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Let's talk This will be my Outlander Season 8 Episode 8
review titled Into the Forest. As always, if you were looking
to avoid spoilers from the book or the TV show, please be
mindful that spoilers are ahead. So we open this episode with
Jamie and Marcely, who are standing in front of Fergus's
burial site next to the Cairn, and Marcely says that she is
glad it isn't raining, and Jamie points out that rain made
Fergus's missing hand ache. Marsley says he used to joke
with their kids that the rain meant God was sneezing.
It was best to be sure to wipe the Lord's snot off of their
clothes before entering the house, and Jamie tells her that
his humor was the devil's own. Marsley chalks it up to it being
from Jamie, but Jamie claims that Fergus's pig headedness was
from him, not his humor. Marceline is thinking of Percy's
offer to rebuild the print shop in order to keep up the work.
And also for the kids to have some sort of purpose.
And for herself, because she believes in the 'cause when she
was leaving Scotland, she knew that that meant she'd be able to
make her own life and find freedom, and that's what she has
found in America. So for Marceline, if she's going
to risk her life, she wants it to be for something that
matters. And Jamie tells her that he
admires that. He also says it's wise to take
the money, and if she ever needed anything, she would only
have to ask him. And to me, this statement sort
of punctuates that the storyline of her taking this land didn't
necessarily need to be here because she could have come back
to the Ridge, lived there for a time.
And again, if Jamie was going to help her, she could have done
what she ends up doing in this episode without needing to get
the money from the land, especially so soon after losing
Fergus. So it sounds like she will
return to Savannah with the money and start over in the same
city once again. But in Go and Tell the Bees,
their storyline actually ends with Fergus having sent a letter
from Wilmington, and it comes with German to the Ridge.
And in that letter, they said they had an event that disturbed
them greatly, which saw them leave Wilmington for North
Carolina. Fergus says he wished that
Marcely and the kids would return to the Ridge to stay
safe, but she chose to stay, promising that if things got
worse, she and the twins would go to the Ridge.
But for now, she would not leave Fergus.
And he tells Jamie he is called to do the work of freedom and he
will not put his sword down, referring to the sword Jamie
placed in his hand which is using his printing press.
So their storyline is very open-ended for book 10.
Marsley says it makes her heart heavy that Fergus was worried
the money would harm the rebel cause, but he also never wanted
to acknowledge the compt as his father and he knew the man to be
a villain. Marsley points out that he
didn't give a damn about the morals of a man long dead and
calls Jamie a fool because he didn't want to call anyone but
Jamie his father and he had thought of himself as Jamie's
son and that meant everything to him.
That's when we see Jamie calling out his name by saying Fergus
Fraser was my son. And then he approaches the grave
and says son of my name, of my heart, now, then and forever
more. No piece of paper nor anything
in this world can change that. And the two of them cry together
and Marsley then decides firmly she will take the money and
sends Jamie away so she can talk to Fergus alone.
I really love the scene because Marsley has that humor that
we've seen from her throughout her storyline where she points
out Jamie called him a Fraser forever more.
He better be happy about that. And that being the case, she
will sign the contract, take the money, build a new shop with the
barns, and then refers to the Baron yet to come because she is
pregnant. So Fergus has left her with a
parting gift. And she could curse him for it,
but she's so happy to have more of him.
And this whole scene was just so beautiful.
And I said it in the previous episode, Lauren Lyle should win
an award for her performance in these two episodes alone because
she truly is fantastic In every scene she's in, she steals.
That's when we get the title card, which is hands making a
fishing line, foreshadowing to the Jamie and William storyline.
And then we see Roger and Brie return to the Ridge with the
muskets, with Buck and Jamie helping them to unload.
They all note that the muskets are old but in good shape.
And Jamie tells everyone that he read in Frank's book that
Ferguson had invented a new gun that allowed them to load and
fire quicker. And Brie points out that Frank
had actually showed her the design of that rifle before.
And Jamie says he was right too, and it was genius in its
invention, but hard to make in quantity, which is the first way
that we're getting foreshadowing for Bree's knowledge and
capability with firearms again, and how her perfect aim and
insight into these types of weapons is all thanks to Frank.
And it further illustrates how Frank was preparing Bree for
traveling to this time because of the very specific research he
had been doing on that time period and how it was directly
involved with Jamie. Roger points out that there's no
way to know if her shooting abilities are nature or nurture,
but there is a reason that she's nicknamed Deadeye practically
from the time she could walk. And this is how the show reminds
us of the nickname, and it's in the dedication of Frank's book.
So Jamie is able to piece that information together.
But in the book, we're already Privy to this nickname because
of the passage where we read Frank's letter that he addresses
to Bri as dead I. So it was another fun Easter egg
to hear that called out in the show.
Jamie pulls the book back out, and he and Claire finally have
the conversation where they realize that everything was for
Brianna, teaching how to shoot, how to ride, learning about the
past. It was Frank's way of preparing
her. And he was looking for Jamie,
knowing that Claire might try to find him.
And so he armed Brianna with the knowledge of how to survive in
that time. Jamie realizes that this book is
not a way to taunt him, but really it's to protect Bri.
And he admits that he used to pray for Frank because Jamie had
sent Claire back to him to keep her and Brianna safe.
So it feels very full circle in that respect.
Claire says again that she was so angry when she found out that
Frank had kept it from her when he knew Jamie was alive.
But perhaps now she thinks he kept her in their time.
So so that she could strengthen her skills, become a surgeon and
now if anything we're going to happen, she has the medical
skills to save Jamies life because of that knowledge.
And I do think the show softened Frank as a character because in
the book I don't think he was that pure of heart.
Their relationship was not depicted in the same light, but
it feels like they chose to wrap his storyline in a way that
makes him feel more honorable, which I can understand.
Jamie and Claire both recognized that they can't change the
course of history, but they can change small things and things
that may feel insignificant in the flow of time, which again,
is foreshadowing to the finale. And the two of them share one of
the very few tender kisses we've seen between them this season.
And it does feel like a lot of their quiet moments are really
cut short and very much are sort of info dump conversations
rather than tender conversations between the two of them.
We then cut back to Savannah, where Amaranthus approaches Lord
John. She's been asking for William,
but no one has seen him. And John tries to talk her down,
but she fears that she might have driven him away.
And John clearly suspects there is more things than just her
going on with William, and he knows that a big one of them is
his conversation. So he tells her that he and
William fought as well, and it was a difficult moment between
them. And that's when Amaranthus
admits that she had lied to him, and she fears he will be unable
to forgive her. And so the two of them are
unknowingly in the same boat in that respect.
John reminds her that William is a man of honor and integrity,
but also of compassion, and he hopes that he is full of
forgiveness as well. And that's true for himself and
also for Amaranthus. Jamie is reading the book,
studying the map, and we hear Frank telling him that he has a
few months to prepare and not to waste it.
So both he, Bree and the men are seen studying the maps.
Bree is designing weapons, they're all training in the
woods with knives amongst this really beautiful landscape.
And we can see that time is passing, which is also marked by
Brianna's pregnancy. And when Claire and Fanny are
working in the kitchen, we see Buck teaching the men hand to
hand combat skills. We see them all reunite with Ian
and Rachel who are back from their trip with swiftest of
lizards and all of them continue to arm themselves.
So this is all glossed over by way of a montage, which I feel
was another sacrifice to this sort of shortened and rapid
season that I was a little unhappy about.
Because it doesn't aid in the storytelling to skip over so
many characters after we've already dedicated so much time
with them earlier in the season, only to eliminate that time here
at the end. Buck and Roger have a
conversation about Gaylis and how Buck went back to spend time
with her, and he says that Dougal was always around and
took his presence as a threat and Gaylis took his interest to
be of an armorous nature as well.
And Rodger did say he warned him.
So that's a nod to the book. Since Buck didn't have any other
reason to be in that time or a reason to go back to his own
time because his marriage with his wife was so broken, he went
back to Craig Nadune. And because he knew that going
back to Morag was unfair and that she was better off without
him, he decided to put his fate in the hands of the stones and
they sent him back to 1980. In the book, Rodger leaves him
in 1739 and so the show takes this opportunity to rewrite his
storyline with some exposition. So instead they use Buck to wrap
up the threat of Rob Cameron, which sort of felt anti
climactic and half baked to me. Buck tells Rodger that the first
person he saw in 1980 was Rob Cameron.
He watched him go into a shop, buy a gemstone, and then he
followed him home and he was dressed in colonial garb so Buck
assumed he was about to go through the stones after the
Mackenzie. And we see him head butt him,
tell Rob that he owed Rodger McKenzie a life and that Rob's
would do. And then when he's attacked by
Rob with a knife, he's able to use his strength and kill him.
Then we see him take his gemstone, leave him there in his
home, takes his whole bag and his hat and left to go back to
this time. In book cannon though, traveling
this much in such a short amount of time is physically very
taxing and harmful. So much so that Bri actually
develops a heart issue in the book, but it seems like they're
omitting that from the show version.
That's when we see Rodger thank him for protecting their family
and Buck says free and clear best way to live.
Bri then walks up to them and agrees and says she has a
surprise for them. So they all go out to try her
new weapon that she designed, and she challenges Jamie to
race. So we see that she's very
visibly pregnant. So we know that it's been a
large passage of time by this point.
They both pour their powder race to get the gun ready and Brie
shows off her version of the haul rifle and tells them all
that she can make more, and Jamie is very proud of her and
asks her to teach him how it works.
Then we cut to William approaching the big house on
horseback and he's met by Claire and Fanny in the yard and
they're curious as to why he's come and welcome him inside.
And the whole way that this was shot felt very awkward to me,
with them standing beside the horse smiling.
And the camera angle also felt sort of a subpar version of the
scene to me as well. And when Fanny asks where he's
been, what he's been doing, that's when Jamie comes outside
and welcomes William to their new home.
And William is very formal with him and calls him Sir and hopes
he's not intruding. He then tells Fanny he will tell
her about all his travels after dinner, assuming he's welcome at
their table, and he directs that question to Claire and not
Jamie. But Jamie excitedly steps in
front of her, beaming, and says I, of course.
And he must have believed William had come to see him, but
then is surprised to learn that he's actually there for Brie.
And you can see it wounds him a little bit, which sets up the
overarching storyline for the episode between the two of them.
That's when we cut to William and Brie on the porch, and he
tells Brie about Ben and Amaranthus and admits that he's
heartbroken that she lied to him.
He's glad that Brie understands and says that he went to Mount
Josiah and needed to tell someone, so he came to see Brie
the only member of his family who hasn't broken his trust.
As a reminder, Mount Josiah is sort of near Richmond, VA in the
book, and Fraser's Ridge is in western North Carolina, so it
would have taken William a very long time to get there.
And he's been gone from Savannah for a long time.
And it would have taken him even longer to travel from Savannah
to Mount Josiah first. So William has essentially been
gone without a word for the better part of a year.
Bri is glad he came and says that time there might be exactly
what he needs. Because this place is magical
and William says he doesn't believe in magic, but Bree asks
him to keep an open mind, which is a nod to her being a time
traveler. Of course, at the table,
everyone Jamie loves except for Ferguson Marsley, which again,
why we didn't even get to say goodbye to Marsley or her kids.
They're all enjoying dinner together.
And William tells Rachel about his interaction with Denzel and
how well he looked and how happy he would be to see their kids.
And William raises a glass to toast Rachel and Ian and their
newfound family, and Ian thanks him and Rachel too.
And Claire says William seems happy enough to Jamie, but Jamie
says it's as long as he's not near him, so it's clear that
there's tension between them. Rodger then makes an
announcement that he's been accepted for his application for
ordination as a minister, and there's a pastor who will be
performing the ceremony when he's passing through Fraser's
Ridge. And that's when Jamie says this
is a happy day indeed and raises his glass to good news, new
beginnings and joyous arrivals and to their future.
Everyone then says their good nights and Rodger and Bree tell
Rachel and Ian to go to bed, they will clean up and that's
when William asks if he can be of service.
But the two of them say no and Jamie walks in and says that
he's hoping to do some fishing in the morning and invites
William to join him. Because when William was a boy
they went last together and they had a rather unfortunate
encounter with the Cherokee and Jamie lied to protect him and
William is bitter about that, how easily duped he was.
He initially denies Jamie's invitation and lies and says
that Bri is giving him a tour of the Ridge tomorrow, but Bri
basically forces the issue and makes William go with him.
So Rodger feeds into it and William is eventually forced
into going fishing in the morning with Jamie.
When Jamie leaves, he thanks Bree and Rodger for their help
and is very reluctant about it. But the next morning we see them
in the river, which is a call back to when we saw them fishing
the last time when he was a boy. And Jamie points out that he has
a fine casting line and asks if he went fishing often after he
left hell water near the a place called the Devil's Beak.
Jamie and William talk about their time fishing there,
compare how many fish they caught there.
William says he caught two dozen and brags about it and then says
if he doesn't believe him to ask his father, meaning Lord John.
And that opens up the conversation about Lord John.
So Jamie asks if he's had a falling out with him and if it's
of a private nature, and that's when William says he discovered
that Lord John is a sodomite and realizes that this might not be
news to Jamie. But William tells him that he
caught him with his arms around a man.
Jamie says that must have been a shock to him, and William asks
if Jamie and John while at Ardsmere might have been lovers
and in Go and tell the bees that I'm gone.
William learns that Richardson has accused Lord John of being a
sodomite through Dennis Randall Isaacs, and while he immediately
denies that claim to Dennis, Dennis has this really great
line that gossip has probably killed more men than musket
fire. And so Jamie counters and says
why would you ask me something like that?
That it isn't true. And William is quick to point
out that Jamie has no issues defending someone who is a liar
and a hypocrite. And that's when Jamie tells him
that John's life and his personal affairs are his own.
He will neither defend nor condemn it, but he has been his
father most of his life, and in that time he has loved him with
all his heart and soul and given him everything he had to give
except the truth, which to William is most hurtful.
And in that respect they are exactly the same.
So he leaves Jamie in the water to Mull over that, and he walks
away angrily. And it's another example of
William's immaturity as a character, which I think is
actually more at the forefront in the book.
The show kind of tempers it down a little bit, but this scene
really does a good job of highlighting how he can be very
short sighted when he storms off and he looks like he's preparing
to leave. I really loved the insertion of
this scene between Claire and William because she confronts
him in a way that I don't think Jamie ever would, and he's
receptive to Claire in a way that he would never be of Jamie
at this point. So she asks William if he's
planning to say goodbye or to storm off again, so highlighting
that he tends to storm off quite a bit.
And she points out his issues and calls him rightfully out on
his behavior. And he asks her to forgive him
and says that it was a mistake to come here.
But she points out that it was not an impulsive one for him to
come because again, he would have traveled very far to get
there. And he says he came for Brie,
but they both know he came for Jamie.
And William knows it was a mistake and asks Claire to at
least give him credit for knowing his own feelings about
the subject. But she says she won't discount
his feelings, only ask that he recognized they are in the
middle of a war. He says he fully recognizes that
and is aware. But Claire makes a point of
saying this very well may be the last time you see your father
alive. And that stuns William because
he says it sounds very bleak coming from Claire, which I
think is true. And Claire points out that he
may well have to lead people into battle again soon.
And William having been in the army, he knows what that means.
So she tells him to really think about how he would feel if
today, this morning, was the last time he ever got to see his
natural father. And that gives William pause.
And he looks out to the field and we see Jamie with Mandy
teaching her how to ride a horse.
And William's memory goes back to his time at Hell Water when
Jamie did the same thing for him.
And we see him smile fondly about that and then is hurt all
over again when he recalls Jamie leaving.
But that moment is enough to make him stay.
So again, that little kind of tidbit of hurt that we see him
feel when he recalls Jamie leaving is more foreshadowing
for the big conversation that they'll have later on in the
episode. Inside the house, Fanny and
Rachel are talking on the stairs.
And Fanny says that there were boys at the trading post reading
pamphlets and calling Jane a murderer, and that she is in the
eternal flames of hell. And.
Fanny struck one of them, then ran away and Rachel can
understand why she felt anger but points out that violence
really brings peace and it's so hard for her knowing that she
won't see Jane again. But she can't stand the thought
that she might be stuck in the eternal flames of hell.
And that's when Rachel points out just because they said it
doesn't make it so. Not all that read the Bible
understand the full measure of God's mercy.
And she also encourages Fanny to speak with Rodger about it.
So this kicks off a little subplot with Fanny and Rodger
for the episode 2. In Savannah we see John at his
desk and Amaranthus enters his office once again and says she
found a letter outside addressed to him and she was hoping that
it might be a reply from William, but he says that he
doesn't think so. So when she leaves, he opens it
and finds that it's word from Percy, who has located the man
they are looking for, which we know is Captain Richardson, and
he asks John to go to his residence to meet him about it.
Back at the Ridge, Jamie is having all of the men prepare
for battle. And they're running drills over
and over again. And we see William approach him
in the woods. And Jamie is telling all the men
to spread out, hold the line, not engage with the targets only
after they engage with them first.
And William's watching Jamie, and as two soldiers, you can
understand that this is something they now have in
common. And so Jamie points out to
William, they aren't exactly British regulars.
He wonders if the men will follow orders in the smoke and
ashes of battle. And that's when we also see
Whitaker approach him. Jamie introduces William.
And we learned through Whitaker that Ferguson has burned down an
entire settlement of free men when they refused to join his
cause. And so they moved to their
families further into the mountains and fled and sought
Jamie out. So when Jamie asks how he can
help them, he says they're actually there to help him by
joining his militia. And we can see that Jamie is
very excited to have more men and he offers to introduce them
to the rest of the troops. That's when William very
boyishly tells Jamie that they should go hunting in the forest
and asks if they can go together, if they have time and
if Jamie might want to join him. And then he stutters and says
would tomorrow suit? And William agrees, so Jamie
makes fun of him by saying we'll meet in the forest, given that
William sort of stumbles over his words and asks him multiple
times if they'll go hunting in the forest.
And that is the title of the episode.
Rodger is singing when Fanny approaches him and he asks what
she thinks of the song he selected.
And she points out that God is good to his sons, but doesn't
care about his daughters, and asks if he will be different
after he is ordained. Rodger compares his role to
Jamie leading his men. People will know Rodger is a
good leader too, because he will be ordained, but he will be
leading them into God's hands. So Fanny thinks that that means
that he should still have a sword for protection.
But Rodger can tell that there's something else on her mind.
And when he asks, she lies and says no.
But he says that he will be glad to see what she thinks after she
attends his ceremony, and we can see that something is still
plaguing her. Roger is on to it as well.
When we finally see Jamie and William hunting deer.
We watch them shoot the deer together, and Jamie is praying
after the deer, and William is pacing back and forth, watching
him from behind. So when Jamie finally asks if
he's all right, William sort of blurts out that he wants to
apologize for what he said to him at the river, and that he's
given it a lot of thought and realizes that his accusation was
malicious and beneath both of them.
He asks for Jamie's forgiveness and Jamie says he accepts his
apology and they'll never speak of it again.
And William then tells Jamie that at Hellwater, he looked up
to him because he never treated him like a child and was the one
person in his life that he actually wanted to emulate, and
he worshipped him like a hero. And ultimately, he tells Jamie
that he loved him. But after he left at Hellwater
and rode away and didn't look back at him, he was heartbroken.
And he asks Jamie, I was your son.
How could you not look back at me?
I didn't even know it then, but you did.
You were the adult in this situation.
How could you just leave? And I loved this scene because
we haven't had a moment like this in the book yet.
So the show kind of got to write it however they wanted to.
And Jamie's crying. And he says, I love you too, but
I had nothing to give you. No name.
Money land. He was a Jacobite trader,
distrusted and hated by every man who had kept his oath to the
king. And he made those choices and
was prepared to live with the consequences.
But William, as much as he wanted to cry out the truth to
all angels in heaven, he says, would have been condemned to a
life of pain. So he did what he thought was
best, which was leave. And he didn't look back because
he knew that if he saw the look on William's face, it would have
shattered his resolve. And admits to William in a way
that I think is really, really healing for him, that he's
regretted that for years. When William came to Fraser's
Ridge with John, he saw the man that William had become and
knows that he had caused him pain when he discovered the
truth. And for that he's sorry, but he
really hopes that he can forgive him.
And that's when we get this really beautiful hug between
William and Jamie, and the two of them cry in each other's
arms. And Jamie is finally able to hug
his son and comfort him as a man.
And it's such a beautiful moment.
And I love the addition of Jamie looking up to thank God, which
flows right into Roger leading his service, everyone singing,
the kids and everyone at the Ridge taking part of it,
including William. And we see Fanny enter from the
back and when she makes eye contact with Roger, she
immediately retreats. So Rodger once again can sense
that something's going on with Fanny that he will need to
address. So when he gets back home, he
finds her pressing flowers in her book and approaches her and
asks if all is well because she didn't stay at the ceremony.
That's when she explains that she can't stand being in a place
where her sister isn't welcome. So when Rodger enters into the
room and asks if he can discuss it with her, she makes this
really snarky comment that unlike God, she is very
welcoming and will allow him to enter her room.
And Rodger clarifies that this is because of how Jane died,
right? Fanny thinks that she's
committed mortal sins and it's in hell now.
And Rodger says he's not sure if that's true because the Bible
says that that's the rules. But Rodger points out that
different denominations have differing beliefs, and the
church is made-up of people, and the rules are put in place by
man and not by God. So if she thinks Jane is with
God now, she should be able to talk to him and let him know how
she feels. It's up to Fanny to let him in
if she chooses. And Rodger says it's helpful to
be open to the idea of conversation with him first and
sort of eases her into this concept, which I think for Fanny
is really healing because he's not telling her what to do,
simply offering her a solution to help her deal with her pain
in a way that might be a little more healthy than how resentful
she's been feeling. He ends their conversation with
this line that Bri told him recently.
Sometimes all you need is a little time.
And then he makes a joke about maybe her talking about the herb
instead. And then we see Fanny leave that
conversation and go to the Cairn where she normally talks to Jane
and tell Jane that she has hope that she'll see her again.
And she asks and begs for a sign that Jane can hear her.
And when she touches the Cairn and then makes her way to the
water, we see her picking up a stone that is green and dropping
it because it's hot to the touch and burns her hand.
And when she picks it up again, we hear the buzzing and we see
her watching the stone shatter in her hand and put her hands
over her ears, which confirms to us that Fanny is a time
traveler. This very much feels like a show
only change to potentially weave this character into the Blood of
My Blood series, which I don't necessarily feel we need to do,
but they've spent so much time setting it up and then
confirming it in this scene that it feels too intentional to not
have some sort of a payoff in the Blood of My Blood series.
And it's not that I don't like the character of Fanny, because
I actually think this actress is a really talented little actress
and she does a wonderful job as her.
It's just all show only writing that doesn't necessarily fit
into the story, I know. And so I'm not sure what her
character in this capacity adds to the overarching storyline.
But I think for myself and hopefully for other people
watching the show, it's important to remember that Blood
of My Blood is entirely new material too.
So if they 2 choose to use Fanny, that's fine because she's
going into a narrative that doesn't exist in the book Canon.
At the solicitor's office, we see John waiting to meet Percy,
pacing back and forth. And Percy arrives late and he's
clearly nervous and offers John some Sherry.
And John says no and impatiently asks if he's found Captain
Richardson. And when he asks where he is, we
see Richardson knock John unconscious.
And that's how the episode ends. One thing that I personally
thought was missing from the show version of the story is
Richardson getting between William and Brianna.
Because in the book Richardson actually meets William near
Charlestown and tells William I know your sister as a means of
threatening him. And William then writes Bri a
letter about it, warning her about him and actually signs
that letter as your brother, which is a significant moment in
the book for me. And he also sends a sketch of a
picture of Richardson to Bree. And she is then able to pinpoint
the fact that he is a time traveler and he was one of the
men that was at Lally Brock when her family was being attacked in
Season 7. And it all ties back to Frank's
warning in his letter debris about Rob, Cameron and
Richardson going back in time after her and people in the
future knowing that she is a time traveler.
So we see how the show made changes to that storyline in
episode 9. But I do think that for all the
work and groundwork they've done to make William and Bree closer,
that storyline and his protectiveness over her when it
comes to Richardson was something I actually really
enjoyed in the book and I would have liked to see in the show.
But I I understand that they had to rework a lot of it and this
ended up getting cut for for that reason.