Does the gem make Stephen Bonnet better than Black Jack Randall?

Stephen Bonnet is certainly a villain in Outlander. He’s the villain of Season 4 but it’s hard not to compare him to Black Jack Randall. Did the gem make Bonnet a better person?

Before Outlander Season 4 began, many compared Stephen Bonnet to Black Jack Randall. Sam Heughan said that he would be hated more than Randall, which I’ll be honest and still say that that’s not quite the case. But he is a worthy adversary. He is a villain but did one thing make him a better person?

While Bonnet was jailed, Brianna went to see him for her own reasons. She told him about the baby and that eventually led to Bonnet giving her a gem. He said it was for the baby’s maintenance and showed some essence of humanity within him. Does this make him better than Black Jack Randall?

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Let’s be honest; there’s no way that Bonnet would offer a gem for a baby’s maintenance. He would have done everything he could to avoid paying out for the child. The only reason he married Mary Hawkins was because it was his brother’s dying wish and that was the only person he loved and tried to do some right by.

Bonnet didn’t initially believe Brianna but in the end, he did. And he was scared about being forgotten. If he could do anything, he would, and that meant a gem. His last gem after everything had been taken off him during the arrest.

But it’s worth looking at why he gave the gem. He has his own motives in giving it. The fear of being forgotten was real and he wanted to think that he’d at least be on Brianna’s mind. However, for the right or wrong reasons, he certainly did do something that Randall never would have.

Does that make him better? Well, he’s still a bad man. He uses people, rapes women, smuggles and pirates, and does everything he can to put himself first. One good deed does not a good man make, but he does have his weakness — a weakness that Black Jack Randall had for Alex.

In the end, both were the same. While Bonnet gave the gem for “maintenance,” BJR married Mary for Alex. They both did a good act, so I don’t think either are better than the other. They’re both just as awful in life.

What did you think of Bonnet giving up the gem? Is Bonnet or Randall worse? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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