Outlander: Will we see flashes of Murtagh’s time as an indentured servant?

Murtagh became an indentured servant and now he’s a free man in the Colonies. Will we see any flashes of his time in the past in Outlander?

With the return of Murtagh, fans have a lot of questions. Outlander offered some story of moving from master to master and gaining a trade, but there are still plenty of black holes. Is there a chance the show will go into more detail and give us flashbacks?

Don’t hold your breath for this. If the series had the full 20-22 episodes per season, we’d probably get to see some of this. There would be more time to play with and time to go into the details. However, Season 4 has just 13 episodes and we’re coming up to the halfway point. There just isn’t the time to go into details.

Plus, do we really need the full story? The only time flashbacks should be used is if they link to the story at hand.

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For example, The Gifted offers a flashback a week. This is character based, linking to something important going on in the episode. It explains the reason for the mindset of the character, showing rather than telling. A Million Little Things has also been using flashbacks and 13 Reasons Why opted for it to tell Hannah’s story.

But Outlander doesn’t really need them. It’s already clear that we’ll need to get some flashbacks anyway. Brianna is going to need to think back to her time with Frank. That’s development for one of the main characters and connects to storylines in the book.

Murtagh, on the other hand, isn’t quite main enough to justify time on flashbacks. Nor would the flashbacks be necessary. From the short conversation, we can tell what it would have been like for him as an indentured servant. We saw some of Jamie’s time on parole and while that was a more positive experience than many, he still didn’t like it.

So, there’s very slim chance of ever getting any flashbacks, unless they become crucial to Murtagh’s storyline. But with the focus on the Regulators, there’s no need to go into the past. There’s plenty of drama ahead.

Would you like to see flashbacks of Murtagh’s past? Is this something you’d need for the story? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Outlander airs on Sundays at 8/7c on STARZ.