TV RECAP: Outlander, Season 3, Episode 3 – All Debts Paid

**SPOILER ALERT**

**SPOILER ALERT**

 
The episode opens in 1956 in Boston. Frank is cooking a complete British breakfast because he believes that Bree needs more British food after she asked him for Eggo Waffles. Claire is suddenly struck with an idea and asks if Frank wants to go out to the movies with her. Frank looks slightly embarrassed when he tells Claire that he has actually gone and seen both of the movies she is suggesting. He goes on to say that she did say he could see other people and that he has been discrete. We jump to 1755 Scotland at the Ardsmuir Prison. Lord John William Grey is just beginning his post at the prison. He is being shown around the prison by the outgoing warden. He tells him the ins and outs of the prison. He points to “Red Jamie” and tells him he is the only one they keep in shackles. John Grey immediately recognizes him and he is rather shaken and slightly angry. The warden suggests continuing what he has been doing with Red Jamie, weekly dinners in his chamber, etc. Jamie is the go-between with the prisoners and the warden. We see into the men’s cells. They are cold, damp and drafty. Suddenly we see a face we all recognize and love, Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser!!! He didn’t die in the Battle of Culloden after all. Murtagh is playing with a scrap of Fraser tartan. Jamie instructs him to put it away before the guards see it since it is against the law to have a tartan. The guards come into the cell to take Jamie up to Lord Grey. While Jamie is in Lord Grey’s chambers, Lord Grey sees a rat and demands cats be brought in. Also, he wants to put cats in the prison cells. Jamie asks him not to because if the prisoners can catch the rats they will eat them. It helps balance their poor prison diet. Jamie ends the conversation by telling Lord Grey that he probably deserves the crappy post that he has been given and hopes he is miserable. We jump to Boston. Claire and Joe are graduating from Harvard with their medical degree. Bree is taking photos. She gets to Claire and Frank and you can see the unhappiness on their faces. Claire is going out to dinner with everyone and Frank is hanging back to do some work. Suddenly the doorbell rings and Claire answers it. There is another woman at the door. Claire is flustered and angry. She decides to take everyone to dinner early, despite the reservations being at 7.

While the British are out on patrol they come across an old man who is babbling incoherently. The guards do know that it is Gaelic so when they get back to the prison they have Jamie sent for. Lord Grey asks Jamie to translate. Jamie refuses until Lord Grey sweetens the pot by telling him that he will remove his irons if he does. Jamie agrees on the condition that Lord Grey send a physician to check on Murtagh as he is fairly sick. Back in Boston, Claire is sitting at home having a drink when a very drunk Frank comes home. Claire lets loose on him and gives him a tongue lashing. Frank gives as good as he gets. Claire finally tells him to file for divorce and Frank refuses. Back at the prison, Jamie realizes he knows the man who the guards picked up. His name is Duncan. Duncan begins to tell his story. It’s all about silkies and white witches. Jamie thinks that perhaps Claire has returned. Jamie tells Lord Grey half of what Duncan says. After Duncan finishes his rambling story he dies. Back in Boston, Frank and Claire are celebrating Bree’s 16th birthday. Back in Scotland, we see Murtagh looking a little bit healthier but still sick and untreated. Jamie is talking to him about Duncan’s story. Murtagh immediately thinks of Claire when Jamie tells him about the white witch. Murtagh is the only one, it seems, that knows about Claire going back through the stones and not dying like Jamie is telling people. Jamie then agrees to dinner with Lord Grey. While having dinner with Lord Grey, Jamie asks for permission for the men to hunt while out cutting peat. He hurriedly explains the men will snare not shoot. Lord Grey asks about Jamie’s wife and Jamie tells him she is gone. We slowly begin to see an actual friendship form. Once back in the cells, Jamie describes in great detail his meal to the men. They are all sitting in rapt attention with their eyes shut imagining every single bite of food. We see the men heading out to the moor to dig peat, which shows us that they have allowed the men to snare the food. Jamie suddenly darts out and hides, essentially escaping. They track him to the coast where the island of the silkie legend is. While Lord Grey is relieving himself he is thrown against the side of a building by Jamie. Jamie reminds him of his promise to kill him once he repays his debt for saving his life. Jamie begs him to kill him. Lord Grey refuses. Back in Boston, it is 1966 and we see Claire and Frank cordially attending Bree’s High School graduation. Claire is absolutely beaming with pride. Back in Scotland the British are escorting a physician into the cells to treat Murtagh. Jamie begins his weekly meals with Lord Grey. He tells Jamie about his special friend/lover that was killed on Culloden Moor. Grey is shocked to find out that Claire is the women that he tried to save and got his arm broke for. Grey hesitates and then sets his hand on Jamie’s. Jamie tells him that he better remove his hand or he will kill him. Lord Grey is confused about Jamie’s reaction. Back in Boston Frank asks Claire about her day. Frank then tells her that he wants to take Bree away from her permanently to England as he has gotten a job offer from Oxford. Claire is shocked until Frank also asks for a divorce with the same breath. He tells her he is going to marry Sandy once the divorce is final. Frank and Claire fight and Frank leaves in his car while Claire gets a call from the hospital. As the episode comes to a close Ardsmuir Prison is closing. All the men are being sent to America as indentured servants. All that is except Jamie. He is being sent to England to work for a friend of Lord Greys. Back in Boston, Claire is finishing up surgery when Joe comes towards her. She immediately knows something is wrong. He tells her there was an accident and Frank was killed. She goes down to the morgue to tell him her goodbyes. She tells him that she did truly love him and she wasn’t gone. He could have gotten her back.

This episode…….The ending had me all sorts of choked up. It wasn’t as powerful as the book. With the description of the ambulance lights bouncing around the room and the sounds of the ER going on around her, but it was still powerful. The whole “Frank asking for the divorce” scene was something that I looked forward to and it just rather felt flat. Don’t get me wrong, it was still good but maybe I had just hyped it all up too much in my mind. Who else LOVED Murtagh coming back??!!! We all know in the book that he dies in the first chapter but they loved him so much they “brought him back to life” for the TV series. I am hoping they keep him alive and they meet back up at a later date. Counting down the episodes till Jamie and Claire are back together!