Season 3 of Starz’s Outlander left off with Jamie and Claire washing up on colonial North America after a shipwreck. The season 4 premiere opened with primitive people in 2000 B.C. North America building a stone circle and dancing around it as Claire talked of humanity’s obsession with circles.
Stramash
The Frasers had made their way up the coast to North Carolina, four months after the Artemis was destroyed, in 1767. Gavin Hayes, one of Jamie’s men, was sentenced to die. Jamie had a plan to help him escape, but Hayes declined. At Hayes’ death, Lesley made a scene, and through the ensuing ruckus, the next prisoner in line escaped.
The minister refused to bury Hayes in the graveyard. They planned to take Hayes’ body and bury him in consecrated ground at night. While Ian and Jamie dug, Ian had terrifying flashbacks of Geilis, who had forced him into sexual acts against his will.
“The Venison Took the Brunt of It”
Hiding in the cart with Hayes’ body was Stephen Bonnet, the prisoner who had escaped. He persuaded Jamie and Claire to take him to safety. Redcoats looking for Stephen stopped them, and they stabbed his leg with a bayonet to test if the body in the cart was dead. Claire patched him up as he asked about her two wedding rings. He left to join his “associates”, and the Frasers camped in the woods for the night.
The American Dream
Claire explained to Jamie the American Dream and how people from all over the world will come to America for a better life. Jamie asked about what would become of the natives, and Claire was frank about their maltreatment, comparing it to what the English did to the Highlanders.
Back in town, Jamie and Claire attended a dinner with the governor. They were trying to find a buyer for a ruby for money to sail back to Scotland. Governor Tryon met with Jamie in private to offer him land without the usual quitrent. Jamie hypothesized that Tryon was looking for a loyal soldier as he was facing resistance from the Regulators. Claire warned him of being on the wrong side of history again. There would be a Revolutionary War in eight years, and the British would lose. However, Jamie wanted to build a legacy in North America, Brianna’s future birthplace.
The next day, they announced to the group that, while they found a buyer, they would be staying in America. Ian wanted to stay too, but they would send him back to Scotland for Jenny. Lesley wanted to stay with the Frasers, but Fergus and Marsali would stay in North Carolina, as she was pregnant.
America the Beautiful
The Frasers were on a river boat on their way to visit Jamie’s aunt Jocasta. Jamie had a surprise for Claire: a medicine box complete with a microscope. However, that night, Stephen Bonnet and his pirate “associates” set upon the boat. He slashed Lesley’s throat while he tried to protect Claire and made off with one of her wedding rings, Jamie’s, after she tried to swallow them both. He took what money and jewels the Frasers had on them and escaped.
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