The journey on the seas is a dangerous one as the lives of Claire and Jamie are tested once again in amidst their sudden separation. Such are the hardships and trials that wait them in this episode. Man, when will Claire and Jamie ever get a break? Who knows?
Synopsis: Claire races to discover the source of an epidemic aboard a disease-stricken ship before hundreds of sailors die. And as Jamie locks horns with Captain Raines, Fergus finds himself torn between loyalty and love. (IMDB)
Writer: Luke Schelhaas
Director: David Moore
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 64mins
The episode opens up with Jamie onboard the Artemis, waiting for Claire to return from being on the Porpoise. Suddenly, the Porpoise begins to depart and (frantically) begins to instruct the crew to chase after them, seeing Claire on the top decks of through a spyglass. However, Captain Raines instruct his men not to follow the Porpoise, saying that a letter was sent over from their captain (Captain Leonard) that Claire’s service is indeed on their ship and that she will be safely delivered back to them when they arrived in Jamaica. Refusing that statement, Jamie tries again, but Captain Raines tell the crew to restraint Jamie and having taking below the decks under lock and key.
Back on the Porpoise, Claire is trying her best to make the most of her current situation as she begins to tend to the sick men (those who have come down with typhoid fever) and instructs the non-sick crew to wash the decks and make available space for the sick. This, of course, ruffles some of the crew’s feathers, including the ship’s cook Mr. Cosworth. Claire also finds an able body hand in the form of Mr. Pound, who was sent by Captain Leonard to aid her. Acting as her assistance, Claire finds comfort within Mr. Pound, asking him if she could call him by his first name (Elias) as a friendship blooms as the pair continue to their mission to tend to the sick and ill. Unfortunately, more and more crew members are either contracting the illness or dying because of the illness. After some deducing, Claire finds that the crew members (one of Mr. Cosworth men) is indeed the original carrier for the disease, who is then placed under in cell to stop him spreading the illness.
While onboard, Claire comes across a Portuguese flag (remember that Jamie’s cousin Jared mentioned that the ship that took Young Ian had a Portuguese flag as a banner. Searching for clues leads Claire to Captain Leonard’s quarters as she glances through his ledger in attempt to see if the ship was Bruja. Unfortunately, it was not and that leaves her search at a dead end. However, upon reading through more of the Leonard’s ledger, Claire discovers that one of the crew (under the name of Harry Tompkins) knows of who Jamie Fraser. Using her keen mind, Claire somewhat tricks Elias to find Mr. Tompkins amongst the crew (pretending that he’s the second carrier for the disease).
Elias, being diligent, finds Mr. Tompkins and brings him to Claire. Claire is shocked to learn that Mr. Tompkins is the same Mr. Tompkins from a few episodes back (the man who was in service to Sir Percival and who burned Jamie’s print shop). Mr. Tompkins informs Claire that he told Captain Leonard of who Jamie Fraser was when Porpoise came into contact with the Artemis, stating that the young captain will have Jamie arrested in Jamaica when he comes looking for Claire, with Leonard getting a promotion in bringing in a convicted traitor / seditioner. Claire, still using the false claim that Mr. Tompkins is the second carrier for the fever, locks him away near the actual disease carrier.
As the days pass, the spreading of the typhoid fever seems to be halt and most of the crew that are sick are starting to get better. Unfortunately, Elias seems to have gotten a taste of the disease and Claire (accidentally) ignored to see the early warning signs of the disease. Elias dies in her presence, which makes Claire very upset as she has lost a good friend. She wraps his body up and prepares the men to drop him into the sea. This scene was touching as Claire’s relationship with Elias Pound was beginning to grow and it was kind of somewhat unexpected to lose just a side character so early after he was introduced.
Back on the Artemis, Jamie, who has been placed under lock and key, begs Fergus to find the key and set him, plotting to take the ship back from Captain Raines’s control and chart a course to find the Porpoise (to find Claire). Fergus is hesitant to “pull the triggerâ€, fearing that he and Jamie would fail in their attempt to take control of the Artemis. Jamie, desperate to be freed and wanting to save Claire, then says that he would give Fergus his blessing to marry Marsali if he would set him free from captivity. Fergus complicates the decision (even asking Marsali what to do). In the end, Fergus doesn’t, fearing that they would lose overtaking the ship, seeing that both him and Jamie would be killed in their mutiny attempt to take control of the Artemis, which would leave Marsali alone onboard. However, it’s actually Marsali that actually gets Jamie free from his cell by speaking to Captain Raines, who’s in need of able hands to help bring the ship during some troubled waters. When freed, Jamie thanks Fergus and Marsali for their reasons and efforts and gives the young couple to be wed (by a priest) when they arrive in Jamaica.
Arriving on the Grand Turk Island, while the men are gathering supplies and fresh water, Claire and Annekje (one of the women on-board who tends to the goats (for goat’s milk) are left off on the land (by the beach) to let Annekje’s goats eat fresh grass. While the men are distracted, Annekje instructs Claire to run off to find Jamie before it’s too late. Claire makes run for it and almost does succeed until she run across Captain Leonard (and a few of his men), who are making rounds of the nearby surroundings in case some of his men venture off whilst the crew are docked on land. He then confesses to Claire that he knows who she is and that she’s married to Jamie Fraser, playing on luring Jamie out in Jamaica (to seek out Claire) and then arresting; confirming everything that Mr. Tompkins said he would do. Captain Leonard then instructs his men to take Claire back to the Porpoise as the ship gets ready to sail once again.
The episode ends with Claire receiving additional help from Annekje, instructing Claire to jump off the side of the boat at night when much of the crew is not on deck. Hesitantly to make the jump, Claire finds the strength to overcome her fear and (with Annekje making a make-shift raft), jumps off the side of the Porpoise and plunges into the dark waters of the sea.
All in all, this was a very interesting episode that dealt with both love and loss in the regards to Claire and Jamie’s sudden separation of distance. Furthermore, the episode continues to take the series (as a whole) to the uncharted territory of Jamaica to be probably reached by either the next episode or the one after that. What lies ahead for Claire and Jamie is unclear, but their reunion with each other is a sure-thing to happen.
8.0 Out of 10
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