BWW Recap: Black Jack's Back, There's Gonna be Some Trouble on OUTLANDER

This week's episode of OUTLANDER picks up right where we left off, with the young Jeremy Foster, flanked by his English comrades, asking Claire if she is with the Mackenzies by her own volition. Brief dramatic pause. Claire smiles warmly, gives a big ol' "Yup!" and it's another crisis averted. Sort of. Foster's happy for her and everything, but his commander will still want to see her. Y'know. Just to be sure. So off Claire goes with the gang of Brits, and she finds it comforting to finally be surrounded by her "own people" for the first time since falling through the stones, being looked at with sympathy rather than suspicion. Lord Oliver Thomas greets her happily, delighted by her tales of robbery and murder. No, like, really delighted. It's kind of weird, actually. He's insufferable, dissing Dougal and his clansmen right to his face. I mean, he even makes fun of his accent, and I'm sorry, Lord Thomas, but literally everyone loves a Scottish accent, so excuse you. Claire politely defends the Highlanders, and is ultimately rewarded with an offer of an escort back to Inverness. Oh, Ms. Beauchamp, could the day get any better?

Turns out, no, because in storms Jack Randall. There's a moment where Claire and Randall look at each other, that old, "Sorry, have we met before?" thing, and we're reminded of that scene in the woods way back in the first episode. Both feign ignorance, of course, and before you know it, Lord Thomas is suggesting that Randall take Claire to Inverness. Oh, that's a jolly good idea, especially when Randall starts throwing some serious shade, hatin' on the Scots left and right. Claire has had just about enough of Randall's insults and Lord Thomas' phony hospitality, and says as much, accidentally betraying her Scottish sympathies to her new English captors-er, friends-in the process. Oops.

Eventually, Claire is left alone with Randall, and it's time to kick that elephant right of the room. So, about that time in the woods, lol, sorry-something like that, I may be paraphrasing. Randall then goes on to assure Claire that he's a good guy, like, seriously:

"I look forward to the opportunity to reveal my true nature to you."

Do you now? Well, that would certainly sound nice if it weren't so-oh, I don't know-incredibly ominous. An impromptu interrogation of sorts commences, and through it all, Randall refuses to believe just about anything Claire says and eventually reveals that he knows all about Dougal's money-raising schemes for the Jacobite rebels. Pressure reaches its peak when Randall affirmatively declares that nobody's going anywhere until he knows the truth. Claire won't crack, leading Randall to drift into a trancelike recount of the day he whipped the haggis out of Jamie. It's a disturbing scene, as Randall proves himself to be right out of his ponytail-rockin' mind, even having the nerve to say that handing out a hundred lashes hurts his arm. Aw, poor thing. Meanwhile, Jamie's back is torn mercilessly to shreds before a hushed crowd. Randall explains that he was determined to break Jamie, and he takes the crazy a step further when he tells Claire how "beautiful" the whole thing was, calling it a "masterpiece." Claire is visibly disturbed, and it's gotta be weird hearing all of this from the mouth of her husband's ancestor, but she eases the tension, assuring Randall that surely there must be some goodness left in him. Randall appreciates the kindness and, in return, makes moves to arrange for her escort to Inverness. They exchange Facebook info, promise to keep in touch, everyone's happy, the end.

Except not really. Just as Claire stands to thank her new pal Jack, he punches her in the stomach, knocking her right to the ground. And now, I have to say, shout out to Tobias Menzies, because he really had this episode wrapped around his finger. I was nearly tricked right along with Claire, and to watch Randall flip like that in the blink of an eye was nothing short of chilling. Turns out, the guy's even crazier than we'd thought, and safe to say we'd already thought he was pretty darn crazy. Fortunately, Dougal swoops in just in time and promptly removes Claire from Randall's creepy clutches. But goodness knows, we certainly haven't seen the last of him.

The episode concludes with Dougal's final confirmation of Claire's honesty-about time, if you ask me. Now that he trusts her, however, he feels inclined to protect her from the English, ie, Black Jack Randall. What does this entail, exactly? Aye, nae bother, lassie, just a little thing called...er, marriage. To keep Claire protected legally, she needs to become a Scot, and that means wedding-you guessed it-Jamie. Surely there are worse things than being forced to marry the prettiest boy at Castle Leoch, but will Claire actually go through with it? Tune in with me next weekend to find out.

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