There is no shortage of drama this season is there? The cool thing about having a blog in this fandom is I get to decide what I talk about. I have decided to challenge myself to NOT write about the obvious this season.
I want to look past the topic du jour and move to the things that made me go hmmm and maybe they will make you go hey…meh…or OH! Either way, I will have said it and hopefully, feel good about it when I am done. That’s the point of my watching Outlander in the first place. It makes me feel good. I like it. My Mom used to say “If it doesn’t feel good…don’t do it.” I live by that.
So…ghosts. I’m not talking about Casper, the bent neck lady or the very obvious Native gentleman caller from the episode we are talking about. I am referring to the ghosts in our life that either guide our decisions or keep us from moving forward out of fear of facing them. They were ever present in The False Bride, whether we noticed them or not.
Right at the very start, Roger sitting in the old empty manse and Fiona coming through the doors to take up residence reminded us of Reverend Wakefield and Mrs. Graham. Both now, just memories, shadows in the halls but very much a part of who Fiona and Roger are today. As we see later with Roger when he has his meltdown with Brianna. He was raised by a Reverand. It makes more than a little sense that ghost still sits in his mind and when that is the case, it affects his heart as well. Those are the ghosts that often speak the loudest.
Claire sees her fair share of ghosts in this episode. Both literally and figuratively. To start, there is no doubt she is thinking of the ghost of her friend, Joe Abernathy. Black, free, a doctor…her dear friend. Someone she may have been judged for being friends with but still “allowed” to be friends with. She watches as the slaves walk by and you can see it pains her because she has seen the other side of this story. She knows the truth of the people she sees being treated ‘less than’. The pure inhumanity of it bubbles to the surface.
Going from this kind of friendship…to where she is – is not something any of us should reconcile.
As they ride away from River Run, they leave the ghost of Rufus behind them. Their troubled time there. They also leave the people they couldn’t help. This is something that I am sure will continue to haunt Claire.
Claire confronts Franks ghost as well. He will be ever present when she speaks of Brianna. He was the only father her daughter had. He raised her and owns that space in her world. As she speaks of Bree to Jamie, you can see both of them feel Franks ghost pass through the moment. Claire as a reserved embrace, and Jamie with a grateful chill.
Then, we have Claire’s literal ghost. Good ole Claire takes off after Clarence the mule in a storm and ends up lost, alone and in the dark.
It’s ok though, she has company. She finds a little head, ok, it’s a skull. One that has been cracked down the middle and removed from the rest of its body. This particularly unlucky fellow decides to pay Claire a visit, in a jarring and pretty cool way. He makes his way toward her during lightning strikes. Then what does he do? Dude steals her shoes. He makes up for it by wearing them and leads her to Jamie and Jamie to her. Awwwwwwwwww.
This particular ghost is filled with more questions because his mouth is filled with silver fillings. Which clearly means he is a time traveller too.
Young Ian had a different group of ghosts he faced in this episode. The pirates not once, but twice. Geillis. The hurricane. That was a lot of trauma for a young kid. He grew up PDQ (pretty damn quick). Those experiences formed who he’s now become, a young man who knows his mind. Thankfully, the ghost of the child he was, will always be there for us. His smile and pure cheekiness each episode gives me hope anyway.
Jamie had his own ghosts, didn’t he? When speaking to his aunt Jocasta, the ghost of the laird he would have been in Scotland lingered there. He knew what she didn’t though. River Run could never be that for him, some things cannot be recreated.
The ghost of Jamie’s mother was real and alive when his aunt gifted him Ellen’s silver candlesticks. Something tangible, he could touch and take with him to his new place, where ever that may be.
While visiting the ghosts of Scotland in his memories, he was able to see his future. Looking out over the vista, Jamie fell in love with the land he saw before him because of the echoes of his past. The strawberries and the mountains all familiar to him yet, this new world made him feel hope.
I want to finish up with Brianna. The Scottish festival was the first shiver of her ghosts coming to the forefront. Bree seemed to want to deny she was thinking about her mother but Roger knew it had to be there, raw and real. The memory of her and the ramifications of her travelling through time to find Jamie. Those ghosts came to visit the festival that day, who could blame them? The music was bangin’.
Bree is a young woman that knows what she doesn’t want. That is very much because of her ghosts. One ghost is the father she grew up with. She now knows he lived in a marriage of convenience with her mother. Another is the ghost of a father that she never knew, he was the recipient of her mother’s love and devotion. Given the choice she was faced with in the episode tonight, those ghosts would have sat upon each shoulder like the good choice and bad choice. Each in her ear.
We all have our ghosts. Whether we see them, hear them or feel them. They are there, influencing us and the choices we make. We should really trust our own voice rather than rely on the ghosts, but you know…to each their own.
Sometimes, those ghosts…they just make us run up the basement stairs really quick or check behind the shower curtain before peeing. Either way…do you.
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Sher
Founder of the ABOotlanders
ABOotlanders w/Sher 
