieFraser #murtagh pic.twitter.com/7SSrExMiDA
— ⓑⓐⓓ87??(Bridget) (@bhdinehart) March 29, 2020
Jamie doesn’t want to believe it, though, and takes him to Claire to fix. Of which, she can’t. Devastated Jamie is probably the saddest thing I’ve ever seen on Outlander.
Tryon approaches Jamie after he leaves Claire’s tent, and he isn’t so ready to celebrate the slaughter and tells Tryon exactly this. He then insists that he has paid his debt to him and his obligation to the crown before dumping his red coat and walking off.
He and Brianna then go in search of Roger, who is still absent. They come across a hanging before Jamie recognizes the clothing on one of the hanged men as Roger.
However, viewers will have to tune into next week’s episode to find out more about this tragic situation.
Roger always gets the worst of it doesn’t he? ? #Outlander #TheBalladofRogerMac pic.twitter.com/0C4kq1SObj
— Dawn Polk (@7_polk) March 30, 2020
Outlander Season 5 returns with Episode 5 on Sunday, April 5, at 8/7c on Starz.