Recap of Outlander
Season 3, Episode 8:
First Wife
Claire returns to Lallybroch, only to find her return is not as welcomed as she'd hoped. The secret Jamie has been hiding from Claire is finally revealed, threatening their fledgling reunion.
Tropes
- Anger Born of Worry: Jenny's attitude up until Jamie is shot. Then she realizes that the actions she took in anger nearly cost her brother his life and she lightens up.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Young Janet stands around making fun of Young Ian the entire time he's doing the muck work he's been assigned as punishment. She makes fun of him for getting covered in muck and makes fun of the fledgling whiskers he's trying to grow
- Armor-Piercing Response: Both Jamie and Claire try to sell the story that Claire went to the colonies believing that Jamie had died in battle but Jenny strongly resists buying their story. Finally she vocalizes why and it's difficult for them to counter her argument.Jenny: I sat on these very steps watching this very road with Claire when you were taken by the Redcoats. When you didna come home, we rode together to find you. The Claire I kent would never have stopped looking for you.
- The Bus Came Back: Ned Gowan appears on-screen for the first time since Claire's witch trial in Season 1, Episode 11.
- Call-Back: Claire quotes the line Jamie said to her when he needed to know the truth about the accusations of her being a witch.Claire: "When you tell me something, let it be the truth and I promise you the same." Those were your words, Jamie. "We can have secrets but not lies."
- Calling Out for Not Calling: Jenny has a really hard time forgiving Claire for never sending them so much as a letter to let them know she was alive. Of course, she doesn't realize Claire literally couldn't since she was 200 years in the future.
- Cheerful Child: Joanie and Marsali draw Jamie out his holiday funk and help him to actually enjoy himself. He notes that they are the real reason he married Laoghaire. They didn't have a father and he really wanted to raise kids, unable to raise his own.
- Conflict Killer: Jamie, Claire, Jenny, and Ian Sr are all at odds with one another until Laoghaire shows up and shoots Jamie forcing them all to focus on making sure Jamie doesn't die and realize that the important thing is that they now have a second chance together.
- Dope Slap: After hugging Young Ian and expressing her gratitude that he's still alive, Jenny dope slaps him for letting her worry all this time
- Doom Magnet: Jenny points out that Jamie and Claire together tend to attract trouble.Jenny: You're here no less than a week and you've killed a man, his print shop's razed to the ground, and he's on the run from the law.
- Exact Words: When Claire tells Jenny about her marriage to Frank, Jenny asks if Claire if she had any kids. Claire carefully says "No, I never had any kids with him". To Jenny this might be referencing the still birth she knows Claire had with Jamie, but the audience knows it's a careful tiptoe around the fact that Claire does have a living child who was fathered by Jamie.
- Flashback: Jamie's escape which was not shown in All Debts Paid is now shown in flashback.
- Hypocrite:
- Laoghaire is furious at the idea of Claire not respecting her marriage to Jamie
- Claire is very upset that Jamie slept with her without telling her that he was married to another women, despite the fact that she did the exact same to them when she and Jamie initially married.
- If I Can't Have You…: Laoghaire shows up wildly waving a gun claiming she's determined to save her marriage. She tries to shoot Claire but ends up shooting Jamie.
- Internal Reveal: Jenny finds out that Claire is still alive after being led to believe that she died sometime during the Battle of Culloden
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Jenny (a supporting character) asks Claire (a main character) if she really believes everyone else is just frozen in time waiting for her to come back around.
- Liar Revealed: Several ongoing lies that Jamie has been telling come together to nearly get him killed.
- Ian Sr and Jenny learn that Jamie has been lying about harboring Young Ian and teaching him how to smuggle rather than teaching him how to run a printing press
- Claire learns that Jamie is actually married and is in fact married to Laoghaire MacKenzie
- Lonely Among People: Jamie describes being back in Lallybroch for the holidays after nearly twenty years away from his friends and family as similar to being a ghost wandering among the living. No one remembered him and he couldn't feel the happiness they were sharing.
- Lonely Together: Part of the reason Jamie and Laoghaire married, as they'd both lost their spouses.
- Lying to Protect Your Feelings: Jamie says this is the reason he didn't tell Claire about his second marriage. He knew she'd be furious to discover he'd married Laoghaire of all people and he was terrified it would be enough to make her leave and go back through the stones.
- Mood Killer: Jamie and Claire are well on their way to passionate make up sex before Jenny literally throws cold water on them, reminding them that they can be heard all over the house and the house is full of children.
- More Insulting than Intended: Irritated with Jamie's parenting advice, Jenny mocks him for speaking like an authority despite never having raised any kids himself. While Jenny did mean to snark at him, she doesn't realize that she's reminding him of the fact that he didn't get raise any of the three children he fathered, two of whom he's not even allowed to speak of for fear of endangering them.
- Morton's Fork: Jamie invokes this, pointing out that Claire accuses him of being a "faithless lecher" when she thinks he had feelings for Laoghaire then calls him a "heartless beast" when he says he didn't actually love Laoghaire.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Jenny's reaction after realizing Jamie has been shot by a raging Laoghaire who wouldn't have been there had Jenny not had her notified.
- No Sparks: When Jamie attempts to explain to Joanie why he's leaving, he explains that he and Laoghaire don't have the bonds that keeps couples together. He replies in the affirmative when Joanie asks if he and Claire have that bond. Both Ian Sr and later Marsali reveal that it is well known that Jamie and Laoghaire don't live as man and wife.
- No Sympathy for Grudgeholders: When Jenny complains to Ian Sr about Jamie's behavior and how it's disrupting the household, he points out that all of the conflict has been spurred on by her own behavior. He reminds her that she's praying for years that Jamie could be happy and now refuses to let him be happy because she's angry at Claire.Ian Sr: If there's a pot of shite on to boil, ye stir like it's God's work.
- Not Helping Your Case: Young Ian argues that he should have been allowed to stay in Edinburgh with his Uncle Jamie but then he describes being taught how to run illegal alcohol, nearly being killed in a fire, and witnessing Claire kill a man.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Jamie resists Claire treating his gunshot wound so it'll just be a few more scars. She reminds him that the buckshot could shift and nick an artery causing him to bleed out or he could die of infection (common with ball bearings). Even with having the bullet removed, he gets a high fever and needs a dose of Claire's penicillin she smuggled from the future.
- Relationship Sabotage: Jenny, upset over Claire's return, has Laoghaire notified of Jamie's return, knowing that Claire is unaware of Jamie's new marriage.
- Relationship-Salvaging Disaster: Claire is furious and preparing to leave him to return through the stones to Brianna when Laoghaire shoots Jamie, endangering his life. Claire has to calm down enough to treat him which allows him time to explain the truth of what happened. Claire is still hesitant, but then Young Ian is kidnapped by pirates and the two put aside their differences to rescue him. By the time Ian is recovered, the couple has resolved their differences and recommitted to being together no matter what.
- Replacement Goldfish: Jamie is drawn to Joanie and Marsali because he wants to be a father so badly. Joanie even looks enough like Jamie to be mistaken for his biological daughter.
- Remarrying for Your Kids: While Laoghaire may have genuinely been attracted to Jamie, Jamie points to Marsali and Joanie as the biggest factor in his decision to marry Laoghaire and why he was slow to leave even though they were unhappy.
- Right Behind Me: Jamie declares that Claire is the only person he's ever loved. Cue Laoghaire.Laoghaire: There's the truth of it then? [gun clicks]
- Sexless Marriage: Jamie reminds Laoghaire that they haven't lived together for months. Later he tells Claire that he tried to be a husband to Laoghaire, but she had been hurt and was afraid of his touch. So, Jamie left, unable to bear being with someone who was afraid of him sexually.
- A Simple Plan: Upset with both Jamie and Claire, Jenny summons Laoghaire, reasoning that Jamie will have to respect the sanctity of his new marriage and maybe Claire will go away. Instead, Laoghaire shoots Jamie then makes an exorbitant demand for alimony that leads to Jamie needed to retrieve a treasure trove he knows of. Ian volunteers but is kidnapped by pirates necessitating that Jamie and Claire mount a rescue. Then in the following episodes, Claire is kidnapped by Redcoats, Jamie is nearly arrested, Ian is nearly killed, Laoghaire's daughter Marsali stows away on the ship and marries Fergus, and then the entire group is caught in a squall and stranded in the Colonies with no way to get back to Scotland. None of which may have happened if Jenny had just let Jamie take care of his marriages on his own as he planned.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Jamie and Claire are having a knockdown drag out fight that devolves into passionate sex
- Strong Family Resemblance: Invoked and averted. Claire is convinced that Joanie is Jamie's child, pointing out her red hair. Jamie points out that Joanie is much too old to be a product of his and Loaghaire's two year old marriage and that red hair is not exclusive to his family.Jamie: There are other red-headed men in Scotland, Claire.
- Taking the Bullet: When Laoghaire shows up with a gun, ranting and raving about Claire being a homewrecker, Jamie physically places himself between her and Claire. When Laoghaire's terrible gun discipline results in an inevitable accidental discharge, Jamie is shot instead of Claire, her intended target.
- Tempting Fate: Jamie asks permission to take Young Ian to France with them. Jenny and Ian Sr agree only asking that he promise to take better care of Young Ian this time. Jamie swears they will, sealing it with "you can trust us." Cue Young Ian being kidnapped by pirates.
- Time-Shifted Actor: Wee Jamie is now an adult played by Connor McCarry, replacing Aaron Wright who played the character as a child in season 1.
- Unbalanced By Rival's Kid: Subverted. Claire initially flies into a rage, ready to leave Jamie and go back to her own time period, when she hears Joanie call Jamie "Da". Finding out about William was hard enough, since it means that Jamie has had intimate relationship with another woman, but the idea of a daughter with Laoghaire of all people that he's actually getting to raise while never getting to meet Brianna or Faith is too much. Claire only begins to calm down once Jamie points out that Joanie is far too old to be the result of a two year old marriage despite looking quite a bit like him.
- We Have to Get the Bullet Out!: When Jamie objects to being doctored on, Claire insists the bullet must be removed as it is made of lead and could lead to a fatal infection.
- Woman Scorned: Invoked by Ned Gowan after Laoghaire shoots Jamie, swears out a complaint with the local magistrate against him, and then demands two years' salary as recompense for dissolving their marriage.
- Understatement: Invoked by Ian Sr. after Jamie describes the fire at the print shop as a "wee fire". Ian points out that they wouldn't have come home if it was only a wee fire. Only total destruction would have made Jamie come home and admit the truth about Young Ian and his business dealings.
