The episode
begins with a flashback to WWII: Claire and Frank are parting at a train station as she heads for the front to nurse. Frank
is frustrated at this role reversal, that his Intelligence work is an office job and Claire will be the one
in danger (perhaps this is the beginning of his feeling
of inadequacy to Claire). He
acknowledges that no one can influence her once she’s made up her mind and
commands her to return to him after the war (i.e., not to die), and Claire
promises. This was not in the book but I
suppose it shows Claire is used to danger, is stubborn, and has never waited
for permission from any male to do what she feels is right. This explains attributes about her that would
otherwise seem anachronistic. Also, it
helps explain why she feels compelled to return to Frank when Jamie is much
more attractive!
Back to the
18th century. As if she doesn’t have a
busy castle to manage, Mrs. Fitz is helping Claire wash her hair, and is so motherly
that Claire confides in her that Frank is not dead but rather hasn’t been born
yet. Claire tells Mrs. Fitz she has
fallen through time from 1945 and describes what happened. Instead of reacting with her typical brusque
kindness, Mrs. Fitz is horrified, calls Claire a witch and slaps her. Fortunately, it turns out to have been a sort of test
balloon or daydream – Claire was just imagining
how her confession and request for help might be received and didn’t really
confide at all. Tricky, tricky, especially,
as her confession has been in the trailer and seemed real.
Mrs. Fitz
tells Claire everyone who is anyone in the Highlands is coming to Castle Leoch
for a Gathering in a few days. She advises
Claire that her work as a healer may endear her to Colum MacKenzie, the
laird. Frustrated that Colum is keeping
her at Castle Leoch when she wants to return to the Standing Stones, Claire
tries to figure out a way to use her 20th century medical knowledge in a
non-threatening 18th century way, recognizing that anything too unusual could
upset her patients and boomerang on her.
Soon there is a regular procession of patients to Claire’s “surgery” in
the bowels of the castle and even Colum, who suffers from Toulouse-Lautrec
Syndrome although he doesn’t know it, asks for treatment and Claire provides a
soothing massage. (It’s kind of a joke
on the audience that we get to see Colum’s unattractive backside when everyone
is yearning for more naked Jamie.)
