Outlander Season 3, Episode 2 recap: What happened to Jamie in the first six years?

Jamie makes a sacrifice

As for the 18th century, we pick up six years after the Battle of Culloden. In all this time, Jamie has been living in a cave close to Lallybroch and is known as the Dun Bonnet.

Fun fact: The Dun Bonnet was a real person, also known as James Fraser.

Our Jamie doesn’t talk much, but he comes by Lallybroch now and then to make sure his family is looked after. He’s a skilled hunter and keeps bringing them food. Oh, and the potatoes that Claire told Jenny to plant have certainly helped get through the famine and the Redcoats coming by to take as much of their reserves as possible.

Things aren’t easy for the family. The Redcoats know Red Jamie is on the loose and suspect the Murrays have him. Ian is routinely placed in jail and mistreated to force him to talk, but nobody is willing to give Jamie’s location up.

We get to see some of the family life. The children are growing up and Jenny has another baby. Jamie has the chance to hold the baby and it’s clear that he’s thinking about the children that he has lost. And yes, I say children. He’s thinking of Faith and Brianna (who he thinks is Brian at this point). Also, we learn that Jamie has never told the family the truth about what happened to Claire, just that she’s “gone.”

Jenny knows that it’s time for her brother to move on, so sets him up with the maid, a widow. Before anything can come of that, we skip a few days to Fergus taking supplies to Jamie’s cave. He comes across some Redcoats and taunts them to make sure they can’t find Jamie. Of course, Jamie hears the commotion (who wouldn’t!) and just watches from above as the Redcoats catch Fergus and chop off his hand.

Poor Fergus screams out and just looks at his armless hand in shock. Once the Redcoats have gone, Jamie goes to Fergus and uses everything Claire has taught him to make sure Fergus doesn’t lose too much blood. He gets Fergus back to the house, where Fergus can be tended to. Then comes a beautiful moment, as Fergus worries that he’s now no use to anyone in the house. He reminds Jamie of a promise made long ago and you can see the shock and surprise in Jamie’s eyes at the fact that Fergus worries about this.

Fergus wants to know that he’ll be treated like kin after this. Of course, he will. There is no way that Jamie would just turf him out after sacrificing a hand to keep Jamie’s location secret. That does make Jamie realize that he can’t stay hidden for any longer. He needs to give himself over to the Redcoats, but this can be for the good of his family. Jenny can turn him in and get the reward money to help the family.

Jenny, of course, isn’t happy with the idea but she goes through with it. Jamie makes a show at returning and the Redcoats are there waiting. As Jamie is being led away, Jenny makes it clear that she will never forgive him and we all know what she really won’t forgive him for.

Next: Outlander Season 3 premiere recap: The start of 20 years separation

What did you think about Outlander Season 3, Episode 2? Did it tell the stories that you wanted to see? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Follow Claire and Jamie on Twitter for more Outlander news as we get it.