Outlander Season 3, Episode 3 recap: All Debts Paid

Jamie meets someone from his past, while Claire learns Frank has moved on in Outlander Season 3, Episode 3.

“All Debts Paid” is one of my favorite episodes of Outlander Season 3. It brings out the pain and desperation for Jamie effortlessly but in a heartbreaking way. Meanwhile, we see Claire’s life unfold and say an emotional goodbye to an important character (and brilliant actor). And while all this happened, we finally learned the fate of Murtagh.

As with previous Outlander Season 3 recaps, you can read the day-after recap here. This is another one of those that I wrote elsewhere before coming over to build on Claire and Jamie. Now it’s time to look the episode again and delve further into storylines.

Jamie meets a face from the past

More from Recaps

• Outlander Season 7, Episode 8 recap: Is Rachel in love with Young Ian?
• Outlander Season 7, Episode 7 recap: The First Battle of Saratoga
• Outlander Season 7, Episode 6 recap: Roger finds something to do
• Outlander Season 7, Episode 5 recap: Bree is trapped in a tunnel
• Outlander Season 7, Episode 4 recap: William and Young Ian meet (again)

For Jamie, it’s all about his time in Ardmuir Prison. After being captured–well, more like after strategically turning himself in–he was sent to serve out his days in prison. This is a part of Outlander Season 3 that Diana Gabaldon has said she would have loved seeing of this storyline and I agree. It was a beautiful part of the storyline, as we saw this friendship between Jamie and Lord John Grey develop.

There are some deleted scenes from this part of the story, but I like them as deleted footage. They didn’t quite fit into the adaptation. What I would have loved to have seen more is of Jamie and John’s friendship, of Jamie spending time with Murtagh in prison, and seeing more of the life inside during this time.

Anyway, back to the recap. A new governor is brought to the prison, who happens to immediately recognize the only prisoner in chains (and the only officer), Red Jamie. Of course, Lord John Grey met Jamie when he was a boy and now he has a debt to pay, even though his brother technically paid that debt.

As the office, Jamie speaks for the prisoners. He’s the one that everyone looks to for guidance and support, which is why he’s the one who has dinner with the governor now and then. Now it’s dinner with Lord John Grey. This develops into a friendship. They play chess together and they talk about the prison life and about their pasts. Things get a little too much for Jamie when Lord John puts his hand on Jamie’s leg, but their friendship still stands.

It’s not surprising that Jamie is the one who John turns to when there’s a man who speaks a mixture of Gaelic, French, and English. Jamie’s needed to translate and it turns out that he’s talking about the treasure on Silkie’s Island and mentions a White Witch. Of course, Jamie instantly believes that this man is talking about Claire, and why wouldn’t he? He has a final bit of hope, but it’s all crushed when (after a quick escape) he realizes that Claire isn’t on the island.

Rather than run away, Jamie turns himself back into Lord John. Clearly, the trust has been broken, but Lord John lets Jamie off lightly considering what Jamie did. John is so kind to Jamie that he even helps to get medical help for Murtagh, who has been suffering from some sort of chest ailment since we met him in prison. Yes, Murtagh is alive and he’s saved by the end of the episode.

Finally, it’s time for Ardsmuir Prison to shut down. Everyone will be transported to the Colonies, where they’ll serve out the rest of their prison sentence. They’ll do 14 years as indentured servants (unlike the seven years in “Voyager”). That is all except Jamie. He’s taken, by John, to England. He’ll serve out parole at Helwater as a servant, under the name of Alexander MacKenzie. It’s time for a new chapter for Red Jamie.