Jamie hopes the newly arrived Duke of Sandringham will help lift the price from his head, while Claire attempts to save an abandoned child.
"By the Pricking of My Thumbs" includes a lot of moving pieces. Big shifts are happening for Claire, Jamie, Geillis and Dougal. At times, the pacing of this episode is too spastic. It deals with some new plot development only to then move onto the next without a huge concern in making sure that all the pieces are connecting in a meaningful way. In the end, everything does feel connected - if only thematically. The plot is picking up speed. In this episode, the audience first learns about Dougal and Geillis having an affair and that he has a wife who is never seen. And then, that all changes the moment we learn about their existence. Dougal's wife dies. He has a drunken stupor in the dining hall and Geillis then poisons her husband in order to be with Dougal. It's a lot of plot being thrown out. And yet, we don't have that emotional connection to Dougal and Geillis as a couple. Just like Claire, the audience had no idea this was going on and now it is being challenged in a way that makes any hope for a future seem bleak.The episode does return the focus and narration back to Claire. But that is also becoming increasingly irrelevant. Her narration only pops up a handful of times and it's largely just to remind the audience of something she learned about in the future with Frank. Plus, there are now scenes that don't feature Claire at all. Last week's Jamie point-of-view episode has now given the show the ability to follow him around as well. That way the show doesn't need to keep them together in order to tell story. Both are important characters being split up now. The show has earned telling scenes from Claire's point of view as well as Jamie's. So it all works even though it is slightly different.
And frankly, the story only really ever works when it's personally effecting Claire - and to a lesser extent Jamie. Claire is back at Castle Leoch and things are much more friendly to her than they were before. The only problem she really has is with Laoghaire who believes that she's the one Jamie is suppose to be with. Laoghaire is a tad crazy. And yet, Claire doesn't see her as anything other than a young girl getting her first taste of love and heart break. She simply can't understand Jamie marrying someone else because she is madly in love with him. It's not something Claire takes all that seriously. And yet, as she learns by episode's end, Laoghaire is much more dangerous than she originally thought.
Claire gets a reminder of just how vastly different the way of life is in this community. When she hears a baby crying in the middle of the woods, she needs to run and safe it from the cold. Everyone else hears it and believes that it's simply the work of the faeries who roam the woods leaving behind a child. That's dark stuff and yet it's what these people are willing to believe in order to offer some kind of explanation to their lives. Claire has the knowledge to know better and wants to stand up and make a difference. That knowledge is very powerful when it comes to manipulating the Duke of Sandringham for Jamie. And yet, it leaves her powerless to save the child in the woods. That is devastating to her. It's brutal and barbaric to her to see everyone else allow this child to die. But to them, she is the outsider. The community's hostility and suspicion of her hasn't really gone away. So when Laoghaire accuses Claire of witchcraft alongside Geillis, it is very easy for the officials to believe her. It's not the truth but it is the latest plot complication that Claire will have to deal with.
Claire and Geillis will have to face this trial without the protection of the men in their lives - Dougal and Jamie. Both of the men desperately want to be with the women they love in their homes starting a family. Geillis is pregnant and that is life-changing to her and Dougal. And yet, their matters of the heart get in the way of Colum and Clan MacKenzie. That's one of the most dangerous things they could have done. The bonds of a clan are so important to these people. It's an identity in a land that is being oppressed by outsiders. The clan operates like a family. When people hurt that family, they must be punished.
All of Jamie's - and Claire's - dealings with the Duke of Sandringham is just to get the price on his head lifted so he can return to his home of Lallybroch. He wants to reunite with his family and show Claire his home. He's very grateful to Clan MacKenzie for allowing him to live at Castle Leoch without having to pledge loyalty. And yet, things are bound to get more complicated. The Duke of Sandringham really is a more eccentric character of wealth than the rest of them. He is over-the-top in a slightly campy way. And yet, he does hold power that Jamie and Claire need for their benefit. Again, knowledge is very helpful in getting things done the way they want. And yet, Jamie is still representing Clan MacKenzie when he stands by the Duke in his duel. That leads to a brawl with a rival clan. Jamie is a better fighter than all of them. But the consequences of this encounter threatening to take Jamie away from Claire during her time of need. They get to kiss goodbye before he accompanies Dougal to his exile. But she desperately needs him to return to her. That's what Jamie wants but things could be much more complicated than that because Colum still holds much power and influence at Castle Leoch.
Similarly, Dougal just wants to do right by his new family with Geillis and their unborn child. Yes, their relationship is sudden and his public display of drunkenness shows that he still has a ton of affection for his late wife. And yet, the relationship between Colum and Dougal has been strained ever since Dougal returned from collecting taxes while also raising money for the Jacobite cause. Colum is laird for a reason. He's able to see through Geillis poisoning her husband just as easily as Claire does. He notices that special bond between Dougal and Geillis. He sees it as a risk to the clan and needs to deal with it swiftly. Sure, removing Dougal from the main location of story doesn't seem like an idea that will last long. And yet, this exile could help the show dig deeper into what makes that character tick which could be very beneficial in the long run.
Some more thoughts:
- "By the Pricking of My Thumbs" was written by Ira Steven Behr and directed by Richard Clark.
- Claire slapping Laoghaire was unexpected while also powerful. Sure, she retreated a bit and apologized for her actions. And yet, that physical encounter doesn't stop Laoghaire from trying to hurt and punish Claire. So the next slap will be even bigger!
- I could always use more Mrs. Fitz. And yet, she's content with only getting two burns whilst cooking this week.
- Why didn't Jamie question the Duke's incessant needing of him to make sure Claire knew that him getting injured wasn't his fault? He didn't know about all the dealings Claire had with the Duke. Maybe then, he could have had some moral ground to stand on when she was sowing him up later.
- And yet, Claire expertly knows when to use pain as a way of making her anger known.
- I guess the audience now needs to see Claire and Jamie having sex at least once during every episode in order to know that things are still good between them as a couple. I'm not complaining though.
