Outlander Season 6, Episode 3 recap: Fergus opens up a little
Brianna offers more inventions
Marsali is struggling, but she’s trying to remain focused on the day-to-day life at the Ridge. That’s all she can do, and Brianna has made some of her life easier. Bree has made her a spinning wheel, something that Marsali is in awe with. At least it’s met with better praise than the matches!
Young Jemmy runs into the room following a toy. It’s a “Vroom!” Book fans will certainly smile at that.
Marsali wants to know why the toy is called a Vroom, and it’s clear she still doesn’t know anything about time travel. Bree says that it’s simply a sound that Jemmy makes when playing with the toy, and it’s hard not to wish that Marsali and Fergus could learn about where Claire, Roger, and Brianna are really from.
Tom gets his surgery in Outlander Season 6, Episode 3
Tom Christie is at the Big House while the commotion is going on. When he points out that Claire has been gone for a long time, Claire makes it clear what’s happened and that she hopes Tom hasn’t encouraged the fisherfolk to believe superstition. Tom is an educated man. He doesn’t believe that, and he will see to it that his people are set straight.
With that, we can get on with the surgery. Tom refuses to have the ether and thinks that reading his Bible will be enough. With the first cut, Tom quickly realizes just how much pain is involved. Jamie is there to assist Claire and helps to keep Tom calm while Claire works as fast as she can.
When it’s all over, Claire stretches out Tom’s fingers. It’s clear this is the first time in a while this has happened. Tom is shocked, but he’s also happy. It’s clear that this is an important moment in Tom’s storyline with Claire.
That night, Claire struggles with a vision of Lionel Brown. She heads into the surgery under the pretense of looking in on Tom and sees that he’s sleeping. She looks at the ether, contemplating using it but Tom waking up and calling out her name pulls her back to the present.
Tom has one question for Claire. Why doesn’t she wear a proper cap? It’s in the Bible that he should, and Claire questions Paul again. Claire decides to move on from the cap and gives him some exercises to do to help his hand instead.
While getting Tom some food, Claire starts talking to Adso the cat. Tom questions whether there is someone else there, and Claire points out that it was the cat…just the cat, and not a familiar! Tom doesn’t believe that Claire is a witch. He believes in them, but he knows that she’s not one. This is clearly important.
What’s the point of this topic? We get to understand a little bit more about why Tom doesn’t really like Jamie. There is a bit of jealousy. Tom talks about how Jamie took a flogging for someone else, and Claire points out that he would do anything to protect his men. Does Jamie think Tom is one of his men? He points out that he’s not. Claire also notes that Jamie would show kindness to any stranger. Wouldn’t Tom?
When Claire gets back to bed, she asks Jamie if Tom is scared of women or sinning. Jamie notes that all of the men at Ardsmuir turned inward and struggled with the touch of a woman afterward. However, there were times that the men would turn to each other. None of them touched Jamie, but he admits that he did long for the touch of a hand.
Jamie says that he had Claire to save her, but Tom may have turned to the darkness. This does bring up a question about Malva. She’s only 18 or so, so would have been conceived while Tom was at Ardsmuir.
A week later, Tom’s hand is healing well. The two continue to bond, this time over books. Tom admits that he didn’t approve of his wife reading fiction, but then he saw how the men were helped by Jamie retelling stories he had read. Claire allows Tom to borrow a book, Tom Jones. He’s not going to like the book, and Claire should know that!
Before Tom leaves the Big House, he shares that Richard Brown has offered Tom’s community the protection of the Committee of Safety. Claire points out that Richard is not to be trusted, but they’re interrupted by a patient before either can say anymore.