BWW Recap: OUTLANDER's Back with a 'Reckoning' in its Mid-Season Premiere

Welcome back to the 18th century, my fellow lads and lasses! If you, like me, spent the last 6-ish months in a state of downright painful anticipation, the wait is finally over. The STARZ hit OUTLANDER is back and ready to dominate TV screens once again. When we last saw our favorite new "it couple," you may (definitely) recall, Claire had been captured by the British, specifically by the super evil and super skeevy Black Jack Randall, only to be saved by her dashing new beau Jamie at the last second. The mid-season premiere picks up where we left off, more or less. It opens with a voiceover from Jamie, which is a bit different; Claire's typically the one who handles the disembodied introspection and such. Now it's Jamie's turn to contemplate, making it clear right from the get-go that this episode will be Jamie-centric.

A decent chunk of the episode is dedicated to the Claire rescue mission, with Jamie and the boys storming Fort William--sneakily, of course--taking out Redcoats left and right, all swash and buckle. A perfectly timed scream from the new Mrs. Fraser alerts her husband to her exact location, Jack Randall's office, wherein Jamie finds the two in a compromising situation. There's that typical hero/villain/damsel stand off--Jamie's got a pistol to Randall, Randall's got a knife to Claire; how in the world could this possibly be resolved? Well first things first, Randall's gotta take every opportunity he can to remind us of how creepy he is. Y'know, just in case we'd forgotten. "Yeah, Fraser, I'm going to ravage your wife right here on this desk. But you could join in too. Or you could watch. Um. Whatever. Heh. I'm crazy." Jamie eventually surrenders his pistol, which Randall promptly picks up, fires, and HA! Joke's on you, Jack! It wasn't even loaded! Can't believe you fell for that old trick. Jamie proceeds to knock him out, and off he and Claire go.

After everything at Fort William went so well, with Claire, Jamie, and the gang making it out basically unscathed, you'd think everyone would be happy--but not so much. In fact, a lot of people are pretty angry in this episode. Jamie demands an apology from Claire for running off when he had told her specifically to stay put, suggesting that getting captured by the British was her own fault. Claire fires back with some 20th century logic, arguing that she doesn't have to listen to anybody just because she's a woman. If Jamie thinks she's his property, he can think again. This is the couple's first real fight, and it's explosive. Finally, it's Jamie who seems to give up, sinking to the ground. The poor guy really does love Claire, and when he tells her, "Yer tearin' my gut out," you really feel it. Apparently Claire does too, because she apologizes, asks for forgiveness, and the two proceed to kiss and make up. Well, snuggle and make up, anyway. The tension isn't completely over, however. No matter how Jamie feels about her, Claire still put him and his men in danger and she needs to...er...learn her lesson. This is probably the most controversial aspect of the OUTLANDER series, book and show alike. Jamie takes off his belt and goes to beat Claire with it, while Claire protests, both vocally and physically. Jamie wins out, forcing Claire to undergo her punishment. It's a difficult scene to watch, because until this point, we were never given a reason to dislike Jamie. Even now, the scene is accompanied with a weirdly lighthearted soundtrack, as if we're not supposed to take the wife-beating so seriously. On the one hand, Jamie Fraser is from a different world, where such a thing is typical and more regularly practiced. Blame it on cultural differences. On the other hand, can we really be expected to like a character who takes a belt to his wife when she doesn't listen to him? It's a question both Claire and us viewers have to struggle with.

Meanwhile at Castle Leoch, Colum's mad at just about everybody. He welcomes back the newlyweds and gives him his best wishes, but it's totally weak and shady and awkward. He's mad at Jamie, at Claire, at Dougal, he's just an angry dude. During one particular screaming match with his brother Dougal, the latter blurts out, "I even assured your bloodline!" and everyone's like, um, are we supposed to pretend we didn't just hear that? So secret's pretty much out. Hamish isn't Colum's real son, which everyone probably could have guessed, but there you go. Jamie takes it upon himself to restore the relationship between the two fiery brothers, and then turns to fix the rift with his wife--after an incredibly awkward encounter with the lovesick Laoghaire. She offers herself to Jamie, but Mr. Fraser is not having it. He rejects her advances--thank goodness--then goes to find Claire. He makes a vow to her that he won't hurt her again. Claire seems pretty unresponsive at first, but these two just can't seem to stay mad at each other for too long, and bam, cue some serious make up sex. Claire takes charge, straddling Jamie--at the risk of getting too graphic, oops--and pointing a knife to his chest. If he ever hurts her again, she'll kill her. Yeah, girl, you tell him.

Finally, everyone seems to be happy again. All is well at Castle Leoch, as the two love birds snuggle on their bedroom floor in post-coital bliss. What could possibly go wrong here. Oh. A funky plant. A funky "ill wish" plant. Who on earth would want to leave that under Jamie and Claire's bed? Oh, wait, wait! Pick me! I know! Hell hath now fury like a lassie scorned.

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