“Untimely Resurrection” – Recap and Review

We pick up right where we left off last week.  The house is in shambles from the fight that broke out.  It turns out the g‘darmes TFF summoned actually were the cops, and they arrested everyone, including Jamie (where I come from, the Comte would be known as a “snitch bitch”).  Claire and Fergus sat up all night waiting for him to return.  When Jamie returns the next morning, he sweetly puts Fergus to bed and lets Claire know that Alex was blamed for Mary’s rape, and the only thing that’ll get him out of the Bastille is Mary’s word that Alex is innocent.  The Duke of Sandringham already fired him to avoid any scandal.  Punk.  Jamie asks if Claire could identify any of the men, but she says she couldn’t (did she forget about the wine colored birthmark on the dude’s hand?); only that they spoke aristocratic French.  Jamie asks how she got away from them, and she lets them know about the whole La Dame Blanche nonsense.  It turns out that Jamie knows how the whole La Dame Blanche rumor got started…it was him.  At the whorehouse he and crazy ass Charles love to frequent, Jamie started the rumor about Claire to keeps the hoes away.  Claire is pissed at first, considering that she was nearly burned as a witch back in Scotland, but Jamie lets her know that if one of the men that tried to rape her frequent the whorehouse, he can find out exactly who it was, and they may lead him to St. Germain, who was most likely behind the attack.

When Murtagh’s finally released from jail, he’s tasked with following St. Germain to find out exactly what he has going on with the prince (Claire let Jamie know they left the party together) and to verify if he was behind Claire and Mary’s attack.  Murtagh goes to Jamie’s workplace and informs him that there’s a gang of masked wealthy folks in Paris known as “Les Disciples” that attack people at night.  The way they’re initiated into the gang is by raping a virgin.  Gross.  Murtagh goes on to say that he feels guilty for not protecting Claire and Mary, not to mention Jamie’s unborn child.  Jamie tells him there’s nothing for him to feel bad about.  Murtagh still says he can’t forgive himself, and Jamie advises him to stay on TFF if he wants to feel better.  Murtagh swears to him that he will.

Claire visits Mary, who’s writing a letter to prove Alex’s innocence.  Like most rape victims, Mary is feeling ashamed and that she’ll never be herself again.  Claire lets her know that she has nothing to be ashamed of, and gives her some herbs to help with her physical pain.  Mary tells Claire that she’s glad she doesn’t have to marry that ugly old man she was betrothed to, and now she’s free to marry Alex once he gets out of jail.  Mary asks Claire to deliver the letter to the authorities, but Claire actually considers not sending it, due the fact that if Alex and Mary get married, it may put Frank’s existence in jeopardy.  According to Frank’s family tree, Mary has a child with Black Jack, not Alex.  Uh-oh…

Crazy ass Charles visits Jamie at work, letting him know that although his other financial backers have let him twist in the wind, he’ll soon be getting $10,000 pounds…from Le Comte St. Germain.  I can’t stand that guy.  Apparently, TFF and Charles have made a business arrangement:  TFF wants to buy Portuguese wine to sell, and Charles took out a loan to help him buy it, since the Comte’s running low on funds (I wonder why?).  They’ll use the profit from selling the wine to start securing ships for the Rebellion.  I can’t help buy wonder what’s in this for St. Germain.  I’m sure he doesn’t give a damn about Scotland.  Charles lays another doozy on Jamie:  he has to work with TFF to sell the wine.  *Groan*

It turns out that Claire sent the letter to the authorities and Alex is released from the Bastille.  However, Claire does everything in her power to dissuade Alex from marrying Mary.  “Blah, blah…you just lost your job…blah, blah…you have a bad cold and she shouldn’t be your nurse…blah, blah.”  All the negative talk pretty much makes Alex feels like he’s not the man for her, and he decides to give her up.  Claire feels bad for breaking his heart, as she should, but she convinces herself she’s doing it to secure Frank’s existence.  Poor Mary.  Black Jack’s homicidal rapist ass’ll make the ugly dude with warts look good in comparison.

Jamie and TFF meet at the whorehouse to discuss the wine sale…or at least, they were supposed to discuss the wine sale.  Jamie tells TFF that he doesn’t want to be around him, and wants to just get down to business so they can leave.  Like the bastard he is, TFF taunts Jamie about Claire.  Jamie tells him that if he finds out he had anything to do with Claire’s attack, he’s dead where he sits.  TFF shrugs the threat off, and tells Jamie that he’ll handle the shipment of the wine and he’ll keep it at his warehouse.  Jamie can call him when he gets a buyer, and only when he gets a buyer.  Whatever.  He doesn’t wanna be in business with your shady ass, either.  Back at the house, Jamie gives Claire the news, and Claire has an idea to make TFF’s men appear like they have smallpox so the shipment of wine can be destroyed, which in turn would cause Charles to lose his money.  In a sweet Fraser moment (I’m so damn tired of politics), Jamie gives Claire a christening gift of twelve spoons for each of the twelve Apostles.  It turns out to be a Fraser heirloom.  Claire is moved by the gift, and she asks Jamie if he thinks she’ll be a good mother.  Jamie assures her she will, and whatever she doesn’t know, they’ll learn together.  Awww…

The next day, Jamie and Claire go to Versailles to help the Duke buy horses.  Trust me…this is actually where the story gets interesting.  Just sit tight.  The Duke and Jamie engage in small talk as the latter checks horses like a doggone equestrian expert.  Prince Charles’ name comes up, and the Duke lets him know that he thinks the prince is an utter ass (that was funny!).  He also can’t help but notice that Jamie is such a good judge of horses but not of men.  Jamie lets the Duke know he sees Charles for what he is, but is in league with him because of the king (lies from the tree of lies!).  In the meantime, Jamie’s ex-girlfriend Annalise sees Claire and asks to walk with her in the garden.  Annalise basically discusses how much Jamie has changed since she knew him.  Before he was impulsive and passionate, and now he’s all about business and politics like everyone else (yeah, we miss the old Jamie, too).  Claire tries to convince Annalise that deep down, Jamie hasn’t changed, but Annalise is distracted by a man in the distance that keeps staring at Claire.  Claire turns around to see who she’s talking about, and it’s none other than…

MUTHA FUCKIN’ BLACK JACK RANDALL!!

Awwww, hell!  It’s on now!

Black Jack introduces himself like everything is everything, and Claire starts to feel sick, naturally.  Annalise runs off to get Jamie, leaving poor Claire with one of the most sadistic men to walk the face of the Earth.  Black Jack taunts Claire, of course, and refuses to let her walk away from him.  He even goes so far as to grab her arm to keep her there.  Claire demands that he let her go.  “The King,” Black Jack sneers.  Channeling The Hound from “Game of Thrones,” Claire answers back, “FUCK THE KING!”

It turns out King Louis is right behind her.  Claire straightens herself up and bows for the king; she even introduces Black Jack to him.  She’s better than me, I wouldn’t have introduced that asshole for all the money in the world.  Louis is charmed by Claire, but he appears to not care too much for Black Jack, and even goes so far as to insult his French (I love it!).  Jamie shows up (oh, shit!), and gives his respects to the king as well.  Claire coolly asks Randall what he’s doing in France, and it turns out he came there to get Alex’s job back.  Louis tells him to get on his knees and beg for it.  At first Black Jack thinks he’s joking, but he soon sees that Louis is serious.  That’s right, get on your knees, bitch!  Black Jack eventually gets on his knees, much to the satisfaction of Claire, Jamie, and the king.  Even the king’s men were crackin’ up.  I officially love King Louis now.  Claire and Jamie excuse themselves (Claire blames morning sickness for the third time that day), and the king allows Randall to get off his knees (ha, ha!).  Before they leave, Jamie and Black Jack have one last talk.  It turns out they scheduled a duel.  Claire is horrified.

When Jamie gets home, he’s happier than a kid on Christmas Day.  Claire on the other hand, immediately has their carriage take her to the Bastille.  I don’t even think Jamie noticed she was gone.  Later that night, Jamie and Murtagh prepare for the duel, when Claire comes in and tells them that there’s not going to be one.  She went to the Bastille and falsely accused Randall of raping Mary and attacking Claire.  Hey, it’s not like Black Jack isn’t really a rapist!  Claire sends Murtagh away so she and Jamie can talk.  Jamie reminds her that when she told him that Black Jack was alive, she gave him a gift, and now he wants to claim that gift.  Claire finally fesses up a la Doc Brown and tells Jamie that if he kills Black Jack, Frank will vanish from existence.  Jamie ain’t tryin’ to hear it.  Black Jack did too much to him to live another second.  Claire has to choose:  it’s either him or Frank.  Claire asks Jamie to wait a year, and reminds him that she saved his life twice and he owes her.  Jamie is mad enough to breathe fire, but since he’s a man of honor, he repays his debt to Claire and promises to wait one year…but not a day later.  Claire tries to hug Jamie, but he very angrily—and nastily—warns her not to touch him.  *Sob*

This episode started off pretty dull and my interest was waning.  Then again, that could’ve been because I was psyched to go see Captain America:  Civil War after the show (and I still ended up not going.  Long story.  I’m definitely going to tomorrow’s show so I can post a blog on it).  But when Black Jack showed up, the TV had my undivided attention!  I can’t wait to see where this is going to go!  Now the Frasers have to deal with the Duke, the Comte and Black Jack!  And poor Jamie can’t touch Randall for another year!  Ouch!  I was really sad to see Jamie so pissed at Claire, though.  Don’t get me wrong, I get why he was pissed, but I also get why Claire had to do what she did.  Not only does she still love Frank (not as much as Jamie, but she still loves him), but as I said a while back, if Frank ceases to exist, it’ll cause an alternate timeline of events and Claire will never go back in time to meet Jamie.  Yes, I’m a nerd.  My favorite part of the show had to be when King Louis humiliated Black Jack.  It was so great to see that fool get his.  Louis must have a way of detecting pure evil when he sees it.  Oh yeah, there’s another thing I loved about this episode…Jamie wore his kilt again and showed off those sexy legs!  Yay!  It looks like next week, Claire and Jamie will have gotten over this blowout (thank God) and will concentrate on how to destroy TFF’s wine shipment.  I really hope it’s red wine.  I hate red wine.  So nasty.  Tastes like beer.

—Written by Nadiya

So what did y’all think about “Untimely Resurrection”?  Was the entire episode dull, or did you pipe up once Black Jack Randall returned?  Also, what do you think about Black Jack’s return?  Do you think Jamie should still kill him and get it over with, or do you side with Claire and believe he should live until he gets Mary pregnant?  Your thoughts, please!