So this is it. This is what we had all been waiting for! What a journey this episode turned out to be. We watch as Claire has given up on the idea of ever reuniting with Jamie. She makes this evident when Roger shows up in Boston unannounced and then tells Claire about the discovery of Jamie’s whereabouts. Claire becomes angry and says, “I could’ve lived the rest of my life not knowing.” I think she really was trying to move on from her past. I think she was trying desperately to put Jamie behind her for Brianna. She knew if she went back that she would have to leave her daughter behind and that would also break her heart. She was first and foremost a mother in her eyes.
Then we get a break from Claire’s broken heart when Joe brings some bones in for investigation. Somehow Claire is aware of the strange history of these bones and yet, we don’t know how. I felt in this moment that maybe I missed something from earlier in the episode but I don’t believe I did. This appears to me to be some foreshadowing. Of what… I guess we shall see.
After Claire has a run-in with Frank’s girlfriend at Harvard, where the school was honoring his memory with a Fellowship, Brianna had some deep concerns about her father. Claire was honest with her daughter about Frank’s girlfriend but I think this made Bri realize that her father lived his years with a woman who never loved him. Claire had always been in love with someone else. I was saddened Bri thought for one moment that Frank could have hated her just because she looked Jamie when it was evident that he loved Brianna so much. Then Claire confesses to Bri that Roger has located Jamie. Once this is said, and Bri urges her mother to go through the stones, I think Claire finally comes to terms with her future. Still, it is clear that Claire is crushed at the thought of living without Brianna.
Who else thought it was hilarious that the Batman theme song played as Claire made her dress for Scotland? I thought this was brilliant since Roger had joked about Claire having her own utility belt “just like the Caped Crusader himself.” (It also made me a little jealous because I would love to be able to make a dress like that!)
Puddles. This is where my heart beat picked up! One minute we see 1968 Claire opening the cab door and the next we see Claire in 1766 Scotland stepping down into a puddle. This moment sent chills through me. I could imagine the thoughts Claire had as she made her way to Jamie’s printing shop.
Then that moment… As Claire enters the shop and Jamie calls out thinking that it’s somebody else. I felt Caitriona Balfe did a magnificent job of portraying the absolute disbelief and overwhelming emotion that Claire felt as she made her way closer to where Jamie was standing.
When Claire says, “It isn’t Jordy. It’s me. Claire,” and Jamie turns around, the look on his face is priceless. It’s as if he can’t believe what he is hearing!
Then Jamie passes out. From shock!
This made for an excellent end to this episode. Even though I am eager to see how the dialogue is played out between Jamie and Claire, for the first time in twenty years, I thought that this was a perfect transition into E6.
Mindy Campbell
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I always love scenes where a character knows they’re going to be time traveling soon, and prepares. For whatever reason, that always captures my imagination. It reminds me of this bit of Chesterton, which is always floating around somewhere in my head…
“Crusoe is a man on a small rock with a few comforts just snatched from the sea: the best thing in the book is simply the list of things saved from the wreck. The greatest of poems is an inventory. Every kitchen tool becomes ideal because Crusoe might have dropped it in the sea. It is a good exercise, in empty or ugly hours of the day, to look at anything, the coal-scuttle or the book-case, and think how happy one could be to have brought it out of the sinking ship on to the solitary island.”
Plus, making a dress out of raincoats is just a fun idea. It’s also beautiful.