Jamie learns about John and Claire’s night, while William finds out more about the matters of his birth. Here’s a look at the events of Outlander season 7, episode 12.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Outlander season 7, episode 12.
Lord John Grey finds himself in a precarious situation, finding himself at the ends of Rebels. Meanwhile, William gets some answers that lead to him questioning everything about his life. Relationships are affected throughout the episode.
Lord John Grey tells Jamie the truth in Outlander season 7, episode 12
You would think that Lord John Grey would know Jamie’s violent nature. And yet, he decides that it’s a good idea to tell him all about the drunken night with Claire. At first, Jamie is just amused. He doesn’t quite believe it, knowing what Lord John Grey is really like and knowing his wife well enough. It’s only when Lord John Grey continues on and on about it that Jamie starts to believe it.
This leads to a major fight. It doesn’t help that Lord John Grey tells Jamie that the two of them were making love to Jamie in the moment. Well, he doesn’t put it as eloquently as that. It’s the terminology that likely really gets to Jamie, and a fight breaks out.
The two don’t get to finish the “conversation.” A group of Rebels turn up, and they decide to take Lord John Grey hostage. After all, he is known as a British soldier, even though he’s not in uniform. When the Rebels find the letter that he received at the end of the previous episode offering him his commission back, the Rebels decide that he’s a spy. They take him back to their camp.
Colonel Woodbine takes Lord John Grey to see their leader. It’s not really the fact that he’s a spy that causes a problem. It’s the fact that he’s some distant relative of a Charles Grey, who was responsible for the massacre of a bunch of Americans. Because of this massacre, Lord John Grey will be executed for it. However, John argues against it, sharing that his brother Hal holds some power in government and could help.
This somewhat civil interaction leads to John getting the medical treatment he needs. After all, his eye is starting to swell and it looks like he could lose it. Denny Hunter happens to be the doctor at the camp, so there is, at least, a friendly face in the camp. This is how Lord John Grey gets the eye patch, but Denny is worried about a fracture in the bone that’s stopping the eye muscle from working.
Denny notes that he wishes John’s wife was here, and John is confused at first. Then he realizes that Denny is talking about Claire. John shares that Jamie is alive and he’s the one who did this. It’s great news for Denny and the rest of the family, but things aren’t looking great for Lord John Grey.
Denny learns that John is going to be hanged. He needs to get John out of the camp, and he’s willing to put himself at risk to save John. Well, John isn’t willing to put Denny at risk. So, Denny decides to share the way to the main road, giving John a chance to escape, at least.
John manages to escape in the night, but the guards are called to search for him. Will he be able to get away, or will he continue to remain in enemy hands?
William learns the truth about his birth
William struggles deeply with the knowledge that he is no longer the son of Lord Ellesmere. He goes to see Claire to ask her how much she knew, getting information about how his birth happened. He’s more worried that it was rape, which Claire points out wasn’t the case at all. Jamie and Geneva loved each other as much as they could. It’s interesting that she puts it that way, but it’s possibly just to soothe William a little.
It doesn’t work. William is angry that everyone in his life lied to him. He doesn’t know who he is now, and now he’s struggling to deal with the truth. That’s not all surprising, especially considering the situation that he now finds him in.
Now, the benefit for William is that he is still considered Lord Ellesmere. Since Lord Ellesmere was married to Geneva at the time, he is considered William’s father. However, William knows the truth, and he has to handle the fact that he’s the son of a Jacobite traitor and now a Rebel.
Things go from bad to worse for William. He strikes a prostitute and then he gets into a fight with Young Ian. As Young Ian is taken away by British soldiers, William earns a slap from Rachel. He decides to kiss her, to which she spits on the ground. Rachel isn’t going to find it easy to forgive William for this, but she does somewhat understand the pain William is going through.
As Jamie sees that Young Ian has been arrested and that William was responsible, Jamie goes to see his son. Jamie threatens to expose who William is if he doesn’t free Young Ian. Of course, William doesn’t want this, and so he goes to order Young Ian’s release so he can return to Rachel.
That night, William decides to head back out with the other men. He ends up back at the brothel where he was the night before. Captain Harkness is absolutely vile, sharing how much he wants a woman who doesn’t actually want it and isn’t too experienced. William decides he wants the prostitute from the night before, and Harkness says that “Arabella” is his. There’s a bit of an argument between them, but William ends up with her.
Her name isn’t Arabella, and the two have a bit of a conversation. William shares that he would like to spend the night with her, but he won’t do it. He didn’t save the girl from Harkness just to do it herself. His father—who we can assume is Lord John Grey in this context—told him that a good night’s sleep is the best you can give a prostitute, and that’s what he will offer Arabella.
While William says that he will let Jane—that’s her real name—sleep, Jane isn’t all that interested in sleeping. The two end up sleeping together, although William doesn’t instigate any of it. He makes it clear that all he has left is his word and he must keep it. There’s a heartbreaking moment for William afterward as he asks her why she made him break his word.
For those who were ready for Jane’s storyline from Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, this is the point that we get it. At least, some of it. It’s unclear how much of it we’ll actually get. Yes, Arabella is Jane, and we’re ready to see how things change for William with her.
Jamie passes on messages from France in Outlander
Jamie had told John that while his papers were good getting off the ship, someone wanted to search him. Jamie had items on him that he didn’t want anyone to find. What were those items? Well, it turns out that they are letters from France.
He takes them to Morgan, who sees the value in them. He wants Jamie to meet a certain someone. That someone is George Washington—and yes, they comment on how they’ve met before. With the information Jamie has and the loyalty he’s shown, Washington offers Jamie the charge of a rebellion.
With this, Jamie goes to see Claire finally. It’s time to get Claire’s side of the story, and it does somewhat match up with John’s. Jamie isn’t giving Claire a chance to lie about any of this. He’s understandably angry at the entire situation, and he wants to find out everything that happened, so Claire goes through the events of the night.
Claire points out that she was considering killing herself that night, which certainly makes Jamie’s demeanor change. Claire shares that she ran out of brandy and was considering going to find more or drinking a whole bottle of laudanum. We all know what happened from that point, as we saw it play out just an episode ago.
Claire now wants to know what Jamie did to John. She knows Jamie wouldn’t kill John, although Jamie doesn’t seem too sure if it would happen. However, as the two talk a little more, Jamie shares that he doesn’t blame Claire and John for marrying. He also doesn’t blame Claire, knowing that she was drunk and how she thinks with her body.
The time with Mary McNab comes up. Claire points out that she never asked for the details, and she didn’t blame Jamie for sleeping with the woman. The two point out about how the situations were completely different. All this does is make Jamie hate John even more, but he does point out to Claire that he didn’t kill John and he’s not sure if he regrets not killing him or not. One thing that is clear, Jamie isn’t angry at Claire for everything that happened.
With confirmation that Claire is still his wife, Jamie is done with talking. It’s time for them to make up.
Outlander airs Fridays on STARZ.
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