After Outlander‘s fiery cliffhanger at the end of Season 7’s second episode, “The Happiest Place on Earth,” fans finally learned the fates of Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) and their Fraser’s Ridge settlers after Wendigo Donner (Brennan Martin) set the big house ablaze.
As viewers will recall, Wendigo was searching for a gem so he could travel through the stones back to his own time, but in searching for the fine item, Arch (Hugh Ross) and Murdina Bug (Sarah Collier) handed over a piece of metal Jamie recognized as the lost Jacobite gold. Once they escaped the blaze that burned the big house down, Jamie questions Mr. Bug about the gold.
The pair get into a tiff over the rights to such a treasure, and Mr. Bug reveals that he’d stolen the gold piece by piece out of Hector Cameron’s tomb at River Run. The revelation leads Jamie to dismiss the Bugs from Fraser’s Ridge, a decision that isn’t taken easily by the couple who tended to the Frasers during their years in North Carolina.
Fed up, they agree to depart, but Mrs. Bug returns for the hidden gold buried under the big house. Unbeknownst to her, Jamie and Young Ian (John Bell) are watching close by. When they make their presence known, she turns and shoots in their direction with a gun, and in turn, Ian shoots his bow and arrow, hitting her directly.
Regret rushes through Jamie and Ian when they roll over Mrs. Bug and discover she’s disguised herself to look like her husband Arch. The turn of events is unfortunate, and despite being remorseful for the way things played out, Arch is out for vengeance, threatening Young Ian that once he has something of worth in his life, he’ll be there to take it away.
Whether the threat is legitimate or not is unclear onscreen, but Ross hints, “I think [Arch] will pop up again. He has to get his vengeance.”
As for Collier’s reaction to her character’s fate, she tells TV Insider, “I think she’s very much tossed around by fortune and fate. She’s the least powerful because of her class and being a woman. I think the whole show is of course, very much about time and chance… It explores the whole business of, ‘Do we have any control over our lives at all?’”
“So, I think that’s one of the really interesting things about the show,” she continues, “and I think poor Mrs. Bug, sadly for her, she’s one of these people who’s really not in control of things.”
When it comes to control, Arch tries to take it back in small ways when the Frasers prepare to lay Mrs. Bug to rest, forcing Claire to sing (she chooses “Ave Maria”). “I think it’s an emotional reaction,” Ross shares. “He’s very bereft and heartbroken and it’s very difficult for them because [Mr. and Mrs. Bug have] been so much a part of the family in a shadowy kind of way since Season 5.”
As for Mrs. Bug’s bold action to retrieve the gold, Ross says, “I assumed that she’d taken it upon herself to get the gold.” In other words, Arch’s upset over her death is also tied to the fact that he wasn’t privy to her plan.
Collier feels similarly, saying, “That’s what I felt. She’s on the front foot and her blood is up. She feels great resentment at the way things have gone, and I think she wishes to have agency somewhere. This gives her an opportunity.” Ross jokingly points out that Mrs. Bug “wears the trousers” in their relationship.
With a character so strong-minded, it was tough to walk away from the role as Collier admits, “When your character dies it’s obviously a bit sad.” When it came to shooting her death scene, Collier says, “It is all about the angle of falling and, the timing, and the blood. Dying [onscreen] is very technical.”
That technicality comes across effectively when Mrs. Bug utters her final words with blood gurgling in her throat. The name lingering on her lips is Arch’s, making his promise to exact revenge even more emotional. While Ross couldn’t reveal whether or not that revenge will be delivered in a tangible way this season, the actor says of his effect on Young Ian, “I think if the threat has landed effectively enough, he’s bound to feel that something’s around the corner, you know?”
We’ll keep our eyes peeled. In the meantime, see the Fraser family’s story continue as the lastest season of Outlander continues on Starz.
