As the episode begins, we see Claire
running urgently and it seems as if she is making her escape and is about to be
shot by a sentry, but after a nervous minute for viewers it turns out she is
playing with some castle children – clearly getting the lay of the land and
discarding her fichu to mark her escape route.
Falling down, she gets an unpleasant view of what Rupert is not wearing under his kilt, and manages
a put down with typical aplomb and sarcasm. Her two unofficial guards whine about her
prolonged playtime with the children because they don’t want to miss any of the
festivities (Angus and Rupert resemble Shakespearean buffoons in this episode) and
Claire pretends to give in, so they can all return to the castle where everyone
is arriving and gearing up for the Clan Gathering.
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| Diana Gabaldon as Lady Iona MacTavish |
Claire stops in the stables,
ostensibly to pick out a horse to use at the Hunt the next day which she’ll be
attending in her healer role, but really to earmark one for her planned escape
that night. Oh so casually, she asks
where Jamie is because there’s nothing like a flirtation when one is planning
to steal a horse, and old Alec, always a downer, warns her to leave Jamie alone
because of the Gathering. “I didn’t
think I was a bother,” she mutters with annoyance. Alex tells her she can use a horse called
Brimstone, promising its personality belies the name. We can only hope.
