We begin the season with Claire returning to 1948, and Frank learns the truth of where she has been for the last two years.
It was reminiscent of the pilot when Claire and Frank came together again after the war. Frank was again telling Claire it was fine if she was with another man, but the announcement of her being pregnant was more than he could handle in the moment. His rage was an echo of his ancestor Black Jack Randall, whose presence is still felt when Frank approaches Claire and she cringes in fear. A majority of the episode focuses on the reunion between our 1948 couple, but we finally come to what everyone has been waiting for: Jamie and Claire’s arrival in France. Frank and Claire’s story breaks at their arrival in America with a step off the airplane into Jamie and Claire’s story.
We don’t yet see the full gala of Paris in this episode, but the language and costumes shown during the episode give us a hint as to what is to come. We see a still injured Jamie, which remind us of the pain he endured at the hand of Black Jack from the end of last season. Here Claire and Jamie begin their plot to stop the Jacobite Rebellion. Although Jamie still shows some concern for the plan, he goes along with Claire, while Murtagh isn’t fully clued into what is really happening. Jamie promises to tell him at the right moment, which he reveals to Claire later, is a time she will determine. Although they’re working with Jamie’s cousin Jared to create allies in France, they already begin the season making enemies surrounding smallpox incident in the port city they arrive in.
This episode gives us a preview of what is to come for the season, but a personal favorite is the remake of the main title theme song “Skye Boat Song” by Bear McCreary. The new instrumentation and piece sang in French illustrates the change in feel and location for this season. We’re sure to see something very different this season.
-Rosemarie Scilipoti