Recap of Outlander
Season 3, Episode 5:
Freedom & Whisky
Brianna struggles to come to terms with the fact that her true father is an infamous Highlander from the 18th century. As she and Claire work to mend a mother-daughter relationship strained by decades of deception, Roger arrives with news about Jamie, presenting the Fraser women with an impossible choice.
Tropes
- Affair? Blame the Bastard: Brianna wonders if this was how Frank truly felt. Claire assures her this was not the case and that Frank had loved Brianna with all his heart and consider himself her real father and her his real daughter regardless of her biological paternity.
- Anachronistic Clue: Roger is able to locate Jamie because Jamie wrote an article in 1765 quoting a line from a poem that wouldn't be written for another 21 years. Jamie only knew the poem because Claire was fond of quoting it.
- Bonding over Missing Parents: Brianna and Roger bond over being raised by men who were not their biological fathers, the challenge of accepting that they'll never know that man beyond the stories they're told, and reconciling what that missing person means to who they are as people.
- Commonality Connection: Brianna and Roger are were both raised by men who were not their biological fathers. Roger helps Brianna understand that she doesn't have to choose between Frank's memory and learning about Jamie. Furthermore, learning more about Jamie would likely help her understand both herself and her mother much better.
- Covering Up Your Gray: Claire is clearly nervous about whether or not she'll still be attractive to Jamie twenty years later. She spends time studying herself in the mirror, particularly the grey streaks in her hair. Before heading back to the stones, she dyes her hair so it's a uniformed color.
- Determined Doctor: When Claire thinks she sees more cancerous tissue, she resists the suggestions of the other surgeons that they close quickly and works until she is able to excise all of the tissue to ensure the best outcome for her patient.
- Education Mama: Claire is upset that Brianna is unenrolling from school. Not only was Frank Randall a celebrated historian and college professor, but Claire, as a woman, had to fight to be allowed to attend medical school. The fact that Brianna is walking away from such an opportunity seems wasteful to Claire.
- Elite School Means Elite Brain: When Brianna's professor questions why she's struggling in her classes, she replies that maybe she's not as smart as everyone thinks she is. He replies that she wouldn't be at Harvard if that was the case. He also points out that she had great grades in the prior semester.
- Faint in Shock: Jamie is so shocked to see Claire, he keels over in a dead faint.
- False Start: Roger travels from Scotland to Boston to surprise Brianna, who he has a massive crush, only to have his romantic gesture sidetracked as Brianna and Claire are having a massive argument about Brianna dropping out of college. Brianna storms out of the house as she is in the middle of moving out and Roger is left alone with Claire.
- Foreshadowing: Joe Abernathy show Claire a set of bones. Claire somehow knows that the bones are of a murder victim without being told, but when asked how she knows, she can't explain why. The bones belong to Geillis Duncan who Claire will kill roughly a year after returning to the 18th century, to keep Geillis from coming to the 20th century to murder Brianna.
- Ignorance Is Bliss: Invoked. Claire is conflicted over what she should do now that she knows where Jamie is. She's afraid she might go back to find that he's moved on and she's worried about Brianna who is behaving erratically. She's frozen in indecision about which family member to pursue, knowing she can only choose one and the decision is likely irreversible. She says it was easier when she thought Jamie was dead, because while she missed him, making a life for their daughter was all she could do. Knowing that he's been alive all along and she still might not be able to go to him is extremely distressing.
- I Miss Dad:
- After a hard day at school, Brianna comes home and opens a box of Frank's pipes, the smell reminding her of her father.
- As Reverend Wakefield was a minister, Christmas was a major celebration for Roger's family. Following his adopted father's death, Roger can't face Christmas at home without him, so he heads to America to visit Brianna and Claire.
- Internal Reveal:
- Claire reveals to Joe that Frank was not Brianna's real father, that Bree's real father is the love of her life, and that she wants to go back to him (although she does not explain what that would actually means).
- Claire reveals to Brianna that Frank had a mistress that he'd been planning to marry at the time of his death.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Brianna's professor is lecturing about how fictional prose can alter the perception of history. Outlander itself is example of this, so much so that then-Prime Minister David Cameron met with Sony executives asking that the premiere of the series be postponed until after the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum was held so as not to stir up nationalist sentiments and resentment against the British so close to a crucial vote.
- Memento MacGuffin: Frank's pipe for Brianna; Jamie's mother's pearls for Claire
- Misdirected Outburst: Claire chews out Roger for bringing her information Jamie's whereabouts. Roger is confused because Claire has repeatedly expressed her to desire to locate Jamie. Eventually Claire admits she's upset because she's torn between wanting to return to Jamie and feeling like she needs to stay with Brianna who is clearly having a breakdown over the truth of her paternity.
- The Mistress: Sandy attends the dedication service for the fellowship being established in Frank's name, but she's not allowed to acknowledge to anyone but Claire that she was actually romantically involved with Frank.
- Parents as People: Brianna views Frank as perfect and infallible, incapable of the deception and hurt of which Brianna accuses Claire. But as the dedication ceremony for his memorial fellowship, Brianna discovers that Frank had a long term mistress and had been planning to divorce Claire at the time of his fatal car accident. This forces Brianna to realize that her parents were very unhappy people who only stayed together because they loved her and wanted her to have a stable childhood.
- Perspective Flip: From Sandy's speech, it's clear that she sees Claire as a deeply selfish person who kept Sandy from the love of her life by refusing to divorce Frank, using the threat of losing Brianna to keep him, even though she didn't actually want to be with Frank.
- Precision F-Strike: Joe's response when Claire says that fate seems to have decided that she and Jamie aren't meant to be together.Joe: Fuck fate!
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sandy gives Claire one of these for refusing to divorce Frank even though she clearly didn't love him anymore.
- Sandy: But you were selfish. You wanted it all. So, you lived a lie, and you made Frank and Brianna live it too. You threw away 20 yers with him. I would give anything to have just one more day.
- Sadistic Choice: Claire can either return to Jamie, the love of her life, but likely never seeing her daughter Brianna ever again or she can stay with Brianna but accept that she will never be with Jamie again.
- Satellite Character: Joe Abernathy returns to listen to Claire's love problems, compliment her, and encourage to follow her heart. Although the character is somewhat more developed in the book, the show audience literal knows nothing about Joe other than he's a co-worker who broke a discrimination barrier with Claire (Joe being the first African-American admitted to their medical program while Claire was the first woman) and they became fast friends.
- Shared Family Quirks: Invoked and averted. Roger, a historian, is fascinated by the idea of walking through Harvard Square and possibly in the footsteps of famous Americans like John Adams, Teddy Roosevelt, or John Kennedy. Brianna says the thought never occurred to her as she was more interested in the architecture. Roger finds that interesting given that she's the daughter of a historian. She reminds him that actually she's not. Her real father is an 18th century Highlander.
- Shout-Out:
- They discover Jamie's location using lines from a Robert Burns poem
- Roger is very investing in an episode of Dark Shadows and the travails of the House of Collins
- When they talk about how Claire will store things she wants to take back to the 18th century, Roger quips that she needs a utility belt like the Caped Crusader himself. Cue a montage of Claire sewing together and outfit with the classic Batman TV theme song playing in the background.
- Roger gifts Brianna a copy of A Christmas Carol and she reads the first few pages out loud.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Brianna and Roger clear have chemistry but the conflict Brianna is having with Claire keeps getting in the way of any relationship developing.
