As Outlander Season 7 Episode 3 (“Death Be Proud”) kicks off, we’re starting in the 20th century, where Brianna (Sophie Skelton), Roger (Richard Rankin), and family have managed to get back on their feet in Scotland. The journey back through the stones seems to have paid off, as Amanda is doing well. We also get to reunite with Fiona (Iona Claire), who hands the couple an old wooden trunk belonging to Jamie (Sam Heughan) that’s been stored away for more than 200 years just waiting for them. Inside are dozens of letters from Jamie and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) written in the 18th century, and they reveal some pretty interesting info.
First, Bri and Roger are relieved to hear that the fire at Fraser’s Ridge in July 1776 didn’t actually kill Jamie and Claire. In fact, they realize that Bri actually saved her parents’ lives by bringing matches back in time. That caused a fire different to the one listed in Jamie and Claire’s obituary, which not only took place in January rather than July but also killed them both. Bri and Roger are thrilled that they managed to change history, but we all know that this is one of the major pitfalls of time travel and is likely to have some unintended consequences down the line. There’s another letter that references some buried Jacobite gold, but more on that later.
“Death Be Not Proud” is a very domestic episode, in many ways. We spend much of the first half of the episode shifting through the wreckage of the fire (which Jamie originally tried to put out with buckets of water, bless him). The flames engulfed and destroyed nearly everything, save for a few bits. This left Jamie and Claire with nothing — too bad GoFundMe isn’t really a thing in the 18th century. However, Lizzie (Caitlin O’Ryan) and her throuple partners Josiah and Kezeiah (Paul Gorman) are on hand to offer help in whatever way they can. Claire’s touched by the offer.
Somewhere in the wreckage of the Big House, Jamie comes across a bar of gold which he later manages to deduce came from Mr. Arch Bug, the husband of Mrs. Murdina Bug, one of the beloved housekeepers at the Ridge. Basically, Jamie thinks he stole it, but Bug says he rightfully took it from the grave of Hector Cameron after Cameron and Dougal ran away with the Jacobite gold. Jamie knows there’s more of it, but Arch isn’t letting his hiding place out. Jamie says the Bugs need to leave the Ridge immediately, and later that night sends Young Ian (John Bell) to see where the Bugs are going to retrieve the rest of it on their way out.
Unfortunately, Ian mistakes Mrs. Bug for Mr. Bug and accidentally on purpose shoots her with an arrow, killing her. To be fair, he was responding to Mrs. Bug grazing Jamie with a bullet, but nevertheless, he’s overwhelmed with guilt. After Mrs. Bug’s funeral, Ian confesses his crime to Arch and offers to let Arch kill him — a life for a life. However, Arch thinks it’s “too easy and tells him, “When you’ve got something worth taking, you’ll see me again, that I promise ye.” Well, that sounds ominous!
As the months wear on, things seem to calm down a bit around the Ridge, though Jamie and Claire appear to be living out of the barn. Jamie has plans, however, to build a new house on the opposite side of the river. Before construction can start, he’d like to go back to Lallybroch to return Young Ian to his mother, Jamie’s sister, as he always promised he would.
It’s a journey Claire is apprehensive about taking, not least of which because she considers Fraser’s Ridge home now and worries she might never get back. However, Jamie assures her that they will. After all, he never thought he’d lay eyes on Scotland again and yet, they’re going to do just that. He has faith that they can make the round-trip journey in one piece, and this is enough for Claire.
However, before they leave, they need to deal with the rest of that gold they found. Jamie melts some of it down for bullets and other sundries before he and Claire bury the rest in a cave that Jamie and Jemmy used to explore. That little tidbit will come in handy two centuries later, when Jamie writes in a letter to Bri and Roger that they should ask Jemmy about the hiding place in case they need it. Of course, they don’t know what “it” is, though Roger somehow has an inkling that it has to do with gold. Both reluctantly agree not to mention it to Jemmy or to go looking for the gold, but they may need it if they’re going to buy Lallybroch, which lies in ruin but is conveniently up for sale when they go to visit.
And so, we end at a bit of a crossroads, in many ways. Bri, Roger, and the kids are likely going to embark on a new phase of their life as a family in Lallybroch, which will need a whole lot of restoring — a few gold bars should help finance that! Meanwhile, Jamie and Claire are headed back to Scotland 200 years in the past. Given that Jamie is capable of dreaming about the future, there’s a bit of a psychic connection between parent and child over the centuries. This is something we’ll likely dive into more in the coming episodes, especially as their physical locations align.
