Outlander Season 7 Episode 11 ‘A Hundredweight of Stones’ is an episode that not only delves into Claire’s suffering but keeps us open-mouthed at every turn to end with a long-awaited final revelation that changes everything, leaving us with our hearts in our mouths. Ready?
Here we go!
The Search for Hope in Despair in Outlander Season 7 Episode 11 ‘A Hundredweight of Stones’
From the beginning of the episode, Claire’s pain is palpable. Despite having agreed to marry Lord John to safeguard her family, her thoughts and heart remain anchored on Jamie. Now that her family is safe again, she can let herself go again until she meets him…Jamie.
She can barely do as John tells her and puts on that pretty dress to greet her husband’s guests. She can barely put a fake smile on her face for one night. She just wants to go back to her room and be able to continue mourning Jamie. Claire simply doesn’t have a reason to live without him. She can’t go on without him, not again, so why wait years until death comes to free her? Claire considers ending it all at once, allowing herself to waste away to reach Jamie and be together once more. However, she eventually stops herself, even though that doesn’t change anything.
And at this point we have to say that Outlander Season 7 Episode 11 ‘A Hundredweight of Stones’ surprised us because it manages to portray Claire’s mental state devastatingly, even showing how she screams in pure pain and the way the memory of a love as deep as the one she felt for Jamie continues to dominate her every thought and action.
MORE: Here’re the reviews of Outlander Season 7 episode 1, episode 2, episode 3 and episode 4!
Mutual Consolation on a Too Cold and Dark Night
John gives Claire his space in Outlander Season 7 Episode 11 ‘A Hundredweight of Stones’ but feels a kind of understanding and envy for her. He understands what Claire is going through, what she is feeling, because he feels the same thing, a heart-wrenching emptiness that causes a dull, constant ache, living proof that there is a part of him that will never come back. He is the only one who knows what Claire is going through, but at the same time, he also envies her.
Claire can let her pain out, and show it publicly, while John has to hide it, even from his own son who, although he sincerely appreciates Claire, cannot understand why John would risk himself like that for her. John has to suffer in silence, pretending he is not broken inside. And he hates it. One night, it’s all too much. He and Claire are grieving for the same man in two different rooms of that enormous residence. It makes no sense.
Claire is the only one who knows and understands what John feels, the only one he can share it with, and he is that for her. No one better than him to understand the immensity of Claire’s love for Jamie and how now that he is gone she can no longer go on without him. In Outlander Season 7 Episode 11 ‘A Hundredweight of Stones’ it’s time for them to at least grieve together. Only that pain leads them to seek physical comfort in each other’s bodies but, in reality, neither of them is thinking of the other while they are together, if not of Jamie.
They both cling to the closest person to Jamie that they have at that moment. They both desperately seek comfort in each other. Claire clings to John, Jamie’s best friend, the man he entrusted his son to and shared many of the worst moments of his life with, the man who loves Jamie almost as much as she does. And John clings to Claire, the love of Jamie’s life, half of his soul, and the woman who loves Jamie as much as he does. They both feel that each other is the only connection they have with Jamie, that the other is the only person who can understand. And for one night they can pretend, pretend that they are with him.
This changes everything in Outlander Season 7 Episode 11 ‘A Hundredweight of Stones.’ After sharing their burden, both Claire and John feel lighter. The pain and despair are still there but the weight is a little lighter, enough to be able to take a breath of air to take a step forward. And, when everything seemed to be settling down somehow, things took a turn again.
We knew Jamie wasn’t dead! We had to say it, sorry not sorry (wink, wink.) And we love seeing him again and knowing that he wasn’t on that ship. Jamie, as always, fought to get back to Claire, only now he finds himself in a situation he didn’t expect: his best friend is married to Claire. And he doesn’t know how to react to that. A part of him wants to kill him for daring to do so, the other part wants to thank him for saving Claire from danger. And Jamie doesn’t know which part will win. He only knows that, married or not, Claire is his, just as he is hers, always, forever.
However, Jamie doesn’t have much time to react in Outlander Season 7 Episode 11 ‘A Hundredweight of Stones’ when something happens again that destabilizes his life. William ends up learning the truth that Jamie, John, and Claire have been hiding from him since he was a child. His real father is Jamie Fraser and this is too much for William. His whole life was a lie, he is a fraud, everything he ever believed, everything he fought for… it was all a farce. He can’t even look the man he always saw as his father in the eyes. He doesn’t even know who he is anymore. And we’re dying to know what’s going to happen now!
MORE: Here’re the reviews of Outlander Season 7 episode 5, episode 6, episode 7, and episode 8!
Unexpected Revelations in Outlander Season 7 Episode 11 ‘A Hundredweight of Stones’
While all this was happening in Outlander Season 7 Episode 11 ‘A Hundredweight of Stones,’ the war plot advanced a little further when Captain Richardson entered the game. He reveals himself to Claire as loyal to the American side. However, Claire knows she can’t trust him, she feels it in her bones…and she’s not wrong.
Speaking of people who can’t be trusted, Brianna comes face to face with Rob Cameron again, finding out that Jemmy isn’t in the past, but that he never left 1980. Her son is there, close to her, very close, and Brianna is determined to find him and get her family together. We don’t doubt that she will. Rob Cameron doesn’t know who he’s messing with. His ambition will end up getting him killed.
The happiest part of Outlander Season 7 Episode 11 ‘A Hundredweight of Stones’ is for Ian and Rachel who, after everything that happened in the previous episode, decide to take a step further in their relationship, getting engaged. Ian remembered his father’s words, he knew that Rachel was the one so, why wait any longer? And he’s absolutely right!
MORE: Here’re the reviews of Outlander season 7 episode 9, and episode 10!
Outlander Season 7B airs on Fridays at 8:00 PM ET/PT on STARZ.
