Outlander Recap: A Tearful Reunion and Confession in The Birds and the Bees

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Birds and the Bees,” the ninth episode of “Outlander” Season 4.

The latest “Outlander” episode continued to be quite the emotional roller coaster for poor Brianna (Sophie Skelton), who was just raped by Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers), then met her birth father and was reunited with her mother in the span of about 12 hours. But the emotional punches didn’t stop there.

First, Brianna managed to stagger back to her sleeping quarters where Lizzie (Caitlin O’Ryan) was horrified at Brianna’s state, easily figuring out what must have happened. But remember, the last thing Lizzie knew was that Brianna was being roughly pulled down the street by Roger (Richard Rankin). This will continue to be a big plot point.

Anyway, the next morning, Roger informed Bonnet that he was done serving the cruel captain, but Bonnet said no — Roger would have to continue on with him to Philadelphia until his work was done or Bonnet would kill him. So Roger left on Bonnet’s ship, hours before Brianna tried to find her love and reconcile with him, which meant Brianna thought Roger had left her for good after their fight.

But she didn’t despair for too long because Lizzie found her with the news that Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and his wife, Claire (Caitriona Balfe) were there in Wilmington. Bree rushed off and book readers were delighted to see she found her father in just the same way as in the book — peeing behind a building.

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Jamie at first thought Brianna was hitting on him and gently told her that he was a married man. But when she told him that she was Brianna, the looks that passed over his face said so much. It was a beautiful scene, definitely worth the wait. And it was immediately followed up by Brianna reuniting with her mother. Hope you had the hankies at the ready.

Brianna wasted no time showing her parents their obituary, but it was not something they could do anything about at the moment, so they headed back for Fraser’s Ridge with Lizzie and young Ian (John Bell) in tow. Ian was adorably overjoyed and a little smitten with his cousin, so he was happy to fill her in her about their travels so far, including when Bonnet robbed them of Claire’s wedding ring. Brianna realized that the man her birth father saved from the gallows was her rapist and looked just sick.

Bree couldn’t quite confide in her mother about the attack just yet, but she did tell her what happened with Roger and that she was worried she’d never see him again. She also told her mother that Frank (Tobias Menzies) knew about the death notice and never said anything, but he did know that Claire would eventually return to Jamie. Claire wasn’t surprised or angry to learn the news. It seemed Claire had made peace with her marriage to Frank.

Brianna settled into farm life on the ridge, learning how to tend to the animals and churn butter and all sorts of frontier activities. When Jamie saw how well she could shoot (something she learned from Frank), he invited her to go hunting with him — but not for wild game, for bees. It gave the two a nice chance to bond and he later confessed to Claire that he didn’t want her to return to her own time, a sentiment Claire echoed, even though they both knew she should go — it was safer for her and there were more opportunities there for a young woman.

Claire could also tell that something was going on with Bree and she finally confronted her about it. Brianna had to confess to her mom that yes, as she suspected, she was pregnant, but it might not be Roger’s baby. In what might be Skelton’s finest scene on the show to date, Brianna tearfully told her mother about her assault and cried that if she had only fought harder, it wouldn’t have happened. Brianna also told Claire that Roger pulled out when they slept together, so the baby is probably not his. It was a tough scene all the way around, and Claire then had to tell Jamie what happened.

He was sickened and outraged, of course, and it led to one of the worst misunderstandings in all of the “Outlander” books.

Roger, having freed himself from Bonnet’s employ (taking gems as payment), showed up on Fraser’s Ridge looking for Brianna. But Lizzie saw him riding up and informed Ian that that was the man who attacked Brianna. Ian fetched Jamie and Jamie proceeded to beat Roger senseless and then send him off draped unconscious over a horse, giving Ian instructions to get rid of him.

Meanwhile, Claire came across her old silver wedding ring among Brianna’s things and put it together that the man who raped Bree had to have been Bonnet. Brianna confessed that it was him and made her mother promise not to tell Jamie.

Oh, if only these people would stop with all the secrets. Roger was lucky Jamie didn’t kill him, but things still look fairly dire for the wayward Scot.

“Outlander” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on Starz.

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Jenniffer Sheldon

Update: 2024-07-17

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