[Warning: The below and video above contain MAJOR spoilers for Outlander, Season 7, Episode 9, “Unfinished Business.”]
Outlander has finally returned, and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) make their way back to Scotland with nephew Young Ian (John Bell) in the Season 7, Part 2 premiere, “Unfinished Business.”
But as they return to Jamie’s ancestral Fraser home, Lallybroch, they’re met with the harsh reality that is the passage of time. In the years since their relocation to America, the health of Jamie’s brother-in-law Ian (Steven Cree) has steadily declined, and he’s on his deathbed by the time Jamie, Claire, and son Young Ian make it back home.
The fragile nature of time puts into perspective what’s important to Jamie and Claire, with them deciding to finally tell the Murrays about her time-traveling ways when one of Jenny (Kristin Atherton) and Ian’s sons mentions plans to continue working in France. Together, Jamie and Claire sit down with the family to warn against the impending revolution that will soon come to France, and Claire admits she’s able to travel through time.
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The information leads to some cathartic moments of understanding and heartbreaking realizations that even fantastical abilities can’t make miracles happen, particularly when Jenny begs Claire to heal Ian, who is suffering from consumption. “I think any time you have a secret, it stops you from connecting fully with people,” Balfe says. “There was always that thing that stopped Jenny and Claire, and even Claire and Ian [from] really understanding each other on a deeper level.”
“It’s a very tough thing for them to understand,” Balfe adds, noting that from Jenny’s perspective, “there’s a little bit of hurt that she wasn’t trusted with this information before.” Still, Balfe believes this reveal puts Jenny and Claire on stronger footing with one another. “It sort of allows them to really know each other on a deeper level, which I think is always good.”
At the same time as their inner family turmoil unfolds, Jamie is faced with the mess he’s made involving his second wife Laoghaire (Nell Hudson), who is reluctant to let her youngest daughter, Joanie (Layla Burns), pursue a role in the church to maintain the property she’s acquired under Jamie. The situation forces Jamie to set things right so that Laoghaire can live her life without the trauma that was their complicated relationship.
Related‘Outlander’ Cast Takes Us Inside Its Season 7 Return
“He’s not gonna go around for dinner anytime soon,” Heughan jokes, despite Jamie and Laoghaire’s new legal arrangement, which allows her to marry another man without risk of losing the property he bestowed upon her.
The episode concludes with Claire and Young Ian’s departure from Lallybroch to aid in helping Lord John Grey’s sickly nephew in Philadelphia while Jamie remains behind to spend whatever time he has left with Ian. But as Balfe notes of Jamie and Claire’s separation, “nothing ever good happens when the Frasers are separated.”
See what else Balfe and Heughan had to say about Jamie and Claire’s journey in the premiere episode in the full video interview, above, and don’t miss Outlander as the latest episodes unfold on Starz. And make sure to come back each week for insight into a new episode of Outlander from the stars themselves.
Outlander, Season 7, Part 2, Fridays, 8/7c, Starz (Midnight on the Starz App and On Demand)
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