Outlander delivers a raucous, slap-happy episode

Thanks to this week’s Outlander, we may have our first-ever Colonial America telenovela. Truly, there could have been a slap-count tracker at the bottom of the screen for this incredibly melodramatic hour of television that may also be the most entertaining episode of the series in some time. The outing, titled “Carnal Knowledge,” was not a good one for anyone in the Fraser bloodline, as Jamie (Sam Heughan) and his son William (Charles Vandervaart) made absolute asses out of themselves in the wake of each learning some shocking news. But neither piece of information warrants the ways in which they react with an anger that is not befitting such pretty men. 

Let me start with Jamie, who was last seen returning from “the dead” and reuniting with Claire (Caitriona Balfe), who in her husband’s absence had married his friend Lord John (David Berry) in order to save her neck from espionage charges. But Jamie is a wanted man by the Redcoats, so his reunion is cut short when he flees the soldiers by taking Lord John hostage to get away. It’s all an act until the two men get a quiet moment to themselves and Lord John confesses that he has not only married Claire but the new couple consummated the marriage as a means of mourning Jamie, the man Lord John has loved since he was a teenager.

“Neither one of us was making love to the other; we were both fucking you!” The blazingly honest admission from Lord John sends Jamie into a rage that he answers with his fists, pummeling Lord John to a point that, later on, there is concern the damage to his eye is severe enough that it will be permanent. The only thing that stops Jamie is a roving band of Patriots who question the tussle between the men, prompting Jamie to hand Lord John over to them in order to confirm his story that he is a retired Loyalist officer. He doesn’t yet know that his commission has been reactivated.

On the outskirts of Philadelphia, William is still reeling from overhearing Lord John reveal that Jamie is his real father. It’s a revelation for which no paternity test is needed because William wastes no time taking after his father’s mean streak when the newly betrothed Ian (John Bell) and Rachel (Izzy Meikle-Small) cross his path. At first, he tries to conceal his disappointment that the woman he likes has chosen someone else. Then he drops the act and doesn’t bother pretending anymore when he just outright punches Ian. This is really where the episode goes full soap opera, as Ian returns the blows and the two men fight over the hand of a woman who has already made her choice. Out of spite, William has nearby Redcoats arrest Ian for assaulting an officer, to which Rachel expressed deep contempt for her former friend. When spitting on his boots isn’t enough, she breaks her Quaker vow against violence and lands a firm slap across William’s face, blaming him for forcing her to violate her principles.

This won’t be the last time someone lands a slap on a Fraser this episode though. After Jamie is casually made a brigadier general during an unexpected meeting with George Washington, he returns to Claire in Philadelphia and the two hash out a very tumultuous few months in their marriage. She tries to level with him that this quickie marriage and anything-but-passionate sex with Lord John was nothing but grief incarnate. But he can’t get over it. Let’s be clear here though: Jamie is being a child. Sure, a temporarily widowed Claire relatively suddenly had sex with another man, who is gay, mind you. Also, why didn’t Claire just lead with the fact that Lord John married her to save her life after they thought her Highland husband was fish food? But Jamie is still the one letting his ego show a bit too much in this moment, especially when he outright asks if Lord John “buggered” Claire. Rightfully, she slaps him pretty hard for that one—the final act of violence in this punchy episode.

The two eventually work it all out as they always do by making grand proclamations of how they share an eternal love that oceans, time travel, revolutions, and gay best friends can’t spoil. Jamie also seems keen on setting things right with Lord John, who is being held prisoner in a camp that is telling him to his face that his Loyalist history might make him valuable, while planning his execution behind his back. As Jamie and Claire engage in some of the rowdiest sex they have had in seasons, Lord John and his one good eye make a run for it through the woods in a hail of musket balls.

While Outlander eats through the rest of author Diana Gabaldon’s densely packed novels, it often doesn’t have time to stop and appreciate the absurdity of its situations. In this case, Jamie’s gay friend married his wife to save her from being executed for treason, all while he was supposedly lost at sea. That’s just comically outlandish. This episode’s slap-happy answer to that insanity relaxes the tension in the show’s shoulders, which are always carrying the weight of a sprawling, globe-trotting story that never takes a breath. We, as an audience, deserve to laugh at the weird knots this story has tied over the years and cheer when an egotistical man gets a little sense slapped into him. And sometimes that man is Jamie Fraser. 

Stray observations

• • Was it just me or did the word “buggery” and its many variations get an extraordinary amount of screen time in this episode? Between Jamie’s insensitive questioning and William’s time at the brothel, it was definitely the word of the week (and could make for a great drinking game on rewatch). 
• • William’s dalliance with Jane, the sex worker who he initially gets rough with in his rage spiral, was an interesting way to muddy up the otherwise spiffy image of the good ol’ boy. His anger this episode certainly chipped away at that facade, but it was a nice touch to have him crumble in the arms of intimacy and fear. A little embarrassment does a man good.
• • The George Washington aside in the middle of this episode felt a little out of place with everything going on. That said, his stoic presence was a reminder that there is an actual war happening, even if Jamie and Claire’s world is in constant turmoil for other outlandish reasons.
• • Jamie and Claire’s argument was a pleasantly lengthy exchange about the rather unusual nature of their latest crisis. No one would blame the show if it spared audiences moments like this because we have watched the Frasers talk through so many hurdles. But between this scene and last week’s monologue from Lord John, it’s nice to see that the series can still occasionally take its time with conversations.
• • It was not until after watching the episode a second time that I realized Roger (Robert Rankin) and Brianne (Sophie Skelton) are nowhere to be found this week, which just reiterates that their wafer-thin storyline this season needs some attention STAT.