It’s time for the Battle of Monmouth in 1778 in Outlander season 7, episode 15. Meanwhile, Brianna needs to decide what to do now that 1980 isn’t safe.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for Outlander season 7, episode 15.
We get another episode split between three time periods. Within the 1778 time period, there are two individual storylines going on. As you would expect, the penultimate episode is packed with drama, revelations, and heartache. Let’s take a look at the events that happened.
Roger tells Buck the truth about his parents in Outlander season 7, episode 15
If you were wondering if Buck would even learn about his parents, Outlander season 7, episode 15 lets us know that he does. Roger finally decides that it’s time to tell Buck that he’s met his biological parents. This comes from Buck wondering whether his dad was a time traveler, which Roger reveals it wasn’t his dad but his mom.
This goes as you would expect. Buck is angry that Roger didn’t tell him this sooner. Roger was allowed to meet his dad after all these years, and yet he never gave Buck the chance to do the same. Roger tries to argue that this could have changed history, but Buck has a great moment of clarity within it all. Maybe they were supposed to come back.
Had Roger and Buck not gone back in time, they wouldn’t have ended up at Geillis’s house. Dougal wouldn’t have come to the house for Roger, and that would have meant Geillis and Dougal likely wouldn’t have met. Well, they probably would have done considering who Geillis married, but let’s let Buck have this one. He’s a smart man!
There’s a huge moment for Buck in this episode, as well. He realizes that he was a bad man for what he did to his wife. We learn that she was in love with another man, but Buck managed to manipulate the situation so that Morag married him. He should have left her well enough alone, and now he realizes that Morag is likely better off without him. She’s likely married the man she loved in the first place now.
So, Buck decides that he needs to sacrifice himself. Roger can’t go back to 1980 without Jemmy. Buck will do it to tell Bree what’s happened and where Roger is. While Roger is trying to leave a letter for Bree in the desk at Lallybroch—knowing it’s the same desk as the one that’s in Lallybroch in 1980—Buck fears that it may not work. And while Buck may not get back to his own son, he will save Roger and Jemmy. They are both his sons. This is his kin, and it’s such a brilliant moment of character development for this man.
Yes, Roger and Buck do end up back at Lallybroch, as well. It means we get to see Brian Fraser again. We also get a moment of Buck writing to Geillis to thank her for her help. He can’t tell her who he really is, but he can at least leave a part of him with her. He also seems to forgive Roger for not telling him the truth back at the house.
Brianna needs to go through the stones with her children
Meanwhile, Brianna realizes that 1980 isn’t safe. She needs to go find Roger, but she also knows that Roger may come back for her and the children. So, she decides to leave him a note to say that she has Jemmy and that they are coming back to find him.
She also grabs a book from the shelves. It’s one that Frank Randall wrote about the Revolutionary War, and it’s clear that Frank knew way more than he was ever letting on. This is going to be important for Outlander season 8, I’m sure!
Of course, she does find the letter from Roger. This tells her where he is, and so, she gathers the children and they head to the stones at Craigh na Dun. There’s a moment where Mandy doesn’t want to let go of her doll Esmerelda. Bree shares that Mandy can’t take the doll—it’s clear that this wouldn’t be a doll made in the 18th century. However, it looks like the doll is going through the stones with them.
As Bree gives Mandy a gem, she tells Mandy to think of daddy. That’s what she does with a smile as she runs through the stones. Bree and Jemmy chase after her, and we’re left wondering if the three will make it to the same time when they go through all haphazardly.
Lord John Grey goes to save William in Outlander season 7, episode 15
At the end of the previous episode, Lord John Grey and Young Ian headed off to find William. They come up with a plan that Ian would pretend to be a Mohawk scout for the British, with word that Captain Richardson sent them to get William back. Of course, the Hessian captain is smart and doesn’t believe all this, but he does bring William out to show that he is alive.
There’s a small shootout and William is freed thanks to Lord John Grey. Young Ian decides to let the Hessian captain go, who says that Young Ian would come to regret this decision. Well, later Young Ian realizes that he will and so goes out to kill the man.
Lord John Grey manages to get William back on the way home, where the two can finally have a discussion about all secret that John has kept from William all this time. William is still angry to find out that he’s the son of Jamie Fraser, a traitor and a groom. Despite everything that Jamie has done to John up to this point, John defends Jamie and makes it clear that there are worse men William could call father. However, John also points out that William is still a Grey. That’s the way he’s been raised.
William isn’t ready to accept all this right now, and I can’t really blame him. He’s dealing with a lot, and it’s all about to get worse. Frances comes up to him in his tent screaming about him being gone. Someone recognized Jane as Harkness’s murderer and now she’s been arrested. William needs to do something to get Jane out of prison before she’s hanged as a murderess.
Jamie writes in his own heart’s blood
The title of the episode is “Written in My Own Heart’s Blood,” which matches the book that the Battle of Monmouth storyline is taken from. It connects to events that happen at the end of the episode.
It’s all about the Battle of Monmouth, something that Claire is worried about. She says that something feels different about this battle, but does it mean death? She’s not sure, but she’s worried that something will happen to Jamie. He’s not worried about his own death, though.
It’s later in the episode that he worries about Claire. The battle is making its way to the medical area, a church that is being used as a surgery. Claire is banned from the church by the doctor, who doesn’t believe that women can do the job, so she is left outside doing triage. That is until one soldier needs her surgical skills and the doctor has to admit that Claire is a damn good surgeon.
As the battle gets closer, everyone is encouraged to leave. Claire refuses. Some of the men can’t be moved, and she will not leave her patients. The surgeon says that he will stay for as long as he can, but he will eventually leave.
The battle does get to the church. This isn’t helped by Americans riling up the British, and a British soldier fires a shot that hits Claire in the abdomen. Jamie is forced to watch as she collapses in pain from the shot, and he gets her inside the church where the surgeon says there is nothing that can be done.
He leaves, but Claire tells Jamie to fetch Denny. While Denny has left, he does agree to come back, and Rachel comes with him. There is no way they will let Claire just die.
We end the episode with Jamie getting orders to return to George Washington. Instead, Jamie tells a soldier to turn around. He resigns by writing it on the shirt of the man in Claire’s blood—writing in his own heart’s blood—and he chooses to remain with Claire. We end the episode with Denny preparing for surgery, hoping that Claire has taught him enough to save her life.
We have a week off from Outlander now, with the season 7 finale airing on Friday, Jan. 17 on STARZ.
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