**This is not a spoiler-free review of this episode. This review is also from a non-reader, and any comments revealing spoilers from the books will be deleted.**
Someone call the cops, because this show killed me.
Episode 810: “And the World Was All Around Us”
Written by Matthew B. Roberts, Directed by Emer Conroy
I didn’t want to write this review. The last episode of Outlander? THE LAST?
Pretty rude, James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser.
I’m not going to sugarcoat things — the final season wasn’t stellar. However.
HOWEVER.
I’m glad the series finale brought us back to what this stupid show was about in the FIRST PLACE.
Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) have arrived at a reckoning. Our resident hot Scot can’t avoid Kings Mountain any longer.
He’s out of time. But will he die, as Frank (Tobias Menzies) foretold? I thought this episode did a fantastic job of making me feel on edge the entire time (until that scene. More on that later). Claire outright refuses Jamie’s request to return to her own time with their family if he were to perish. Fraser’s Ridge is her home.
Jamie is her heart.
And nothing bad happened to them, the end (I’m delusional, your honor).
Our favorite fictional couple, who bring us nothing but pain, has one last night together.
One of my favorite moments during the episode was Claire being Claire. Amid the battle, she abandons her medical post to RUN HEADFIRST INTO THE FIGHT TO FIND JAMIE.
“Don’t you try to fucking stop me!” she yells at Roger (Richard Rankin). He wisely obliges.
Oh, Claire. I missed you blindly running into danger. We needed one last run before the end. Honestly, I was worried Jamie was going to get shot when he was distracted trying to keep Claire safe. But holy HELL did the show throw me for a loop.
Jamie and #TeamAmerica actually end up winning the battle. Claire reunites with her husband amid the joyous sounds of victory.
All is well.
And then Outlander went – psych.
Jamie should’ve just put himself on “Do Not Disturb” the second they won the battle.
The greatest tactical blunder was assuming the other side was honorable. To be honest, I don’t even remember the name of the British officer who was defeated by Jamie’s men.
ALL I REMEMBER IS THAT THE BRITISH BASTARD SHOOTS JAMIE.
(Google has reminded me that the British officer was a bastard named Patrick Ferguson.)
It’s so harrowing because of the moment’s dishonorable nature. All his life, Jamie has done the best he can to fight honorably. Yes, he has resorted to dark methods when it was necessary to protect Claire.
But.
BUT.
He would NEVER shoot someone on the opposing side after they surrendered. After all, his entire regiment had laid their weapons down. Ferguson, the bastard, had concealed a pistol. He draws it on Jamie and fires.
AND JAMIE JUST DIES??
ARE YOU FOR REAL RIGHT NOW??
JAMES ALEXANDER MALCOLM MACKENZIE FRASER DIES???
The moment where Claire clutches her chest in horror was pure nightmare fuel. She runs up the hill in terror. It’s too late. Jamie apologizes to his Sassenach, and this was part of the episode where I just started straight-up bawling.
Claire refuses to leave his side for days. Roger begs her to let go. Jamie must be buried. Roger says they must bring him home.
“He is home,” Claire says.
We finally get an explanation for that moment from the first episode, when Frank saw a Scottish man looking up at Claire through the window in the 1940s. (Apparently, some people were genuinely surprised it was Jamie? I always thought it was pretty obvious that it was Jamie, I was just curious how he ended up there.)
Live footage of me during the last 15 minutes of the episode!!
From what I gathered, Jamie’s death created a time loop of sorts? He always told her he would endure 200 years of purgatory to return to her, and WHEN I TELL YOU IF HE WANTED TO, HE WOULD.
JAMIE DIDN’T LET DEATH STOP HIM FROM FINDING THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE.
(Remember that next time your situationship won’t text you back.)
And then it turns out JAMIE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FORGET-ME-NOTS THAT DREW CLAIRE TO THE STONES IN THE FIRST PLACE!!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?
ARE YOU??
We return to Claire and Jamie on Kings Mountain. Claire’s hair has turned white — a callback to the prophecy Adawehi once had for Claire, in which she predicted that Claire would reach her full powers once her hair turned completely white.
The show ends with Claire and Jamie gasping for breath.
AND THAT’S ALL, FOLKS.
OK, just kidding, Diana Gabaldon herself appears in an end credits scene! I thought Diana having Claire’s journal was a nice touch. So did Claire actually heal Jamie? Did they wake up on the other side together? I HATE THAT THEY ENDED ON A CLIFFHANGER (BUT DAMN IT WAS A HELL OF A WAY TO END).
Who would’ve thought this was the most peaceful part of the episode???
I really wish this season had been better overall. After sobbing my lungs out during the series finale, I went back down nostalgia lane and rewatched old Outlander episodes — what was missing for me during the final season was the show’s earlier sense of humor (seriously, where was the sense of COMEDY like the old episodes??), passion, and a stronger focus on Claire and Jamie. I do understand the need for a story like this to grow and evolve with additional characters, BUT.
BUT.
This story has always been about Jamie and Claire. They were the two I’ve been watching from the start. Even time and death itself couldn’t tear these two apart.
They really told the Grim Reaper to F off.
Jamie and Claire really felt like one of the last great fictional love stories of this era — and it was just lovely watching a couple fight for each other against all the odds (and one British bastard.)
I was procrastinating on this review because I didn’t want my silly reviews of this SILLY SHOW TO END. But alas, the time has come to bid adieu. Thank you, Outlander TV News readers, for following along as I watched the show from the perspective of someone who hadn’t read the books beforehand.
It’s been my greatest honor.
Fare thee well, Outlander TV News.
Alright, alright, it wouldn’t be my typical review without at least one last silly thought.
DID CLAIRE EVER GET HER BLUE VASE?
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go read the books.
Katherine Stinson, signing off.
