We’re back! Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 1 Episode 3 ‘School of the Moon’ focuses on the intricate and twisted relationship between Colum, Dougal, and Ellen with their father and with each other, while also dealing with the consequences of Ellen’s forced engagement and Julia’s pregnancy. Ready?
Here we go!
A Good Laird…
If Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 1 Episode 3 ‘School of the Moon’ showed us anything, Red Jacob was a good man, but not a good father. Maybe he was with Ellen, but he wasn’t with his other sons and daughters, especially Colum and Dougal. Red Jacob had high expectations for his children. This caused him to pressure them to the point of turning them against each other. That wasn’t his intention, we’re sure, but it was a very clear consequence of his attitude toward them. He also never put them first. And the worst part? He never regretted destroying them like that.
Playing devil’s advocate here, it couldn’t have been easy for Red Jacob to lead the Clan and raise his children to follow in his footsteps, preparing them to face the obstacles of being laird. And we’re sure he thought he was doing the best he could. However, it’s undeniable that he ruined his children’s lives. Thus, Red Jacob saw Colum as his perfect successor. His intelligence, cunning, and strength made him the perfect candidate. There was only one thing left: for Colum to prove his position as leader.
In Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 1 Episode 3 ‘School of the Moon,’ Red Jacob was sure Colum would make it. And when he found him with a broken leg, he didn’t behave like a father, but like a laird. The way he looked at Colum, the way he spoke to him… it gave us chills in the worst possible way. He made it very clear that he had disappointed him in a big way. And not only that, but he despises him for it. In his eyes, Colum was weak and didn’t deserve to be called his son. But it doesn’t end there.
The next morning, things get much worse. Red Jacob shows no paternal side to Colum; on the contrary, he emphasizes how weak he is, even though, understandably, he’s still in bed recovering. When he learns the whole story, the situation takes a disastrous turn. Red Jacob no longer sees Colum only as weak, but also as a coward, and as someone who doesn’t know how to be a leader. All his expectations for him have vanished, and now his father sees him as disposable, as worthless. He despises him. He is ashamed that Colum is his son.
And Colum resents this in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 1 Episode 3 ‘School of the Moon.’ He desperately tries to win back his father’s respect and prove to him that he is not weak and can be the laird he was always destined to be. Colum tries his best to make that look of disappointment disappear from his father’s eyes. But he can’t. On the contrary, all he succeeds in doing is somehow proving his father’s point. And Colum hates it… That’s why he tries to refuse Ellen’s help. Because if he lets her help him, it’s like admitting his weakness.
…It’s Not Always a Good Father
And that has a direct impact on the present. Someone dares to mock Colum in his own home, in his own gathering, and he just has to endure it, just as he endured his father’s contempt. But that brings old insecurities to the surface. And Ellen is there again, to support him, to comfort him… but he rejects her. Colum senses that Ellen pities him and doesn’t want her sympathy. He doesn’t need it.
But Ellen isn’t by his side because she pities him, but because she loves him. He made his decisions for her, he doesn’t value her, and in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 1 Episode 3 ‘School of the Moon,’ he treated her like she was nothing, like she was just a pawn in a chess game he and Dougal could use at will. But still, she loves him. She loves them both. And she understands why Colum is doing it. She understands that he’s protecting them, all of them, to the best of his knowledge.
That’s why she forgives him. For everything. She forgives him for condemning her to a marriage she doesn’t want, without even consulting her, and she forgives him for treating her as if she were at his mercy. Colum lets her hug him, leans into her. As he always has. He would never have betrayed her and decided for her if he didn’t have to do what was best for the clan. He loves her too, very much, even though a part of him will always resent that his father looked at Ellen the way he wishes she had looked at him. The way he looked at him before everything changed.
Dougal, for his part, is not very different from Colum. Red Jacob pitted his sons against each other and made them feel they had to compete to be the best, the most daring, the bravest, the greatest leader. Just to earn his love, his respect, and to be his heir as laird. This competition made Dougal always want to go one step further because he was determined to prove that he would be a better laird than Colum. That’s why he blames his brother because they both disappointed their father. But if Red Jacob is right about one thing, it’s that Dougal didn’t understand anything. He would never be a good laird, not if he couldn’t distinguish bravery from recklessness or accept his own mistakes because he was too selfish and proud to do so.
Like Colum, Ellen is also caught in the middle. Torn between the respect she feels for her father and the feeling that he is being unfair to her two brothers. But she also knows perfectly well that Dougal could never be a good laird. And the same thing happens in the present, as we see in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 1 Episode 3 ‘School of the Moon.’ Dougal remains just as impulsive and just as selfish. And he still loves and hates both Colum and Ellen equally. Dougal feels that Colum took away his destined position and that Ellen stole his father’s love from him.
And so, amid this battle of egos and resentments, Ellen has to figure out how to save the Clan. The truth is that Dougal can be blamed for his impulsiveness, violence, and selfishness, while Colum can be blamed for his lack of leadership in the war and his inability to fight alongside the Clan. Thus, it’s easy for a careerist like MacKinnon to gain the necessary support to lead the Clan. And they can’t allow that. So, in the end, it’s Ellen who saves the day by proposing the only possible solution. And we love her for it. We just hope her brothers start appreciating her.
MORE: Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2 Review
Other Stuff in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 1 Episode 3 ‘School of the Moon’
- This episode once again proved that Ellen should be the Clan Chief. And that it’s stupid that she can’t.
- That’s why we hope that, at the very least, her brothers start treating her as an equal.
- We hate that they haven’t even thanked her for saving the Clan. She has the recognition of her sisters, but Ellen deserves that of her brothers, too.
- We were quite moved by the oath-taking scene and the bond between Dougal and Colum. We hope it lasts.
- We really suffered with Dougal’s whipping. It’s clear to us that his father was taking it out on him for what happened with Colum.
- It hurt us to see Murtagh’s heartbroken…
- We wish Brian would tell him about Ellen once and for all.
- And hopefully, he’ll be able to warn Ellen of her father’s plan before it’s too late. Brian naively thought he could control him, but he never could.
- Henry and Ned’s friendship will give us some great times. We know it.
- And Julia and Brian’s too.
- Ellen seems to have accepted her fate, but has she? She doesn’t seem like the Ellen we know if she doesn’t fight.
- We understand why Julia does what she does, but did she make the right decision by not taking the abortion herbs?
Outlander: Blood of My Blood airs on Fridays on STARZ.
