Recap of Outlander
Season 4, Episode 9
The Birds and the Bees
Still shaken from her traumatic encounter with Bonnet and unable to find Roger, Brianna prepares to leave town to continue her search for her parents. However, tales from Claire's work at the theater the previous night lead the Frasers to an unexpected but joyful reunion.
Tropes
- Abuse Mistake: After Brianna's rape, Lizzie sees bruises on Brianna's back, blood coming from Brianna's nose, and blood on Brianna's petticoat. Lizzie incorrectly assumes it was Roger because he was the only man she saw with Brianna.
- Bearer of Bad News: Brianna shows her parents the newspaper reporting their deaths from a fire.
- Big Damn Reunion: Brianna meets her father for the first time and reunites with her mother.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: According to Murtagh, Dougal gave Jamie a stern warning to stay clear of Dougal's daughters, all the while holding his dirk (knife) in one hand and Jamie's balls in the other. Jamie swears it was years before he looked at another girl.
- Call-Back: Young Ian recalls Bonnets attack on them in the season premiere.
- Disposing of a Body: After Jamie beats Roger, he tells Young Ian to get rid of him.
- Elephant in the Living Room: Claire notices that Jamie and Brianna are avoiding talking about Frank. During a hunting trip, Jamie and Brianna finally discuss Frank, with Jamie saying he is thankful Frank raised Brianna.
- Internal Reveal:
- Jamie and Claire learn that Brianna is in the 18th century and Jamie finally gets to meet her face to face for the first time.
- Brianna realizes that the man who raped her is the same man who attacked and robbed her family.
- Claire learns that Frank knew that she would return to Jamie.
- Kissing Cousins: Jamie's first kiss was from his cousin Tabitha, one of Dougal's daughters.
- Luke, You Are My Father: Brianna introduces herself to Jamie as his daughter.
- Manly Tears: Jamie's eyes well up and is barely able to choke back the tears once he realizes who Brianna is.
- Meaningful Look: Claire can tell something is bothering Brianna and she is able to tell Brianna is pregnant by looking at her.
- Missed Him by That Much: Brianna missed Roger before he boarded the ship. She thinks he went back to Scotland to go through the stones, but Bonnet forced him to sail to Philadelphia to continue to work for him.
- Mistaken for Flirting: When Brianna first approaches Jamie, she's stares at him in stunned silence. To Jamie, this is a young woman he doesn't know watching him urinate. He asks her what she wants and she replies "You." He tells her he's married and tries to walk away, only for her to grab him, highly inappropriate contact between an unacquainted man and woman during that time. He again tells her he has a wife and tries to dismiss her attentions a second time until she finally shakes off her shock enough to reveal the truth.
- Mistaken Identity: Lizzie sees Roger on the road and mistakenly believes he was Brianna's rapist.
- Nature Tinkling: Jamie is taking a leak behind a building when Brianna finds him.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Invoked by Young Ian when recounted Bonnets attacks on them, further emphasized by Brianna's realization that the same man attacked her.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Jamie gives one to Roger but only because Lizzie told him the man on the road is Brianna's rapist.
- Oblivious to Love: Lizzie stares at Young Ian and murmurs that he's "sooo handsome". Young Ian blinks and then looks at his dog who is sitting between the two and informs her that yes, Rollo the dog is quite a handsome dog.
- Plot-Driving Secret: If everyone was honest about how they knew Stephen Bonnet, most of this episode's plot would be rendered moot.
- Poor Communication Kills: After Claire finds out Bonnet raped Brianna, Brianna tells Claire not to tell Jamie because Jamie will kill Bonnet. Unfortunately, this means that Jamie doesn't realize Lizzie is mistaken when she identifies Roger as Brianna's rapist, when otherwise he would have recognized there had to be some error because he knows Bonnet by sight.
- Tell Me About My Father: After dinner, Bree asks Murtagh for stories about Jamie as a boy.
- To Make a Long Story Short: Lizzie tells a long story about a wife of a Scottish man who saved a man's life at the theater the previous night. Brianna asks her to get to the point but becomes emotional when she discovers Claire and Jamie are in town.
- Trauma Button: Having been raped himself, Jamie completely loses it when he learns that Brianna has also been raped. When Lizzie mistakenly identifies Roger as the culprit, Jamie nearly beats the man to death, only stopping because a neighbor was drawing close enough to be a witness.
- Understatement: Jamie gets in a pretty good one when discussing the news of their impending death and what they can do to avoid it.Jamie: I dinna believe it'll be as simple as that. We havena had much luck changing history in the past, Claire.
- Weirdness Censor: Invoked by Young Ian when Claire says they can't really explain where Brianna has been or why she's suddenly there.Young Ian: When it comes to ye, Auntie Claire, I've learned it's better not to ask too many questions. Welcome, cousin.
- Welcome Episode: Brianna finally gets to meet her 18th century family. Over the course of two episodes she meets her stepsister Joanie, her Uncle Ian, her cousin Ian, her distant cousin Murtagh, and her father, Jamie, all of whom are very pleased to meet her and hoping she will stay.
- Worthless Yellow Rocks: For payment, Roger asks for a couple of gemstones instead of money. Bonnet thinks it is to impress Roger's love, but Roger knows it's his ticket back to the 20th century since using the standing stones means burning up a gem.
