<i>Outlander: Blood of My Blood</i> Season 1, Episode 7: When There’s a Will, There’s a Way

Spoilers below.

Up until now, the Jacobite Rebellion has played only a minor supporting role in the events of Outlander: Blood of My Blood. But as the series, set primarily in 1714, creeps closer to 1715—when a major battle in the Jacobite uprising took place—we know Highland politics will take center stage. Indeed, the latest episode, “Luceo Non Uro,” revolves largely around a Jacobite meeting at House Nairne, where Ellen finds herself at the center of a worsening scandal.

But, first, let’s check in on the Frasers and Beauchamps in drafty old Leathers. After the birth of her baby last episode, Julia and Davina have become fast friends. When the former suggests they secretly season the laird’s food with “chaste berry”—thus lessening Simon’s “capability in the bedchamber” and ensuring Julia needn’t have sex with her disgusting new husband—the two of them burst into simultaneous schoolgirl giggles. It’s a delight to watch the besties scheme over the appropriately limp flower clutched in Davina’s palm...even if they had to go through a truly harrowing birthing experience to reach this level of companionship.

Nevertheless—with the exception of his, uh, nether regions—things seem to be looking up for Lord Lovat. At a Protestant church, he witnesses Julia’s baby baptized as his namesake, thus aligning himself (and the child) with the seer’s prophecy. He bribes the reverend to forge the dates of the child’s birth and his marriage to Julia in the church’s records, thus solidifying the infant as the laird’s “legitimate” heir. Finally, he has his right-hand man, Balloch, murder the reverend to ensure no one ever learns of the scam.

Little does he know, Julia has taken matters into her own hands. Outside the church, she asks Brian to bless the baby as “William Henry Beauchamp,” not as Simon Fraser of Lovat. For those new to the Outlander universe, that name might not signify much. But to longtime fans, it’s a major Easter egg. In the flagship series, we learn that Brian and Ellen welcomed a baby boy named William before having his younger brother, Jamie, the series protagonist. That same William supposedly died of smallpox when he was a wee lad. But what if Brian and Ellen’s William and Julia and Henry’s William are one and the same? What if William Fraser is, in fact, William Beauchamp, raised by Brian and Ellen for reasons we can’t yet ascertain? Sure, that would mean Jamie fell in love with his adoptive brother’s biological sister, but...hey, in Outlander, stranger things have happened.

Either way, the elder Simon has what he wants for now: an heir publicly bearing his name; a woman thought to be his lawfully wedded wife; and a fracture between Clans Grant and MacKenzie. Re: that fracture, well...Brian has a lot to answer for this episode. His general inability to hide his feelings for Ellen soon lands both him and the eldest MacKenzie in hot water, particularly after Murtagh confronts Brian outside the Protestant church. Furious with his cousin for wooing Ellen behind his back, Murtagh punches Brian and pronounces their friendship over—all while Balloch watches from a few years away.

Ellen isn’t faring much better over at Leoch. Within the castle, news of a cattle raid against the Grants has stirred up Colum’s worst fears. He’s quick to suspect his brother, but Ned informs him that Dougal’s involvement is impossible: The warchief was last seen heading toward House Nairne to auction off the MacKenzies’ own cattle. Ellen is smart enough to recognize a lie when she hears one; House Nairne keeps no such kine. But the Nairnes are known Jacobite supporters. Ellen infers that Dougal is secretly meeting with the Jacobites, a move that is certain to upset the Grants, who proclaim loyalty to the Crown. (As a refresher: The Jacobites want to restore a Stuart king to the British throne and reinstate a Catholic monarchy. Loyalists like the Grants support the existing Protestant rule.) Colum, in an act of desperation, agrees to send Ellen to House Nairne under the pretense of inviting Lady Nairne to the upcoming nuptials. There, Ellen will attempt to smooth over whatever friction Dougal is sure to incite.

But Ellen has her own agenda to pursue. At House Nairne, she discovers that Simon has sent both Brian and Murtagh to check the temperature of deliberations. And as we all know by now, Ellen and Brian are about as inconspicuous with their attraction as dogs in heat. Murtagh catches their Romeo-and-Juliet glances across the room almost immediately, and his look of wounded-puppy despair is as upsetting as it was the first time. Apparently eager to punch his cousin again, he has fully pledged himself to the MacKenzies—and to Dougal, in particular. When Dougal asks Murtagh to keep an eye on his sister while he chases a mystery woman across the hall, Murtagh finally has his chance to speak with the Lady MacKenzie herself. Of course, even that opportunity is squandered when Malcolm Grant and Arch Bug crash the Jacobites’ party.

Ellen launches into damage control. She informs Malcolm that she arrived at House Nairne to invite the family to their wedding, but in the process she stumbled upon her brother, caught “under the sway” of Jacobite rebels. She swears she sought only to dissuade Dougal of these unsavory affiliations, but now she fears her presence at the meeting will ruin her engagement to Malcolm! It’s almost as if—gasp—that’s exactly what she wants!! Clever girl indeed.

Malcolm, bless him, is too infatuated to take her bait. He “calms” her fears with a promise not to tell his father of this Jacobite business. Still, he urges her to escape before his companions, a bunch of Red Coats, come storming in. The British soldiers attempt first to arrest Rob Roy MacGregor as the true mastermind behind the Grant cattle raid. But they then extend their arrest warrant to the many Jacobite conspirators in the room, each of them committing treason against the Crown. Sensing the danger for Ellen, Brian fires a bullet into the floorboards as a distraction, and the gathering erupts into madness.

Sprinting out into the courtyard, Brian grabs Ellen’s hand and swings her into his awaiting arms. (In broad daylight, mind you. In the literal middle of a chase sequence.) As apparently anyone but Brian could have predicted, Dougal notices this brazen PDA and opts to also punch the young Fraser. (It’s a wonder Brian’s jaw is still intact after this episode.) The MacKenzie war chieftain then yanks his sister up onto his horse, gesturing for Murtagh to follow them. Instead of escaping with Brian, Murtagh opts to fulfill Dougal’s orders. It’s yet another blow for an already floundering Brian.

All our favorite characters return safely home, for now. But the secrets are practically pouring out of the woodwork at this point. Soon enough, Mrs. Fitz has the unfortunate luck to discover a square of Fraser tartan amongst Ellen’s belongings. She mistakes the tartan as Murtagh’s, not Brian’s, and when she jumps to the conclusion that Murtagh and Ellen were recently handfasted, Ellen does not bother to correct her. “Hide it well,” Mrs. Fitz demands. “And we willna speak of it again.”

But their pact will soon be tested. When Colum calls for his sister, Ellen marches right into an ambush: Henry has arrived on behalf of the Grants, and he has an ugly demand to make of the Lady MacKenzie. Due to renewed rumors of Ellen’s promiscuity—courtesy of Simon Fraser himself, as informed by Balloch, who witnessed Murtagh and Brian tussling over Ellen earlier in the episode—the Grants now seek proof of Ellen’s chastity. They’ll perform a virginity test, which is about as invasive (and dangerous for her) as it sounds. “I am sorry,” Henry says, though his apologies aren’t about to do Ellen much good.

When Brian returns home to Leathers, Simon thanks him for seducing Ellen. “I’m proud of you,” Simon tells his son, perhaps for the first time in Brian’s life. Horrified, the latter realizes he’s inadvertently played into his father’s hands. By sleeping with Ellen in episode 5, he has perhaps trapped them both.

Nor is he the only one ensnared. Having decided that the only path forward is one that returns him to his surviving child, Claire, in the 20th century, Henry tries to escape the service of the Grants. First, he returns to the brothel, where he tells the sex worker—Seema—that their night together was a mistake. (You think?!) Seema, clearly in love with the kind-hearted Mr. Beauchamp, is desperate to convince Henry she can be whoever he wants her to be, even if that’s a crude facsimile of Julia. Henry pays Seema handsomely to help her start afresh, but money is clearly not what she’s after. She yearns to follow him through the stones of Craigh na Dun, but he brushes her off, and her face hardens with anger.

Sure enough, when Henry attempts to race to the stones, he’s intercepted by Arch Bug. (Somehow, this man manages to be everywhere at once.) Seema told the Grants where to find Henry, and they lead him back to Isaac’s household—as both their bladier and their prisoner.

Henry might not know it yet, but this capture might actually be the best thing that could happen to him. After seasoning Lord Lovat’s food with chaste berry and waiting until he passes out beside her, Julia tiptoes through the laird’s chamber and discovers a pile of letters from Clan Grant on his desk. Upon a closer inspection, Julia’s eyes widen with recognition. She knows this handwriting, and she knows this name. Henry Grant? That’s her Henry. He’s alive, and he’s here in Scotland. She will find him. The only question is, will she be fast enough?