Yes, I’m still reeling from “A. Malcolm.” Yes, I have watched the episode probably fifty times. Alright, now that we’ve cleared up where I stand, how are you guys doing? Have you managed to lift yourself out of the print shop hole like I have? Good, okay! Now, onto this week’s brand-new episode of Outlander, “Créme de Menthe.”
This episode moves a little slower than last weeks, but let’s be honesty ANY follow up to last week’s episode would’ve felt slow. “Créme de Menthe” picks up right where last week’s episode ended. Claire fights off an intruder in Jamie’s room. Things don’t go well for our dear Sassenach when she pushes the intruder and causes him to suffer a fatal head injury.
Jamie and Claire argue over this development as Claire tries desperately to save the man’s life, while Jamie tells her to let him die. Our OTP may be back together, but this just shows that they still have to find their way back to each other in some ways. Claire is still stubborn as ever, while Jamie has to get reacquainted with the fact he’s married to one of the strongest women, ever.
The two spend some of the episode arguing, especially when Claire announces that she wants to set up a healing shop and see patients. All the while, Jamie has Sir Percival looking into his every move and trying to catch him in the smuggling act. Jamie and Claire are back to their old ways: avoiding trouble at every turn.
While we’re glad Jamie and Claire are back together, this episode really belongs to Young Ian and Fergus. John Bell and César Domboy are already doing an incredible job bringing these two characters to life on Outlander. John Bell plays the adorable Young Ian perfectly as he brings him to life with equal parts bravery and naiveté to the harsh world. Meanwhile, César Domboy is the perfect choice to continue Fergus now that he’s older. Domboy and Bell bring this bromance/brotherly bond to full force in this latest episode. Not only do Fergus and Young Ian help offload some of Jamie’s liquor, but Fergus helps Ian bed the woman of his dreams!
Like we said, the episode moves a little slow in the beginning, but the last twenty minutes make up for it. While Ian is in the print shop one of Percival’s henchman comes snooping around looking for anything incriminating on Jamie. As Young Ian and the henchman struggle, the print shop catches on fire. Not only that, but the henchman finds the treason papers Jamie has also been distributing. It’s not a great situation to say the least.
Of course, Jamie jumps to the rescue and saves Young Ian as our adorable print shop burns to the ground at their feet. It’s heartbreaking. Heughan does an incredible job with the stunts in this episode as he leaps through the print shop carrying Bell nonetheless.
This is also Outlander and of course, there were a couple heartbreaking moments between Jamie and Claire. Not only are they struggling to find their groove together again, but there are some things they aren’t agreeing on. The heartbreaking scenes in this Outlander episode all surround Ian Murray showing up looking for Young Ian. For starters, Ian’s face when he sees Claire again is equal parts haunting and heartbreaking. He even says that he and Jenny mourned for years over Claire. It’s so sad.
Then, there’s the aftermath. Jamie lies to Ian saying he has no idea where Young Ian is. Claire isn’t happy about this decision. Jamie and Claire fight and Claire tells Jamie he has no idea what it’s like to not know where your child is. Then, using some harsh words, Jamie reminds Claire that he didn’t get to raise Brianna, Frank did. It’s a crushing scene to say the least. Once again, these moments are perfectly executed by Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe.
Outlander wraps up this week with Jamie and Claire deciding to take Young Ian back to Lallybroch. Oh, and we learn that JAMIE HAS ANOTHER WIFE HE HASN’T TOLD CLAIRE ABOUT!! As a book reader, I knew this was coming. And as a book reader, I’m surprised this happened already. While I like to keep my Outlander TV review separate from my book opinions, but this episode saw a lot of departure from “Voyager” in general. Anyway, we are in for some incredible acting from Heughan and Balfe in next week’s episode as Jamie and Claire head back to Lallybroch and it looks like Claire learns about Jamie’s wife secret.
Outlander airs Sundays at 8/7c on Starz. Catch up now with the Starz app.