Episode 608: "I Am Not Alone" (SPOILERS!)

Here are my reactions to Episode 608 of the OUTLANDER TV series, titled "I Am Not Alone". This was a terrific episode, and a wonderful way to wrap up Season 6!

*** SPOILER WARNING!! ***

There are SPOILERS below! If you don't want to know yet, stop reading now.

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I loved the little "WTF moment" at the beginning, showing a 20th-century American diner complete with burgers and fries. It really startled me at first, but its significance becomes clear after you watch the episode. They've used similar devices before on the show, messing with the minds of the viewers on purpose, like the scene with Roger in the shower that opens Episode 411, "If Not For Hope".

We pick up where Episode 607 left off, with a large group of armed men arriving at the Big House, led by Richard Brown, intending to arrest Claire for the murder of Malva Christie.

Mrs. Bug comes out to see what the trouble is, and Claire whispers to her to go get help. Outside, Jamie tries talking calmly to Brown, but he's vastly outnumbered.

Claire runs to the cabinet in the hall where the guns are kept. But one of Brown's men intercepts her. This scene comes straight from the book:

The sound of the back door opening jerked my head up, and I saw an unfamiliar man pause in the doorway, looking round. He saw me and started toward me, grinning, hand out to seize my arm.

I lifted a pistol from my apron and shot him, point-blank. The grin didn’t leave his face, but took on a slightly puzzled air. He blinked once or twice, then put a hand to his side, where a reddening spot was beginning to spread on his shirt. He looked at his blood-smeared fingers, and his jaw dropped.

“Well, goddamn!” he said. “You shot me!” “I did,” I said, breathless. “And I’ll bloody do it again, if you don’t get out of here!” I dropped the empty pistol on the floor with a crash, and scrabbled one-handed in my apron pocket for another, still holding the fowling piece in a death grip.

He didn’t wait to see if I meant it, but whirled and crashed into the door frame, then stumbled through it, leaving a smear of blood on the wood.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 87, "Justice is Mine, Sayeth the Lord". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

The concerns I had about Claire still being affected by the psychological trauma she went through in last week's episode evaporated in this scene. She appears to be entirely recovered, and I'm VASTLY relieved, as you can imagine!

Outside, Jamie is trying to fight off at least six men at once, and not doing too well, though he managed to get hold of his dirk. Claire gets off one shot, and then she sees Richard Brown raise his pistol.

Then I caught a glimpse of metal to one side and by reflex shrieked “DUCK!” an instant before Brown’s pistol fired. There was a small tchoong past my ear, and I realized, in a very calm sort of way, that Brown had fired at me, not Jamie.

Jamie had, however, ducked. So had everyone else in the yard, and men were now scrambling to their feet, confused, the impetus of the attack dispersed.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 87, "Justice is Mine, Sayeth the Lord". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie runs into the house and he and Claire rush to bolt the doors, even as shots are still being fired all around them. This is a very riveting, suspenseful sequence, really well done.

They tip the dining table on its side, and everything on the table crashes to the floor, including a pair of lighted candles. (Lucky for them that it didn't cause the room to catch on fire!) Jamie rushes to barricade the doors even while gunfire continues all around them.

"Close the shutters!" he tells Claire, and for a moment he actually looks scared, as well he might! They are vastly outnumbered. How are they going to get out of this?

Jamie goes to get the rest of the guns out of the cabinet. Claire is leaning against a wall, looking terrified but definitely in control of herself. Suddenly the attackers start firing right into the room where she is sheltering, and my thought was, it's a good thing she's a former combat nurse, because her reflexes are excellent! She manages to get out of the line of fire.

Brown's men lead their agitated horses away from the gunfire, and bring more weapons around the side of the house to attack from a different direction. They fire into the dining room, shattering the chandelier only a few feet away from Claire. In spite of the seriousness of the situation, I was not unhappy to see some of the much-too-ornate furnishings being shot up.

Jamie tells Claire that he thinks Brown is attacking in revenge for the death of his brother Lionel, whom Marsali killed in Episode 512, "Never My Love". I was relieved to see that Claire barely reacted at the mention of Lionel Brown. That nonsense really is over now, thank God!!

The scene where Richard Brown approaches holding a flag of truce is taken verbatim from the book. Jamie refuses to surrender. They reach a stalemate. Brown orders his men to hold their fire, and finally we get a brief pause in the action. Notice the man Claire shot trying to enter the house at the beginning of the assault, clutching his belly, obviously in pain.

The next scene switches to Roger and Bree, somewhere on the road to Edenton, where Roger hopes to learn more about ordination as a Presbyterian minister. Jemmy is playing nearby. The dialogue in this scene comes verbatim from the book.

“Do we tell him?” she asked suddenly. [About the time-travel, she means.] “And if so, when?”

Roger must have been thinking something along the same lines, for he appeared to understand exactly what she meant.

“Christ, how do you tell a kid something like that?” he said. He rose and picked up a handful of bedding, shaking it in apparent hopes of finding the leather string with which he bound his hair.

“Wouldn’t you tell a kid if he were adopted?” she objected, sitting up and running both hands through her own bountiful hair. “Or if there’s some family scandal, like his father’s not dead, he’s in prison? If you tell them early, it doesn’t mean all that much to them, I don’t think; they’re comfortable with it as they get older. If they find out later, it’s a shock.”

He gave her a wry, sidelong look. “You’d know.”

“So would you.” She spoke dryly, but she felt the echo of it, even now. Disbelief, anger, denial--and then the sudden collapse of her world as she began, against her will, to believe. The sense of hollowness and abandonment--and the sense of black rage and betrayal at discovering how much of what she had taken for granted was a lie.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 74, "So Romantic". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Back on the Ridge, it's nearing dusk. Things are quiet for the moment, but every single time Claire passes by a window, I flinch a little bit, imagining gunfire.

Jamie says he thinks the attackers intend to burn the house down, and naturally that makes Claire think about the infamous newspaper clipping that Roger and Bree found in Season 4:

"It is with grief that the news is received of the deaths by fire of James MacKenzie Fraser and his wife, in a conflagration that destroyed their house in the settlement of Fraser's Ridge..."

But the death notice said January 21st, and it's May. How can that be? Jamie shrugs it off. "I was a printer, Claire. Ye can't trust everything you read in broadsheets."

Mrs. Bug and Lizzie have gone for help, and night is falling. Nothing to do now but wait. The sight of the darkened Big House, usually so well-lit and welcoming, is chilling, especially in contrast to the many small campfires of the Browns' men in the yard outside.

In the next scene, Bree and Roger are in bed. Bree is holding a "vroom," one of the little wooden cars Roger carved for Jemmy and the other children on the Ridge. This scene, again, comes straight from the book:

She moved closer to him by reflex, nudging him with a knee. He rolled obligingly to face her, and kissed her again, meanwhile running the car swiftly backward down the length of her spine and over the curve of her buttocks. She yelped and squirmed against him, trying to escape the tickling wheels, then punched him in the ribs.

“Cut that out!”

“I thought ye found speed erotic. Vroom,” he murmured, steering the toy up her arm--and suddenly down the neck of her shift. She grabbed for the car, but he snatched it away, then plunged his hand under the covers, running the wheels down her thigh--then madly up again. A furious wrestling match for possession of the car ensued, which ended with both of them on the floor in a tangle of bedding and nightclothes, gasping for breath and helpless with giggling.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 74, "So Romantic". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I thought the sex scene was sensual and well-done, though it went on a bit longer than I would have liked. I was impressed that they included the bit where Bree squirms uncomfortably because she's lying on top of the little toy car. Good attention to detail there!

Back at the Big House, Claire and Jamie's thoughts turn to food. "The condemned ate a hearty meal," Claire says wryly. This leads into a brief discussion of the American tradition of offering a prisoner about to be executed a last meal.

"What would you choose?"
Claire doesn't hesitate. "Cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke from Carmi's."

And finally we understand why the opening shot of this episode featured a mid-20th-century-style American diner with burgers and fries. I thought that was a nice touch.

I like that they included Jamie saying the Act of Contrition. We don't often see Jamie, a Roman Catholic who takes his faith seriously, praying on the TV show.

Jamie wonders how many times he's come close to dying. This is another scene taken from the book:

She peered into his hand and a dirty nail traced the lines of it, tickling. He tried to pull his hand away, but she tightened her grip on his wrist, and he found to his surprise that he could not break it. “T’es un chat, toi,” the old woman had remarked, in tones of malicious interest. “You’re a cat, you. A little red cat.”

[....]

“Neuf,” she said, tapping rapid random places on his palm, then seizing a finger and wiggling it by way of emphasis. “You have a nine in your hand. And death,” she’d added offhandedly. “You’ll die nine times before you rest in your grave.”

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 10, "Duty Calls". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Claire and Jamie's discussion here about the exact number of times Jamie has come close to death comes from ABOSAA chapter 13, "Safe Hands".

"I never thought hearing a litany of your near-death experiences would bring me so much peace. Maybe it's just the nearness of you?"

Interesting thought. Certainly she finds his physical presence there beside her, alive and well despite so many close calls, reassuring.

How many of those nine lives has Jamie used up, as of the end of GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE? Seven, by my count. It's a topic that fans have speculated about for many years. Just keep in mind what Diana Gabaldon has said on TheLitForum about this:

No, near-misses don't count. <g> It has to be a situation in which he literally _would_ have died, without someone else's intervention to save him--whether that was Murtagh and the French monks, Claire, or somebody else.

That whole thread is worth reading. You have to sign up in order to read or post on the forum, but it's free.

Unfortunately, the brief respite doesn't last. A large group of the fisher-folk have gathered outside, with torches. Hiram Crombie is with them, insisting that Jamie and Claire come out. To negotiate, he says. (Ha!) They are still vastly outnumbered, so Jamie has little choice but to agree.

The mob grows increasingly hostile, calling for "justice for the murdered lass". Most of the dialogue here comes straight from the book:

“By the name of the Almighty!” Hiram was losing his grip on the situation, and becoming panicky. The situation was perilously close to degenerating into riot; anyone could feel the currents of hysteria and violence in the air. He cast his eyes up to heaven, looking for inspiration--and found some.

“Take them both!” he said suddenly. He looked at Brown, then Jamie. “Take them both,” he repeated, testing the notion and finding it good. “Ye’ll go along, to see that nay harm comes to your wife,” he said reasonably to Jamie. “And if it should be proved that she is innocent …” His voice died away on that, as it dawned on him that what he was saying was that if I were proven innocent, Jamie must be guilty, and what a good idea it would be to have him on the spot to be hanged instead.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 87, "Justice is Mine, Sayeth the Lord". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

When Claire says, "I am innocent, and so is he," I started having flashbacks to the witch-trial in Episode 111, "The Devil's Mark". Claire has faced this sort of mob before, and the look in her eyes says that she remembers that experience all too well.

Here come Jamie's Ardsmuir men, well-armed, but it's too late. Jamie gives in, seeing no alternative.

"You will answer for our lives on the Day of Judgment," he tells Hiram Crombie. But then Tom Christie steps out of the darkness.

"I will travel with them as surety that no further evil be done. Surely justice is mine, if it be anyone's." Tom looks haggard and unkempt, as though he hasn't slept at all since Malva's funeral. But he is here, and I'm glad to see him.

Jamie hands over his pistol to Tom in surrender. Tom says they will leave the next morning, and Jamie and Claire go back into the house.

But even in their bedroom, the sense of safety and security Claire has always felt here is gone. There is broken glass everywhere, and she finds a musket ball on the dresser.

"We have a beautiful home," she whispers.
"Aye. And this willna be the last time ye see it by moonlight, Claire. I promise you, wi' my life."

I liked that very much. As always, Jamie gives Claire emotional support and reassurance in times of crisis.

Late that night, Claire lies awake in bed. A tear runs down her cheek. She turns to Jamie, finds him awake as well. The sex scene that follows is not in the book, but I thought it was well done. Tender, and very sad, but sensual. They're clinging to one another, drawing strength from each other's presence.

I'm thinking of the title of this episode. "I Am Not Alone." Claire spent so much of this season trying to fight her demons by herself, and only succeeded in nearly driving herself mad. Now they're facing an even bigger crisis -- together. And that's exactly as it should be.

The next morning, the party sets off for Salisbury, a journey that will take them many days. Jamie and Claire are confined to a wagon, and Richard Brown has assigned one of his men to guard them at all times.

I liked the way Claire stares out at the Big House as they drive away, obviously wondering if she'll ever see it again. Jamie clasps her hand, in comfort and reassurance. Even in his body language, he shows that he's sensitive to her moods and emotional needs, just as in the book, and I'm very much relieved to see it. We haven't seen enough of that this season.

That overhead shot of the party moving out, ever so slowly, made me think of just how long it took to get anywhere in the 18th century, when nothing moved over land faster than a horse.

On a stop to rest on the first day, Tom Christie brings Claire a bowl of food. This comes straight from the book (ABOSAA chapter 88, "In the Wake of Scandal"), and Jamie is right, it is a kind gesture. Perhaps Tom is revising his opinion of Claire?

Richard Brown returns with bad news. The court in Salisbury, where they were headed for trial, has ceased to function. It's 1775, and the colonial governments are starting to lose their grip on power. Brown announces that they will head for Wilmington instead, a journey of 200 miles.

"Don't worry, Mr. Fraser," Brown tells Jamie. "Salisbury might not have a court, but I made sure the whole town knew your wife was guilty. Word's spreadin' like wildfire now."

Gee, thanks! Just what they needed. (Richard Brown has the cheeriest way of delivering Very Bad News!)

Notice Tom staring at Claire. Jamie definitely notices. His eyes meet Tom's for a long moment, but neither man says a word. And this, I think, is where Jamie realizes what has changed about Tom. Book-readers will understand what I mean, but since they didn't address it in the episode, I won't spoil it for people who haven't read all of ABOSAA.

Back at the Big House, Lizzie runs to greet Ian, returning from a hunting trip with John Quincy Myers. "What happened?" he asks, and I thought, "How much time have you got, Ian? It's a long story!" But I'm glad to see him.

Meanwhile, Jamie and Claire's party arrives in Salisbury, a small settlement. They're announced on arrival as "depraved murderers", which is not exactly a good way to make a first impression. And then someone in the crowd hurls a stone at the wagon.

I should have been terrified; in fact, I was furious. The stone that had hit me in the head had glanced off--thanks to the thickness of my hair and the cap I wore—but with the infuriating sting of a slap or a pinch, rather than true impact. I was on my feet by reflex, staggering, but caught sight of a jeering boy on the bank above me, hooting and dancing in triumph. I lunged, caught him by the foot and jerked.

He yelped, slipped, and fell on top of me. We crashed to the ground together, and rolled in a tangle of skirts and cloak. I was older, heavier, and completely berserk. All the fear, misery, and uncertainty of the last weeks came to an instant boil, and I punched his sneering face, twice, as hard as I could. I felt something crack in my hand, and pain shot up my arm.

He bellowed, and wriggled to escape--he was smaller than I was, but strong with panic. I struggled to keep a grip on him, got him by the hair--he struck out at me, flailing, and knocked off my cap, getting one hand in my hair and yanking hard.

The pain reignited my fury and I jammed a knee into him, anywhere I could, again, and once more, blindly seeking his soft parts. His mouth opened in a soundless “O” and his eyes bulged; his fingers relaxed and let go of my hair, and I reared up over him and slapped him as hard as I possibly could.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 88, "In the Wake of Scandal". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

This was terrifying to watch. I think they did a good job of conveying the chaos and violence of the attack, if not Claire's berserk fury. But Claire did get in a good solid punch to the face of one of the assailants, just as in the book. I liked the fact that Tom Christie was yelling at the top of his lungs, trying to get Brown to do something to get control of the situation.

In the next scene, we're back with Roger, Bree, and Jemmy, on their long journey to Edenton. They stop for a herd of cows to cross the road in front of them, and Roger shows Bree a copy of a newspaper, which turns out to be the first issue of Fergus's New Bern Onion, affectionately known to the family as L'Oignon. The dialogue from this scene comes straight from the book:

“Onion?” I said, blinking. “The Onion?”

“Well, he explains that,” Roger said, pointing to an ornately embellished Remarks by the Proprietor in the center of the page, the legend upheld by a couple of floating cherubim. “It’s to do with onions having layers--complexity, you see--and the … er”--his finger ran down the line--“the Pungency and Savor of the Reasoned Discourse always to be exercised herein for the compleat Information and Amusement of our Purchasers and Readers.”

“I notice he makes a distinction between purchasers and readers,” I remarked. “Very French of him!”

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 75, "Lice". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I had to smile at this. I'm glad they included this little detail, both because it amuses me and because it reassures the viewers who miss Fergus and Marsali that they are doing fine.

Jemmy leans down to talk to Bree's unborn baby. "Hi baby," he whispers. "I love you a lot!" Awwww!

And then Jem rubs the side of his head, and Bree announces, "He has lice." They're going to have to cut his hair. Not shave it off completely, as in the book, because Roger quite obviously doesn't use a razor these days, just cut it very short.

"What's that?" Bree says, staring at something on the side of Jemmy's newly shorn head.

I sat up straight when I heard this, because I've been hoping for a long time that we'd get to see this scene on TV.

"It's hereditary," Roger says. Two simple words, but carrying a tremendous amount of meaning for both Roger and Bree. This is confirmation, or as near to it as they can get in a time before DNA testing, that Jem is Roger's biological child, not Stephen Bonnet's. I love the way both of them react, with a sort of quiet joy, as the realization dawns of what this will mean for them both.

In the next scene, we're back with Jamie and Claire and the rest of the men, camped for the night a few hours after the stoning attack. The dialogue here is very close to the book:

“When ye go to hit someone, Sassenach, ye want to do it in the soft parts. Faces have too many bones. And then there’s the teeth to be thinkin’ of.”

Jamie spread her fingers, gently pressing the scraped, swollen knuckles, and air hissed between her own teeth.

“Thanks so much for the advice. And you’ve broken your hand how many times, hitting people?”

He wanted to laugh; the vision of her pounding that wee boy in a fury of berserk rage, hair flying in the wind and a look of blood in her eye, was one he would treasure.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 89, "A Moonlicht Flicht". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I love scenes like this, the quiet moments just between the two of them. We don't get to see enough of this sort of thing in the show.

And speaking of quiet moments, and attention to detail, I am astonished that they took the trouble to film this tiny snippet from the book:

A flicker of movement near Christie’s boot; a wee small mouse, making feints toward the neglected plate that sat on the ground, filled with bounty.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 89, "A Moonlicht Flicht". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Jamie goes out to pee in the woods, under guard. He finds Young Ian there waiting for him, having tracked them all the way here from Fraser's Ridge.

"I'm not alone," Ian says. (See the title of this episode!) "Say the word. We'll come out."

This is a change from the book, but we won't find out what he means by "we" until the end of the episode. Ian agrees to wait, for now, before taking any action.

In the morning, a stranger in a blue coat arrives in the camp. They don't know who he is or why he's there. The journey resumes. A short while later, the man Claire shot during the invasion at the beginning of the episode falls off his horse, dead.

They stop again a little later, and the guard lets Jamie out of the wagon to give him water -- only it's a trap! Three men seize him and drag him away, with Claire screaming, helpless to do anything to stop them, as the wagon begins to move again, taking her in the opposite direction.

I dropped my own cup and flung myself toward them, but Richard Brown grabbed my arm in a viselike grip and dragged me toward the horses.

“Let go! What are you doing? Let go, I say!” I kicked him, and had a good go at scratching out his eyes, but he got hold of both my wrists, and shouted for one of the other men to help. Between the two of them, they got me--still screaming at the top of my lungs--on a horse in front of another of Brown’s men. There was a deal of shouting from Jamie’s direction, and general hubbub, as a few people came out of the pothouse, staring. None of them seemed disposed to interfere with a large group of armed men, though.

Tom Christie was shouting protests; I glimpsed him hammering on the back of one man, but to no avail. The man behind me wrapped an arm round my middle and jerked it tight, knocking out what breath I had left.

Then we were thundering down the road, Brunswick--and Jamie--disappearing in the dust.

(From A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 90, "Forty-Six Beans to the Good". Copyright© 2005 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

I don't care how many times I've read or listened to ABOSAA, this forcible separation of Jamie and Claire on the road always makes me yell out loud, "Hey! HEY!! Cut that out! Haven't they been through enough already in this book? STOP THAT!!" And I always imagine Diana Gabaldon watching this with that <evil grin> she likes to tease readers with sometimes on TheLitForum, as the roller-coaster of the story takes another steep dive, with me hanging on for dear life, enjoying every minute of the ride. <g> I think they captured that feeling beautifully.

Claire's only chance is to appeal to Tom Christie for help, so she does, begging him to go after Jamie, but Tom refuses. He won't let Claire out of his sight. It's for her own protection, but it means that Jamie is on his own, at the mercy of the other members of Brown's gang, and who knows what they might be up to?

As the wagon arrives in a town, Claire peers through the curtains to try to see whatever she can of her surroundings. This is clearly a major town, not a tiny village. I thought it was interesting the way the camera stays in Claire's point of view, only showing us what she can see from inside the wagon. Notice what appears to be a redcoat hanged in effigy on a lamppost on one corner as they pass by.

The sign over the door of the building where they stop says "House of Correction for the County of New Hanover" (which is the county where Wilmington, NC, is located). A jail, in other words. It's dark in the cell block, but a woman in one of the cells sits up at once as Claire is brought in. Maybe that will be Sadie Ferguson?

Tom gives Claire a small bag of coins, tells her to "trust in God", and assures her he won't leave town. Richard Brown's somewhat more cheery farewell is, "I'll see you at the gallows, Mistress Fraser."

In the next scene, we're on a beach with Jamie, tied to a wooden post driven into the sand. The man holding him prisoner won't tell him anything about where Claire is or what they've done with her.

His captor indicates a large sailing ship out in the harbor. "You're going aboard that ship, and then that ship's taking you home to Scotland where you belong. You'll never see your witch of a wife again."

The threat is very real. This sort of thing did happen during the Revolutionary War, as a way of getting rid of suspected Loyalists and other troublemakers. Book-readers will recall that it happened to Richard Bell, as we learned in ECHO.

And suddenly, the man guarding Jamie collapses to the ground, killed by an arrow fired by Young Ian, who has arrived on the beach with a number of his Cherokee friends, all of them whooping loudly.

The battle that follows is a little confusing to follow, but a lot of people end up dead, including one member of Brown's gang who is shot through the eye by none other than Chief Bird. The mysterious man in the blue coat swims to the big ship and apparently gets away.

Chief Bird nods in satisfaction at Jamie. "I told you I would fight with you, Bear-Killer." So this final scene ties up Ian's storyline, and the storyline about giving guns to the Cherokee, very neatly.

The last shot shows the men on horseback, riding along the beach, presumably heading off to find Claire.

Wow! What a terrific episode, and IMHO the best season finale this show has ever had. Very well done. Kudos to the whole cast and crew! This has been an excellent season, for the most part, and I've enjoyed it very much.

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I hope you enjoyed this recap. Look here for my recaps of all of the OUTLANDER episodes.

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