Recap of Outlander
Season 7, Episode 4:
A Most Uncomfortable Woman
Tropes
- Adaptation Distillation: William's foray into the Dismal Swamp and the difficulties he experiences there are greatly streamlined, taking several days and multiple confrontations and representing them with a single obstacle of getting injured after his horse is spooked and being rescued relatively quickly by Ian.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: Young Ian speaks of having met William when he and Lord John Grey visited Fraser's Ridge in season 4. While Ian and William spent a great deal of time together in Book 4, during the equivalent episode, Ian was Put on a Bus and after his absence was explained, he was neither seen nor mentioned for the entirety of the visit. So when exactly did Ian meet William?
- All Love Is Unrequited: Tom Christie has been in love with two women, one who was unfaithful to him and the other who is lovingly married to another man.Tom Christie: I shall have no peace while you live, woman. Mind, I don't say I regret it.
- Amputation Stops Spread: William's arm is so infected, the Hunters believe they will have to amputate it to save his life.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Mr. Campbell repeatedly emphasizes that the work environment is not appropriate for a woman.Mr. Campbell: I'm sorry. There's been a misunderstanding. It's a secretary we'll be needing.Brianna: Perhaps so, but I'm applying for the plant inspector position.Mr. Campbell: But you're a woman...Brianna: And what aspects of plant inspection require a penis?Mr. Campbell: The environment is not suitable for a woman. The conditions are rough. To be perfectly honest, so are the men you'd encounter.Brianna: So you hire the type of men who would assault a woman?Mr. Campbell: [nervously] No! Of course not!
- Awkward Kiss: Tom is so relieved to see Claire alive that he plants a big kiss right on her lips. Claire is too surprised to protest and her eyes are wide with shock when he pulls away.
- Being Watched: Ian is convinced that Arch Bug is trailing, watching from the shadows, waiting to strike. After one particular out lash where Ian yells into the woods, challenging Archie to show himself, Jamie has to talk him down, telling Ian that there's nothing there.
- Brother–Sister Team: Denzell Hunter works as a physician. Rachel, his sister, works as his nurse.
- Call-Back:
- While considering what he would include in his death song, William calls himself "William James", the name that Jamie informally gave him at Helwater, back in season 4.
- After Claire asks Tom what he prayed for, Tom calls her a most uncomfortable woman. Claire admits that he's not the first person to call her such. Lord John said something similar when she questioned him about his and Isabel's marital life.
- Career-Ending Injury: William resists the idea of losing his arm because the loss will end his fledgling career as a soldier.
- Chekhov's Gun: Invoked. The hand surgery that Claire insisted Tom have saved his life. Had his hand not been repaired, he would not have been able to work for Governor Martin as a secretary, manually making copies and dealing with correspondence.
- Clothing-Concealed Injury: While William is obviously growing ill, it's not obvious how deeply infected his wound is until Ian slices open his shirt sleeve to reveal a wound that's nearly maroon with infection.
- Conscription: Invoked. Mr. Harnett tells Jamie that the Continental Congress has approved conscription, allowing city leaders to forcibly gather men of fighting age to form militias or to join the Continental Army.
- Crisis of Faith: Roger admits that he's having trouble with the concept of God and predestination given that they've literally gone back into the past and changed history.
- Deadpan Snarker:
- When William asks if Ian (who appears to be a Native American) can speak English.Ian: [in a clearly Scottish accent] I've met English men who'd say no, but I think you'll understand me well enough.
- When Denzell declares that William's arm will have to be removed, William refuses, saying he will not submit to surgery.Rachel: Then kindly remove thyself from our table.
- When William asks if Ian (who appears to be a Native American) can speak English.
- Death Song: William and Ian discuss the Mohawk tradition of singing a Death Song in preparation of dying.
- The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: The British soldier accuses the prostitute of having the "pox". This is a politer way of saying he believes she has syphilis.
- Disproportionate Retribution: One of the soldiers decides that the appropriate consequence for a prostitute possibly having a venereal disease is to burn her alive, laughing and cursing as she screams for help.
- Establishing Character Moment: A prostitute is accused of having a venereal disease. The accusing soldier douses her in alcohol and sets her a fire. The redcoats then stand around laughing and jeering as she screams and stumbles around, burning to death. William pushes through the crowd and takes off his uniform coat, using it in an attempt to smother the flames. When he sees that the woman is dead, he strongly rebukes the soldiers involved.
- Exact Words: William asks if Ian knows his father. Ian smiles and nods, but then refers to Lord John and his friendship with Ian's Uncle Jamie.
- Facial Scruff: William points out that it is considered ungentlemanly to have facial hair.
- The Handler: Captain Richardson claims that he is a small part of an intelligence network, charged with gathering intelligence for the Southern Campaign.
- The Heretic: Denny has been excommunicated from the Hunters' church community due to Denny's refusal to abide by the Quakers' pacifist stance due to his belief that liberty is a God-given right. Exiled and shunned, he is choosing to find the Continental Army and serve as a medic. Rachel is going with him although she herself hasn't been put of meeting.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Roger discovers that the old musket ball he's been using as a fidget toy is actually small nuggets of gold disguised by Jamie.
- Historical Domain Character: Cornelius Harnett was a real person, an America Founding Father who served in the Continental Congress. He was eventually was captured by the British, his health declined drastically while in custody, and he died in 1781, shortly after being released.
- Horsing Around: William gets thrown from his saddle when his horse is spooked by a snake.
- I Have Many Names: William Clarence Henry George Ransom, the ninth Earl of Ellesmere.
- Instant Illness: It takes about a day for William's wound to get infected to the point of rendering him unconscious and deathly ill. Possibly justified in that he's been trumping around in filthy, swampy conditions with no food or clean water.
- I Should Write a Book About This: Roger decides to write a guide for time travelers in case Jemmy or Mandy eventually want to go back to the past.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Invoked. Roger is painting, ignoring the kids arguing in the background. Then suddenly it goes completely silent. Roger immediately stops what he's doing to go check on the kids.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Ian tells William that they met when William visited Fraser's Ridge (in season 4), William says he does not remember that. Fans will know that while the two spent quite a bit of time together in the books, Ian was Put on a Bus during the television show, supposedly hunting with the Cherokee for the entirety of William's visit.
- Lodged Blade Removal: During his fall, William's arm is impaled by a fairly thick stick. William pulls it out on his own.
- Loving a Shadow: Invoked by Jamie. He points out that while Tom claims to be in love with Claire, he doesn't actually know Claire. He may like the idea of her, but he doesn't know who she really is.
- The Medic: The Hunter siblings are trained in medicine and plan to serve as doctor and nurse for the Continental Army.
- Mistaken Ethnicity: At first introduction, William mistakenly believes Ian to be a Native American. Ian clarifies that he is in fact a native Scotsman who was adopted into a Mohawk tribe.
- Oh, Crap!: William has this reaction when he realizes that Captain Richards sent him behind enemy lines in civilian clothes to deliver a message to a leader of the Continental Army. This is a textbook way to end up hanged as a spy. Getting grievously injured along the way likely saved his life.
- Only Useful as Toilet Paper: William tears down a copy of the Declaration of Independence and gives it to Henry to clean himself up after vomiting.William: Just about all that declaration is good for. The arrogance of it.
- Outside-Context Problem: Initially, Jemmy seems to be fibbing simply to get out of trouble, but the answers he comes up with become more and more obscure, something a child is unlikely to come up with on their own, cluing Roger and Bri in that something more is going on.
- Perma-Shave: Averted. William is with the Hunters long enough to need a shave, which Rachel does for him.
- Remember the Dead: Tom states that he placed an obituary because he didn't think it right that the Frasers vanish from the face of the Earth with nothing to mark their ever having existed.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Tom and Claire are both surprised to see each other alive, with Tom believing Claire had died in a house fire and Claire believing Tom had been hanged for murder.
- The Reveal: It's revealed that Tom is the one who placed the newspaper obituary of Claire and Jamie that caught Brianna and Roger's attention centuries later and motivated them to travel back in time.
- Spies Are Despicable: Captain Richardson acknowledges that few people wish to serve as spies as it is as seen as dishonorable and dishonest. Additionally, by the nature of the work, their achievements cannot be publicly acknowledged, a huge recruitment disadvantage in the age of War Is Glorious.
- Straw Misogynist: Mr. Campbell is clearly not taking his interview with Brianna very seriously. He's eating lunch, talking with his mouth full, and doesn't even correctly identify the position for which she is interviewing. He casually asks her to go fetch him a cup of coffee and also calls her "Miss" instead of "Mrs" during a time where that was still considered disrespectful to both Brianna and her husband. When he realizes that she's there to apply for plant inspector rather than as a secretary, he repeatedly emphasizing that this is no position for a woman, only to be tripped up by Bree's thorough knowledge of the job duties and his own desire not to be seen as sexist, despite his behavior.
- Time-Shifted Actor: Following a Time Skip in the 20th century narrative, Mandy and Jemmy are both now played by noticeably older actors. Jemmy, who was around age three, now appears to be approximately ten years old. Mandy, who was a newborn, appears to be approximately five years. The shift appears to have been made so the actors can deliver dialogue.
- Time Skip: The MacKenzie family spend years living in the 20th century. Far less time passes in the 18th century narrative, however.
- Unknown Relative: Ian finds William in the woods. Ian is aware that William is his maternal cousin, but William is unaware of their connection. Knowing that William is Jamie's son, Ian insists on getting him proper medical care.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Henry Grey is introduced vomiting in the alley behind a brothel.
- Wham Shot: The final shot of the episode is Jamie, Claire, and a large party of men arriving at Fort Ticonderoga.
- You Can't Go Home Again: After all that has happened to his family on the Ridge, Tom decides it would be better for all if he didn't return.
