Yet we end, essentially, where we began: with Claire in the future and without love-of-her-life Jamie.
Past: Scotland, 1746
“Today is the day, James.
And mark me: Before this day is over, I will make a believer of you.”
Credit: Steffan Hill/Starz
After all, if there’s no figurehead to fight for, the fight simply won’t happen.
She proposes they slip some yellow jasmine (Colum’s suicide weapon) into the Prince’s tea.
“No one would ever know,” Claire reassures Jamie.
But someone does know.
Dougal pulls his sword on Jamie.
“Come to me,” he beckons to his nephew.
“I’ll kill you quick for your mother’s sake.”
And so the master and student take up arms against one another, but Jamie has an advantage.
And that advantage is Claire.
Dougal’s hardly taken his final breath when Rupert stumbles upon the bloody tableau, ready to seek vengeance.
Jamie begs for two hours to sort his affairs before Rupert avenges his war chieftain.
Fergus is nervous about the task, but with Jamie’s reassurance, bravely agrees.
Next, Jamie instructs Murtagh to help see all the Lallybroch men back home.
There’s no need for them to fight in a losing battle.
He’ll see the men off, but he will not see them home.
He will fight side by side with Jamie and die, if necessary.
Ensure Claire’s safe return home.
And by home, he means the 20th century.
Claire being Claire, she resists mightily.
But Jamie has an ace up his sleeve: He knows Claire is pregnant.
He’s not just protecting his wife, but his unborn baby too.
And it’s all just so heartbreaking.
When they finally arrive at Craigh na Dun, Claire begs Jamie to come with her.
“My destiny lies on Culloden Moor.
I’ll find you.
She promises she’ll name their child Brian after Jamie’s father.
“I love you,” Claire says.
“And I you,” Jamie replies.
And with that, she is gone.
To a life without her heart’s true desire.
We see that the years have been kind to Claire, who’s now a surgeon.
Sadly, she passed a few years before.
The two begin talking about Roger’s true parentagehe’s a MacKenzie by birth.
“I used to know quite a few MacKenzies…once upon a time,” Claire says.
The next day, Roger takes Brianna sight-seeing, stopping at Fort William.
They agree to check the reverend’s journal for further details.
A sad outcome for Jamie’s beloved home.
When mother and daughter reunite that evening, Brianna starts asking the tough questions.
Does Claire miss Frank?
Did Claire ever really love Frank?
“What a thing to say,” Claire responds.
But Brianna doesn’t accept the non-answer answer and presses.
Claire finally admits that she did love Frank.
(Not a lie, to be sure.)
Brianna also stumbles upon a bit of Claire’s past: Geillis Duncan!
She begins talking to Jamiesomething she hasn’t done in 20 years.
She tells him about Brianna.
She tells him about how she was angry at him for so long.
And she, finally, tells him goodbye.
Brianna does the math and realizes she was conceived while her mother was missing.
Claire is taken aback but seizes the opportunity to tell her about Jamie.
Or she at least tries.
Brianna doesn’t believe a word of the time-traveling epic.
But she’s not there; her husband says she’s been gone for weeks.
(One takeaway: She believes a human sacrifice is necessary to slip through the stones.)
At first, Claire resolves to stop Gillian/Geillis from going to the past.
She knows no good will come of it.
And before they can stop her, she charges toward the stone and is…gone.
And in that moment, Claire’s choice is clear: She must go back.
What did you think of tonight’s episode?
ET for a deep dive into “Dragonfly in Amber” with Lynette Rice and me.
We’ll also welcome special guest author Diana Gabaldon to the show.
Don’t miss it!
