Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season-Premiere Recap: Back to the Future

Outlander: Blood of My Blood
Remembrance Day
Season 2 Episode 1
Editor’s Rating ★★★
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Well, well, well, there’s nothing like kicking off a fresh season of television by informing us that everything our beloved characters went through last season was basically all for naught and all of the plans made for even remotely happy endings have been, best case, wildly derailed, worst case, completely blown up. Of course we come to Outlander: Blood of My Blood expecting trauma, but this season two premiere leaves one feeling unbelievably defeated. Will any of our cuties know an ounce of happiness?

Let’s start with the Scots. Who, I guess you could say, do partake in a little bit of happiness before it’s ripped away from them. By that I mean, Ellen and Brian are having so much sex in that little bothy! Last season ended with Jamie Fraser’s mother-to-be pulling a runaway bride on her wedding day to Malcolm Grant — a man who was down bad for Ellen while also being the head of a clan that is a very important albeit tenuous ally of Clan MacKenzie — and Jamie’s father-to-be pulling a “he’s a groom killer, but honestly it was in self-defense,” a much less known but no less important romance trope. Then, after leaving Malcolm for dead (again, they had very few options!!) and fleeing Castle Leoch, leaving chaos in their wake, Brian and Ellen hid out in the bothy with Murtagh, got hand-fasted, and then did other things with their hands and various parts of their bodies. Just as they were making plans for a simple life together, they spotted the fiery crosses burning throughout the Highlands, signalling that the Jacobite Uprising of 1715 is starting and clans were going to have to pick a side in this war against English loyalists. Brian would have to report back home to his louse of a father to fight or be branded a traitor. So, there’s not, like, a real honeymoon vibe going on at the moment. 

And yet! Neither of our lovebirds are content to simply part ways knowing this could be the last time they see each other. War is brutal, after all. And so, they do as any one of us would if faced with the same situation: they rub each other up and down in an effort to memorize their hot bodies. Brian assures Ellen that even if he does die, war won’t take all of him away from her because he’s going to “give [her] a piece of him to carry,” which is 1715-speak for “girl, I’m gonna put a baby inside you.” ClearBlue hasn’t been invented yet, so we’ll probably have to wait a bit to find out if Brian is successful in his endeavor, but from what we see, he does seem to put forward quite the effort. Good for him! And her. And all of us watching. 

Brian takes off for Castle Leathers with Murtagh at his side, and Ellen returns to Castle Leoch to face her brothers. No one is happy to see one another. Brian finds his father, Lord Lovat, and immediately makes sure he understands that yes, he will fight beside him — on the Jacobites’ side, he hopes — but only because it is his duty, not because he has any affection for him as a father. Brian is done taking shit from his dad this season, and that is wildly attractive. These two men out and about trying to get Frasers to join the cause, however, sounds like a terrible time for all involved. 

At least Brian is used to a terrible home life. What Ellen finds back at Leoch is much worse. When she runs into her ol’ pal Collum, he slaps her across the face. The actual audacity of this man! He says it’s because they had a deal that she would marry Malcolm and she went back on that deal, which is real rich coming from the man who promised he wouldn’t hurt Brian and also put out a hit on him. Collum thinks he is so smart, but really he is just an absolute weenie. I cannot wait until Ellen shows him up once again because you know she will. 

Now, as bad as this all seems, things are even worse for our time-traveling Brits. Oh, you thought Henry and Julia and baby William were just going to touch that stone, get back to their time, and be reunited with Claire? Of course you didn’t; we know Claire never sees her parents again. Although, perhaps you didn’t think things would get this bad? It’s not just that when Henry places Julia’s hand on the stone in an attempt to send her and William back to their time, nothing happens. It’s that after that all hell breaks loose. Arch Bug arrives at Craigh na Dun, and he and Henry fight until he tosses a knife with a gem in the hilt toward Henry’s chest. Stumbling around, bloodied, with that knife still in his chest, Henry accidentally touches the stone and poof — he’s gone. 

Julia’s devastated, but she’s forced to keep up the story — that man tried to kidnap her, and she would like to be returned to her husband, Lord Lovat, now, please and thank you. It’s heartbreaking. The only positive note that comes out of Julia’s failed attempt to flee and her return to Leathers is that she finally confides in Davina about who she really is and where she comes from. Davina takes it really well. I mean, originally she thought Julia might be a fairy or a witch who was going to curse her, so a lost time-traveler from 200 years in the future is much less scary and also makes sense of Julia’s “King Henry V” remark when she first showed up. I think Davina’s a girl’s girl now. What a journey! Remember when she sent all those midwives to maybe group murder Julia while in labor? 

Unloading about the time-travel stuff is important, but what really lifts some of the burden from Julia’s shoulders is being able to talk about Claire with Davina. The love of her life who is about to turn six. “How will I bear it?” she asks. Well, she may not be able to see Claire again, but she does concoct a way in which she might be able to get some information about Claire, and knowledge is power, so this sounds like…if not a good plan, a plan. With Lovat out of the house, she wants to invite his seer Maisri over to see if she can tell her anything about her daughter. Maybe knowing that Henry has reunited with Claire could be enough to soothe her heavy heart.

Well, we don’t need a seer; we know that man has not returned to his daughter. Henry falls out of the stones into what is now 1924, but is immediately tossed into an insane asylum in Inverness. Henry has really been through it on this show so far. Now my guy is stuck in an insane asylum with a doctor who seems downright giddy to try out some electroshock therapy. Henry suffered a concussion at the hands of Arch Bug, so his memory is shot to begin with — he identifies himself as Henry Grant, not Henry Beauchamp, in case you were wondering why his brother wasn’t contacted — and the barbaric practice only makes things worse. We watch as he is forced to relive horrors from the war, losing Claire, and as his memories from 1714 and the present day collide and slide into one another. Eventually, heartbreakingly, he goes through electroshock therapy so many times that Claire is just blipped right out of existence in his head. 

He does sound like a madman: He can remember that the letter “C” is important, he knows the date October 20th (Claire’s birthday) means something to him, he knows he needs to save Julia and that she’s in 1715. When he relays these bits of information to the kind reverend who comes to spend time with him — he also knows “bug” and “Fraser” are something to remember and that they are in trouble because of a prophecy about his son becoming king — that reverend walks away with nothing but sympathy for the poor guy. And yet, he doesn’t know how to help him. 

But my little Outlander sweeties, this is not just any reverend, this is Reverend Wakefield. Roger’s future adoptive father Reverend Wakefield. And while he isn’t a believer now and still isn’t when Claire and Frank meet him during their honeymoon, you know who is and always has been? His housekeeper, Mrs. Graham. When Reverend Wakefield tells her about this poor guy at the asylum who was found near Craigh na Dun and keeps insisting that his wife is in a different time, she believes it. And even more so: She goes to find Henry at the asylum and tells him that she believes his story. “Then you’ll help me?” Henry pleads with her. It looks like Julia won’t have to wait much longer to be reunited with her husband (again).

Clan Business

• So… we’re all thinking that Julia could only travel the first time because baby William has the ability and she was pregnant at the time, right? If Julia can’t travel, that would give us a good reason why they never return to Claire, so it doesn’t feel like too crazy a theory. 

• I’m ragging on Collum for how terrible he is to Ellen, which remains true, but it’s not like there’s not a crisis at Leoch going on. Uncle Grant is livid that his nephew was killed, as one should be, and while tensions are high between him, Collum, and Dougal as they theorize who might be to blame, he mostly tries to keep an even keel in front of them. Behind their back, however, he instructs his niece Maura, now a MacKenzie, to keep tabs on everyone — the MacKenzies will pay for what they did to Malcolm. 

• I know Dougal is basically a walking red flag (and only gets worse as he gets older), but that scene when he quietly comes to check on how Maura is doing after losing her brother? When he puts his pinky on her pinky?! I can’t believe this show is making me fall a little bit in love with Dougal MacKenzie.