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OUTLANDER: DRAGONFLY IN AMBER {SECOND SEASON FINALE} (TV)

Summary

The second season finale in this series of fantasy dramas, based on the novels by Diana Gabaldon, about a World War II nurse caught up in romance and danger after she is magically transported to the 18th century.

In this episode, in 1968 Scotland, Roger Wakefield attends his adoptive father's wake and greets the guests, including Dr. Claire Randall and her 20-year-old American daughter Brianna. Claire explains that her late husband Frank was a good friend of the reverend's, and Roger invites mother and daughter to stay overnight before making the long drive back to London. Claire and Roger share a late-night drink as Roger explains that his biological ancestors, the MacKenzies, fought in the famed Battle of Culloden, and the two ponder the difficulty of saying goodbye to loved ones. In the past, on the day of the fateful battle, Prince Charles dismisses "Doubting Thomas" Jamie's pleas for retreat, and Jamie tells Claire that they disaster that they have worked so hard to prevent will come to pass. Back in 1968, Brianna and Roger grow closer as they tour Fort William, where Jamie was flogged by Black Jack centuries ago, and Roger recalls that Brianna's "father" Frank was "very kind." At the same time, Claire visits Lallybroch and is overcome by memories of her lost love.

In the past, a desperate Claire considers preventing the battle by poisoning the prince, as she did with Colum per his request, and Dougal is horrified to overhear their seemingly treasonous plotting. Brianna confides in Roger about a mysterious "big incident" in her parents' past, as mentioned in letters to the reverend, and Roger suggests digging up his father's old journals for answers. Claire locates an old document transferring Lallybroch from Jamie to his nephew "Wee Jamie" — on which her own tear-stained signature is visible — and she begins digging into Roger's background. Later, Brianna begins to wonder if Claire ever truly loved Roger, as she never seemed to truly mourn his premature death. Wandering through Inverness College with Roger, Brianna witnesses a fiery speech from Scottish nationalist Gillian Edgars — who is in fact also Geillis Duncan — who praises the "bonny prince" and ponders a different reality in which the Jacobites were victorious at Culloden. Brianna debates with Gillian about her historical claims, and Claire spots a familiar object in a local museum.

In the past, an enraged Dougal attacks his nephew for apparently betraying Scotland, and Jamie is forced to kill him with Claire's help. A shocked Rupert witnesses the bloody scene, and Jamie pleads for a mere two hours to set his affairs in order before facing his punishment. In the future, Claire visits Culloden Moor and addresses a headstone commemorating the lost Fraser clan, telling Jamie about her life, and that of their smart and headstrong daughter, since their parting many years ago. Searching through the reverend's old possessions with Roger, Brianna finds an article about Claire's three-year disappearance and eventual return, and she angrily confronts her mother, assuming that she simply ran off to have an affair with another man, Brianna's biological father. Claire admits that Frank knowingly raised another man's child as his own, and Brianna is understandably skeptical when Claire finally explains the story of her time-traveling adventures and her bigamist marriage to "the love of her life."

In the past, Jamie quickly signs over the deed to Lallybroch, enlisting Murtagh and Claire as the formal witnesses, and he dispatches the loyal Fergus to take the important document off to his sister for safekeeping. In 1968, Roger gently urges Brianna to be more forgiving of her mother's seemingly insane claims, and they briefly encounter Gillian, who tells them to "keep asking the hard questions." Claire visits Gillian's unhappy husband Greg Edgars, who tells her about his wife's obsession with Scottish history, and Claire realizes that Gillian will soon become Geillis after intentionally traveling into the past via the stones — using a human sacrifice as a conduit — and will eventually be burned at the stake as a witch. In the past, Jamie resolves to get Claire to safety and then face his fate on the doomed battlefield alongside Murtagh, and in the future, Brianna tentatively asks her mother about the mysterious redheaded Scot who fathered her. Claire realizes that Gillian is going "out of town" that very night, but then wonders if stopping her could somehow alter the past and prevent Roger's very existence. As the battle looms, Jamie firmly reminds Claire of her promise to travel back through the stones and reunite with Frank in order to save herself, revealing that he has already guessed that she is again pregnant (with Brianna) and will have to raise their child in another time. The two say a passionate farewell, and a heartbroken Claire, hearing a strange buzzing near the stones, travels ahead in time.

Claire, Brianna and Roger rush to the stones, where Gillian has already made her sacrifice, presumably Greg. Brianna is shocked when Gillian vanishes before her eyes, thus proving her mother's bizarre claims, and Claire, assuring her daughter that she didn't kill anyone to achieve her own travels, promises "only the truth from now on." Roger then produces some of his father's documented research on the battle, which reveals that Jamie somehow survived Culloden and escaped execution. Stunned, Claire regards the stones and declares that she has to go back.

Details

  • NETWORK: Starz
  • DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 1:28:06
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: 136082
  • GENRE: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction; Drama, historical; Scotland - History - 18th century; Romance; Time travel; Families
  • SERIES RUN: Starz - TV series, 2014-
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Andy Harries … Executive Producer
  • Jim Kohlberg … Executive Producer
  • Maril Davis … Executive Producer
  • Anne Kenney … Executive Producer
  • Ira Steven Behr … Executive Producer
  • Toni Graphia … Executive Producer, Writer
  • Ronald D. Moore … Executive Producer, Developed by
  • Matthew B. Roberts … Co-Executive Producer, Writer
  • David Brown … Producer
  • Elicia Bessette … Co-Producer
  • Michael O'Halloran … Co-Producer
  • Philip John … Director
  • Diana Gabaldon … Based on the series of books written by
  • Bear McCreary … Music by
  • Caitriona Balfe … Cast, Claire Beauchamp Randall / Fraser
  • Sam Heughan … Cast, James "Jamie" MacKenzie Fraser
  • Duncan LaCroix … Cast, Murtagh Fraser
  • Graham McTavish … Cast, Dougal MacKenzie
  • Lotte Verbeek … Cast, Gillian Edgars
  • Richard Rankin … Cast, Roger Wakefield
  • Sophie Skelton … Cast, Brianna Randall Fraser
  • Andrew Gower … Cast, Prince Charles Edward Stuart
  • Grant O'Rourke … Cast, Rupert MacKenzie
  • Romann Berrux … Cast, Fergus
  • Scott Kyle … Cast, Ross
  • James Robinson … Cast, Greg Edgars
  • Iona Claire … Cast, Fiona Graham
  • Carol Ann Crawford … Cast, Mrs. Berrow
  • Charles Jamieson … Cast, Mr. Berrow
  • Dawn Chandler … Cast, Records Clerk
  • Tim Licata … Cast, Culloden Tourist
  • Nick Cheales … Cast, Culloden Husband
  • Fiona Ormiston … Cast, Culloden Wife
  • Clunie Mackenzie … Cast, Woman at Culloden Grave