This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Outlander being covered here wouldn’t exist. We stand with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.
There is very little left for the season finale! Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers” deals the final blow as Roger & Brianna trust who they shouldn’t and the Frasers battle on opposite sides. Ready?
Here we go!
The Past in the Present in Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers”
Roger and Brianna are wary of Buck for obvious reasons in Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers.” However, the one they should be wary of is Cameron. Buck is confused, not understanding what happened, and struggling to accept that he traveled back in time.
Roger is the only familiar face in the middle of it all, and despite what happened the last time they saw each other, it’s his only chance to understand. But, precisely because of that story they share, he couldn’t just get closer. Buck had no intention of scaring the children but he didn’t know how to approach the family either.
Cameron, on the other hand, tries too hard to be involved with the family, as we see in Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers.” He is always there, even if he is not invited, always with a smile, and always trying to gather as much information as possible.
With that charming smile and his seemingly innocent intentions, Cameron got Brianna and Roger to let their guard down and not see the way he forces contact with them. They see him as lonely, maybe a little pushy… but harmless. And they couldn’t be further from the truth.
Appearances are Deceiving Most of the Time
Cameron is anything but harmless, as we see at the end of Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers.” He’s after the gold, and he’s wrapped around Roger and Brianna like a snake until he’s trapped Jem in his clutches, but it’s not only Jem and the gold that Cameron wants.
We can’t stop thinking about Buck’s words and the way Cameron approaches Brianna. He gets too close to her, crossing the line of what is socially accepted, but he does it in such a surreptitious way, having gained her and Roger’s trust that neither of them notices it.
Not being implicated or blinded by Cameron’s charm, Buck was easily able to see what was happening in Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers.”
Brianna is a beautiful woman but, above all, she is a woman who challenged Cameron, she dared to order him around and beat him at his own game. A misogynist like Cameron doesn’t forget something like that. So he’ll be itching to teach Brianna a lesson — seriously, we highly recommend Cameron check out Barbie.
Now, will Cameron sacrifice Jem to travel back in time? We don’t think he does. Jem is the only person who knows the location of the gold, he needs him alive. Besides, it doesn’t make sense for Cameron to travel back in time to take on Jamie and the men of Fraser’s Ridge for the gold when in the future he can do it more easily.
So we think that Cameron and Jem are still in the present, despite the ending of Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers” …and that the threat is closer than Brianna and Roger think.
Life and Death Struggles Between Father and Son in Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers”
In the past, William prepares to fight for the first time in Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers.” He has mixed feelings about this.
On one hand, he is eager to show his loyalty to the Crown, proud to be a part of the Colonies’ defense, and excited by the prospect of fighting. But on the other hand, William feels fear and apprehension.
It’s a life and death fight…and that means many men will die at their hands in Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers.” Even though they are his enemies, the lump in his throat is still there. The first time he killed someone was horrible for William but he had no choice but to do it.
Now, William is on the front line of battle, knowing that his mission is to kill as many rebels as he can. However, the death of his friend changes everything. One second he was talking to him, daydreaming about Rachel, and the next his partner, his best friend, his brother-in-arms, was dead.
This makes William meet with rage, blood, and with revenge. So he fights with everything he has for his friend and for all the soldiers that battle will take their lives. It’s strange but it seems that William grew up before our eyes in Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers.”
Forced Growth
Before the battle, William was more of a boy-playing man than anything else. But after that battle, after what he saw, after what he did, after spilling so much blood… William is no longer the same. He can’t be. He is no longer playing, that is his life and he must learn to survive in that war.
What William doesn’t know is that on the other side of the battlefield, his father is also fighting, albeit on the side of the rebels. Jamie swore he’d never point a gun at his son, but we wished it was all as easy as making a promise.
After Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers,” we don’t think William will disappear from the battlefield anytime soon…and Jamie will end up coming back to it. So it’s going to be hard for Jamie to keep his promise. This time around, both managed not to cross bullets between them. The question is: how long can they avoid it?
Other Stuff in Outlander 7×07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers”
- Truly, Brianna & Roger should know better than to leave their child alone in the care of someone they barely know and tried so hard to be in their lives.
- Will they find Jemmy or will it be too late? Mandy no longer feels him with her…
- JAMIE! My brain is screaming at me that he was not dead but seeing him there, lying there, not moving… took some pull out of me and made me jump off the couch.
- Claire looks super cute with glasses but it’s even cuter to feel how Jamie is still as in love with her as the first day.
- Jamie & Claire are the soul of this show. Period.
- No matter what happens, they will never get lost and they will never leave an “I love you” unsaid, unshown.
- Their scenes are perfect, romantic, and passionate, and I need more of them!
- Roger and Brianna try to emulate them in such a shameless way that I feel more lazy than anything else… and they don’t even come to the bottom of their shoes. #sorrynotsorry.
- “After the battle, you will come back to me…and if you don’t, I’ll come looking for you.”
- I like Buck! And I understand where he comes from and why he did what he did in the past. I don’t excuse it, but it’s more understandable. And I like that both Bree and Roger have been able to forgive him, despite resisting it.
- Buck is super cute with the kids.
- Roger, think! The box sent by Jamie & Claire is almost as incriminating as Buck himself.
- William is getting too many hopes about Rachel…
- This episode has balance issues. Roger and Brianna are not enough to sustain the series. That’s a lesson they should have learned by now.
- I don’t think I wanted to know the day of my death either…
Outlander season 7 airs Fridays at 8PM ET on STARZ.
