In Outlander's 'Hour Of The Wolf,' Things Get Real With The Cherokee
For those of you Sassenachs who've been wondering when we were going to find out what happened to young Ian when he was with the Mohawk, wonder no more! The latest episode of "Outlander," "Hour of the Wolf," fills us in on the details of what went down with Ian and ends with him figuring out where he belongs! Good on you, Ian.
"Hour of the Wolf" also has some ether experimentation, commentary on how America's indigenous people are going to get screwed, and a return to sexy times. Read on for a detailed discussion on all of this, though be warned! Spoilers for the fourth episode of this season's "Outlander" lie below.
What went down when Ian was with the Mohawk
We start out "Hour of the Wolf" with a flashback to when young Ian underwent the ceremony to officially become a member of the Mohawk. It's a significant moment for Ian and the rest of the tribe, and also for a young woman who looks at him fondly throughout the event.
That woman, who Ian calls "Emily" before he learns the Mohawk language, ends up becoming his wife. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that Ian and Emily love each other very much, and that Emily sadly had a stillbirth and at least one miscarriage. Some of the Mohawk blamed Ian for the couple's difficulty (his spirit isn't strong enough, allegedly), however, and banished him and gave Emily a new husband, a young man who Ian thought was his friend.
Why are we finding out all this now? Well, in our "present day," Ian and Jamie are visiting the Cherokee to deliver the guns the Crown has secured for them. When they get there, however, there's a Mohawk group that includes Emily's new husband!
Things get awkward, to say the least. Ian finds out that his former friend and Emily now have a son, which understandably gives him a lot of feelings. When a drunk Indian Agent named Scotty McScotch Scotch (okay, that's not his real name, but close enough) demands a duel with Emily's baby daddy, however, Ian is there to support his fellow Mohawk and ultimately save his life.
Ian and Jamie also have a touching scene throughout all of this. When Ian expresses his grief about his stillborn baby girl, Jamie shares that he and Claire also lost a daughter at birth. "We shall ask my daughter to look for yours in heaven," Jamie tells Ian in a scene I'm not even going to pretend didn't make me cry.
At the end of it all, Ian comes to terms that he can be both Mohawk and Scottish — he doesn't have to choose one over the other. I'm glad that Ian has finally found comfort within himself — it's taken a season or so, but he's finally gotten there.
Jamie gets all Jamie-like with the Cherokee
Jamie isn't like Ian, however. He can't be two things! He can only just be Jamie, dammit, the best man in the world.
And the best man in the world is torn, I tell you! Torn! Through Claire and Brianna, he knows about the future, and he knows that things don't turn out well for the Cherokee. He also knows that there's a revolution coming and he plans to be on the non-British side of things.
In the end, this causes Jamie to tell the Cherokee Chief how his people will be violently displaced in about 60 years. Jamie wants to give the Cherokee a chance, though both of them know their chances are still pretty bleak. When he gets back home, right before he has sexy times with Claire in the stable, he also says he's going to resign as Indian Agent immediately.
Malva is giving off some malevolent vibes
Most of the episode took place at the Cherokee settlement, but we get some Fraser's Ridge action this episode as well. Claire is up to her scientific ways and is conducting ether experiments with Lizzie and Josiah. Malva is there as well taking everything in and saying that her dad wouldn't approve.
"Where does the soul go?" she asks at one point when Lizzie is under. Claire says it doesn't go anywhere, but I can't help but think there's a wee bit of foreshadowing going on here. Malva also looks through Claire's notebook with Claire's blessing and remarks that her brother thinks it's an evil spellbook. It's not, of course, though it's depressing (but not surprising) that the act of writing things down so others can learn from them is a sign of the devil.
Malva also gets extra ominous and creepy at the very end of the episode, which ruined a very nice sexy time moment.
The return of sexy times
I am pleased to report that "Hour of the Wolf" has many sexy time moments to make up for the drought in last week's episode.
First, we have a couple of very sexy time moments with Ian with his Mohawk bride. They love each other! It's bittersweet because we know how things turn out, but it's nice to see that Ian found love.
We get a couple of Claire and Jamie sexy times as well. The first happens as a "use sexy time for exposition" moment at the beginning of the episode, where Claire and Jamie try to have morning sex that gets interrupted by Major MacDonald sneezing because of the cat. The Major is there because he just delivered the guns, and we find out through kisses that Jamie is now going to deliver guns to the Cherokee.
The episode also ends with a sexy time between Claire and Jamie, although this one has a creepy twist because Malva is watching them. The music is also ominous, so it seems like there will be some repercussions to Malva being a Peeping Tom. Maybe there will be a twist on the witch-burning foreshadowing, with Malva instead of her dad, Tom Christie, being the one who accuses Claire of being a witch.
It's all a bit up in the air now, though I'm sure we'll learn more next week. Also, this is a refrain for the entire show, but one of the things I love in pretty much every episode of "Outlander" is how there is never any real drama in the core relationship of Claire and Jamie — their love is tested and never broken, though the two pretty much go through everything a couple could. It's a nice change, frankly, from what we usually see on shows and in film. And I'm here for it.
Other thoughts
- It's hilarious to me how they have Jamie say before sexy times that he's so much older and doesn't have the stamina anymore. You're doing just fine, Jamie, don't worry about it.
- Fergus is gone! For a while, at least. Jamie sends him off to sell stuff and visit Aunt Jocasta. Hope he's fully on the mend whenever he gets back.
- Tom Christie didn't make an appearance this week, though I've no doubt he'll be back with his self-righteous views next episode.
- We get some flirting action between Lizzy, Kezzie, and Josiah! Curious to see where things go with this triangle.