WiC Watches: Outlander season 5

Outlander — Courtesy of STARZ

Episode 503: “Free Will”

Well, this was a very unique episode of Outlander. For those of you who have read “The Fiery Cross”, you’ll recognize this hour as the moment that Jamie and Claire visit the Beardsley household. And if you haven’t read the book, well, this episode was quite the doozy, let me tell you.

Jamie returns to Fraser’s Ridge, happy to be back in the arms of his wife. This, of course, is short-lived because he has to head back to Hillsborough: Governor Tryon is about to go ham and gather all the troops, which doesn’t bode well for Murtagh and the Regulators. Claire points out that the Regulators don’t loom very large in history, so perhaps Jamie is worrying too much.

Um, Claire, have you seen Outlander? Of course things are going to go sideways, and fast! And as soon as I have that thought, the morning arrives and Jamie (along with Claire) heads to Hillsborough alongside their men. This leaves Brianna behind alone…well, not alone, but you know what I mean.

This is concerning to me for many reasons, the most important being that Jamie knows Stephen Bonnet is alive, or at least rumored to be. Why oh why would he leave Brianna without one of the immediate family members with her? It doesn’t help that he shares this with Claire after they’ve left Fraser’s Ridge.

Come on, fam. Not a good idea!

However, we have to put this revelation aside when Josiah’s twin brother, Kezziah, shows up. He’s in pretty bad shape after getting caught trying to steal food. Josiah quickly comes to the defense of his brother and informs Jamie that the brothers are basically the property of a man who doesn’t live too far from where they are. To get away from this man, Josiah ran away about a year before and helped his brother break out, too. We learn that Kezziah is deaf and has been since he was five years old, and that their master is responsible. Ugh, what a horrible man.

It only gets worse when Claire examines Kezziah’s ears and learns the eardrums were ruptured. Not to mention, the brothers were sold at the age of two and have been owned by this Mr. Beardsley since then. With all this injustice, our dear Jamie does not hesitate to march alongside Claire to the Beardsley household to confront the man. He hopes to buy back the brothers and set them free.

We all need a Jamie Fraser in our lives, seriously.

“Free Will” takes a disturbing turn once Jamie and Claire arrive at the Beardsley house. At first, they’re greeted by a strange woman who refuses to let them into the house or help them in any capacity. Honestly, I would have hightailed it out of there like Claire wanted to, but Jamie wouldn’t have it.

Not only does he go into the house, but he shows no hesitation. I’m not sure this was the best idea considering the house smelled really, really bad. I mean, I don’t know this personally, but the look on Claire’s face said it all.

The strange woman says the smell is because of a dead goat, but Detective Claire knows something else is afoot. Perhaps the dripping of some strange liquid from the ceiling was a dead giveaway? When she cautiously walks up the stairs, Claire finds the body of who we assume to be Mr. Beardsley. Was he dead? I sure thought so.

Except, nope, he wasn’t. As Claire moves closer to examine him, the zombie-like body jolted awake and I screamed. It was scary!

It turns out Mr. Beardsley had a stroke and had been left lying in his own excrement and filth since then. His wife didn’t care much for him, and based on what we know from Josiah, we can start to understand why.

The wife explains that Mr. Beardsley was trying to hurt her when he had his stroke, and she’s left him incapacitated since then. He has disgusting bedsores all over his body, and I have to admit that watching Claire pick them out might be the grossest thing we’ve seen on the show.

While Claire and Jamie discuss how to go about treating Mr. Beardsley, the wife tries to choke him to death once and for all. Jamie fights her off, but as she pushes her away…her water breaks. Apparently, she was pregnant?!

Claire delivers the baby in a rather graphic delivery scene filled with noises and various fluids. Once again, YUCK! The plot thickens as we realize the baby is half Black, and is not the daughter of Mr. Beardsley.

The wife reveals her name, Fanny, and that she’s Mr. Beardsley’s fifth wife…or maybe sixth. She doesn’t really care about the child she just delivered, and she definitely wants out of this life.

I’m not sure why they do this, but Jamie and Claire spend the night only to wake up the next morning to find that Fanny has left the baby behind, along with the papers that will set Josiah and Kezziah free. Before they leave, Jamie performs a mercy killing on Mr. Beardsley, to put him out of his misery. It’s better than letting him lie there, I suppose.

Our dear Jamie Fraser walks out of the house after having done the deed. And then…it’s business as usual? Why didn’t Jamie freak out and cry or get more emotional?

I mean…he did just kill a man.