Outlander Episode 3 Recap: A Breath of ‘Oh No!’ and Ashes

Lallybroch, here we come!

Claire and Jamie make plans to return to his ancestral home in this week’s Outlander, and the trip couldn’t happen at a better time, given that their house on Fraser’s ridge is now just a pile of cinders and stolen gold. (More on the gold part, and its lethal fallout, in a moment.)

Meanwhile, in the 1980s, Roger and Bree also make a pilgrimage to the Frasers’ ancient home, not long after they get an unexpected communiqué from the past. Read on for the highlights of “Death Be Not Proud.”

AFTER THE SMOKE CLEARS | We return to the night that Wendigo Donner and his idiot friends inadvertently blew up the Big House on Fraser’s Ridge. Everyone we care about got out safely, but the flames grow out of control incredibly quickly. Though Ridge residents pitch in to stop the blaze, there comes a point where Claire and Jamie look at each other’s soot-stained faces and just know: It’s time to call off the rescue efforts, because that house is burnt toast.

“Well, it’s not January,” she says to him later. “Nah, and we’re not dead. So much for our obituary,” he replies. “Bloody newspapers,” she scoffs. “Never get anything right.” But the gallows humor wears off as they sift through the smoking ruins of their dream home, finding very little that can be salvaged. One bright spot: Ian locates the miniature portrait of William, singed but otherwise OK, which cheers a despondent Jamie. Oh, and another thing? Ian knows that Jamie is William’s dad. The kid was stubborn and unafraid to speak his mind, which “reminded me of my mother — and of you,” Ian says, promising to keep the secret.

SHOO, BUGS | You’ll remember that, on the night of Donner’s home invasion, Jamie was surprised that the robbers had located gold on the property. Big Red finds another gold bar, marked with a fleur de lis, which indicates that it’s part of the money that was meant for Charles Stuart during the Jacobite Rising. Jamie angrily wonders how it wound up in Mrs. Bug’s possession, and then an equally hotheaded Arch Bug explains that he, Dougal MacKenzie and Hector Cameron (aka Mr. Jocasta) split it equally. But the money arrived too late to help the cause, and Hector fled with his portion — it’s how he built River Run. Arch found the remaining booty in Hector’s crypt and played a long game, taking it piece by piece whenever they’d visit Jocasta. Jamie demands to know where the stash is now, but Arch isn’t telling. So Jamie relieves him of his oath of loyalty, gives him the gold bar from the ashes and tells him to take Mrs. Bug and leave forever. As the elderly couple turn to go, it’s clear: They really resent the Frasers.

MRS. BUG, SWATTED | That night, Jamie and Ian wait in the dark for Arch to sneak back and retrieve the rest of the gold. When they see someone approach, Jamie hails Arch… who shoots at him. Ian quickly fires an arrow into the old man… only to realize upon approach that he’s actually hit Mrs. Bug, who’s wearing Arch’s coat. Ian is horrified to learn what he’s done. Jamie finds the rest of the gold.

Arch doesn’t show his face until Murdina’s funeral, where he asks Claire to sing “Ave Maria” and weeps over his wife’s casket. Afterward, Ian approaches the widower and admits he is responsible for Mrs. Bug’s death, offering Arch his knife and the chance to kill him. “Too easy, lad,” Arch says. “Will you give me your hound to kill?” Ian, shocked, quickly protests. After all, Rollo wasn’t to blame AND HE IS A VERRA GOOD BOY! But that’s Arch Bug’s point, exactly: “When you’ve something worth taking, you’ll see me again,” he says before he leaves. “That, I promise you.”

HOMEWARD BOUND | Soon after, Jamie brings up the idea of going back to Scotland. After all, he promised Jenny he’d bring Ian home safely, and with the war about to explode, it’s time. They’ll leave in a few months. One night before bed, Claire hears him praying: “God, let me be enough.” And the next morning, he tells her another of his futuristic dreams where he can apparently just astral project himself into Bree’s 1980s life: He talks about Fiona, and accurately describes a telephone. In the show, Claire smiles amusedly like he’s just told a Dad joke. In the book, if I remember correctly, she’s a bit more freaked out. (For the record? I side with Book Claire. That ish is freaky.)

In the lead-up to their departure, Jamie and Claire melt some of the gold into musket balls covered in soot, and then he hides the rest in a spot only he and Jem know about: “The Spaniard’s Cave.” Jamie gifts Claire with a new, wee blade to replace the one she lost in the fire; he whittled the handle himself. (Side note: Any other book readers remember how he knew exactly how to fit the handle to her hand without measuring it? WINK WINK)

Eventually, it’s time to leave. They say their goodbyes to a pregnant Lizzie and her men, then set off. They haven’t left Fraser’s Ridge land when Claire notices her cat, Adso, in the woods; he’d been missing since the night of the fire. She hugs the cat to her and cries, then sees the stick Jamie put in the ground to mark their land when they first arrived in North Carolina, and cries harder.

“We will make it back here one day, won’t we?” she sobs, and he assures her they will. Then she makes sure he knows that “Jamie, you will always be enough,” and they kiss and continue on their way.

LETTER RIP! | In 20th-century Scotland, Roger and Brianna are staying at Roger’s father’s old place. Mandy is doing well. Bree has bangs. They get a delivery of a small chest with Jem’s name on it: It’s from the bank, where it’s apparently been in the vault for 200 years. Inside, there are a bunch of letters and a musket ball. When Bree opens the first letter, it’s dated April 1776, and it’s to Brianna from her da: “We are alive.”

The MacKenzies read through some of the missives, joking about how the fire at the Ridge actually got started: via Bree’s matches. “Forget your mother,” Rog quips, “The 18th century’s lucky to have survived YOU.” Then he notes that the fire in the obituary never happened, “So we actually did it. We saved them. We changed history!” Um, that’s a pretty self-aggrandizing assumption there, Rog, but you’re so happy to be hearing from your long-dead-now in-laws, so I’ll allow it. Brianna and Roger eventually decide to hold off on reading the letters for a while, to better extend the joy, and they also agree they won’t go looking for the gold Jamie alludes to in his letters.

Not long after, Brianna brings Roger to Lallybroch, now locked, boarded-up and abandoned. Just as they’re about to leave, someone drives up: a realtor, who assumes they’re there to tour the property, because it’s for sale.

Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!