Just when you think we can get rid of the tissues, another Outlander episode comes on. Here’s a look at what happened in Outlander Season 7, Episode 3.
Caution: This post contains spoilers from Outlander Season 7, Episode 3.
We get a story in two timelines in Outlander Season 7, Episode 3. Bree and Roger get letters from a bank vault; letters that have been there for 200 years. There’s only one place those letters could have come from.
Back in the past, we find out who lived and died after the explosion at the end of Episode 2. Of course, we need the tissues as the Big House burns.
Bree and Roger receive the letters in Outlander Season 7, Episode 3
It turns out that Bree and Roger turned to someone they knew in the present day. We get a small time jump to find Bree and Roger back at the Manse where Fiona now lives with Ernie and her daughters. Fiona brings them a box that was delivered at the Manse while the MacKenzies were away. The box is for Jemmy.
Inside the box is a set of letters. This is how the two find out what happened to Claire and Jamie.
Roger can’t help but laugh at how the fire at the house was due to Bree’s matches and Claire’s ether. The fire was supposed to happen in January sometime in the 1770s. The letter from Jamie is dated in April, which means history changed. However, during the fire, Claire points out that the papers never get anything right. Which one is it?
The Big House burns down
At the end of Outlander Season 7, Episode 2, we see Wendigo Donner light a match. The scene then cuts to the distance as the Big House explodes. Well, we pick up with the events just before the explosion.
It didn’t happen right away. Claire, Jamie, and the Bugs had time to get out of the house. Donner and his goons pass out from the ether and the flame hits the ground, causing the explosion.
The episode starts with the devastation of the house burning down to the ground. Little is gained back, but there’s one member of the family that maybe everyone forgot about. Lizzie brings him up: Adso. Nobody has seen Adso since the fire. Was he in the house?
Jamie learns about the Bugs’ gold
At the end of the previous episode, Jamie immediately recognized the gold nugget that the Bugs had. It was time to get to the bottom of where the gold came from. It was the Jacobite gold meant for the cause, but the gold arrived when it was too late. Arch shares that he, Dougal MacKenzie, and Hector Cameron were tasked with getting the gold to their clan chiefs.
Only Hector didn’t do that. He took the gold and fled. Arch realized that the money was spent to build River Run, but not all of it. He figured out that the Camerons hid the gold in Hector’s grave, and he and Murdina had been storing it in a hiding place under the house.
One night, Arch goes back for some gold. Jamie and Ian are watching for it and call out to prevent Arch from getting it. Arch shoots at Jamie and Ian has no choice but to fire an arrow. Sadly, it wasn’t Arch. Ian has killed Murdina Bug, and he’s shocked and heartbroken to realize that.
The Frasers ensure Murdina is buried in the graveyard, and Arch does attend, asking Claire to sing and ensure the proper rites are performed. That’s when Ian shares what happened, and Arch makes a vow to get his revenge by taking someone he loves when the time comes.
Jamie makes a vow to get Ian home
We wrap the episode with Jamie deciding it’s time to get Ian back to Scotland. He wants to do it now. The Revolutionary War will soon make it impossible, and Jamie wants to avoid facing William across the battlefield. Ian is in two minds about going home, but he agrees to it.
Claire and Jamie write to Bree and Roger about this. Claire shares how they’ve found a site for the new home and that Lizzie and the Beardsley twins (who are expecting another child) will look after things.
It’s on the way that Claire heads a noise. Adso is out in the woods. He’s safe and sound. Claire says a tearful goodbye to Adso, telling him to “go home.” At least we know he survived, but this opens up more of the waterworks. Claire fears that they’ll never make it back to the Ridge. This is her home. Who would have thought Claire and Jamie would have found a place to call home?
To make it harder, she finds the stick with the red rope that marked the passing into Fraser’s Ridge and we get a flashback from Outlander Season 4. They’ll make it back. Jamie promises it.
Bree and Roger head to Lallybroch
Deciding not to read any more letters, Bree and Roger talk about their next steps. They’re heading back to Boston, but Bree wants to take Roger to Lallybroch first.
While there, a woman shows up and the MacKenzies feel embarrassed about being there. There’s no need to, though. It turns out the woman is a real estate agent for Dick Cameron and Co. Lallybroch is for sale.