WiC Watches: Outlander season 5

Outlander — Courtesy of STARZ

Episode 507: “The Ballad of Roger Mac”

Outlander fans, we are going to be in a period of mourning for the foreseeable future after this week’s episode. In fact, I’m currently ugly crying while attempting to write this review. Book fans have been expecting this moment for quite some time, and the show has officially caught up: it’s time for Murtagh’s death.

Ugh, it hurts to even type that out. But I shall forge ahead and discuss this episode because it was an amazing and riveting one in so many ways. While last week’s episode was a bit weird and messy, “The Ballad of Roger Mac” more than makes up for it.

War is here, and things feel as hectic and uncertain as they were right before the Battle of Culloden. I’m having horrible Outlander P.T.S.D, to be honest. Do you all remember how scary things were back then? Claire was pregnant and the outcome of the battle was grim.

Anyway, the Fraser/MacKenzie family shares one last night of emotion, sex, and love before the day of the battle. I mean, it isn’t Outlander without some loving, am I right? Plus, after last week’s awkward sex scene, it was nice to return to the Jamie and Claire love scenes that we love and adore, the ones that define their beautiful relationship.

I often forget that Brianna, Claire, and Roger are from the future, and in moments of need, their knowledge of historical events comes in handy. This week, for example, Brianna overhears the name of an area. She remembers the name Alamance and recalls that the British win that battle, and that the other side gets slaughtered. Apparently, it’s the battle that kickstarts the American Revolution.

Jamie’s first and biggest concern is to let Murtagh know this very important piece of information because then maybe, just maybe, he’ll retreat. But we all know Murtagh, and that ain’t happening. I just found it funny that they sent Roger to convince him, of all people. Did they really think he’d make it happen?

Also, won’t stopping or changing a particular event affect history? Or what if this is how history was always supposed to play out? With all this time travel and such? Wouldn’t that be a twist?!

While Roger isn’t able to complete the job, he manages to get himself in even more trouble after a Regulator named Morag MacKenzie tussles with him. It turns out Morag’s wife was on the ship that Roger came on alongside Stephen Bonnet. And if you recall, Bonnet tried to throw Morag’s baby overboard.

But instead of being thankful to Roger, Morag gets pissed when he catches Roger talking to his wife. Instead of just walking away, Roger decides to face off with Morag and winds up getting knocked unconscious.

It’s been a minute since we’ve seen Claire in her “save lives during war” attire and I have to say, this has always been her in her truest form. I love seeing Claire doing her thing, but what I love more is her catchphrase, “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ.” Which is exactly what she says when she sees Jamie in a British red coat. It’s very jarring, to say the least.

Sam Heughan does such a great job portraying Jamie’s discomfort in this scene. You can tell how stressful it is for him to put the red coat on, but he does it anyway as Governor Tryon forces him to. This Tryon guy needs to go…please?

Jamie is all suited up and ready to go but Roger is still nowhere to be found. With how much time has gone by, everyone’s starting to assume the worst, but Brianna is still holding out hope. The battle can’t wait for Roger so the fighting begins, and immediately it’s a hot, bloody, gory mess. People are dying left and right, and as much as Jamie didn’t want to kill his fellow Scots, things are just out of control. The wounded are being taken to Claire who is doing her best to treat the wounds and give everyone penicillin. That is until one of the men decides to be a jerk and smashes the syringe of penicillin because Claire called him out on shooting his fellow man.

As Brianna said earlier, the British win the battle. And the surviving Regulators are being treated horribly, and I mean horribly. It’s an awful sight to see, and it leads us to the moment I was dreading to talk about: Murtagh’s death.

It’s unexpected, happens quick, and hits you really hard. One of the militiamen winds up shooting Murtagh, and the look on Jamie’s face is immediately heartbreaking. He can’t attack the man for doing what he was told to do, but he’s just lost his godfather. It’s all too much to handle as Murtagh takes his final breaths in Jamie’s arms.

Murtagh is one of my favorite characters in Outlander and I hate that he is gone forever now. But hey, maybe we can get some flashback scenes from time to time?

Sam Heughan shines once again in the scenes that follow as he struggles to come to terms with Murtagh’s death. He doesn’t want to believe he’s dead and begs Claire to save him. It’s so painful to watch him accept the reality, and I love how aggressive he gets with Tryon. He finally gives him a piece of his mind, even though it will likely come back to bite him in the butt. Jamie feels he’s paid his debt to the Crown, and now he just wants to be alone.

As if the episode wasn’t emotional enough, it ends on an even gloomier note. As Jamie, Claire, Brianna, and some of the men look around for Roger, they stumble upon a tree with a bunch of dead men hanging from it.

It’s unclear but it appears that everyone recognizes one of the dead men as Roger based on what he’s wearing. But we didn’t see his face, so I won’t believe it until I see it.

Roger is totally alive, isn’t he? He has to be.