Follow TV Tropes

Following

Recap / Outlander S 4 E 10 The Deep Hearts Core

Go To

Recap of Outlander
Season 4, Episode 10

The Deep Heart's Core

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/outlander_s04e10_the_deep_hearts_core_720pmkv_000589328_e1546838946790_800x399.jpeg

The secrets Jamie, Claire, and Brianna keep from each other threaten to tear the family apart. Brianna's bond with Jamie is tested when a shocking truth is finally revealed. Meanwhile, Roger is forced into a treacherous journey.

Tropes

  • Adaptation Deviation: Jamie definitively states that he killed Jack Randall at during the Battle of Culloden. In the books, Jamie has very little memory of the battle and is only certain of Randall's death because he awoke with the man's corpse sprawled on top of him. However, he's unclear as to how they got there.
  • Adaptational Relationship Change: In the books, Young Ian proposes to Bree solely out of a sense of honor and not an actual crush, and it was Jamie's idea, whereas here he calls Ian an idiot.
  • Armor-Piercing Question:
    • When Jamie insists that fighting back against her rapists could have been deadly, Brianna asks if Jamie fought back against Jack Randall, the man who raped Jamie. Jamie is visibly stunned, both at the reminder of what happened and the revelation that his daughter knows what happened to him.
    • Jamie asks Brianna what she hopes to regain by killing Stephen Bonnet. In return, Brianna asks him what he hoped to regain when he dueled with Black Jack Randall in Paris. Jamie is forced to admit that he wanted his personal honor back, the same as Bree.
  • Back-Alley Doctor: Claire is not this, but she explains to Brianna that she could administer an abortion for her, but because of the time, it would be painful and risky. Brianna decides to keep the baby, just in case Roger is the father.
  • Blaming the Victim: Subverted. Brianna believes that her rape is her own fault for not taking better precautions, but Jamie keeps telling her it's not her fault. He then plays into Brianna's internalized blame narrative, echoing her own words and accusing her of loose behavior, to help her realize how absurd blaming herself actually is.
  • Commonality Connection: Jamie and Brianna unfortunately have both been raped. However, with Jamie's rape two decades in the past, he's able to use his personal experience to help Brianna contextualize her pain and give her hope for recovery and an eventual return to normality.
  • Creation Myth: The Mohawk warriors listen to the story of creation around a campfire.
  • Deliberate Values Dissonance: While Jamie's initial outlook of not blaming Brianna for her rape is atypical, he staunchly believes she must be married as soon as possible for both her reputation and that of the child. Coming from the late 60s, when judgment around unwed mothers has begun to lessen, Brianna wants to wait for Roger. However, as both the son of and father of a bastard, Jamie is well aware of how difficult life for an unwed mother and a sire-less child can be in the 18th century.
  • Dramatically Missing the Point: When Jamie finds out Brianna willingly slept with Roger, he thinks Brianna was lying about being raped because she became pregnant. She quickly tells him she was raped but by another man.
  • False Rape Accusation: Subverted and played straight. Jamie invokes the idea of crying rape to help Brianna accept that she did nothing wrong. Later, when he learns that she voluntarily slept with Roger, he incorrectly assumes that this is actually what she'd done.
  • Good Girls Avoid Abortion:
    • Although she's fairly certain the child is Bonnet's because she and Roger used the withdrawal method, Brianna refuses to get an abortion on the off chance that the child may be Roger's.
    • In the books, Brianna brings up the fact that Claire resented having to leave Jamie and that she'd said she blamed Brianna for being the reason she had to. Brianna asks if Claire ever considered aborting the pregnancy. Claire insisted that she had not, initially because she wanted the connection to Jamie. After Brianna was born, Claire fell in love with Brianna for who she was.
  • Honorable Marriage Proposal: Since Brianna is unwed and pregnant, Jamie tells Brianna she would need to get married for her and the baby's sake, and Ian proposes to her. But Brianna wants to Marry for Love as she is still in love with Roger.
  • Internal Reveal:
    • Ian, Jamie, and Claire learn that it was Stephen Bonnet who raped Brianna.
    • Claire and Brianna learn that Jamie and Ian attacked Roger and sold him to the Mohawks.
    • Jamie learns that Brianna knows about his history with Jack Randall, including the fact that Jamie was raped.
  • It's All My Fault: Brianna blames herself for her rape, reasoning that she was foolish to go into a dark room alone with a man she didn't know and that she didn't fight hard enough to make him stop. Jamie has to work to make her realize that she could've made things worse by attempting to fight Bonnet.
  • I Want Them Alive!: Jamie asks Murtagh to bring Bonnet so Jamie can kill him for raping Brianna.
  • I Will Find You: Roger says he will escape the Mohawk to return to Brianna.
  • Kissing Cousins: Jamie tells Brianna that Young Ian likes her. She tells Jamie that romance between cousins is not encouraged in her time.
    • Young Ian asks for Brianna's hand in marriage if they fail to find Roger, which naturally she rejects.
  • Mass "Oh, Crap!": Ian, Lizzie, Jamie, and Claire's reaction when they realize the mistake that's been made due to poor communication.
  • Mistaken Identity: Lizzie misidentifies Roger as Brianna's rapist to Jamie and Young Ian because she saw them arguing in Wilmington the day Brianna was raped and Bree never told her the full story.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Thinking that Roger is the man who raped Brianna, Jamie beats him within an inch of his life before having Young Ian take him somewhere far away.
  • Past Experience Nightmare: Bree dreams of being reunited with Roger only for him to turn into Bonnet as soon as things heat up. Lizzie wakes her from her nightmare and indicates this is a recurring event.
  • Reality Has No Subtitles: Averted. Although the show normally does not subtitle any language Claire does not speak, the story the Mohawk man tells by the campfire is subtitled into English.
  • Revealing Injury: Jamie's injured hand outs him as having been in a fight even though he claimed it was from dealing with the stills.
  • Sadistic Choice: Brianna can go through the stones pregnant, possibly never seeing Roger or either of her parents again, but having access to 20th century medicine for her delivery, or she can stay in hopes of seeing Roger again, but risking giving birth in a century with an astronomically high rate of maternal and infant mortality and possible permanently confining the child to the 18th century if they can't time travel.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Murtagh, recognizing the impending blow up between Brianna and Jamie, wisely chooses to leave the cabin and wait outside. He tries to take Young Ian with him only for Brianna to demand the boy stay. Murtagh leaves his godson and young cousin to face Brianna's wrath alone.
  • There Are No Therapists: Jamie's unorthodox method to help Brianna stop blaming herself for her rape definitely has the potential to be triggering, but makes sense in-universe, where there literally are no therapists. It's also very much in the vein of how Claire helped him in the aftermath of his own rape. Jamie provokes Brianna into attacking him by implying that maybe she wanted to be raped. He then uses his superior strength to hold her captive and dares her to break free, taunting her until she finally admits she can't. He then apologizes but points out that she wouldn't have had any better luck against Bonnet.
  • Trail Of Breadcrumbs: Roger ties a knot on a string to keep track of each day.
    • He also keeps track of landmarks so he can find his way back.
  • Travel Montage: Roger's trek with the Mohawks features several fade ins and outs. Once they arrive in the village, Roger learns that he's walked over 700 miles.
  • Vengeance Feels Empty: Brianna points out that Jamie got to kill his rapist. Jamie replies that given all he'd lost by that point, killing Randall didn't strike him as fulfilling or even particularly important.
  • Wham Line: Young Ian reveals he sold Roger to the Mohawk, who live in Upstate New York, 700 miles away.
  • What a Drag: The Mohawk drag Roger and Caleb by horse. Both men have physical wounds on their bodies, including lacerations on their wrists. Caleb eventually dies, and Roger becomes so weak he falls down a hill and breaks free.
  • You Did What You Had To Do: Jamie assures Brianna that not fighting back against her assailant was the bravest and wisest thing she could have done as it ensured her survival.
  • Your Normal Is Our Taboo: Jamie brings up the fact that Young Ian appears to be romantically interested in Brianna. She is shocked since Ian is her cousin. Jamie, visibly confused, asks if cousins aren't allowed to be romantically involved in the 20th century (in the previous episode, he mentioned that his own first kiss was with a cousin). Brianna politely tells him that it's not encouraged.

Top