It’s hard to believe it’s been more than a year since the last new episode of Outlander, and now we’re on the home stretch towards the finale of the entire series. When we left Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) in Outlander Season 7 Episode 8, they were thrilled to finally be heading back to Scotland after more than a year of unavoidable delays. Of course, nothing ever goes to plan on this show, so expecting the journey to go smoothly is a fool’s errand.
This is where we pick up in “Unfinished Business,” with a voice over of Jamie’s letter to Brie (Sophie Skelton) written from Scotland, where he and Claire have returned the body of his cousin, General Simon Fraser. It was meant to be a sweet homecoming, but Jamie could sense “a storm coming,” one of his own making, as they headed to Lallybroch.
Lest we forget Roger (Richard Rankin), who last we saw heading through the stones with Buck (Diarmaid Murtagh) to look for Jemmy (Blake Johnston Miller), who’d been kidnapped by Rob Cameron (Chris Fulton). We know that Rob was looking for gold — though chasing someone through the timeline will no doubt prove more complicated than they likely expect. The pair awaken following their journey, but it was rough on Buck, who doesn’t exactly appear to be the picture of health.
It’s not immediately clear whether they’ve even left the previous timeline, but Roger notices there are no roads or cars, so they’ve been successful. Buck thinks Cameron might take Jemmy to America, so they need to head towards Inverness where the ships are docked. However, Cameron insists that Jemmy knows how to get back to Lallybroch and might have escaped to make his way home. It’s hard to know what the right plan is, but Buck feels confident (or at least feigns confidence) that they’ll find Jemmy safe and sound.
Back in the 20th century, Brianna is bereft to realize that both her husband and son are gone, at least temporarily. She’d probably be more upset to know that Roger actually went too far back — something that only dawns on him when he comes face to face with Jamie’s dad, Brian. As it turns out, it’s 1739 or 1740. He’s not going to find Jemmy there!
Young Ian (John Bell) is back in Scotland too, by the way, and his mother Jenny (Kristin Atherton) is overjoyed to see him. She’s less pleased with Jamie for keeping him away so long, but she’s still relieved they’ve all made it back in one piece. Ian is also reunited with his brothers, Jamie and Michael. (Was everyone named Jamie in the 1700s?) They’re doing well, but it’s not all good news.
As it turns out, Young Ian’s father, Ian Murray (Steven Cree), is dying of consumption, which is why his brothers have returned home. Michael had been abroad in Paris, where he worked as a wine merchant, and this strikes a bit of fear into Claire’s heart, especially given that the French Revolution is on its way. Of course, she can’t really warn him about that without exposing the fact that she’s a time traveler, and that’s a bit of a risky decision.
Ultimately, she knows she has to, but revealing that she was born in the 1900s isn’t necessarily met with applause. In fact, it actually fills the Murrays with terror that Claire might be a witch. Of course, this might not be an entirely terrible thing — Jenny wants Claire to use her powers to heal Ian. It’s not until she gets a talking to from Jamie that Jenny realises Claire actually doesn’t have any magic healing powers.
Ian Sr.’s poor health is obviously a serious concern for his son, who wants to stay by his father’s side through his dying days. However, his mother makes it clear that all she and his father want is for him to return to America so he can start his life with Rachel (Izzy Meikle-Small), who he loves — and, lest we forget, who’s looking after his dog.
Meanwhile, Jamie has some apologizing to do to Laoghaire (Nell Hudson), since he’s still carrying a lot of guilt for marrying even though he was clearly in love with Claire. Claire’s jealousy is slightly piqued by Jamie’s admission that he wants to go and see her, but ultimately, she knows how important she is to him and isn’t exactly threatened. He reassures her of as much often enough.
Laoghaire is skeptical about Jamie’s intentions. She doesn’t exactly believe that his remorse is genuine; she’s sure he wants to get out of his financial obligations. He insists that’s not the case, but he does admit to still being head over heels for Claire when he married her, and this doesn’t go over well. She picks up a pitchfork and comes after Jamie, with her farm hand coming to her aid. He gets a swift punch to the face and is knocked out cold, which stops Laoghaire’s attack in her tracks — she’s in love with the man, so she’s clearly moved on.
The problem is that she can’t marry the farm hand because if she does, Jamie will get her house. The least Jamie can do is make things right, so he gets good old Ned Gowan to change their previous agreement so that not only does Laoghaire get to stay put in her home, but her daughter Joanie never has to marry. Instead, she can have her dowery now and use it to join a nunnery, which is her life’s passion. Jamie’s even going to pay all the costs for her to continue living there — not with cash, but with two gold musket balls, which must have been worth some major dough back in the day.
Claire can’t do much in Scotland, but she doesn’t get much of an opportunity to feel redundant because a letter soon arrives from Lord John Grey back in Philadelphia. He desperately needs her to sail all he way back over the Atlantic Ocean to treat his nephew Henry, who’s close to becoming yet anther casualty of battle. He’s got a pretty nasty wound in the abdomen, and apparently there are no other doctors in all of America that could treat him — such advanced surgery isn’t of that time. Claire doesn’t seem to mind, though — she and Young Ian are heading back Stateside in no time.
“Unfinished Business” ends with Buck’s health taking a turn for the worse, leading Roger to look for urgent help. The problem, of course, is that the herbalist he comes face to face with is none other than Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek), who tends to do a bit more murdering than healing. Uh oh — that’s not good! Roger seems to know it — the final dialogue of the episode his him proclaiming, “Oh, Christ!”
Jennifer Still is a writer and editor from New York who cares too way much about fictional characters and spends her time writing about them.
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