Claire and Jamie find America is maybe not so beautiful…
Sassenachs!
From this metaphorical opening, we cut to the colony of North Carolina in 1767.
He also asks that Jamie be the last face he looks upon when the hangman pulls the lever.
Credit: Aimee Spinks/Starz
While visiting Hayes in prison, Jamie also encountersStephen Bonnet, who asks for a sip of the rum.
We already very much don’t like this weaselly little man.
Lesley wants to grant Hayes a proper burial and send-off.
Ed Speleers (Stephen Bonnet) – Outlander season 4.Aimee Spinks/STARZ
At night in the cemetery, Ian and Jamie dig a grave for Hayes.
But Ian is overcome by the ghosts of his past, imagining Geillis Duncan bathing in blood.
Before they can bury Gavin, a ghostly figure rises from the wagonit’s just Stephen Bonnet stowed away.
Bonnet doesn’t flinchlargely because the soldiers miss and primarily stab the venison haunch.
Claire reveals she almost drowned at sea and shares a moment of connection with him.
Speaking from experience, are we, Mr. Bonnet?
Claire and Jamie make camp in the woods, evaluating their own mortality after the day they’ve had.
She fears she could lose Jamie again at any moment.
“When my body dies, my soul will still be yours.
Nothing is lost Sassenach, only changed.”
The next morning they survey the landscape and Claire tells Jamie about what’s to come for America.
It’s the early rumblings of what we know will build to the American Revolution.
The governor pulls Jamie aside after dinner to make him an offer.
But Jamie and Claire are also seriously considering the governor’s offer.
Ah, Jamie, always such an idealist.
The next day they meet young Ian outside the tavern.
I guess we should be grateful it’s not Dicey or worse, Craps!
So they’re staying too and will reside in Wilmington until after Marsali has the baby.
Given the whole riverboat setting, the situation feels a little bit too Huck Finn, i.e.
All seems wellromantic and idyllic really, as they make camp for the night along the river’s edge.
But this isOutlanderand Jamie and Claire can’t have peace for long.
Bonnet pries her mouth apart and manages to pull one ring out.
He leaves after exchanging a look with Jamie, and Claire coughs up the other ring in her mouth.
It’s the gold band Frank gave her, not Jamie’s ring.
She looks in horror at the ring in her hand and Lesley’s corpse on the ground.
All of this occurs while a bluesy rendition of “America the Beautiful” plays over the sequence.
These horrific actsmurder and theftcommitted against the soundtrack of a song that is a paean to America’s beauties.
WhileGeillis Duncanhaunted portions of season 3, Stephen Bonnet is the natural successor to Black Jack Randall.
And, don’t forget to tune into EW radio on SiriusXM at 1 p.m.
ET on Mondays for our liveOutlanderradio show.
