Recap of Outlander
Season 5, Episode 10:
Mercy Shall Follow Me
Tropes
- Alas, Poor Villain: Played with. After all the terror he has visited on the Frasers, it is revealed that much of Bonnet's screwy mental state and morality is a result of being orphaned at a very young age and subsequently preyed on by other unscrupulous people. Tired of being victimized, he decided to become so vicious no one would dare cross him.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: Despite the strength of his legal claim for paternity of Baby Jemmy and his connections with wealthy merchants, Bonnet knows that he will have trouble maintaining control of River Run while contending with the equally well-connected Frasers who are unlikely give up custody of their grandson without a fight. So, Bonnet kidnaps Brianna believing he can convince her to marry him for the sake of her son and in turn she can convince her family to back off.
- Big Beautiful Woman: As Forbes tries to counsel Bonnet on what he should do in order to successfully obtain custody of baby Jemmy so he can gain control of River Run, Bonnet is distracted by the brothel worker. The one he refers to as his "regular mare" is a heavy set woman.
- Big Damn Heroes: Jamie, Claire, Roger, and Young Ian arrive just in time to prevent Bonnet from selling Brianna to Captain Howard.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Gerald Forbes pretends he's helping Jocasta manage her estate but in reality he's deeply bitter that he wasn't able to gain control of the estate by marrying either Jocasta or Brianna. When he discovers that Jocasta plans to give sizable portions of her fortune to her family members, he snaps and tries to kill her, to keep her from giving away the money before he can finish stealing it. Fortunately, Ulysses intervenes and kills Forbes.
- Boom, Headshot!: How Brianna kills Bonnet.
- Call-Back:
- Jamie has Young Ian pose as Alexander Malcolm, the alias Jamie himself used when he was smuggling alcohol in Edinburgh.
- When they finally catch Stephen Bonnet and restrain him, Jamie throws a canteen of whiskey at Bonnet and tells him to have a drop for his soul knowing that no matter what happens, the last face he sees will not be that of a friend. This mirrors the conversation the two had back in season 4 premiere "America the beautiful."
- Captive Audience: Bonnet forces Brianna to watch as he has sex with Esme, particularly traumatizing as Bonnet has already previously raped Brianna and it's heavily implied that he wants to have sex with her again at some point.
- Captive Date: After kidnapping Brianna, Bonnet forces her to put on the dress he bought for her, have dinner with him, and spend the evening entertaining him.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- When Brianna says that her family has a vendetta against him, he asks if it's because he couldn't remember her name when she visited him in jail rather than because he raped her, kidnapped her, assaulted her family, and is attempting to manipulate the courts to steal her child. Of course, Bonnet has convinced himself that their encounter was consensual and Brianna is just being "difficult."
- After confessing to Brianna about his recurring nightmare of drowning, Bonnet asks if she thinks any less of him. Brianna replies that she couldn't possibly think any less of him. He misses the implication that she already thinks as little of him as possible.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Those who are sentenced to death by drowning are tied to a pole with their hands and feet secured so they can't swim to safety and forced to wait for hours as the tide slowly rises, eventually going past their heads and drowning them.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Roger is so furious that he absolutely lights into Bonnet, to the point that Bonnet doesn't even get to throw a punch.
- Deadpan Snarker: Brianna gets one in on Bonnet when he asks her to teach him proper social etiquette.Bonnet: What I need is something I can't buy.Brianna: A moral compass?
- Disproportionate Retribution: Bonnet decides that the appropriate punishment for Brianna not being in love with him after he raped her and attempted to kidnap her child is to sell her into sexual slavery.
- Forbidden Love: Ulysses cares deeply for Jocasta and they would likely be a couple if he were a white man. However, as he is Black in an era of slavery, they cannot be together.
- For Want Of A Nail: Inverted. Claire diagnosing Esme's hip issues and giving her the money to get a heel lift added to her shoe is the small act of kindness that convinces Esme to defy Bonnet and let the Brianna's family know where to find her.
- Freak Out: When Forbes realizes that Jocasta is giving away huge chunks of her fortune to various relatives before Bonnet can complete their plan to steal it away, he begins raving about her giving away "his" money and then attempts to murder her to save the money that Bonnet would owe him once they've gained control of River Run.
- Gentleman Thief: Bonnet has parlayed his smuggling connections to buy his way into high society. He dresses the part of a gentleman but cannot hide his menacing edges when he speaks.
- Gold Digger: Everything Bonnet does is in attempt to gain access to more money, specifically other people's money.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Subverted. Esme doesn't particularly want to help Brianna, more interested in her own safety. She only gets involved once Claire diagnoses the issue that has been causing her chronic pain and gives her the money for the special shoes needed to resolve it.
- Hope Spot: Brianna's attempt to get Bonnet to let her go by pretending that he's persuaded her to tell her family she's going to marry him almost works, but she's unable to bring herself to kiss him in a way he finds convincing.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Bonnet is distressed to find out that Captain Ahab dies in his pursuit of Moby Dick. He grows even more angry when Brianna points out that the sailor obsessed with the whale is actually the antagonist of the story.
- Human Traffickers: Mr. Forbes warns Stephen Bonnet that his trafficking of women will complicate his chances of being able to successfully petition for custody of baby Jemmy. In the end, his attempt to sell Brianna into sex trafficking is what gets him captured.
- I Have a Family: Brianna tries to convince Esme to help her by telling her that she has a family, her parents, her husband, and a young baby. She pleads for Esme to deliver a message letting them know where Brianna is. Esme initially refuses, but relents when she actually meets Brianna's family as they look for their daughter.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Played with. When Stephen Bonnet has Brianna trapped in his hideaway, he forces her to change into the dress of his choosing.
- Impending Doom P.O.V.: As Brianna and Claire are walking through the town, the camera moves off to the side, using an angle to show that it is the viewpoint of someone who is watching the duo.
- Inheritance Murder: Once he is granted custody of Jemmy, Bonnet intends to murder Jocasta and Duncan to speed up Jemmy's inheritance of River Run. As Jemmy's legal guardian, Bonnet would be in charge of the plantation and all its finances until Jemmy becomes of age.
- Ironic Fear: Despite a lifelong fear of drowning, Bonnet became a sailor, spending most of his time out on the open water.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Bonnet is warned he needs to lie low and stay out of trouble until the magistrate can review his request for custody and he will probably have what he wants by week's end. Instead, he decides to kidnap Brianna, attempt to force her into a marriage, and then trying to sell her into slavery when that doesn't work out. Instead of having control of Jemmy and River Run, by the end of the week, he has been tried, convicted, sentence to death, and tied to a post to drown.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Having already escaped death by hanging twice, Bonnet feels pretty untouchable. But having conspired to kill a very wealthy plantation owner and kidnapped the daughter of a personal friend of the governor, the third time proves to be the charm in ridding the world of Stephen Bonnet.
- Karmic Death: Gerald Forbes is strangled to death by Ulysses after he's caught trying to smother Jocasta.
- Killed Off for Real: Invoked by Roger. He asks Brianna if she shot Bonnet rather than let him slowly drown as an act of mercy or because she wanted to be absolutely sure he was dead. She doesn't answer.
- Kill on Sight: Jamie and Roger's initial plan for Bonnet. Because he has made so many influential connections, they can't risk him being able to buy his way out of legal trouble.
- Lawman Gone Bad: Forbes is working with Bonnet to manipulate the law to steal money and property from the Fraser-MacKenzie clan. When that doesn't work fast enough, he resorts to murder, unsuccessfully.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Claire jokes that Jamie has a knack for nearly getting himself killed every time he gets out of bed, but he's also like cat with nine lives. As the Deuteragonist of the show, Jamie will of course get in many life-endangering scrapes, but actual death is not likely to happen prior to a decision to end the series.
- Lessons in Sophistication: Bonnet wants Brianna to teach him how to be a proper gentleman since he's soon going to be a very powerful landowner.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Bonnet plans for Jocasta and Duncan to have a fatal accident as soon as he has custody of baby Jemmy so he can claim control of River Run.
- Mercy Kill: Although her true reasoning is left ambiguous, Brianna shooting Bonnet in the head rather than leaving him to drown can be seen as this since she knows he's had nightmares of drowning his entire life.
- Mugging the Monster: Bonnet's henchmen decide that they will simply rob "Malcolm Alexander" for his alcohol, not realizing they're actually attempting to rob the infamous James "Red Jamie" Fraser and his kinsman.
- Never Learned to Read: Having grown up a poor orphan who then became an itinerate dock worker, Stephen Bonnet never learned to read. While stalling for time, Brianna volunteers to read him a story, claiming she's reading Moby-Dick. In reality, the book she's holding is about animal husbandry and she's reciting her favorite novel from memory.
- Public Execution: The townspeople gather to watch the drownings of the people who have been convicted and sentenced to die, including Stephen Bonnet.
- Rape and Revenge: This episode focuses on the Fraser-MacKenzie clan getting revenge on Stephen Bonnet for all the wrongs he's done to them, most specifically his rape of Brianna.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Bonnet's successful smuggling has allowed him to make connections with very powerful merchants who have worked to legitimize him in society, protecting him from the consequences of his illegal behavior. Unfortunately for Bonnet, he pits himself against the Frasers who have better connections, including Governor Tryon, the highest possible authority at the time. With Tryon owing the Frasers a favor, not even Bonnet's most powerful connections can save him from execution.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Bonnet arranges to sell Brianna but when her entire family shows up with guns and knives to save her, the buyer and his assistant very quickly decide they should be anywhere else but here.
- Shout-Out: Brianna recites from memory the plot to Herman Melville's Moby-Dick
- Skyward Scream: Panicked by his impending drowning, Bonnet lets out a guttural scream of fear.
- Stealth Insult: Bonnet asks Brianna if she thinks less of him after he reveals his fear of drowning.Brianna: No. I couldn't think any less of you.
- Take Up My Sword: Jamie and Roger mutually promise that if one of them should die, the other will avenge their death.
- Test Kiss: Bonnet asks Brianna to kiss him to prove that she is genuine about wanting to marry him. When she is unable to fake a passionate kiss, Bonnet becomes furious that she was trying to trick him and arranges to sell her to one of his associates.
- Vorpal Pillow: Forbes attempts to kill Jocasta by smothering her with one of the throw pillows from her sofa.
- Waking Up Elsewhere: Brianna is knocked out by Bonnet on the beach and wakes up on a couch in a secluded hideaway.
- Would Hit a Girl: Captain Howard punches Brianna for biting him and moves to slap her. Bonnet stops him, warning him not to damage the merchandise prior to purchase.
