Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Outlander Season 7 Episode 10.Remember when I said that the back half of Outlander Season 7 would be full of shocks and surprises? It doesn’t take long at all for the Starz adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s hit book series to deliver on either of those things. While this week’s episode, written by Luke Schelhaas and directed by Stewart Svaasand, gets off to a bittersweet start by finally saying farewell to a much-loved character, it ends on a particularly stunning note that some viewers might not be fully prepared for (if they haven’t read the books already, that is). There’s no point in wasting any more time; let’s unpack all the drama that plays out in the rather aptly-named “Brotherly Love.”

Jamie Says Goodbye in ‘Outlander’ Season 7 Episode 10
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The episode opens with a flashback — and if you thought this moment would also double as a backdoor pilot for the planned prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood, think again. It is a scene of fond reminiscence, though, as we observe a much younger version of Jamie (Sam Heughan) and his brother Willie learning an important lesson about watching each other’s backs — both on the battlefield and off. Years later, Jamie’s sitting in that very spot with Ian (Steven Cree) as the two pass a flask back and forth, making each other chuckle as they reflect on the past. Jamie advises Ian not to risk coughing up a lung, for fear Jenny (Kristin Atherton) will kill him if her husband keels over, but also expresses the sentiment that he’s loved Ian like a brother since the day they made blood vows to protect each other as such.

It’s a beautiful moment that, sadly, proves to be short-lived; the very next scene finds Jamie lifting a weakened Ian into bed. After Jenny and Jamie each take one of Ian’s hands in their own, Ian dies with his wife’s name on his lips. Later, Jamie insists on digging the grave for Ian himself, and promises to remain at Lallybroch for as long as he’s needed. He does have every intention of joining Claire (Caitriona Balfe) in Philadelphia, but there are other things to attend to first — like visiting Joan (Layla Burns) at her new convent in Paris — before moving on to the city of Brotherly Love. He offers Jenny a home with him and Claire on Fraser’s Ridge, and Jenny admits she might consider it one day, or at least after the American Revolution has ended, and her children have grown enough to need her around less.

Ian Finally Makes a Confession in ‘Outlander’ Season 7 Episode 10
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After a five-week crossing, Claire and Young Ian (John Bell) are in a carriage making their way through the streets of Philadelphia. Travel doesn’t come smoothly with the city under British occupation, especially when rumors of spies are running rampant, but the Redcoat checking travelers only glances at Ian’s papers before waving them through. Apparently, women aren’t considered much of a threat, but more on that later. The two split up, with Ian planning to ride to the Valley Forge encampment to search for Rachel Hunter (Izzy Meikle-Small), while Claire continues on to the house of a woman named Mercy Woodwock (Gloria Obianyo) to perform surgery on Lord John Grey’s (David Berry) nephew Henry (Harry Jarvis). Claire and John catch each other up on everything that’s happened — he resigned his commission in the British army, but still wears the uniform for “intimidation” purposes, especially since Mercy is pro-independence. After examining Henry, Claire’s informed that one musket ball still remains after the young man was shot twice in the abdomen; the other was removed by Denzell Hunter (Joey Phillips), Rachel’s brother.

As the two physicians meet up and nerd out over surgical talk, Claire learns that Rachel has accompanied her brother to Philadelphia, rather than remaining in Valley Forge. Fortunately, Outlander is only giving us a smaller version of what could’ve been a much bigger missed connection this week; as Rachel and William Ransom (Charles Vandervaart) are doing some shopping, accompanied by Ian’s trusted four-legged companion Rollo, the half-wolf seems to catch the scent of his owner and takes off running. Rachel loses Rollo in the crowds, but as she calls out for Ian, someone else is listening: Arch Bug (Hugh Ross), who seems to have been tracking Rachel all this time with revenge against Ian on his mind. Ian and Rollo reunite, so at least he knows that Rachel is close by, but what will he discover when he finally finds her?

Later, Denzell and Mercy assist Claire with Henry’s surgery, where Denzell marvels at the ability to cut into someone without waking them up at all, thanks to the use of ether. John, with his back turned, fights not to throw up into his own surgical mask as Claire searches through Henry’s intestine to discover that the remaining bullet is trapped inside, with the metal having been hot enough to cauterize the intestinal wall behind it. It’ll involve a resection, but Claire’s confident in her abilities, and Henry successfully makes it through the long surgery.

Meanwhile, Rachel continues her search for Rollo in the stables and is instead grabbed by Bug, who threatens to kill her — but promises he’ll wait until after Ian finds her, so he can watch his love die. Rachel tries to appeal to Bug’s better nature, questioning the value of vengeance on a moral as well as a spiritual level, and of course, that’s the exact moment when Ian arrives. Confronting the old man, Ian earns an ax wound in the arm during the struggle, and Bug briefly gets the upper hand — but then William arrives, shooting the man dead. It’s a somewhat anticlimactic ending to this long-running revenge plot, with William essentially getting friendzoned in the process, but it also leads to a fireside confession from Ian about his love for Rachel, so… almost everyone gets what they wanted in the end?

Related ‘Outlander’ Season 7, Part 2: What To Expect From the Dramatic Midseason Continuation The Droughtlander is nearly over, as the epic couple returns to their home in Lallybroch.

Everything Changes for Claire in ‘Outlander’ Season 7 Episode 10
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By the time Claire receives word from Jamie, it’s been six weeks since the date of his letter, in which he confirms the passing of Older Ian and reveals he’s been hanging out with Benjamin Franklin’s social circle in Paris — but he’s also booked passage on a ship bound for Philadelphia, so he’s already well on his way. In fact, he could show up any day now. But Claire has another problem on her hands: Mercy reveals she’s been working as a spy for the rebels, couriering coded messages out of Philadelphia, but she’s recently been followed. Claire offers to deliver the latest message intended for General Washington herself, since the contents of her basket are never searched when she goes out foraging in the community garden beyond the city walls.

Something tells us this plan will eventually backfire, but there’s no time to dwell; at John’s house, Claire is met with a stunned expression from her host. He can barely get the words out: Jamie’s ship has been lost at sea with no survivors found. Claire’s first response is denial, even after she’s presented with the manifest that lists her husband’s name among the passengers. “I would feel it in my heart if his had stopped, do you understand?” Claire cries. “Mine would stop too.”

A long night unfolds for Claire, with unending tears and imagining Jamie’s face among the ocean waves, but morning dawns harshly when Captain Ezekiel Richardson (Ben Lambert) arrives at the house, revealing he’s there to arrest Claire as a rebel spy. Thinking fast, John claims Claire has gone to church to mourn, but Richardson says he can only give them a day before returning to take her into custody. After Richardson departs, John lets himself into Claire’s room and offers his protection to her the only way he knows how: through marriage. It’s certainly a noble gesture, but on the other hand, Claire Randall Fraser Grey is a bit of a mouthful…

Roger’s Seeing Ghosts in ‘Outlander’ Season 7 Episode 10
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Meanwhile, Outlander finally confirms when Roger (Richard Rankin) and Buck MacKenzie (Diarmuid Murtagh) have inadvertently traveled to — 1739, four years before Claire herself goes back through the stones. We pick up with them after their surprising face-to-face meeting with Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek), though Roger is the only one with any real understanding of how they all know each other since Buck is unaware of who his birth mother really is. Roger quickly explains away any initial awkwardness by referring to Geillis’ younger age — he would’ve expected any woman with knowledge of the old ways to be much more… mature, of course! But Geillis is struck by a strange feeling of recognition when she gets closer to examine Buck herself, even if she can’t explain why. After Geillis leaves the room to fetch herbs for a remedy, Roger clues Buck in on a few details about Geillis — her real name, her belief in blood sacrifice, and the fact that she’s another time traveler (while conveniently leaves out the details about her being Buck’s birth mother in the process).

Later, Geillis attempts to cozy up to Roger in private to gain more information about him, but there’s more than one reason why he doesn’t want to sleep with his many-times great-grandmother, including the fact that he’s a married man. He does give her the truth about Jem’s kidnapping, and tries to sniff out whether she ever met Rob Cameron (Chris Fulton) — but the name doesn’t seem to spark any recognition. A knock at the door brings with it some new visitors, including Dougal MacKenzie (Graham McTavish)! He hands off a pair of dogtags to Roger engraved with the name J.W. MacKenzie — but those initials aren’t Jeremiah’s. As Dougal and Geillis have their official meet-cute and sneak off to peruse her wares (ahem), Roger grapples with the possibility that his father may not have gone missing in action as he’d always believed. What if he’d actually traveled through time during World War II, all the way back to 1739?

New episodes of Outlander Season 7 premiere Fridays on the Starz app and at 8 PM ET on Starz.

Claire and Jamie’s separation leads to a shocking outcome, while Roger makes a surprising discovery in Outlander Season 7 Episode 10.ProsCaitriona Balfe devastatingly navigates every stage of emotion with Claire’s reaction to the news about Jamie’s ship.This Claire/John marriage of convenience storyline is going to be REAL interesting.Rollo’s back! ConsJamie’s not really dead, right? … Right?Where’d Brianna go?The Arch Bug revenge plot wraps up rather anticlimactically.

Claire Beauchamp Randall, a nurse in World War II, mysteriously goes back in time to Scotland in 1743. There, she meets a dashing Highland warrior and gets drawn into an epic rebellion.Release Date August 9, 2014 Main Genre Drama Seasons 8 Studio Starz Story By Ronald D. Moore Writers Ronald D. Moore, Matthew B. Roberts Network Starz Directors Metin Hüseyin, Jamie Payne Showrunner Matthew B. Roberts Expand

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