Outlander: Blood of My Blood Recap: The Dinner Guest

Outlander: Blood of My Blood
Small Mercies
Season 2 Episode 6
Editor’s Rating ★★★★
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Just when you thought Lord Lovat couldn’t get any more vile, we get “Small Mercies.” It remains enraging that we are well aware this guy lives well into the 1740s, where he is still the greatest of dicks. Here’s hoping that whatever Brian does (and maybe Colum and Dougal and definitely Murtagh) once he learns what his father has done to Ellen is at least somewhat satisfying. Ellen deserves it, and we deserve it too. Remember last week when I asked if anyone on this show would ever know peace? Well, not this week, certainly! 

Can you tell I’m stalling? This episode is devastating. It all begins once Balloch delivers Ellen to Castle Leoch. You know immediately that Lord Lovat must be up to something truly dastardly because (1) he wants to speak to Ellen privately, before Julia meets her, and (2) he isn’t cruel but rather does this whole little number about how Brian painted the wrong picture when he spoke of him. And oh, aren’t they both just so worried about Brian making it home from the war alive, and hey, he actually sent Balloch to protect Ellen — didn’t he come in handy when she was attacked by that MacKinney guy? I really want not only Ellen’s instinct but her trust in Brian to kick in a little harder here. She is obviously hesitant to believe Lovat could be sincere — she does remind him that he’s the one who caused all the hubbub about her virginity — but not hesitant enough. Sure she’s in a precarious position being in this guy’s home, and surely once Julia walks into the dining room she must believe Julia would never let harm come to her, but also, come on, girl! You literally just rode across the Highlands because Lovat was a traitor to his Jacobite allies and was going to get Brian and Dougal killed. Use your head, Ellen! 

You’d think Julia’s spidey sense would be set off, too. After she and Davina return to Leathers following a cute little girls’ trip in which they bury Seema’s body out in the mud and chat about being haunted by death, they find Lovat has returned. He proudly confesses to switching to Team Crown and gets irate when the women ask about Brian — he abandoned his father for honor, and honor might just get him killed. He says words that make it seem like he doesn’t care if Brian lives or dies, but the anger is clearly stemming from feeling hurt by his son. Still, does he seem like a guy who would welcome that son’s best girl? Plus, Julia and Davina find Maisri in the kitchen making a spiced wine for dinner, and they just accept that like it’s totally cool and normal. When Julia finds Ellen at dinner and watches as Lovat is suddenly very pro-unification of Frasers and MacKenzies, she should’ve known right then that something was afoot. 

Because friends, something is very, very afoot. As the dinner goes on, Ellen looks sicker and sicker. She’s pale and sweating and clutching at her stomach in pain. Not long after, Julia has many of the same symptoms. This is when Maisri arrives to do a reading, and while she says that Brian is alive, she also notes that death is coming. Almost on cue, Ellen is in so much pain that she wants to leave. Lovat seems more than happy to oblige in getting her back to Leoch. And soon we know why: Ellen begins bleeding — she’s having a miscarriage. When Julia realizes she and Ellen both had Maisri’s wine and Lovat hardly touched his, she confronts him, and it doesn’t take long for him to admit his plan: Maisri’s prophecy about Simon (William) included that fun little caveat about this baby having to be the last in his line for him to become king. Lovat had Maisri make a potion that could destroy a womb. He wants Ellen, and Julia, for that matter, unable to have children. Julia is horrified. Lovat yells at her with such righteous indignation — he’s doing this for his (Henry’s) son. Lovat’s not just a dick; he’s a madman. 

Julia can barely form the words to tell Ellen what’s been done to her. Ellen is devastated. She is broken. It’s Davina who gets her back to Leoch, but she is not the same Ellen as before. Mrs. Fitz and Jocasta take her into their arms, clean her, and let her rest. When Colum demands to talk to her to find out what happened, Mrs. Fitz mercifully persuades him to leave her be for now. “Her body will mend,” she tells Colum, “but her spirit, I’ve never seen it so broken.” 

All the MacKenzies are pretty much having the worst day of their lives. When the men return from Sheriffmuir with the bodies of their fallen comrades, Colum has to grapple with his role in their deaths. This man is struggling under the weight of being a laird, and it is straight up paralyzing him. When he learns that Dougal has been captured, he doesn’t even pretend like he’s going after him. He has to think of the clan first, and sending people there would be a suicide mission. Ned is dismayed by the inaction. But our sensitive lawyer is even more disgusted by Colum’s reaction to the news of Ellen being taken — he doesn’t rage until he gets more information about who may have taken her; instead, he begins to spiral about what it could mean for their plan to keep Leoch safe from the crown if she dies. Have we ever seen Ned so horrified by the callousness Colum displays here? Colum claims it is his job to put the clan first, and I fear this inclination to put clan before family is only going to get worse now that he’s carrying the guilt of all those dead clansmen. That, paired with his complete ineptitude when MacKinney tried to coup his ass, has really shattered Colum’s sense of self. 

So, if Colum won’t even make an attempt to save his brother’s life, who will? Brian and Murtagh, of course. These two are almost too good at stealthily murdering soldiers in the dead of night. The two best friends you ever did see. And they arrive just in time. Dougal is being beaten within an inch of his life as Lord Gerard Grey demands information on Jacobite plans. Things get absolutely wild when a young redcoat asks if he can take a turn torturing him and almost uses a coal to first burn Dougal’s tongue and then his dick before being called off. If you were watching this and thinking What a sadistic little fuck, you were probably not at all surprised to learn that this man is actually young Jack Black Randall. A sicko through and through. Dougal’s saved from Randall’s mad lust for torture, but then he and Old Angus are tossed into “the vault,” which is a hole that fills up with water from the ocean tide coming in, ultimately drowning those inside. A very cool and not at all horrifying way to go.

Thankfully, Brian and Murtagh find their way to the vault just as the water is reaching the top and, using all of their strength, pry the lid open. Old Angus dies in the escape attempt, but they manage to get Dougal out. In one gasp-worthy moment, the men bump into Randall on the way out. Dougal wants to kill him on the spot, but Brian sees Randall is so afraid that he’s peed himself, says he’s just a kid, and they spare his life. I mean, they shove him into a trunk, but still, how infuriating? How gutting? It’s Brian who shows Randall mercy, letting this man live and go on to spend much of his adult life terrorizing Brian’s future family. Friends, I know this is stating the obvious, but the Outlander-verse is bleak as hell.

Clan Business

• Anyone else get the shivers when John Cameron returns and embraces Jocasta, but looks directly at Grace when he tells his wife how lucky he is to come home to her. Someone save Grace…and Jocasta, for that matter. That woman looked downright disappointed when she saw her husband was one of the few who survived the battle. 

• I did have a little chuckle when Lovat invoked the Capulets and Montagues while making a toast about the Frasers and the MacKenzies coming together. Uh, dude, do you know how many people had to die for those families to stop feuding? 

• We get the smallest sliver of hope for a happier future when Arch Bug agrees to help Henry be with Julia. For now, he gets Henry to Leathers so the husband and wife can reunite for a few moments, but he also promises to deliver letters back and forth between the two while Henry searches for the gemstones needed to travel back to their time. There’s zero chance this goes off without a hitch, but for a moment, it feels like the tiniest of wins.