1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,920 Hi and welcome to K Let's Talk, the podcast where we breakdown 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:07,440 storytelling across books, television and film with a 3 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:09,800 special love for book to screen adaptations. 4 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,520 Here we talk about craft, character arcs, structure, 5 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,040 dialogue, visual language, and the creative choices that shape 6 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:19,480 how a story lands. If you like thoughtful, 7 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,560 conversational, deep dives into the stories you can't stop 8 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:24,240 thinking about, you're in the right place. 9 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:29,360 Let's talk, this will be my Outlander Season 8 episode 3 10 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:33,680 review titled ABS Fraser Eye. As always, if you are looking to 11 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,880 avoid spoilers from the books or the TV show, please do keep on 12 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,320 scrolling. So this episode opens with a 13 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:43,640 shot of insects pinned to a board and plenty of beetles, 14 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:47,000 which is foreshadowing to Amaranthus and the clothing that 15 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,560 she had made for Ben and then gifts to William to wear. 16 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,400 And the clothing has all of the beetles in North America on it. 17 00:00:55,400 --> 00:01:00,480 So we can see many beetles and then we zoom in on the Hercules 18 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,840 Dynasties tedious beetle, which she and William talk about in 19 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,480 the episode. Then we cut over to see that 20 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,560 we're back on the Ridge at the trading post and find Fanny and 21 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,680 Brianna together there. Fanny is looking at a pretty 22 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:19,440 comb and Bri asks her if she would like to have it. 23 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,400 But Bri is approaching this from a place that Fannie doesn't 24 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:27,080 understand. She, like her sister Jane, isn't 25 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,520 able to comprehend what it's like to own things or even have 26 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:34,720 the ability to buy things. So even though Bree is giving 27 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:37,960 her this very kind gesture and offering to purchase it for her, 28 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:42,280 we remember in last season Jane explaining to William that she 29 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,120 has no concept of coin or money. The same can be applied to 30 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,960 Fannie here. Bree is then alerted that her 31 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,240 post has arrived and so she leaves Fanny by the table to 32 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,280 think about whether or not she wants the comb to go get her 33 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,160 news and mail. And that is when Fanny is 34 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:02,480 approached by two men who start to insinuate that they can tell 35 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:06,760 what Fanny is and that she grew up in a brothel and is from a 36 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,000 brothel. But we see her be very firm with 37 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,000 them and they start to press, but she calls the man a toad 38 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,680 faced foot licker and he's obviously offended. 39 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,480 And we see them get into this disagreement and Brianna 40 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:22,680 returning to Fannie in the background. 41 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,440 And instantly we can tell that Fanny is upset, but she tries to 42 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,600 downplay the fact that the men had bothered her. 43 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:34,040 The scene allows us to set eyes on these two men because they 44 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,600 will be a visual callback and a narrative callback later on in 45 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,480 this episode. And it also makes it clear to us 46 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:44,800 as viewers that Brianna also recognizes these men and then 47 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,920 sees them interacting with Cunningham as well. 48 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:50,960 Because that information eventually makes its way to 49 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:53,680 Jamie. Fanny doesn't want Brianna to 50 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,320 get involved or to confront the men because she wants to address 51 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,160 it directly. So instead, the two of them 52 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:02,480 leave. And again, it helps us to piece 53 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:06,680 together that Cunningham is up to something and Bree is now a 54 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,840 witness of it as well as Fanny. Back at the Ridge, Claire is 55 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:14,800 writing in a book when we see Jamie approach her with a letter 56 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:17,080 that we learn is from Lord John Gray. 57 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:21,240 And instantly we as viewers can tell that he is upset by this 58 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:25,360 and asks Claire what John could possibly want of her. 59 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:29,760 And Claire clarifies that he is in Savannah with William and he 60 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,520 actually wants Brianna. He's asked Brianna to come and 61 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:38,000 Commission a portrait of Amaranthus and Trevor, which is 62 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,000 different from how it plays out in the books. 63 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,920 He actually asks her to come to paint a portrait of a altogether 64 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:48,520 different person named Alfred Brumby and his new wife in the 65 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:50,600 book. And when Claire says she will go 66 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,440 and ask Bri if she'd like to go to Savannah, Jamie says no, you 67 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:56,400 won't. Which kick starts their 68 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,000 argument. And again, as a detail from the 69 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,840 book, we're actually in John's point of view as he writes the 70 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,440 letter to Jamie himself, asking if Brianna would come to 71 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,320 Savannah to paint the portrait of Alfred Brumby's new wife. 72 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,360 And he consults his brother Hal about it. 73 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:17,320 And in that conversation he actually admits to Hal that Bri 74 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:21,959 is William's half sister and they had met briefly years ago. 75 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:26,480 It's actually under his brother Hal's advice that he mentions 76 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:31,160 William in a letter to Jamie because Hal recognizes that 77 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:35,480 Jamie will send her if he knows that William is there. 78 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,040 All these men know what it's like to be a father, and Hal is 79 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:43,080 confident in Jamie's care for William being just as strong as 80 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,640 John's care for William as well. In the book, it's actually 81 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:51,040 dialogue pulled from chapter 35 when Claire and Jamie have this 82 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:52,760 exchange and Jamie says no you're not. 83 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:56,120 Claire's actually telling Jamie she's going to write to Lord 84 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:57,920 John, and he says no, you're not. 85 00:04:57,920 --> 00:04:59,880 So it's a little different in the show version. 86 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,440 And that takes place after they receive a letter learning that 87 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,760 Denzel Hunter has been captured and is being held prisoner. 88 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:10,200 And in the book, Denzel is married to John's niece Dottie. 89 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,320 So Claire wonders if she's going to be able to get any more 90 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:17,160 information about Denzel through John's knowledge of where Dottie 91 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:21,000 might be. And so Claire turns and asks if 92 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,480 Jamie is seriously saying no to her and if he'd care to rephrase 93 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,280 that because she's clearly not going to listen. 94 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,520 So the show has clearly woven in dialogue and story beats from 95 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:37,520 other, more minor subplots in favor of this being an argument 96 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,400 around Lord John to sort of condense that timeline and 97 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,560 storyline. Claire asks if he's seriously 98 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,960 not going to allow her to go and talk to Bree. 99 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:52,120 And it reminds Jamie that this doesn't involve him. 100 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:55,520 But Jamie has clearly not been able to come to terms with her 101 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:57,840 marrying and sleeping with Lord John. 102 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:01,480 So it all bubbles over in this really great scene between them, 103 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:05,960 which calls back to their fight when Jamie returned back in 104 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,600 season 7. Jamie doesn't mean to be 105 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,360 involved with Lord John Gray at all, but he is forced to be 106 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:15,280 because of what happened between him and Claire. 107 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,720 And so when Claire starts to defend herself by saying that 108 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,840 Jamie already knows what happened, he counters by 109 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:25,240 explaining that in more crass terms. 110 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:30,440 He can't get over the fact that Lord John took her in the way 111 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,080 that he did. And we can see from a little 112 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:37,280 shot around the corner that Fanny is listening to this 113 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:42,800 conversation in the other room. When Claire asks Jamie, I 114 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,840 thought we were done with that. Jamie delivers this great line 115 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:49,640 from the source material where he says, did I not tell you once 116 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:52,960 I'm a jealous man? I begrudged every hour you spent 117 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:55,920 in another man's bed. I meant it, I still mean it. 118 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,760 And you'll do what you damn please, God knows you always do. 119 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:01,440 But don't pretend that I don't know what I feel about it. 120 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:05,360 As Jamie leaves, Claire points out that he's unable to avoid 121 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,080 John forever because so long as he's tied to William, Jamie will 122 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:12,040 be tied to him, too. And that's when Jamie yells out, 123 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:15,240 Damn William. And Fannie overhears that when 124 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,960 Fannie asks what William has done to upset Mr. Fraser, Claire 125 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,400 insists that it doesn't have anything to do with William. 126 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,320 But Fannie makes it clear she heard the entire conversation 127 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,440 when she says she understood what Jamie had said. 128 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:31,480 And we get this great shot of Claire reacting to those words. 129 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:34,520 I really enjoyed how organic this all felt. 130 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,760 And Fanny makes it clear that she's worried that this means 131 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,680 that Jamie and Claire will have to bring her back to the brothel 132 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,880 because so long as Jamie is mad at William, he won't do what 133 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:46,040 William asked, which is take care of her. 134 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:49,520 Claire makes a point to correct her and insists that she'll 135 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,440 never have to go back there because Jamie and Claire want 136 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:54,200 her. And even though Jamie and 137 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:58,280 William are the same, that means neither of them will do anything 138 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:01,800 against their will. And Jamie promised to keep Fanny 139 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:03,960 safe. And he keeps his word, and so 140 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:06,240 does Claire. This felt like a nice return to 141 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,400 the main plot of the book, where Fanny potentially being Jamie 142 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:13,040 and Claire's granddaughter isn't a part of the impetus behind 143 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,400 their closeness towards her. And in the book, Claire also 144 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:19,840 explains how Jamie had to let Lord John take care of William 145 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:22,960 because he had gone to prison and how John had raised William 146 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,840 as his son because neither of them thought Jamie would ever be 147 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:29,200 released and John didn't think that he would ever have children 148 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:31,880 of his own. That moment in the book is also 149 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,400 when Claire tells Fanny that she had fought in the war too and 150 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:39,080 had seen very bad things. And that dialogue was actually 151 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:42,880 used in episode 2, so we see that it got moved around and 152 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,240 repurposed in the show. Back in Savannah, we see William 153 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:50,280 at Lord John's home, which in the book is number 12 Oglethorpe 154 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:54,840 St. in Savannah, and he tells John that Ben is not dead 155 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,120 because his body was not in his grave. 156 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,400 And once again we see that Lord John Gray is choosing to be far 157 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:02,480 more pragmatic. And in the book, this 158 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,200 conversation happens quite early on in the story. 159 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,960 And William is actually telling Dennis Randall Isaacs, who is 160 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:13,320 the son of Mary Hawkins and Alexander Randall Blackjack, 161 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:17,680 Randall's brother, about finding Ben's grave with another man in 162 00:09:17,680 --> 00:09:19,760 it. Dennis first appears with 163 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:23,560 William in Quebec in An Echo in the Bone and then again in 164 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:26,000 Philadelphia and written in My Own Hearts Blood. 165 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:29,240 And in the book version of the scene, William recalls thinking 166 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,560 that he was once a friend before Dennis had left him in Quebec. 167 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,640 And at this point in the story, William had been chased by a 168 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,760 group of rebels after he had won a card game the night before, 169 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:42,840 and they'd beaten him to a pulp, taking back their money. 170 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:44,960 And then they were all collectively captured by the 171 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:47,480 Redcoats, which is when William announced his title. 172 00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:50,360 And Dennis confirmed that William was, in fact, who he 173 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,080 said he was. And in that correspondence, it's 174 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:56,320 revealed that Dennis is also looking for Captain Richardson 175 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:00,120 and tells William that he has turned his coat and has been 176 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:03,200 making threats towards Lord John, which is a subplot that I 177 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:05,480 do suspect we will see in this season. 178 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,240 But in the show, this conversation is used to map out 179 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:11,880 what the storyline will be for William's search for Ben, and 180 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,080 establishes that John does not subscribe to the idea that Ben 181 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:17,840 could be alive. At this point, John is unable to 182 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:21,080 make great reaches like William is, and suspects that William is 183 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:23,160 simply looking for a sense of purpose here. 184 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:27,240 So despite the fact that John is unwilling to subscribe to the 185 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:31,000 notion that Ben is alive, he decides to meet William halfway 186 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:35,240 and explains that if Ben were to have escaped from the camp, he 187 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,240 would have given word to his commanding officer and that 188 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:40,360 officer is currently in Savannah. 189 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,640 John, as it happens, will be dining with General Provost at 190 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:49,440 his luncheon and could introduce William to that officer and he'd 191 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:52,080 be able to make inquiries. But it's a double edged sword 192 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:54,960 because William can tell that John is also trying to get him 193 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:58,120 back into society. In the book, Dennis is actually 194 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,040 the one who writes to John and asks him to bring William 195 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:04,000 specifically to the luncheon. So again, they've rearranged 196 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,480 that story quite a bit and I am curious if they're going to 197 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:10,160 include Dennis Randall Isaacs in this final season of the show. 198 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:13,600 He's not a super important character, but it is kind of a 199 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:18,320 fun Easter egg that he is the grown son of Mary Hawkins that 200 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,240 we saw way back in season 2. Back at the Ridge, Claire and 201 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,000 Bri are in the kitchen discussing John's invitation to 202 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,840 Savannah to paint this portrait and we get this humorous moment 203 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:33,200 between Claire and Brianna when they are discussing Lord John. 204 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:37,960 Brianna doesn't understand why Jamie and Lord John are in a 205 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,640 disagreement at the time, and Claire has to explain to her 206 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:43,840 that she had married Lord John and why she had to marry him and 207 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,400 everything that happened around those circumstances. 208 00:11:46,680 --> 00:11:50,360 But to Brianna, it seems like something that Jamie wouldn't be 209 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:53,160 upset about, given that John was protecting Claire. 210 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:57,640 And that's when Claire gives it up and admits that they had 211 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:01,320 slept together because they were drowning in grief and alcohol. 212 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:04,440 Brianna is naturally shocked by this information, but she 213 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:08,200 chooses to make a joke about it and how she might have to call 214 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,960 John Da now. And Claire and her are, you 215 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:14,240 know, having a humorous moment. But she makes it clear not to 216 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:15,960 joke about that in front of Jamie. 217 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:20,240 Then back at the trading post, we see Cunningham at Crombies 218 00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:24,480 and Jamie ends up confronting him about the two officers that 219 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:26,160 we saw at the top of the episode. 220 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:29,760 Cunningham claims that they are his son's comrades and they had 221 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,040 brought back some of his son's belongings to him, but Jamie can 222 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,040 very clearly tell that he is lying and that something else is 223 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:38,320 going on here. This is the first time that we 224 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:41,920 see Jamie looking at this weapon, and again, this is 225 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:45,640 foreshadowing visually and narratively to the end of this 226 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:50,040 episode because he can tell that there's something odd about this 227 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:53,800 particular vehicular weapon, and he makes it clear to Cunningham 228 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:56,640 that he will not tolerate any actions that would threaten the 229 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:00,600 Ridge or its settlers. Jamie, for all his faults, gives 230 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,400 people the benefit of the doubt for a lot longer than I think 231 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,200 sometimes he should. And in this situation, I think 232 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:10,360 he has more faith in people, specifically Cunningham, than 233 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:14,760 maybe is advisable. He gives warnings, but he hasn't 234 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:18,920 chosen to intervene yet. And he tells Cunningham that the 235 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:23,560 men upset Fanny, and that is his way of pointing out that it's 236 00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:29,200 starting to affect other people in his personal life, and he's 237 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:31,720 taking notice. I really love the actor who 238 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:34,920 plays Cunningham because he has this really beautiful delivery 239 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:38,560 of these lines where you can tell it's so insincere. 240 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:43,520 And he says to Jamie that he'll tell them that behavior is, you 241 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:45,840 know, unacceptable. Should he see them again? 242 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:50,280 And that's when you can tell he's ushering Jamie out and 243 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,200 promptly ending anymore of Jamie's prying. 244 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:57,200 And it's a really well executed scene because with the acting, 245 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:01,360 the facial expressions, the pauses, all of those details, 246 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:05,080 you can tell that something is afoot, especially when 247 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:09,120 Cunningham closes the door and pauses here for a moment and is 248 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:12,960 contemplating his next move on this chess board between him and 249 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,520 Jamie. Back in Savannah, we see William 250 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:18,720 changing when Amaranthus enters the room. 251 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:22,200 And I think this is so funny because such a visual call back 252 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:26,680 to Jamie when we saw him with his shirt off and his long hair 253 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:30,920 not tied back, or even in Blood of My Blood when we saw his 254 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:33,720 father in the same state without his shirt on. 255 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:37,440 It's really trying to bridge the gap between William and the rest 256 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,200 of the Frasers and how he is indeed a Fraser. 257 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:43,200 And that's when we see Amaranthus enter the room with 258 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,800 the waistcoat that she had embroidered for Ben and she 259 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,080 notes that William looks to be of similar size. 260 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:53,480 This is when she explains that all of the beetles on the 261 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:56,120 waistcoat can be found in the colonies and they are all 262 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,480 anatomically correct. So again, this is a visual call 263 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,480 back to to the opening of the episode when we got the title 264 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:05,440 card and we can see an up close shot of this beautiful 265 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,280 embroidery detail. The costume department of this 266 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:12,400 show is one of the best on television and I think that this 267 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:14,880 is really another beautiful example similar to Claire's 268 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:16,880 wedding dress, where we get to see that shine. 269 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:21,280 In the book, William actually wakes up to the waistcoat in his 270 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:23,880 room along with a suit from Lord John. 271 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:27,320 So the show is using this scene to establish the attraction 272 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:32,560 between William and Amaranthus. And in the books, John makes a 273 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:36,200 point to refer to Amaranthus as William's cousin quite often. 274 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:43,080 But William is very attuned to Amaranthus and her advances on 275 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,040 him. They do that with her gliding 276 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:50,040 her hands over his shoulders and looming in his room longer than 277 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:53,400 she should without a chaperone. So the show is keeping it very 278 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,680 simple and straightforward here so that we can't ignore the fact 279 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,680 that they're queuing that up for us in the book. 280 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:02,680 Lord John is actually a witness to it a number of times. 281 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:06,080 So I do wonder if we're going to get him setting eyes on the two 282 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,000 of them interacting and picking up on this attraction between 283 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,760 them like he does in the story. When William asks her why 284 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:17,400 beetles, Amaranthus explains her background to him and how her 285 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:21,400 father is not noble. He's actually a naturalist and a 286 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:24,280 bookseller, and her grandfather was a botanist. 287 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:27,880 She also explains that that's where her name, Amaranthus comes 288 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:31,880 from, which means pigweed. And this conversation was taken 289 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:35,200 from an earlier one in the book between William and Amaranthus. 290 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:38,440 And it's sort of intermingled with the conversation they had 291 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:41,000 in the last episode when they were outside together. 292 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:44,840 So they moved it here to help imply that the two of them are 293 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:49,880 growing closer and have that sort of commonality between them 294 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:53,120 of not having family that is truly nobility. 295 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:56,080 Which will come up later in the episode when William admits to 296 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,200 Amaranthus that he is a bastard. And again, the show double s 297 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,960 down on making it clear that there's an attraction between 298 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,720 them because William saying it's a beautiful name is a show 299 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,160 edition. Back at the Ridge, Bree and 300 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:13,240 Roger are pitching the idea to Jamie that they go to Savannah 301 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:16,480 with the secondary mission of getting weapons. 302 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:20,440 And Bree, knowing that she has a letter of safe passage from Lord 303 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:24,040 John, is thinking of using the Frenchman's gold to pay for 304 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,400 those weapons. This is all coming in light of 305 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:30,080 the news of the battle coming to the mountains that they had all 306 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,920 read in Frank's book. And in the book, Jamie worries 307 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:38,240 that using the gold in any capacity might tip people off, 308 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:42,840 and he knows that gold is worth something everywhere, so once 309 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:45,760 people know that you have it, they all want it. 310 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,600 In the book, Jamie hasn't touched the gold himself because 311 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:52,080 he doesn't feel it's truly his, but also because he doesn't want 312 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,840 to use it directly. So he often shaves it down, 313 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:58,920 turns it into Nuggets, rubs dirt on them, and then passes them 314 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,480 through multiple men that he trusts in different places and 315 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:05,480 never in the same place twice. And so it slowly gets turned 316 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:09,720 into cash bit by bit. And so Jamie is immediately 317 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:11,800 dismissive of that idea in the show. 318 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:17,080 And we do get a little tiny hint of that musket ball making later 319 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:19,800 on in the episode between Rodger and Fergus. 320 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:23,920 But ultimately Jamie shoots the idea down and he's dismissive of 321 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,160 it. And that's when Claire decides 322 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:29,080 to go and speak with him directly because she doesn't 323 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:32,800 want Jamie to punish Brie or Rodger simply because he is 324 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:36,480 still angry about John. And this is when we get a really 325 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:41,440 big confrontation between Jamie and Claire and a pretty faithful 326 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:44,880 adaptation from the book where this scene takes place in 327 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,360 chapter 37. And we follow it quite closely 328 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:51,040 throughout this scene. The main difference is that this 329 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:54,160 conversation takes place outside in the book while they're 330 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:56,280 walking. And in the show, they're 331 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:59,120 obviously in their room. But the dialogue is basically 332 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:01,040 one for one. And I really love being able 333 00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:04,080 able to see it all play out on screen so closely to how I 334 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,560 envisioned the cadence and the line delivery while reading the 335 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,160 story. And not only is it a beautiful 336 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,360 moment of prose in the book, but it also offers a lot of humorous 337 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:15,120 moments between the two of them as well. 338 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:18,200 And also a lot of visual callbacks to earlier seasons 339 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:20,840 between Jamie and Claire, especially this one where we see 340 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:24,360 him untying her laces like he did during their wedding. 341 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:28,080 And the show even goes so far as to have the exact same camera 342 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,600 blocking for this shot to make sure that that visual pair RLL 343 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:34,160 is obvious to us. Their interactions throughout 344 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,080 this scene reminds me very much of when they were younger and 345 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:41,600 they had this sort of naivete about their relationship dynamic 346 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:44,240 and neither of them really knew what they were doing. 347 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:48,560 And it feels akin to that in a very satisfying way as a show 348 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:51,680 watcher and a book reader. Especially because we can tell 349 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,200 that even after all this time, Jamie is still a jealous, 350 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,160 jealous man when it comes to Claire, and his love for her 351 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:01,240 will always rear its ugly head in these ways. 352 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:04,120 But it's also a really tender moment between the two of them, 353 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:07,360 and I thought it was a highlight of the episode for Sam in 354 00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:09,360 particular and his acting choices. 355 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,640 What I particularly love about this scene between Jamie and 356 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:16,600 Claire is that it takes them a while to get to the root of the 357 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:19,760 argument itself. And a lot of that is because 358 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:24,320 Jamie is guarding the truth very closely, and he doesn't want to 359 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,480 admit it to Claire for a number of reasons. 360 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,320 And so even though it often presents itself as though Jamie 361 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:34,640 is angry at Claire herself, he's often angry at the situation and 362 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,920 how irrational he feels with his reactions being so strong. 363 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,160 And that's been consistent throughout the course of their 364 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:44,480 relationship. And I really love how many 365 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,560 visual callbacks we get with the camera blocking in the scene, 366 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:50,160 having the two of them sitting this way on the bed. 367 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,640 And then there are other visual callbacks littered throughout 368 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:55,840 the conversation between the two of them. 369 00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:59,280 But this fight feels very much like one of the fights that they 370 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:01,480 would have had in Season 1 or Season 2. 371 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,960 And that is a testament to both Katrina Balf and Sam Heun's 372 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,960 acting and how they can both fall back into that cadence that 373 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,600 they had even when they were young, because the actors and 374 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:17,520 the characters have grown older. And so much of the way that 375 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:23,080 their intimate scenes are shot and acted out are different, 376 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:24,960 both for the characters and for the actors. 377 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:28,040 Ultimately, for me, the highlight of this entire scene 378 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:34,800 is Sam's acting here because he conveys so effortlessly both the 379 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,320 longing and the upset that he has in his heart over the 380 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:42,200 situation and how scared he is that what he's worried about 381 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:46,000 might manifest and actually come true, which is that John will 382 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:50,080 come between Claire and him in their marriage bed. 383 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:54,320 And even though Claire feels that that's an impossibility, 384 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,720 it's something that she's able to recognize as a very real fear 385 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:02,760 instilled very deeply in Jamie. This intimacy scene is used in a 386 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:05,120 number of ways. First of all, there's a lot of 387 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:08,000 visual callbacks to earlier scenes in the show. 388 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:11,360 We get a lot of camera blocking that represents that. 389 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,200 But we also can tell that in addition to the use of an 390 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,720 intimacy coordinator on set, their sex life would have 391 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,960 changed as they aged. And these scenes are shot as a 392 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:25,800 way to reflect that. And I really love the camera 393 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,240 work for the moment between the two of them here because it 394 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:33,400 reminded me of a scene in Season 4 when they first came to 395 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:35,840 America. So again, the camera blocking is 396 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,800 used very effectively here to draw a lot of parallels to when 397 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:44,320 they were younger and show us that even though the nature of 398 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:48,440 how these scenes are shot on screen for us, they have 399 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,800 maintained the level of intimacy throughout the course of their 400 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:54,520 relationship, friendship. And it's the way that they still 401 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:57,240 come back to one another when there's a disconnect in their 402 00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,840 relationship. I really loved the camera work 403 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:03,040 for the moment after when Claire asks if they've gotten that out 404 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:07,280 of their system now and Jamie's face here is just so tender and 405 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:09,720 open. We get the line from the book of 406 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:13,480 Claire asking did I break the skin and Jamie saying you do 407 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:15,480 that every time you touch me, Sassanac. 408 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,680 One part that's been omitted from the book is that Jamie 409 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:24,280 actually speaks in Irish Gaelic and delivers the line. 410 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:27,960 My body is out of my control. She was the half of my body, the 411 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:31,400 very half of my soul. The next day we see Jamie and 412 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:35,000 Claire out on the porch and he finds Claire out there holding 413 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,160 Frank's book and he has this funny line about going to bed, 414 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,920 fighting about her third husband, waking to find her 415 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:42,840 reading a book written by her first. 416 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:46,120 The two of them start to think through Frank's book and what 417 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:49,080 his motive might have been for writing it, and they both know 418 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:53,280 that Frank had no reason to love Jamie, if anything, he'd hate 419 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:55,840 him forever for taking Claire from him. 420 00:23:56,120 --> 00:23:59,120 Then we get this great narrative call back to when Claire told 421 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:03,440 Blackjack Randall the day of his death and how she used that to 422 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:07,360 torture him and wonders if perhaps Frank is doing the same 423 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:11,280 with his book. And I loved the line that Jamie 424 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:14,560 delivers that no one can be tortured with the truth as well 425 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:17,520 as a lie. Clear then expresses that she 426 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,080 can no longer tell what's real anymore, and that's what's 427 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,840 worrying her. And we can tell that Jamie is 428 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:24,960 feeling the same way about this situation. 429 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:28,480 He's been mulling over this book for many chapters by this point 430 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:32,560 in the story, and we've seen him talking to other people on the 431 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,000 Ridge in the show about it. So you can tell it's weighing 432 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,320 heavily on both of their minds. That's when Claire leaves and 433 00:24:38,360 --> 00:24:41,520 Jamie picks the book back up. And we can hear Frank's voice 434 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,400 again saying, you know, it's real in your heart. 435 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:46,160 You know, what's written is the truth. 436 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:51,200 The shot of Jamie looking out over his land and hearing that 437 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,120 voice in his head was used in the trailer. 438 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:58,720 And I had a feeling that he was thinking very heavily about the 439 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,760 future and what to do about it when I saw the trailer 440 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,800 originally. And I think the use of Frank's 441 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:09,240 voice is a great way to convey his own thoughts, even though it 442 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,280 sounds like it's, you know, Frank literally saying those 443 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,600 words to Jamie. It's meant to be reflection of 444 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:18,720 Jamie's thoughts and feelings about the subject matter. 445 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,200 It's just manifesting in Frank's voice. 446 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,960 At the luncheon, we can see William approaching a man named 447 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:29,880 General Leslie, and he starts to ask after Benjamin. 448 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,960 William makes it clear that he finds it very hard to believe 449 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:35,680 that Benjamin would have perished at the camp that he 450 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,320 visited, and Leslie informs him that the only information he 451 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:42,440 received was one letter after they were captured and he has 452 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:44,440 not heard anything more about them since. 453 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:46,680 To William, that feels like a dead end. 454 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:50,240 And then Leslie asks if William would be able to speak to what 455 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,120 he saw at this camp, and William agrees. 456 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,800 He's asking because he's trying to figure out what the 457 00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:59,400 conditions of are the prisoners at these camps. 458 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:04,720 And then General Leslie refers to Lord John and references 459 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,920 speaking to him because Lord John has experience with 460 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:10,960 prisoners. And that's when William realizes 461 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:15,240 and learns that Lord John was at Ardsmere Prison in Scotland 25 462 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,080 years ago. And so this is yet another piece 463 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,840 of the puzzle to William's parentage being slotted into 464 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:24,840 place. The dialogue itself is taken 465 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:28,560 from chapter 44 in the book, and it actually takes place with a 466 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,240 man named Preston, not General Leslie. 467 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,200 When we cut back to the Ridge, we get a scene from the books 468 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:37,480 that I wasn't sure we would see when a young girl approaches 469 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,440 Claire, asking if she would be willing to help her mother who 470 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,640 is attempting to deliver her baby but having difficulty. 471 00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:48,040 In the book, the girl's name is Agnes Cloudtree and she and her 472 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:51,560 family are Cherokee, whereas the show has changed their name to 473 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,480 Whitaker. This takes place in chapter 54 474 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,040 in the book and much of the scene plays out exactly like the 475 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:00,240 book version of events. Claire telling Susanna that 476 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,360 she's having twins, which surprises her and trying to get 477 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:06,720 her up and moving so that she can move them in the womb. 478 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,640 We also get this quick shot of Fanny, who's bringing honey 479 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,480 water to Susanna and again reiterates to us that she's 480 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:16,640 become a quick study and has interest in medicine and helps 481 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:18,720 Claire with a lot of her patients. 482 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,400 That's when we cut back to the luncheon and we see William 483 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:25,360 approaching the table to sit sit down beside John, and instead we 484 00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:30,000 see Percy sit down. This look between them again is 485 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:34,440 pretty charged, and this conversation is a really 486 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,720 effective info dump because Percy reveals that he is looking 487 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:42,480 for a Claudel Fraser who owns a print shop in town, and that he 488 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,320 had written him several letters already and is trying to get in 489 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:48,000 touch with him. John is very surprised to see 490 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:52,120 him again and learn all of this information from him that he's 491 00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:55,640 offering up so candidly. Like the fact that Claudel was 492 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:59,600 born in Paris in a brothel, then taken from the brothel by a tall 493 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:03,640 redheaded Scotsman named Tracer. Then under the table, we can see 494 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,480 that Percy is putting his hand on John's thigh. 495 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,560 So again, these two have a very long history between the two of 496 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:12,520 them. If you've never read Lord John's 497 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:14,200 novellas, I highly recommend them. 498 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:19,160 They're fantastic and Percy is woven deeply into John's story. 499 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:22,640 Percy makes it clear that he wants John to contact Fergus 500 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,840 this and connect him to Percy, and John says he will consider 501 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:29,880 it only because he had helped with William last year. 502 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:33,680 But John also needs help finding Captain Richardson, and he knows 503 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:35,920 that Percy is the person to help with that. 504 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,320 And so the two of them agree and they share this look between the 505 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,320 two of them. And again, it does a great job 506 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,800 conveying that complicated past between the two of them because 507 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:50,120 John had once loved Percy, but he can admit now that he neither 508 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,840 likes nor trusts him. Back at the Ridge, we see Aaron 509 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,560 Whitaker show up at the Big House and we get a more flushed 510 00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:00,880 out conversation between the two of them than we do in the book. 511 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:06,040 Because in the book Mr. Cloud Tree is outside and he is drunk. 512 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:11,200 And in the show, the Cloud Trees are instead the Whitakers, and 513 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,840 they're a free family that do not want to involve themselves 514 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,320 with white people because they believe it to be dangerous. 515 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,920 Jamie points out to Aaron that his wife needs to let Jamie's 516 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:27,000 wife help her, and so he is resolved to allow it to happen, 517 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,560 even though he has such little trust in white men. 518 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:32,320 Jamie insists that no one will ever know that they were at 519 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,640 their house, and Aaron agrees. And so Jamie invites him out of 520 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:38,440 the room for a dream of whiskey so that Claire can do her work. 521 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:41,280 And that's it's when we cut back to Savannah again where we see 522 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:45,200 William presenting something to Amaranthus, which she is clearly 523 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:49,680 expecting to be a present, but instead finds him presenting her 524 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,120 with Ben's uniform and belongings that he recovered on 525 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:57,280 his journey to New Jersey. Her face very quickly falls. 526 00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:59,320 So you can tell that something's going on here. 527 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:03,320 So we as viewers alongside William can tell that she's not 528 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:07,160 particularly thrilled with William presenting Ben's uniform 529 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:12,200 to her, and William clarifies that he went on his own and 530 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,600 brought it back for Trevor after Amaranthus insists she didn't 531 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,600 ask him to do this for her. We can see her touching the 532 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,960 uniform with this sort of hesitation. 533 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:26,720 And again, I think it's great visual foreshadowing for a much 534 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:29,400 larger plot that we aren't Privy to yet. 535 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:33,360 And she brings it to put it with the rest of Ben's belongings, 536 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:35,600 and she's visibly uncomfortable by this. 537 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:39,520 And that's when William spots the figurine that he had gifted 538 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,960 Ben at the top of episode 2 in the drawer. 539 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,240 I do love that we get this overhead shot of all the other 540 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:49,520 things that Ben claimed as his belongings because it gives 541 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,880 insight into him being a real, fully fleshed out person. 542 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:57,080 And when William asks to see the figurine, Amaranthus explains 543 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,640 that Ben had gave it to her before he left for the raid so 544 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:02,320 that she'd be able to give it to Trevor. 545 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:06,440 This is the only thing so far that has made William pause and 546 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:08,640 rethink his theory that Ben is alive. 547 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:12,600 And we can see that Amaranthus is trying to move away from this 548 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,560 subject matter. So she quickly takes the 549 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,520 figurine back, closes the drawer, and invites William 550 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,080 outside on a walk. That's where we get these 551 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:23,200 beautiful shots of beetles. So again, foreshadowing to their 552 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:27,240 conversation and finches, which again get brought up in this 553 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:30,200 line of dialogue that Amaranthus delivers from the book. 554 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,760 And she explains that her father taught her that finches learn 555 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:37,000 songs from its parents. So if you take an egg from one 556 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:40,520 nest and put it in another one some miles away, the nestling 557 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:43,640 will learn the songs of the new parents instead of the one who 558 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,600 laid the egg. William tells her that her 559 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,440 waistcoat was a huge hit at the luncheon and they start to have 560 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,400 the conversation about all of the different beetles found on 561 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,120 the waistcoat. And that's when we can see her 562 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:59,920 using it as an excuse to again cross a line and a boundary and 563 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:03,080 touch William with her hands on his chest. 564 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:08,240 This is when she points out the Eastern Hercules beetle and it's 565 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:11,600 a reflection again from the top of the episode and it's 566 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:14,200 significant even though the dialogue here is slightly 567 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:18,000 different with William saying Tedious the ruler, whereas in 568 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,480 the book he says Tithian, the rebel. 569 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,440 Amaranthus then draws a comparison between the Beatle 570 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,920 and William and how he does not intend to live his life to 571 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,400 please other people's expectations. 572 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:35,200 This up close shot of the embroidery is just so beautiful. 573 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:39,440 I really hope that they put this outfit on display somewhere 574 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:43,640 after the show wraps because I was so glad they gave it its due 575 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:47,360 on the show and we actually got to see an up close version of 576 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:49,120 all of this beautiful embroidery. 577 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:53,160 And William in the book and in the show is shocked by how 578 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:57,960 direct Amaranthus is. But he notes that she's always 579 00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:01,280 this direct. And in the book, he asks her 580 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:06,360 what she means of expectations. By this point in the book, 581 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:10,320 Amaranthus has already offered to give William an heir to his 582 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:13,480 title so that he wouldn't have to renounce it. 583 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,880 And she's proposed that William marry her. 584 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:21,400 And once she gives him a son, he can leave her as a Dowager 585 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:23,480 Countess of whatever estate he goes home. 586 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,560 And there's a lot of back and forth about it. 587 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,920 Instead, the show has them kiss here, and we skipped that part 588 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,200 until a later episode. So again, they're really trying 589 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,520 to push the fact that there is a love story brewing between the 590 00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:41,320 two of them in the show, and that Amaranthus is a little bit 591 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,680 more calculated than I think people understand at face value. 592 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:48,840 Back at the Ridge, Claire successfully delivers the first 593 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:52,520 baby, which is a boy, and realizes that the other baby is 594 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:56,160 upside down. After they have Susanna push, 595 00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:59,040 the baby is born, but it's unmoving. 596 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:02,040 We don't hear crying, and we learn that it's a girl and 597 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:04,800 Claire knows something is wrong. And that's when we see her carry 598 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:08,360 the baby to the table by the window and start to perform CPR 599 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:11,920 to try and revive her. And Jamie is watching all of 600 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:17,960 this from the doorway, and he can tell that the baby is gone. 601 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:22,280 But Claire is unwilling to give up on this child. 602 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:24,920 And we see her start to get really emotional. 603 00:34:25,199 --> 00:34:30,120 And that's when we get a lot of context from the books that I 604 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:34,120 wasn't sure that the show was going to dive into regarding the 605 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:37,920 blue light healing power that Claire has as she's holding this 606 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:42,159 baby in her arms. It reminds her very deeply of 607 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,480 holding faith. And we get these flashbacks from 608 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:49,880 Season 2 of Claire in Paris, both audibly with the dialogue 609 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:54,120 overlay and then visually with the Raven and the blue light. 610 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,960 And we see the shot of Claire holding Faith and singing the 611 00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:01,880 song to her from Season 2. And that's when in the present 612 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:06,440 moment we get this up close shot of Claire's hand and the veins 613 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:10,560 running through her hand. And the camera work here is an 614 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,600 interesting way to convey this magic because we almost see her 615 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:17,120 veins vibrating in her hand and then also in her neck. 616 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:22,040 Master Raymond's voice over talks about Claire's aura and 617 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:26,680 how hers is blue. And in the book he also mentions 618 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:31,200 Jamie's aura being red and he tells Claire to call out for him 619 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:34,800 while the two of them try and save her life. 620 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:39,400 So they haven't yet touched upon Jamie's red aura and they don't 621 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:43,320 have Jamie holding Claire's shoulder like he is in the book 622 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:47,040 while she breathes new life into this this baby. 623 00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:51,600 But we're able to then hear the baby cry for the first time and 624 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:56,720 Claire is in shock and confused. She doesn't understand what she 625 00:35:56,720 --> 00:35:59,600 did. So she hands the baby to Jamie 626 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,480 to give to Susanna. And in the book, Claire has 627 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:08,120 Jamie's hand on her shoulder. Like I said, for strength and as 628 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:13,480 she comes into her full powers, she leans on him to revive the 629 00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:15,440 baby. So again, the show is having her 630 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:18,600 be able to do this without him touching her and no one in the 631 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:22,480 room can understand how she was able to accomplish this. 632 00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:25,640 Jamie as well. We can tell that Jamie has a lot 633 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:28,440 of thoughts about what is happening to Claire because he 634 00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:32,480 has recognized in her a face that she makes often that he 635 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:35,880 registers as her knowing she's unable to do anything else. 636 00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:39,960 And again, this close up that we get of Claire's face is a great 637 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,520 way of conveying that she doesn't understand what happened 638 00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,480 herself. The decision then to cut to the 639 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:48,920 shot of the moon is really clever because it's not only a 640 00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:53,800 visual callback, but it's also a narrative 1 to the prophecy that 641 00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:57,800 Claire learns about herself in season 4 and how she will come 642 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:00,680 into her full power when her hair is fully white. 643 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:05,880 Part of that prophecy includes a Raven eating, swallowing the 644 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,560 moon. In the show, they have Jamie 645 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:12,560 confront Claire about what happened and he explains it 646 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:15,760 doesn't make sense that she was able to do what she did and he 647 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:18,800 asks her to give him an explanation even if it doesn't 648 00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:21,760 make complete sense to her. And in the book, while she was 649 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:25,200 healing the baby, she had thought about Roger telling her 650 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:28,480 about Doctor McEwan and how he had healed Buck. 651 00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:32,040 And then she also thought about Melva, Christie's baby boy, and 652 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:35,960 how she was unable to save him, but she had felt a blue spark in 653 00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:38,920 her hands that dwindled and then died. 654 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:44,560 And so she explains to Jamie the lore around Master Raymond and 655 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:46,400 everything that she felt in Paris. 656 00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:50,000 Claire starts explaining how she felt in Paris after Faith was 657 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:53,880 born and then died, and how Claire was so ill and was dying 658 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:56,280 herself. And she admits that at one point 659 00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,240 she wanted to die. And Jamie's face here is just so 660 00:37:59,240 --> 00:38:02,240 heartbreaking because I don't think he's ever heard her say 661 00:38:02,240 --> 00:38:06,280 words like that before. Master Raymond had come and put 662 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:10,600 his hands on her and she felt within her a light pale blue 663 00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:14,880 light that spread all through her bones and it felt as though 664 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:17,200 he had burned the infection out of her. 665 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:19,160 And that is what she tells Jamie. 666 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:23,080 She felt again, stronger from her own fingers going into the 667 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:26,760 body of that baby, and then she was able to feel the heartbeat 668 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:28,760 again. That's when Jamie tells Claire 669 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:31,920 again that she is a brilliant healer and that he's witnessed 670 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,920 it himself multiple times, but he's resigned to tell her that 671 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:39,800 he didn't see anything blue. He watched her try and save that 672 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:41,920 baby. He knew she was thinking of 673 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:46,240 Faith and so was he. And his facial expression in 674 00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:50,680 this scene is really poignant to me, and Claire's too, because 675 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:55,800 she can tell that what she felt was real, but it's so beyond the 676 00:38:55,800 --> 00:39:01,480 possibility of reality that even to her, she's kind of resolved 677 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:04,240 to the idea that she's making it up or that something's tricking 678 00:39:04,240 --> 00:39:06,160 her. Claire then brings up Master 679 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:10,680 Raymond and how perhaps that was how he was able to bring Faith 680 00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:12,320 back to life. So again, we're getting the 681 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:16,360 possibility of Faith being alive again in the show and Jamie 682 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:20,560 questions why he wouldn't have returned their daughter to them 683 00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:25,280 if he was able to revive her. Claire points out that he was on 684 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:28,320 the run, he might not have been able to even if he wanted to, 685 00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:31,960 and she starts unwrapping her hair and asks Jamie what color 686 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:34,440 her hair is. He tells her the beautiful line 687 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:37,840 of all the colors of the earth before he approaches her and 688 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:40,800 when she turns we can see that she has more white in her hair 689 00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:44,480 now than she did before. Jamie tells her it's the color 690 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:46,320 of moonlight all around her face. 691 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,760 The visual and narrative call back to the prophecy that Claire 692 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:54,360 learns about in season 4 and how her hair will be fully white 693 00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:58,000 when she comes into her full power is another item from the 694 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,200 books that I wasn't sure we were going to get in the show. 695 00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:03,920 But I am glad that they're including it, because I feel 696 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:07,560 like the show has largely veered away from a lot of the magic 697 00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:11,000 that Claire herself is involved in in the original source 698 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:13,280 material. And so to have that be 699 00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:17,920 reintroduced in this final season helps me to wrap my head 700 00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:22,280 around how they might. Conclude Jamie's ghost storyline 701 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:28,240 because introducing more of this magic is a really great way to 702 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,440 use the magic as a way to explain his ghost. 703 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:34,960 And it will be very important in this Kings Mountain storyline 704 00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:39,520 that we've been teasing for the first 3 episodes of Season 8 705 00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:43,160 because Claire having these powers is going to be pivotal 706 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:47,160 for that scene in particular. Then we see Jamie bring Fanny 707 00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:50,760 out to a Karen that he has made for her to come visit whenever 708 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:54,080 she wants to speak with Jane. And this scene was really, 709 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:55,880 really sweet between the two of them. 710 00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:00,160 Jamie tells Fanny that he wishes he'd known Jane and that she 711 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:03,000 would have been welcome to live with them on the Ridge as well. 712 00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:07,760 And he encourages Fanny to talk to her more often and come to 713 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:11,640 this place and put a stone on the Karen every time she speaks 714 00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:14,800 with her. And we see Fanny tell Jane she 715 00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:17,440 loves her so much and misses her deeply. 716 00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:21,160 And Jamie tells her that this is her in Jane's home. 717 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:23,840 And they share this really beautiful hug between one 718 00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:26,840 another that was really, really sentimental and sweet. 719 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:30,040 Fanny in the story is struggling with her grief. 720 00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:32,840 And I think that it's going to continue to be an important 721 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:34,640 narrative thread throughout this season. 722 00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:40,720 And using her as a way to dig up more information about the faith 723 00:41:40,720 --> 00:41:43,320 storyline makes sense to me narratively as well. 724 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:48,160 And while they are hugging, they hear a gunshot ring out and 725 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:51,440 Jamie tells Fanny to stay put as he goes to investigate. 726 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:55,440 And that's when he finds Cleveland alongside a wagon. 727 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:59,840 And the two men that we had seen earlier in the episode were 728 00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:03,000 found smuggling guns onto Jamie's property. 729 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:06,160 Cleveland calls out Jamie for not realizing what's happening 730 00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:09,160 right under his nose and tells Jamie to step side. 731 00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:13,000 And that's when Fanny appears. She tells Jamie who the men are. 732 00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:17,680 And that's when Cleveland almost serves as kind of a proxy for 733 00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:21,560 the audience to point out to Jamie that things are happening 734 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:24,880 because he's being so passive. He can be angry about the 735 00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:28,200 situation all he wants, but he's not actively doing anything 736 00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:31,280 about it. And that negligence is now 737 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:34,120 showing up in real time on his property. 738 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:39,080 And so Cleveland leaves with the guns, yes, but Jamie first 739 00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:42,800 starts to search their bodies For more information, and that's 740 00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:46,040 when he finds a letter inside the boot of one of the men. 741 00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:48,960 He's able to find what he was looking for, which is something 742 00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:53,800 to tie Cunningham to the greater mystery of what's going on right 743 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,440 under Jamie's nose. And Cunningham is naturally 744 00:42:56,440 --> 00:43:00,480 curious, but Jamie warns him, get off my property. 745 00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:04,360 Leave this business to me. We can watch Fanny observing all 746 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:06,480 of this in real time. And we know she's a very 747 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:09,880 observant young girl. And so again, all of this will 748 00:43:09,880 --> 00:43:13,400 come up later on. And she's not being shielded 749 00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:17,600 from a lot of the realities of the Ridge because she's around 750 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:19,080 first and foremost to witness it. 751 00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:22,280 But she's also a lot smarter than I think people give her 752 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:25,480 credit for. So Cunningham leaves but says 753 00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:29,440 I'm taking the guns and Jamie immediately heads to the trading 754 00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:33,240 post. He walks right past Crombie into 755 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:37,160 Crombie's trading post and shuts the door on him and that's when 756 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:41,200 we see him lock the door and confront Cunningham head on. 757 00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:45,080 To me this is one of the best scenes of the season so far 758 00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:48,240 because Jamie and him are toe to toe. 759 00:43:48,240 --> 00:43:51,240 I think these actors are really great opposite one another, and 760 00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:53,880 the characters are super compelling against one another 761 00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:59,760 too, because Cunningham is such a snake of a person and the 762 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:03,720 actor sells it so well. Jamie tells him that the two men 763 00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:07,680 that had visited him are dead and shows Cunningham the letter 764 00:44:07,720 --> 00:44:11,200 that is presumably from Cunningham's uncle and Jamie 765 00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:14,960 knows he has no kin. So that's the first crack in the 766 00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:18,440 facade that Cunningham has built while on the Ridge. 767 00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:23,680 In that letter, the Uncle Eldon starts talking about AB's Fraser 768 00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:28,480 Eye, a subspecies of balsam fir, and Jamie plays dumb until he 769 00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:31,640 tells Cunningham that he knows the letter isn't about trees and 770 00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:34,920 arms. This scene reminded me a lot of 771 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:38,920 the raid scene and the first time that Jamie actually meets 772 00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:41,760 Lord John Gray. I felt like his line delivery, 773 00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:45,560 the way he crowds Cunningham over the desk, all of that 774 00:44:45,560 --> 00:44:49,120 seemed very much in line with his behavior when he I was 775 00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:52,400 younger and he performed that raid. 776 00:44:52,720 --> 00:44:56,880 We can also tell just from the acting choices here that 777 00:44:56,880 --> 00:45:03,480 Cunningham knows Jamie's a lot smarter than he first presented, 778 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:07,160 and he's starting to piece together this plot quite 779 00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:10,760 quickly, which is when we see him glance over to the wall and 780 00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:14,720 look at the barrel of the gun that we saw him holding earlier 781 00:45:14,720 --> 00:45:17,320 on in the episode. So again, that's a visual call 782 00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:20,720 back to earlier on in this particular episode, and 783 00:45:20,720 --> 00:45:23,000 Cunningham looks at it at the same time. 784 00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:27,320 And the acting again is just so perfect because I do not believe 785 00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:32,000 for a second that Cunningham is actually worried about being 786 00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:34,840 discovered here. But Jamie doesn't know that, and 787 00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:41,400 so he takes the weapon down and finds the code and cypher, if 788 00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:44,920 you will, to read the letter. Cunningham then gets up from 789 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:48,440 behind his desk and walks around so that he's in front of Jamie, 790 00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:51,800 who's moved over to this other table to read the letter with 791 00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:54,040 the cypher. And as he sits down in this 792 00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:58,280 chair, we can see him exhale and close his eyes, and he's very 793 00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:01,280 much resolved to the fact that Jamie has figured out what's 794 00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:03,760 going on. We see the cipher over the 795 00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:07,880 letter and Jamie reads out loud, provide update on Fraser's 796 00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:10,000 Ridge. Additional arms coming soon. 797 00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:14,080 Progress is slow in Rowan County, in need of new recruits. 798 00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:18,160 And we see Cunningham hunch over, almost like he's in 799 00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:20,120 disbelief. But he's acting. 800 00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:25,400 The actor is acting like someone who is acting, if that makes 801 00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:27,760 sense. And he says to Jamie very 802 00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:31,560 casually that it's very impressive, Mr. Fraser. 803 00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:34,400 And you are right, that letter is not about trees. 804 00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:37,160 I assume it is from my commander, Major Patrick 805 00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:39,920 Ferguson. And that's when Jamie realizes 806 00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:44,160 that Cunningham is still working for the British, and he is in 807 00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:47,920 charge of turning loyal southerners into a loyalist 808 00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:51,040 militia. Jamie is obviously furious, as 809 00:46:51,040 --> 00:46:54,600 Cunningham so openly admits that he's been raising a militia 810 00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:59,200 right under Jamie's nose and that he has been gone for a long 811 00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:03,360 time, so he's missed all of this happening on his land. 812 00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:06,440 And it's clear in this scene that Cunningham is not worried 813 00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:10,480 about Jamie being a serious threat to him or his plans at 814 00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:14,000 all. And he makes the argument that 815 00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:17,400 more people on his land are willing to switch sides than 816 00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:23,240 Jamie has realized, but also that Jamie and him are probably 817 00:47:23,240 --> 00:47:26,480 more aligned politically than Jamie would like to admit, too. 818 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:30,960 Jamie says, speak plainly, Sir, for I do not understand. 819 00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:34,720 And Cunningham, again, moves very strategically. 820 00:47:34,720 --> 00:47:37,600 It's like they're playing chess in the scene with how they move 821 00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:40,800 around each other. He moves beside the door and 822 00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:45,720 then tells Jamie that he would be better to protect his land 823 00:47:45,720 --> 00:47:49,280 and the people on it by aligning with Cunningham and the British 824 00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:53,880 than fighting against them. If they can quicken the end of 825 00:47:53,880 --> 00:47:57,440 this war by letting the British win, then Jamie and all the 826 00:47:57,440 --> 00:48:01,120 people on the Ridge are going to be able to keep the land that 827 00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:04,280 had been gifted to him and maintain the life that they had 828 00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:07,120 been leading. And that's only possible if the 829 00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:09,880 British win. The smug look on Cunningham's 830 00:48:09,880 --> 00:48:13,280 face is so perfect because it Tees up everything we need to 831 00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:18,880 know about the ensuing battle, both literally and 832 00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:22,640 metaphorically, between these two men and how Cunningham is 833 00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:26,360 really going to go toe to toe with him quite easily. 834 00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:28,840 He's not intimidated by Jamie in the least. 835 00:48:29,240 --> 00:48:33,000 And as we watch Jamie leave the trading post with this new 836 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:37,560 information, we get another one of Frank's voice overs and he 837 00:48:37,560 --> 00:48:41,800 rides back to the big house with Frank's voice telling him, I 838 00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:45,120 told you Fraser, it's coming. The pieces are falling into 839 00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:47,880 place. Just as I wrote Each day brings 840 00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:51,280 you closer to Kings Mountain and closer to your history. 841 00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:55,960 The last line in particular is fascinating to me because even 842 00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:59,000 though Frank is writing this from the future, at the time 843 00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:02,600 that Jamie is having this thought, it's his future, not 844 00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:04,360 his history that they're talking about. 845 00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:08,320 So the line of it's bringing you closer to Kings Mountain and 846 00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:11,720 closer to your history I find really fascinating. 847 00:49:11,720 --> 00:49:14,000 And again, it's such an interesting play on words that 848 00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:18,120 gets you thinking about the time loop that Jamie and Claire exist 849 00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:20,560 within. When one of them dies, does it 850 00:49:20,560 --> 00:49:22,920 all just restart and they find each other again? 851 00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:25,400 That's a theory that a lot of people who read the books and 852 00:49:25,400 --> 00:49:27,120 watch the show have contemplated. 853 00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:30,960 So I do hope that all of this ties into Jamie's ghost in some 854 00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:34,000 way, and that we wrap it up in a satisfying way in the show 855 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:34,440 version.