“The Heart’s Deep Core” – Recap and Rant

That’s right…this is one of those posts.  Buckle up.

Picking up where we left off last week, Jamie finds Brianna in the yard, and she notices his hand is bandaged.  When she asks what happened, Jamie shrugs it off and confesses that Claire told him what happened to her.  Jamie offers an invitation for Brianna to join him for a walk, and while they’re together, Jamie tells Brianna that she’ll have to get married soon.  Brianna says that she only loves Roger, although she doubts he’ll want her after all is said and done.  Jamie sweetly tells her that if Roger is worth his salt, he will still want her, and if not, he doesn’t deserve her in the first place.

Brianna goes on to blame herself for what happened, and no matter how hard Jamie tries to tell her that the rape wasn’t her fault, she refuses to listen.  True, victims of sexual assault usually blame themselves, but this is also a symptom of Brianna’s big mouth, her having an answer for everything, and her thinking she knows everything.  Yeah, I’m a bit pissed at Brianna right now.  You may have gathered as much from the main photo.  I’ll explain.  Read on.

When Jamie sees that Brianna won’t listen to good old fashioned reason, he decides to use some faux slut shaming that even had me fooled at first.  Brianna tries to slap him (the one time that I actually justified it in this episode), but Jamie sees the blow coming a mile away, grabs her arm and puts her in a headlock.  Jamie tells her that if he wanted to, he could snap her neck, and asks if there’s any way she can fight him off.  Brianna has to admit that she can’t, and Jamie asks, “Well, how do you think you could’ve fought him?”  Brianna sees Jamie’s point, and she reveals that she knows about what he went through with Black Jack in Wentworth Prison.  She also asks him what he wanted to gain from killing Jack Randall.  Jamie says he wanted to regain his honor.  Brianna admits she wants to kill Bonnet, but Jamie reminds her that she’s never killed a human being before.  Brianna says that she feels like if she kills him, she’ll forget.  Jamie tells her that unfortunately, she’ll never forget, but eventually, she’ll heal.

Somewhere far away, Roger is held captive by the Mohawk tribe alongside a nameless man that’s a bit worse for wear.  Roger isn’t in much better shape than the other hostage, considering that he looks like Martin after he went toe to toe with Tommy “Hit Man” Hearns, but he’s still alive, thank God.

Roger, who’s a very smart and resourceful young man, is making sure to take note of the landmarks around him, keep track of the days of the week and the direction they’re traveling in.  That way, he can make his way back when he escapes, which he informs his fellow captive he will most definitely do.

Later, Claire and Brianna get together one night to discuss her options.  Claire tells her that if she decides to have an abortion, it’ll have to be surgical, since there’s no Plan B herbs she can give her.  She goes on to remind Brianna that if she takes the surgical route, it’s gonna be painful and risky.  No, really?

However, if Brianna wants to keep the baby, she’s gonna have to go back through the stones soon.  There’s no guarantee she and the baby can go back through the stones together, or there’s the possibility that Brianna ends up in one time period and the baby goes to another.  The abortion will also have to be soon, if that’s what Brianna wants.  Brianna makes peace with the fact that she’ll have to decide something quick, and hugs her mother.

Brianna spends the next few days enjoying her family.  During this time, she finds out that Ian has a little crush on her (gross…Brianna is quick to tell Jamie that in her time, we don’t date our doggone cousins, but nonetheless, she enjoys having a cousin), has more warm family dinners and a conversation with Claire about what they miss most about the future.  They mention hamburgers, aspirin and listening to music whenever you want to, which I can totally relate to, but then they mentioned the main thing I would’ve missed if were them…toilets.  We can add maxi pads, toilet tissue and running water to that mix.

Then it all goes to hell.

Brianna has a dream that Roger has come back for her, and she tells him that she’s pregnant, but she doesn’t know if he’s the father.  The dream quickly becomes a nightmare when Roger becomes Bonnet, who immediately tries to violate her again.  Lizzie wakes Brianna up and tries to put her mind at ease by telling her that the man will never hurt her again.  Jamie whupped the dude’s ass, and he’s not coming back.  Brianna asks how Lizzie knows what “the man” looks like, and even though they don’t show her confessing that she fingered the wrong person, we all know the real deal.

Now we’ve come to the part where Brianna starts pissin’ me off.  While the family’s having breakfast, Brianna comes in and asks where Roger is.  Of course, Jamie and Claire are confused, considering that they were under the assumption that Roger traveled back to Scotland and returned to 1971.  Brianna tells them that Lizzie let the cat out of the bag and that it was Roger that got his ass beat.  By the way, I noticed that Brianna called Jamie by his name when she mentioned the beating, and not “Da,” and continues using his name for the rest of the episode.  Jamie honestly tells them that he didn’t know it was Roger and if he ravished her like she said, he needed a good beating.  Brianna blurts out that she was handfast to Roger and she wanted to have sex with him.  After Jamie hears that, he jumps to the conclusion that Brianna lied about everything after she found out that she got pregnant.  True, this isn’t Jamie’s finest moment, but I see how he figured that was the case considering that a) getting pregnant out of wedlock was a serious taboo back in the 1700’s, b) Brianna never mentioned that she lost her virginity and got raped in the same night and c) Brianna purposely failed to mention that the real rapist was Stephen Bonnet.  With that being said, Brianna gets in her feelings and builds up enough gall to slap her father, and this time, she succeeds.

This is when Brianna finally comes out and says that she was raped, but it was by a different man.  Jamie immediately apologizes for what he said, but Brianna isn’t big on forgiveness, which is ironic seeing how doggone bratty she is.  Jamie gives his word as her father that he’ll make things right and find Roger, but Brianna has to rub more salt in the wound and say that her father would’ve never spoken to her the way he just did (meaning Frank), and Jamie’s nothing but a savage.  Ugh.  Ian asks who the real rapist was, and that’s when Claire reveals the real Lallybroch ring, proving the assailant was Bonnet.  ‘Bout damn time.  Only problem is it’s too little, too late.  When Brianna demands to know where Roger is, Ian says that he sold him to the Mohawk tribe.  Brianna, who feels the need to put her hands on everyone, delivers a slap to Ian this time, which causes his nose to bleed.  Lizzie apologizes for fingering the wrong man, and Brianna curtly answers, “You should be.”  Yes, it’s mostly Lizzie’s fault this clusterfuck happened, but it’s always irked me when people say “I’m sorry,” and “you should be” is the answer they get, especially if the person giving that answer has a questionable personality their damn self.

Jamie sees red and knocks a chair over, and that’s when Brianna has the nerve to holler out, “No!  No!  You do not get to be more angry than me!”

Okay…so Jamie finally gets to see his estranged daughter after 20 some odd years, and finds out she was raped by none other than the man that he helped escape the noose, who also later robbed his wife and killed one of his closest friends.  To insult to injury, he beat up the wrong man thinking he was the rapist because Lizzie misidentified him, but it turns out that the poor dude was Jamie’s son-in-law and the potential father of Jamie’s unborn grandchild, just trying to get back to his woman.  On top of all that, this mishap has caused the relationship Jamie has with his daughter to sour before it really even starts.  Yeah, Jamie absolutely has no right to be as mad as Brianna.  *sarcasm*   And to think, the folks behind the scenes thought that line was gold.  Brianna asks how they can possible get Roger back, and Claire informs her that the Mohawk reside in upstate New York.  That’s a 400 mile distance from Fraser’s Ridge.

Meanwhile, in Nowhere, USA, Roger is still on the road with the tribe.  The poor dude that was also sold to them died, and seeing how the dead body is no longer profitable to anyone, the Mohawk literally drag him away.  Before forcing Roger to keep up behind their horses, they make sure to mention that they’re going to ride even faster than they did yesterday.  Damn.

That night, Ian explains that he received a necklace after delivering Roger to the Mohawk.  Of course, Brianna the Brat has to throw in the fact that it was his price for allowing them to take Roger.  Uh…he thought he was a rapist.  Not condoning slavery and/or kidnapping at all, but in the same vein, I can see why Ian wouldn’t have too much sympathy for someone that sexually assaulted his family…considering that he himself was sexually assaulted.  Anyway, Ian goes on to explain that he can use the necklace to bring Roger back.  Jamie promises to trade all he has to get Roger, but of course, Brianna doesn’t want the two of them to go, considering all the damage they’ve done.  Blah, blah, blah.  Claire pulls Brianna aside and asks her what she wants to do, given her situation.  Brianna says she’s decided to keep the baby, given there’s a 50/50 chance it’s Roger’s.  Even if the baby’s not Roger’s, she’ll still love it regardless.  That’s really sweet.  I’m still not liking you right now though, Bratty Brianna.

Claire tells her that she’ll be there for her through everything, but Brianna tells her mom that she’s not going to be there, because she needs her to go with Jamie and Ian.  Claire insists on staying with Brianna, but Brianna the Brat hollers out, “After everything those two have done, can you look me in the face and tell me you trust their judgement?”

Claire still refuses to leave her spoiled ass child alone—with good reason—but Brianna says that if Roger sees Jamie and Ian coming for him, he won’t see them as rescuers, but as people that want to harm him again.  I have to admit, that makes a lot of sense, and although Claire seems to agree, she still doesn’t want to leave Brianna by herself, regardless of Lizzie being there.  Jamie suggests taking her to Jocasta’s plantation.  Murtagh offers to take her there so they can save time, and Brianna agrees.  She then goes on to tell everyone that they’re all going and they’re going to bring Roger back to her.  Before she walks off, Jamie tells Claire he had no way of knowing it was really Roger he whupped, considering that he was told the young man went back to his time.  Also, he brings up the extremely good point of Claire knowing who hurt Brianna, but not saying anything to him.  Claire reminds him that he told her that he hit a tree, and Jamie reminds her that she said that, he just didn’t correct her.  Semantics.  Claire storms off, apparently on a bit of high horse herself.  Before y’all think that I’m making Jamie and Ian exempt from any blame, I’m not.  They both did wrong.  However, it’s not all on Jamie and Ian.  Everyone has plenty of responsibility for this mess, Claire and Brianna included.

Now, you’d think with this foolery going on, we’d stop with the secrets and lies.  Oh, no.  Jamie asks Murtagh to find Stephen Bonnet on the low after he drops Brianna off.  He wants Bonnet delivered to him in secret.  Y’all can pretty much guess why Jamie wants him.  Stephen Bonnet robbed the woman Jamie loves and raped his daughter, not to mention he brutally murdered a good friend of his.  He gon’ have to die.

Once again, I understand the motive, but we really need to stop with all the damn secrecy.

That next morning, Brianna says goodbye to Claire…and only Claire.  Ian offers his hand to Brianna in marriage in an attempt to fix the situation he had a part in (and I’m sure the fact that he has a bit of crush on her—for whatever reason—played a hand in the proposal as well), but Jamie tells him to get off his doggone knee.  Jamie promises to bring Roger back, and Brianna coldly tells him that she’ll hold him to that.  *Sigh*  What, you couldn’t even wave goodbye to your dad? I mean damn, he’s doing all he can to make up for what he did!  They all ride off, and in a few hours, Murtagh, Lizzie and Brianna arrive at River Run.  Brianna doesn’t seem to mind the slaves that much.  Truth be told, she doesn’t seem to mind the slaves at all.  Claire got sick to her stomach the second she saw them singing Negro spirituals in the fields.  Lord, this child irks me.   Murtagh and Jocasta greet each other and exchange stories of their earlier years in Scotland before getting to the real meat and potatoes of his visit.  He tells her that he’s brought Claire and Jamie’s daughter to live there with her for a while, and Brianna finally makes herself known, and doesn’t bother beating around the bush about why she’s there.  Jocasta greets her with open arms and welcomes her to the home, regardless of the circumstances.  Brianna remains somewhat cold.  Not surprising at this point.

Back in Nowhere, USA, the Mohawk stop for water at a nearby waterfall (when I say waterfall, it’s less like Niagara Falls and more like a trickle of water escaping a crack in a rock).  After they allow Roger to slurp a sip, they go back to dragging him behind the horses.  Roger’s been walking behind these men for at least a week and a half, so he’s pretty tired.  He starts to lag, but the men don’t stop moving for him.  Roger eventually falls behind—literally—and rolls off a cliff, hanging by the rope tied around his wrist.  He screams in pain as the Mohawk try to pull him up, but his hand slips out the knot.  Once Roger hits the ground, he gets on his feet and tries his best to run away.  One of the Mohawk shoot at him, but the other member of the tribe stops him.  After all, another dead man won’t be any good to them.  Roger gets a good distance away, and hides behind a rock to stay out of sight.  As the Mohawk pass him, Roger goes off in another direction.

As he’s making his way through the forest, Roger hears the sound of bees buzzing.  The sound gets louder and louder, and when Roger reaches the source, he doesn’t find a bee hive.  He finds another Craigh Na Dun type stone (how many of these things are there?).

Roger begins to cry.  Ever since he traveled to the 1700’s, he’s had his life threatened, his ass beat, his heart broken, his freedom stolen, and he witnessed a seven year old child being thrown overboard to her death and her mother following behind.  I think it’s safe to say the 18th century sucks.  He takes the two gemstones he acquired from evil ass Bonnet out of his pocket and slowly reaches a hand out towards the stone, contemplating returning to a simpler time where things make sense, and indoor plumbing is plentiful.  Fade to black.

Now it’s time for me to go in.  Brianna, I was just starting to like you.  Yeah, you still had a small bit of brattiness in you, but Frank and Claire (mainly Frank) spoiled your ass rotten growing up, so I guess it’s hard to shed that.  However, your behavior this episode was abhorrent.  Yes, I understand you were raped the same night you lost your virginity to your true love, and my heart goes out to you for that.  I also understand that you’re living with the ghastly possibility that you’re pregnant with a child that may be the product of that rape.  You also have my deepest sympathy for that.  But the sympathy ends there.  You should have told Jamie and Claire from get go who was responsible for this heinous act.  No, Jamie shouldn’t have gone half cocked and whupped Roger’s ass, Lizzie should’ve gotten clear confirmation before fingering Roger as the rapist, and they shouldn’t have kept it quiet, but that doesn’t make you exempt.  You and Claire should’ve told the damn truth about who was responsible.  You call Jamie a savage and disown him because he was looking out for you, when you didn’t tell him the entire story?  Girl, bye.  Like it or not, Jamie is your doggone daddy.  Show some damn respect.

This brings me to another point:  you love to say and do horrible things to your parents when you get in your little feelings.  This includes Frank, and he was your favorite out of the three!  When Claire fessed up about your true parentage, you dropped an F bomb at her, implied she was a bored, ho-ish housewife that cheated on her husband with some random dude and made up a story to dress up the ugly “truth” (hmm…you ever stop to think that maybe you and Jamie aren’t that different?) and wished that she died instead of Frank!  When Frank told you that he wanted to divorce your mother, you stormed away from him and didn’t even bother to say that you loved him after he said it to you.  Sadly enough, he died a few hours later.  Bet you wish you could take that shit back.  When Jamie left, you couldn’t get your head out of your ass to tell him goodbye, knowing he could run into danger trying to get Roger back.  Roger was right; you’re still a damn child, and you’ll never learn.  Grow the hell up.

As for the epic beating and Mohawk trading fiasco, I don’t agree with it, but I can definitely see where Jamie and Ian were coming from.  Believe it or not, Miss Brianna, you’re not the only person in the family that’s been sexually assaulted.  Jamie is a rape victim.  Ian is a rape victim.  Hell, Claire was almost raped dozens of times throughout the show.  Jamie and Ian have both been through that hurt and anguish, and will deal with it for the rest of their lives.  They couldn’t have felt too good with the knowledge that now you have to deal with the same hurt and anguish.  With that being said, when Lizzie told them that the man that hurt you was nearby—near your home—naturally, they wanted to protect you and make the man that committed this crime suffer.  Yeah, I get they whupped your boyfriend, but can you at least see why they did it, even if it can’t be condoned?  I mean, you mentioned killing Bonnet your damn self.  You don’t think your father felt the same way?  Oh, and Claire…baby, I’m gonna need you to get off your high horse, too.  You could’ve said something to Jamie once you found out who the real assailant was.  I can’t stress that enough.  And stop letting Brianna believe that she’s running things.   She don’t run shit.  “Mama, you’re going!  You’re all going!”  Child, please.  And to think…I heard she acts even worse in the books.

Brianna, I’m gonna need you to do better.  I really am.  Not saying Jamie’s perfect, I’m not saying what he did was right, but he did it to look out for you.  He doesn’t deserve your cold shoulder, your slaps to the face(my mother would knock my ass into next week if I put my hands on her), your little cuss words or dirty looks.  You have the right to be mad, but not disrespectful to your father in his house.  And you don’t have the right to dictate how someone else should feel about this royal mess…a royal mess that you could’ve possibly prevented.  You’re about to be somebody’s mama now, so I suggest you start acting your age and not your shoe size.  I hope to see some improvement in your attitude over the next three weeks.  But until then, you’re canceled.  Kick rocks.

—Written by Nadiya

So what did you think about “The Heart’s Deep Core”?  Is Brianna being a brat?  Do you agree with her?  Did you understand why Jamie and Ian did what they did or do you think they were just all the way wrong?  Is Brianna your least favorite character or one of your all time favorites?  If you’re a book reader, do you believe that her behavior was worse in the book?  Do you think Jamie doesn’t have the right to be more angry than Brianna?  What about her disowning Jamie?  Do you agree or disagree?  Do you think I went in on her too harshly?  Let me know in the comments section!