Episode 2 of Outlander’s season 3 left fans with heavy hearts and racing minds. We learned a bit more about James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp Randall/Fraser’s lives apart, but just enough to keep us wanting more.
When the season premiere of the tv adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s hit novels relieved fans by showing that handsome Jamie Fraser somehow survived the Battle of Culloden and made it home to Lallybroch alive, although not exactly “well,” we weren’t sure what he would do next.
Jamie survives, Claire adapts
After narrowly escaping the firing squad and returning to his sister and his home, Jamie is forced to take up residence in a nearby cave so to avoid the Red Coats.
His beard has grown to epic proportions, very Hagrid-esque, and it seems his heart has grown as hard as his weather-beaten skin. Jenny even comments on how she hasn’t seen the real Jamie Fraser in years, so she’s not lying when she tells the frequently-visiting British that she doesn’t know where her brother is. Without Claire, he’s lost and broken; we can feel his pain. Even when the kind-hearted Mary McNab visits him in the cave for some conjugal comfort, it is before he surrenders to the Brits.
At the same time, we see Claire just as lonely as Jamie, despite having a new baby and a devoted husband. The adorable baby girl seems to have united them in a particular way, but the awkwardness between Mr.
and Mrs. Frank Randall is still there. He leans into touch her as she’s holding the baby, but she flinches and moves away. Later, Claire reaches for him in bed, says she misses her husband, and the two make love. Later still, though, Frank begs her to open her eyes as they are having sex in front of the fireplace, but when she doesn’t comply he stops.
“Claire, when I’m with you, I’m with you. But you’re with him.” It doesn’t look like these two will ever get back to a good place.
What will happen next?
Let’s think about what lies ahead for both Claire and Jamie in their respective times and places in Season 3 of Outlander. The Season 2 finale implied that Claire was about to head through the stones and go back to Jamie and the 18th century, and we know that Jamie is headed to prison for quite a while.
Prison and Jamie have never been friends, and according to TV Guide, this time doesn't look like it will be any better. Will Claire have to break him out again? His last stay behind British bars sure didn’t go so well, but at least now there’s no chance in hell that Black Jack Randall will appear to torment or torture anyone … right?
If you’re super curious, like I sure am, the Starz Network website offers a peek at the cast members for this season. There’s one in particular, a dashing young Lord John Grey who just happens to be the governor of a certain Scottish prison, who is new to the show. Will he and Jamie have a good relationship? Or will he be another smooth-talking SOB with sadistic intentions and a taste for malice?
There are so many questions yet to be answered in this new season of Outlander! Will Claire return through the stones? If so, how will she find Jamie? Will Brianna and Roger go with them? Where is Geillis Duncan and what part will she play in the continuation of the story? Now that Jack Randall is gone (he IS finally dead, right?), who will be the villain in the story? What became of Mary Randall and her baby?
Episode 3 of Outlander can’t come fast enough.
