Claire and Jamie are back for the final season of Outlander. And the pair is out for blood as they hunt for more information about their daughter, Faith.
When Sam Heughan and Caitríona Balfe last graced the screen as Jamie and Claire, they had just discovered that Fanny Pocock’s mother may have been their firstborn daughter. So they track down the trafficker who sold young Fanny and Jane to the brothel, Vasquez. Jamie, pretending to be as big a scumbag as he is, gets Vasquez to brutally brag about killing their father, Captain Pocock, and their mother, Faith, before raping Jane and then selling both sisters to pay a debt. As Vasquez recounts killing Faith after she fiercely tried to protect her daughters, Claire is overcome and stabs the bastard. Ever the dutiful husband, Jamie jumps right in and kills his companion. Claire’s only regret about the incident? That she didn’t make him suffer more.
Once the rage subsides, it’s tears for Claire as she mourns that their daughter did, in fact, live, but they never got to know her or know if she was cared for. It also leaves them with more questions — as Claire wonders, why did Master Raymond and Mother Hildegard keep their child from them? The premiere doesn’t provide that answer, but Claire finds some solace in Jamie’s point that, even despite her harrowing death, Faith had found a family of her own, as Jamie and Claire have found a home with one another.
For now, Jamie and Claire’s home is Savannah, where, along with Fanny, they are staying with Fergus, Marsali, and their kids, including Henri-Christian. While César Domboy and Lauren Lyle’s scenes are short, the pair is a sight for sore eyes after not appearing in Season 7. While helping Fergus at his printshop, Jamie immediately susses out that Fergus is printing seditious papers against the British, who control Savanah. Jamie warns him of how dangerous his actions are, especially with his young family.
Also in Savannah are Lord John Grey and William, who has given up his post in the army since Jane’s death. He’s hurting from a night of drinking, which he claims was in the pursuit of tracking down the evil Ezekiel Richardson, whom he blames for Jane’s death. His hangover is rudely interrupted by a baby — the alleged son of his cousin Benjamin. Ben apparently died while being held as a military prisoner, and a woman named Amaranthus came to Lord John claiming to be his widow. William is quite dubious and lets it be known (and overheard by Amaranthus) that he thinks Lord John is being duped by “some damn woman.” Real classy, William. But before the episode ends, he apologizes to Amaranthus and makes nice with her (perhaps too nice), promising to do all he can for her and baby Trevor.
After a season away, Claire and Jamie make their way home to Fraser’s Ridge with their secret granddaughter Fanny (they agree not to tell her about her lineage, fearing it could break her trust in them). There, they are greeted by Young Ian, who has built them a brand new home (aw, you’re the best, Ian!), and Rachel, who is quite far along in her pregnancy. Claire promises to deliver their baby in her new, revamped surgery, and Jamie presents Fanny with a room of her own. Later that evening, Jamie and Claire share an intimate moment where he says he believes he knows the night they conceived Faith — at Lallybroch, when Claire first told him she loved him.
Beyond their new home, another addition to the Ridge is a trading post. There, they run into Amy McCallum — the young widow Roger was paying extra attention to in Season 6 — who has since married Evan Lindsay. (Does an Amy sighting in the premiere mean she will have the same fate as her book counterpart?! IYKYK.) The post is run by Hiram Crombie and new character, Captain Charles Cunningham (Kieran Bew), who moved to the Ridge with his mother. He claims to be a retired British soldier (emphasis on retired), who fought opposite Jamie in the Battle of Saratoga. No hard feelings though, right?! Mrs. Cunningham later stops by the house to give a present to Claire, but makes a totally unhinged impression, complete with physical violence and claiming the Frasers will be going to hell. Not more Ridge neighbors to be wary of (looking at you, Christies)!
Some characters who it’s actually good to see on the Ridge? The MacKenzie clan! Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger (Richard Rankin) surprise Jamie and Claire by returning to North Carolina in the 18th century alongside Mandy and Jem. Their return is marked by Roger proclaiming the much-beloved line from Diana Gabaldon’s books, “Hello, the house!”
The family of four has miraculously made it from Scotland in the 1980s and 1730s back to the American colonies in 1779. They’ve brought some books from the future, including the Merck Manual for Claire — with some medical intel for her to rock the colonies with — and the titular Soul of a Rebel for Jamie — a book about Scots in the American Revolution written by (wait for it) Claire’s first hubby, Frank Randall.
Brianna also tells Jamie about Rob Cameron, and her da decides to hide the Frenchman’s gold just in case he’s a time traveler. While the father and daughter are out hunting, they find two men hanged with G.R. engraved on their foreheads — indicating they were killed for being Loyalists. Seems the Ridge won’t be spared the brutality of the war.
Speaking of, thanks to that book by Frank, Jamie not only discovers that Frank and Captain Black Jack Randall looked frighteningly similar, but he learns there’s a battle coming their way in a year at King’s Mountain and that, as he tells Claire, “James Fraser dies in it.”
So will Jamie really die at King’s Mountain as Frank wrote? Can Claire’s first husband be trusted? With multiple endings of the Outlander finale filmed, only time will tell. What is a given is that Jamie and Claire’s domestic bliss at the Ridge is about to be threatened. But hey, even with death prophecies and war, it’s nothing these two haven’t handled before!
Caitlin Gallagher is a New Jersey-raised, NYC-based entertainment writer. When not writing about or watching TV, she can be found planning her next Halloween costume, crying over rescue animals, or praising Season 2 of The Leftovers.
