Flora MacDonald is honored in Outlander Season 6, Episode 5
We get to meet Flora MacDonald in Outlander Season 6, Episode 5. Meanwhile, tensions rise in Wilmington. Take a look inside the events of the episode.
Just like every other episode of this season, Outlander Season 6, Episode 5 brought us a lot of drama and pushed the story further into the territory of war. It all started with a flashback to 1746 and brought us a beautiful Gaelic rendition of the Skye Boat Song, before delving into the rising tensions and trouble.
We do need to start with the flashback to 1746. It is important considering Flora MacDonald turns up during the new episode. She helped Bonnie Prince Charlie get to mainland Europe via Skye after Culloden. And yes, that happened in real history.
The Gaelic version of the Skye Boat Song is something many of us have been waiting all series for. It couldn’t come at a better time, especially with the full change to the opening credits to focus on rowing to Skye. After all, the song itself is a real one that was adapted for the series to focus on Claire.
Jamie meets with the Sons of Liberty
For Claire and Jamie, the episode starts in Wilmington. Jamie meets with the Sons of Liberty, which is where he sees a very interesting jar on the mantle. A certain pirate’s testicles are there. Oh yes, Jamie sees the testicles of Stephen Bonnet.
There are a lot of discussions about loyalty throughout the episode. Jamie has to continue to play both sides for now, but it’s clear that people are questioning his loyalties. Throughout the episode, Lord John Grey is concerned that his friend is becoming a traitor. It doesn’t help that Lord John Grey has seen a list of names of those connected to the Sons of Liberty, and Jamie has been on a list.
It doesn’t take long for John and Jamie to have to head back to Wilmington. Tensions are rising, and it’s due to drawings sent to a printer to print. The drawings are of Flora MacDonald. Jamie tries to protect the printer and is hit with hot tar and the printer is shot in the arm, but there’s a bigger problem. One of the Sons of Liberty sees him protecting the printer. Of course, the Sons of Liberty question Jamie’s loyalty, but his actions help Major MacDonald see that Jamie is loyal to the Crown.
The events from the day and Flora’s words, do make Jamie concerned about what’s to come. He worries about what people will think of him when he turns tail, and he’s guilty of lying to Lord John about his allegiance.
When John finds out the location for the next Sons of Liberty meeting, Jamie agrees to attend. However, it’s not as a spy for the Crown. He admits to John that he is going to turn tail. John is understandably hurt that Jamie would choose the Patriots, but Jamie can’t fight for the Crown this time. He wants John to hear what the Sons of Liberty have to say, but John can’t do that. Jamie wants John to delay his men to go to the meeting, but he does make it clear that he doesn’t want the war to come between them.
The Sons of Liberty aren’t happy about Jamie’s actions at the printer, and Jamie points out that he thought he was around other men like him; men who weren’t afraid to listen to other opinions and allow freedom. Naturally, the Sons of Liberty don’t know they can trust Jamie, but he makes it clear that soldiers are coming. When they do turn up, Jamie and Cornelius are playing a game of billiards.
Flora MacDonald speaks for the Crown
Claire and Jamie are in Wilmington because Flora MacDonald is coming to town. It turns out Jamie has a crush on her, and Claire notes how she became a figure for the Scottish rebels even in her own time. Now, she’s switched sides. She is speaking for the Crown to encourage people to remain loyal.
Jamie notes that if it wasn’t for Claire and Bree, he would have been on the side of the Crown during this upcoming war. The Scots have fought for a dream before and failed, so they’re not going to do it again.
While at the event, Lord John Grey is there. We had already seen him earlier in the episode. The Governor of North Carolina has received Jamie’s resignation as Indian Agent, and it’s led to questions about Jamie’s loyalties. The Governor wants John to make sure Jamie isn’t a traitor.
Jocasta is also at the event, which is where we find out that Fergus is busy at a print shop. Jamie isn’t too happy, although more at the situation than anything else. Fergus mentioned to Jocasta the last time he saw her how much he missed printing and Jocasta did her part to help. It was out of goodness, but it does mean Fergus and Marsali are going to be moving to New Bern.
When Flora turns up, it turns out she and Jamie have a history. She’s also heard a lot about Claire, especially the surgery at the theater. She then shares a story about how she had a thief attack. She got her necklace back but it’s missing an emerald.
Claire, Jocasta, and Flora get some girl time
Jocasta takes a turn, leading to Claire pulling her away from the crowd. She has something to help Jocasta, and Flora is shocked to see that Claire can tell what’s wrong just by looking at her. Well, that’s not quite the case, although Claire does share that Flora is suffering with the burden of her history and has a touch of nerves.
The three head off to spend some time together. It’s a great chance to see them get some girl time. It’s something Outlander has often missed.
Part of the time together involves Jocasta smoking hemp flower. It will help the pain in her eyes, but it also gets her a little high, which is hilarious to watch. There’s also a touching moment as Jocasta thinks about Murtagh. She still grieves him.
Flora also has a chance to open up about what she thinks about Bonnie Prince Charlie. He was not a leader of men, and Claire notes that the last she heard he was in Italy drinking himself to death. Charles did spend the rest of his life in Europe.
Claire continues to self-medicate to deal with trauma. Thoughts of King Louis come up during the conversation, and she ends up using some of her ether on a tissue to help her deal with some of those thoughts.
Roger spends more time with Amy McCallum
Back at the Ridge, Roger is still helping Amy with her cabin. She’s clearly interested in him, but there’s something so awesome about this part of the episode. Roger sings!
This is a small change to the story. Roger doesn’t get his singing voice back properly for quite some time. In fact, he’s still not really got it back fully in the books, but we get a chance to see him finding himself in the series and I guess adding his singing voice back is part of that process.
It all comes up when Roger starts humming to himself while working on Amy’s cabin. He’s humming The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen, a song from 1956, so Amy certainly wouldn’t know it. Roger will need to watch himself as he feels comfortable around people to make sure he doesn’t bring too many songs from the future to the time. This one is one he’ll just have to deal with since Amy wants him to teach it to Aidan.
Why would she want that? Well, it could be that she wants to spend more time with Roger, but there’s also a nostalgic element to it. She misses home, and so does Roger.
Brianna continues to invent in Outlander Season 6, Episode 5
Meanwhile, we see Bree continue to work on her inventions. She, Marsali, Lizzie, and Malva are looking around for a good place to make a water wheel.
While they’re out, the women come across a love charm (with human fingers). The women discuss who it could have been, with a few names from the book that come up. Marsali thinks it could be Amy and Malva quickly agrees. However, Lizzie has a malaria attack before they can really get into it. I thought the show was going to skip over the malaria storyline considering it hasn’t come up once yet. It does seem a little like bad writing at this point.
Back at the Ridge, Bree gets medicine to the Beardsley twins so they can care for Lizzie. This gives Roger and Bree a chance to talk. She’s annoyed at the amount of time Roger is spending with Amy, and maybe things that Amy did make the love charm.
Roger defends being around Amy because Amy needs him. When Bree says that she needs him too, Roger points out that she’s a capable woman bringing indoor plumbing to the Ridge.
Brianna isn’t happy, though. They need to find Amy a husband.
Adding the Bell in Outlander Season 6, Episode 5
Also at the Ridge, Roger helps Tom and Allan get the bell up the tower of the church/meeting house. Roger heads into the church to get the pulleys, which is where Roger sees Malva with Obadiah Henderson. Malva makes it clear that if he says anything to her father, she will tell everyone that she has seen him kissing Amy. Everyone will believe her considering the rumors already going around.
Roger now needs to deal with the situation. He needs to tell Amy that he can’t spend any more time with her, but it’s not going to be that easy. However, he knows that it has to be done.
He also knows that he needs to apologize to Bree. She never worried that he would have an affair, but she was annoyed that he was leaving her alone. They really do need to find Amy a husband, and it has to be soon. Bree has some exciting news. She’s pregnant!
Everyone should be paying close attention to Malva, though. It turns out that the Sin Eater is dead, and she’s been cutting bits of the body off. She’s the one making love charms. What is this evil woman up to?
Mentions of French gold
Up to this point, we did wonder if the show was going to completely skip over the storyline involving the French gold. However, it turns out that it may be included after all.
After the print shop incident, Jamie talks to Jocasta about her putting money into rallies for peace. She doesn’t want to talk about it, especially when the topic of grief comes up. After she leaves, her slave, Mary, mentions that Jocasta hasn’t been the same with losing Murtagh. Now she rambles about French gold, and Jamie clearly knows what that is.
The very end of the episode brings us a new mystery. A man turns up, but we don’t get a full look at his face. He is whistling the Colonel Bogey March, though, which is something only those from the future will know. Claire hears it, but it’s only for a fleeting moment. That’s a big clue about who he is. That and he has the emerald that belonged to Flora MacDonald.
What did you think of Outlander Season 6, Episode 5? Share your thoughts in the comments below.