‘Outlander’ Season 8 Episode 3 Recap: “Abies Fraseri”

If you’ve been wondering since he arrived in the Outlander Season 8 premiere whether Jamie and Claire can trust new Fraser’s Ridge resident Captain Cunningham, viewers discovered the answer is a resounding big fat no in “Abies Fraseri.” But hey, at least Claire’s got some pretty cool powers!

The episode begins with Fanny being propositioned by two officers at the trading post. Even in the backwoods of North Carolina, this poor child isn’t safe. Brianna clocks that these vile men are there to meet Captain Cunningham and tells Jamie. 

Jamie and Claire are fighting because Claire’s “former husband,” Lord John Grey, has written to her. He wants Brianna to come paint a portrait of Ben’s widow and son, Amaranthus and Trevor. The jealous Jamie is still not over Claire and Lord John having sex when they were briefly married. Unfortunately, Fanny overhears the conversation and worries she’ll be sent back to the brothel. Claire promises she’s safe with them no matter what. But another descendant who delights in the revelation is Brianna. She even teases Claire that she’ll have to call Lord John “Da” now.

At Lord John Grey’s, William returns from his New Jersey adventure, proclaiming he doesn’t believe that his cousin Benjamin is really dead. Lord John is skeptical but offers William to join him at a luncheon with Ben’s former commanding officer, Major General Leslie. William resents his father’s ploys to get him back into society, but he agrees if it’ll get him answers on Ben. Before he goes, Amaranthus gives William a fancy gem-encrusted waistcoat featuring beetles, allegedly inspired by her naturalist father and botanist grandfather.

Jamie takes a break from being pissed about Lord John to visit Captain Cunningham and ask about those British officers. Cunningham claims that they were returning his dead son’s belongings to him — including a pistol, which Jamie handles before Cunningham stops him. Jamie tells him he will not tolerate any actions that would threaten Fanny or the Ridge, and Cunningham claims innocence, saying it’s unlikely the men will ever return.

Speaking of protecting the Ridge, Brianna and Roger have come up with a plan to buy guns while they’re in Savannah at Lord John’s. They figure securing some arms wouldn’t hurt if there’s going to be a battle at King’s Mountain soon, but Jamie vehemently disapproves of the plan.

Claire asks Jamie not to punish Roger and Brianna for what happened with John. The couple has it out again, with Jamie saying he will love her forever, but he can’t forgive her. Claire defends herself, saying that she was never unfaithful to Jamie. It ends as the majority of their fights end, with them making love. “Did I break the skin?” Claire asks, quoting the books by Diana Gabaldon. “You do that every time you touch me, Sassenach,” Jamie replies, solidifying their unbreakable connection. Something tells me these kids are going to be all right. 

The next morning seems to prove that the Lord John stuff will be forgiven, with Jamie in good spirits as Claire holds Soul of a Rebel, teasing her about her many husbands. They discuss whether Frank was perhaps torturing Claire with Jamie’s death in the book, like she had tortured Black Jack Randall with this death date back in Wentworth Prison. While they wonder if what Frank wrote was true, Jamie hears Frank’s voice telling him, “You know it’s real.”

William attends the Redcoat party, where he asks General Leslie about Ben’s death. The general doesn’t have much to say, but he does reveal to William that Lord John was the governor of a Scottish prison 25 years ago. You can see the wheels turning for William, and surely, he’ll put the pieces together that this is where his biological father and his adoptive father met. Also at the luncheon, Lord John reunites with Percy Beauchamp — his stepbrother/sometimes lover. Percy asks Lord John to connect him to Fergus; Lord John agrees on the condition that Percy help him find Captain Richardson.

After the luncheon, William watches Amaranthus put away Ben’s belongings and spots his tin soldier. She claims that Ben gave her General Rolàn the last time she saw him… so maybe Ben really is dead? But as they review the meaning behind the beetle waistcoat, it leads to even more questions. Like, was she sending a message to the upper ranks of the British military with this bedazzled clothing item? And, if she’s really a widow in mourning, why is she kissing his cousin William?! Now feels as good a time as any to point out how William unknowingly slept with his niece last season. Poor guy can’t catch a break.

At the Ridge, Claire’s medical expertise is called upon to help a mother named Susannah deliver twins. The first baby comes out healthy, but after giving mouth-to-mouth to the second one, Jamie sees the baby is dead. But Claire won’t give up. As she holds the baby, Claire flashes back to when she gave birth to Faith. Master Raymond’s voice says, “Everyone has a color about them. All around them like a cloud. Yours is blue.” In the present, Claire and the baby become enveloped in blue, and suddenly, the baby girl is breathing. Jamie and Claire are both shocked, and Jamie hands Susannah her daughter.

As Claire and Jamie try to process what happened, she remembers when she was dying after delivering Faith that she felt a pale blue light wash through her as Master Raymond placed his hands on her. She wonders if that’s how he brought Faith back. Thinking back to Season 4, when the Cherokee woman Adawehi predicted that when Claire’s “hair is white like snow,” she’d have “wisdom behind time,” she asks Jamie what color her hair is. He says the hair around her face is “the color of moonlight.” So what other powers will Claire be capable of as the final season continues?!

With Faith top of mind, Jamie takes Fanny to a cairn he built for Jane. But their tender moment is interrupted by Benjamin Cleveland, who has just killed the two British officers who terrorized Fanny at the beginning of the episode. They were smuggling guns onto the Ridge, so Jamie goes to confront Captain Cunningham.

Jamie’s no dummy and quickly deduces that the letter one of the officers was carrying on him from Cunningham’s “Uncle Eldon in Salisbury” rambling about the fir Abies Fraseri, is code. He discovers the key in “Cunningham’s son’s” pistol. The message reveals that Cunningham is raising a Loyalist militia on Jamie’s land. Cunningham is rather blasé about it and even tries to get Jamie to change his allegiance to the British.

As Jamie hears Frank’s voice antagonizing him about his impending death, he seems to accept he’s not going to be able to stop the Revolutionary War from coming to his doorstep. All thanks to that rat, Captain Cunningham.

Caitlin Gallagher is a New Jersey-raised, NYC-based entertainment writer. When not writing about or watching TV, she can be found planning her next Halloween costume, crying over rescue animals, or praising Season 2 of The Leftovers.