With only three more episodes until the end of Outlander Season 7, it’s time to kick things up a notch. However, before we can deal with the present, in Episode 14 (“Ye Dinna Get Used To It”) we’re taking a trip back just slightly in time to London in 1775, the year before America declares its independence from Britain. And hey, John Grey (David Berry) is there with his brother Hal, Duke of Pardloe (Sam Hoare), who can’t go to America due to a bad case of gout (ouch!).
He wants to give John a commission in the Army, but John’s not feeling it. He’s also not thrilled about the idea of William (Charles Vandervaart) being commissioned, especially since he thinks it’s a bit of a fool’s errand. After all, those silly Rebels will give up soon enough and the war will be over, right? (Spoiler alert: Wrong!)
We quickly switch back to Philadelphia in 1778, however, where present-day John Grey swears his fealty to the Continental Army, though a glint in his eye seems to imply he’s not so sure about this and is still loyal to the British. Hey, at least he’s not sleeping in a ditch anymore!
His palatial home in the city, where Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) are currently living, has been chosen to host a dinner for General George Washington (Gary Fannin) and his colleagues. Mrs. Figg, the housekeeper, is none too pleased about the event, especially since it means trying to feed a bunch of strange men who invited themselves into the house. Hope they give that dining table a wash down after Jamie and Claire’s sexcapades before the food is served!
At the market, Claire (literally) bumps into a historical figure she’s heard of: the Marquis de Lafayette (Charles Crehange) and when he introduces himself, her face lights up. He even offers to send her a cheese for the inconvenience of knocking her groceries out of her hand. Incidentally, he’ll be able to hand deliver it since he’ll be in attendance at George Washington’s dinner party.
What’s particularly hilarious (to me, at least), that of all the historical figures that impress and delight Claire, she seems completely unbothered by sitting at a table with *the* George Washington, the Founding Father and very first president of the United States of America. She literally doesn’t bat an eyelid or even acknowledge it, which seems odd and a bit out of place. She’s more enchanted by meeting the Marquis de Lafayette’s assistant, Percy Beauchamp (Michael Lindall), since they share the last surname. Interesting, but come on! We’re talking about George Washington here!
Claire does seem a bit more moved by being presented with one of the original American flags, hand-sewn by none other than Betsy Ross, and the men toast to the “United States of America.” Not so united just yet, my friends! They all wax poetic over the symbolism of a flag and mortality and a lot of pompous nonsense that’s meant to be inspiring to the soldiers, and they all seem to buy it (or at least pretend to).
The night should be over, but General Charles Lee wants to discuss strategy with Jamie over a drink, so off they go. The Marquis also gives Claire a Roquefort cheese as promised, so that proves he’s a man of his word. Later that night, Claire enjoys some by the fire and Jamie reveals that he’s been assigned to command a whopping ten companies of militia. She’s impressed, but Jamie is apprehensive about being responsible for leading 300 men and potentially seeing them lose their lives in battle.
Over at Young Ian (John Bell) and Rachel’s (Izzy Meikle-Small) place, they’re still really loving the whole newlywed sex thing, and again, I’m still loving completely skipping over any description of it. Ian and Rachel are not Jamie and Claire, writers. Just a note! Thankfully, this week’s romp between the pair is blissfully sweet. I’m happy they’re happy, of course, I just don’t need (or want) to see it.
The following day, William is at the British army camp, but things aren’t going all that well. He’s a newbie, which means he’s still got a ways to go to earn everyone’s respect. His dress sense is the problem for now, but he doesn’t have much time to think about it because Jane (Silvia Presente), the prostitute he spent the night with recently, shows up with her little sister Fanny (Florrie May Wilkinson). They ran away from the brothel and need William to protect them since Captain Harkness, the one William outbid that night, came back to torture her. How the girls found William is anyone’s guess, but here they are.
William decides to hire Jane as his laundress in exchange for Army rations and protection, but she doesn’t know how to do washing or shopping and would rather pay him in sex. She’s never had money, so she has no idea what to do with it. He’s sympathetic and vows to protect her, but she’s going to need some more modest clothes if she’s going to be around a bunch of horny soldiers.
Over at the American camp, Jamie is practicing for battle with his men, and one of them doesn’t have a musket. He gets one soon enough, but while Jamie tries to create a more laid-back environment, everyone is well aware of the seriousness of what’s ahead. Over in the medical tent, Claire sees John Grey and alerts Jamie, to whom John surrenders personally.
They take him back to the house — his house! — to look at his bad eye. Claire has a good idea of what’s going on — some kind of orbital fracture or something — but believes she can fix it… by hand. She grabs his eyeball and gives it a bit of a twist, and it seems to work!
That night, Jane comes into William’s tent, takes off her nightgown, and straddles him — she’s not wasting time! Somehow, despite his clear attraction to her, he manages to resist her and convinces her to leave his tent. She believes she’s being kind since she knows he has a big battle coming up, but he points out that he’s not fighting because he was paroled after Saratoga. She calls him a coward before marching out — well, trying to. He pulls her back for a pretty passionate kiss before she goes.
However, the following day (or perhaps a few days later), Jane turns up with his clean laundry and tells William she’s taking her sister and leaving. He has no idea why she’s had a change of heart, but she says they have to leave for New York now. As it turns out, Jane had to kill Captain Harkness because he tried to take Fanny’s virginity and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She expects to be arrested immediately, but William says he won’t turn her in, which is surprising. There may be more to William than everyone initially thought!
John’s eye appears to be healing well thanks to Claire’s handiwork (pun intended), but they nearly bong out of his head when Percy Beauchamp shows up at the house. John revels that Percy was once his stepbrother, but he stops short of revealing the fact that they were lovers.
In any case, Beauchamp isn’t his real name at all, and he’s definitely not French. He’s an Englishman named Percy Wainwright, who reveals that Captain Richardson (Ben Lambert) has sent William to deliver a message to a Hessian soldier named Oberst Von Schnell (Martin Oelbermann). The issue is that Captain Richardson plans to have William kidnapped and discredit the Grey family as a whole because of John’s dedication to reconciliation with the British. Whether or not John will be able to save him before it’s too late is anyone’s guess.
Meanwhile, back in the 20th century, Bree (Sophie Skelton) returns to Lallybroch to see that the locksmith came and went without actually changing the locks. Looks like she won’t be coming home to stay just yet. Before she drives off again, she notices that there’s a light on upstairs, so it’s possible Rob Cameron or one of his cronies is rooting around in there.
She’s not about to give up so easily, however, and comes back later with a shotgun to see what’s going on. Weirdly enough, Fiona (Iona Claire) and Ernie (Ciaron Kelly) show up not long after with the kids in tow — why on earth they’d do that is anyone’s guess — and Bree has to start shooting at the masked men from the house to help them get away. All is soon revealed, however, because it turns out Rob was waiting at their house in Buchan.
As they make their getaway, Ernie’s crappy van has engine issues again. Being the jack-of-all-trades she apparently is, Bree tries to fix it, but Fiona thinks they should just call the police. Bree disagrees — she thinks things are a bit too messy and she and the kids need to to find Roger. The problem is that she has no idea what period of time he’s currently in, so that could be a bit tricky.
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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