Outlander: Going to the Chapel…

Last week on “Outlander”: Claire and Dougal are escorted by Lt. Foster to the garrison for a meeting with Lord Thomas. Claire charms him and is thisclose to returning to Inverness when Black Jack returns. He interrogates Claire and then tells her about the time he whipped Jamie. It’s best not to dwell on that. When Dougal comes to fetch Claire, Black Jack orders him to bring her to Fort William for further questioning. To save Claire, Dougal insists she marries Jamie. Claire agrees, grabbing some liquid courage.

CREDITS! Who’s excited? Cause I know I am! BRING IT!


We open in the 1940s. Or 1930s. Claire and Frank prance down a street, hand-in-hand. They stop in front of the city registry as a couple celebrates their wedding. Frank pulls Claire close and says they should get married. Claire’s a bit surprised, as am I but more on that later. She asks about his parents, who are waiting at restaurant to meet her. He says they can wait and he’d rather introduce them to his wife. Oh, yes, I feel that would go really well. Claire wonders if he’d rather have a proper church wedding but Frank just wants to marry her. So they go into the building.

(Impromptu wedding--how romantic!

Then we cut to the priest declaring Jamie and Claire man and wife. They kiss and there has to be more. Right? Right?

Next we’re in ye olde honeymoon suite as a nervous Claire awaits Jamie. He enters as the sounds of the party are shut out by the door. She notes the MacKenzie men are really partying and Jamie thinks they’ll probably keep it up until they are assured Jamie and Claire have made things official. Claire is grateful they aren’t in the room. Jamie says Rupert and Angus tried. At her look, he clarifies it’s a joke. I’m not too sure about that.

(Can you feel the awkwardness tonight?)

Jamie pours some wine and toasts his new wife. It’s a lovely, moving tribute. Claire in response down the wine. Then pours herself some more, downs that, and pours herself a third glass. Jamie’s a bit uncomfortable. I’m planning an intervention. Anyone in?

(Claire won't be content until she drinks every last drop of alcohol in Scotland)

Claire’s still not feeling this whole wedding night thing. She wants to know why Jamie agreed to this. So we cut to the stables a day earlier. Ned goes over the law that’s keeping Claire out of Black Jack’s hands. He stresses the marriage must be consummated immediately. Jamie wonders if Claire is aware of this but Dougal says she doesn’t get a vote. Murtagh says Dougal usually doesn’t hold with rape. So Dougal clarifies he meant for Jamie to be persuasive. He reminds Jamie of the danger Claire is in from Black Jack and how he knows better than anyone else. Jamie agrees.

("Fine. I'll force myself to marry the beautiful woman everyone but her can see I'm attract to.")

Back in the room, Jamie tells Claire she has his name, his family and his clan. And all the protection that comes with it. Even if he has to use his own body to protect her. Claire puts down her booze and seems more interested in Jamie.

I think I hear that clue truck!

Jamie and Claire sit on the bed. He inches closer and closer…they are so close! But then Claire turns away at the last minute and asks him about his family. Jamie laughs and asks how many generations back would she like to know about. Claire smiles and says his parents will do.

(Denied. For now)

So Jamie starts talking. And we don’t actually hear most of it. So if you haven’t read the book, you’re kinda screwed. I advise people to at least go read these passages. We get a lot of Jamie’s backstory in it. But the gist from the snippets is that his father, Brian, was a Fraser. He fell in love with Ellen MacKenzie, Colum and Dougal’s sister. And they snuck out during a gathering from under the entire clan’s nose. Claire enjoys the story time. She voiceovers that he was a natural story teller. And she says she told him some of her family history as well.

As they get into their stories, in bursts Rupert and Angus. They’re there to see if the two have…you know, done the deed yet. Jamie ushers them out as the two offer to help if needed. Claire is more amused than anything and asks Jamie if he’s really related to them. Jamie says he’s not related to Angus but Rupert is a distant cousin. Emphasis on distant, I believe.

(Consummation Committee!)

Awkward silence descends on the room again. Claire ends it by saying it’s time for them to go to bed. Jamie tries to figure out if she means to sleep or to finally consummate the marriage. 

(Am I about to get lucky?)

(Maybe)

Either way, he knows she needs to get out of that dress. He helps her up and starts undoing the laces. The dresses falls away and Claire stands before him in only her shift. I guess she wasn’t wearing stockings to her wedding? Anyway, Jamie feels her up and Claire finally meets the clue truck. She leans up and kisses him. When they break, she praises his kissing abilities. Jamie replies that he’s had some practice—after all, he says, he’s a virgin, not a monk.

Removing his belt, Jamie lets his kilt fall to the floor. It’s about to get steamy, isn’t it? He turns Claire around but she twists around to face him again. They kiss and fall back on the bed. Without removing her shift or his shirt, the marriage is consummated. It’s quick and lacking in sensuality.

When he’s done, Jamie tells Claire it was different than he thought it would be. She waits for him to elaborate but he’s embarrassed. She promises not to laugh. Jamie admits that he thought he was supposed to take her from behind, like the horses do. Claire bursts out laughing but apologizes immediately. Jamie’s okay with it. He says he liked it and asks Claire if she did. Her silence speaks volumes. 

(You can hear the crickets, right?)

Jamie inches away, blathering on about how the men warned him it wasn’t as pleasurable for women as it was for me. But Claire assures him she liked it.

She then gets out of bed and decides to leave the room. Jamie tries to warn her it’s a bad idea but he’s too late. Everyone downstairs gives a shout and starts to harass her. Jamie urges her back inside and takes the taunting himself as he gets them food. Murtagh gives him an “atta boy” pat while the others are just crude. And then there’s Dougal, who makes Jamie thank him for finding him a bride. Jamie does so and turns to head upstairs. Dougal tells him not to hurry back lest he make Claire think she has control over him. Methinks everything Dougal knows about what women want and think can fill a thimble.

Claire sounds like she thinks the same after she hears Jamie relate the story. He tells her that he told Dougal he was under Claire’s thrall and had no intentions of leaving it. She’s touched. Jamie is ready for round two but Claire tries another stall tactic. She looks at his kilt on the ground and asks about it.

Murtagh got the kilt for him from a widow belonging to Jamie’s real the clan—the Frasers. He’s not pleased that Jamie’s going to be walking around in broad daylight in his clan’s colors since Jamie still has a price on his head. But Jamie says he’s plans to only be married once and wants to do it properly. He believes his mother would want him to wear the Fraser colors at his wedding. This gives Murtagh a moment’s pause.
Jamie asks Murtagh if he thinks his mother would’ve approved of Claire. Murtagh takes a moment, asking Jamie for his brooch. He tells Jamie that his mother had a wonderful smile and Claire’s smile reminded him of hers. So pretty much, yes, he does think Jamie’s mother would’ve liked Claire is what I’ve gotten from that exchange.

Claire gets the same feeling. She asks how Murtagh is related to him. He tells her that Murtagh’s full name is Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser. And he’s Jamie’s godfather. And probably the only person Jamie can really trust.

But wait! Jamie had a few other demands about his wedding day. First, he wanted to marry Claire in a church with a priest. So Dougal rounds up the local priest and throws him into a rundown chapel, demanding he perform the marriage. The priest refuses, especially as the banns haven’t been read. He starts to quote Scripture and Dougal’s at a loss. Fortunately, young Willie isn’t! You remember young Willie—the lad everyone was giving a hard time back in episode 5. He’s been taught by Fr. Bain and can quote his scriptures…even though the Roman Catholic Church generally dissuaded people from reading the Bible in order to prevent erroneous interpretations of the Scriptures from causing dissention and confusion. Anyway, Dougal gets tired of this and bribes the priest with the opportunity to spiffy up the church. The priest agrees.

(The true universal language--money)

The second demand—Jamie wanted a ring. So Angus and Rupert go to a nearby blacksmith and ask him to make a ring from a key Jamie gave them. The blacksmith says to come back next week. But after Angus and Rupert give him some money, the blacksmith agrees to have it made that day. Back in the room, Claire asks him what the key opened. Jamie says it doesn’t matter.

(It really is a beautiful ring)

So she asks him what his third demand was. And it was that she have a proper wedding dress. Ned was in charge of getting that and he went to a whorehouse to get it. Well, David’s Bridal wasn’t around back then so I guess the whorehouse will have to do. The madame offers Ned a dress that had been given to her as payment for services rendered. She assures him it has never been worn. He agrees and pays for it. At the sight of his purse, one girl gets really friendly with him.

(Once again, money is the universal language)

Claire laughs at the image of Ned in a whorehouse and is grateful she had a dress to wear. Jamie asks her what she was doing before the wedding. She reaches for the whiskey in the room and holds up the carafe. Yep, Claire got royally wasted and had to be roused by Murtagh. She looks drunk still as she glances at herself in a mirror.

Jamie is surprised and sounds a bit hurt to realize she was…I wouldn’t say hungover. I’d says she was probably still tipsy…at their wedding. He says he remembers every minute of it. Of exiting wherever he was changing and seeing Claire standing there. Someone takes off her cloak, revealing her beautiful wedding dress. Jamie says it was as if the sun had come out on a cloudy day when he saw her. Claire looks torn between throwing up and doing a runner.

He approaches Claire and gives an elegant bow. Claire is still deciding if she would make a run for it. But she seems to realize it’s futile. So she tries another tactic, declaring she can’t marry Jamie because she doesn’t even know his real name. He smiles and replies that it is James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser. She says her name is Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp and sticks out her hand. Jamie takes it and gives it a squeeze. Dougal grows tired of this futzing about (borrowing Len Goodman’s favorite term) and pretty much orders them down the aisle. Claire accepts her fate and pulls off her ring from Frank, sticking it down her cleavage for safe keeping. She enters the dark church.

(Claire resigns herself to this marriage)

I’m going to pause here to discuss my one quibble with this episode. It really has to do with the opening scene but I’m sure you’ll understand why I’m addressing it here. I like that showed Frank and Claire’s wedding to contrast hers and Jamie’s. I was waiting for that. But…(and here be things from the book, so skip ahead if you want to read it) it’s revealed that the church Jamie and Claire marry in is the same one she married Frank in. Claire has a mini-breakdown upon the realization and doesn’t want to go in. The MacKenzies pretty much have to drag her to the altar. I was kinda hoping for that. But I guess it was best to keep Frank to the beginning, though I think they could’ve worked the “same church” angle into it.

The priest has cleaned himself up and looks presentable. Jamie and Claire repeat their vows and we get to see the kiss again. In the room, Jamie admits that during their kiss, he thought that maybe Claire wasn’t completely against marrying him.

Claire realizes she doesn’t want to put this off any more. Good timing, clue truck! She tells Jamie to take off his shirt because she wanted to see him. He does so and Claire examines him. For those expecting to see all of Jamie, please remember that while this is cable, it’s still American cable. We don’t allow full frontal. Jamie then tells Claire that’s fair is fair. She needs to strip as well. She does so and asks Jamie if he’s ever seen a naked woman before. He says he has, just not up close. And not one that is his.

(Excuse me, I need to go fan myself)

(Do you blame me?)

Anyway, Jamie and Claire kiss and hit the sheets for round two. This time, Claire enjoys it as well as Jamie. When she climaxes and calls out in pleasure, Jamie stops and apologizes for hurting her. She explains he didn’t hurt her and he realizes that she got off as well. He asks if that happens all the time and she replies it does if the man is a good lover. Jamie’s like “I think she just commented me. Good job, Fraser!” Then Claire disappears from frame. But based on Jamie’s expressions, we can tell what she’s doing. And if you can’t—she’s performing oral sex on him. He comes and Claire returns to frame as he mutters something in Gaelic. He clarifies that he said he thought his heart was going to burst.

But it reminds Claire of something else. Something that had occurred during their wedding ceremony. After the vows, Dougal approached and used his dirk to draw Jamie’s blood. He did the same for Claire. Their hands were bound, letting the blood mingle. Hope they’re clean! Jamie tells her to repeat after him and says something in Gaelic. She mumbles along with him. In the room, Jamie tells her the translation: “You are bone of my bone and blood of my blood. I give you my body so that we two may be one. I give you my spirit till our life be done.”

(Still doesn't seem safe)

Claire finds the words beautiful but can’t really say so because Jamie’s nodded off. She studies him as her situation crashes down on her. She’s married to two men—albeit in two different centuries. But guilty eats away at Claire, so she decides to go eat. Wrapping Jamie’s tartan around her, she slips downstairs to grab some food.

Assured that Jamie and Claire have consummated the marriage, everyone’s gone off to sleep off the reception. And judging by how many women were at the party, I have a feeling the whorehouse turned impromptu dress shop is getting a lot of business tonight. Claire picks at food with only a cat as her companion when Dougal comes in. He tells her he just got back from Fort William, where he told Black Jack the happy news. Claire thanks him.

Dougal then decides that it’s a good time to hit on his nephew’s new wife. He tells her she doesn’t have to confine herself to one man. Claire is too shocked to have a witty retort. 

(He's doing this NOW?)

But then Rupert comes in. Dougal tries to urge his relative to leave but Rupert isn’t getting it. Claire uses the time to escape with her food to her room. She pauses on the steps to thank Rupert for the ring and then disappears. Dougal hits Rupert and goes to drink his frustrations away.

Upstairs, Claire stares into the fire, no doubt examining her life and her choices. Jamie wakes up and puts a string of pearls around her neck. He explains they are Scotch pearls that belonged to his mother. They are all he has left of her, which makes them the most valuable thing to him. By giving them to Claire, he’s telling her she’s valuable to him. All together now: Aww.

Claire leans over, caressing him and kissing him. She sits on his lap, and it’s time for round 3. You have to admire how they did this progression. Round 1: Basic, not very sensual. Round 2: More passionate, a bit more sensual. Round 3: Passionate and very sensual. Way to show Claire warming up to Jamie, show!
The next morning, the Frasers put their clothes back on. Jamie hurries downstairs to get to the food and tells Claire to hurry up before the MacKenzies eat everything. She shakes out her wedding dress and out falls the ring she had removed the day before. It rolls away, ending up in a crack in the floorboards. Claire picks it up and puts it on. Her reality hits her again: She is married to two men. What is she going to do?

(Hey, Claire. Remember me)

There we have it: the Wedding. The one episode everyone was waiting for. And I must say, I think it lived up to expectations. I’m sure some people probably wanted more sex scenes but I enjoyed the ones we got. And I only had one quibble. Not bad.

Next time: The midseason finale!