Review of 'Outlander' 4.4

Another great episode of Outlander last night—4.4—in which Jamie and Claire come to terms with bears and the Cherokee, and then at the end, we learn something much worse, which apparently they won't be able to come to terms with at all.

And, actually, the bear that Jamie et al were worried about turns out to be a Cherokee made outcast by his people—because he slept with a woman against her will. He's taken to wearing a bear mask, donning bear claws, and wreaking havoc. But he's no match for Jamie, who kills him and wins the uneasy alliance of the Cherokee as a result. This all makes for a satisfying set piece of frontier life.

But the worst is yet to come, and it's much worse. Roger (the historian) learns that, according to a historical report, Jamie and Claire die in a blaze in their cabin—some time in the 1770s, or at least two years to more than a decade from when they now are in 1768. And this, awful as it is, opens up a whole new desperate and exciting gambit in the time travel which is the underpinning of this whole series.

Because there's no way that Roger and Brianna (who doesn't yet know about this, but surely will) are going to just stand by and let this happen. They'll figure out a way of traveling to 1768 or 1769 Fraser's Ridge and alerting Jamie and Claire to the deadly fire that awaits them. Either that, or the report that Roger received is in error. But I'd vastly prefer the narrative to deal with the dire problem by time travel.

Brianna's already in Scotland, intent on seeing her mother, which means travel to the past and a transAtlantic voyage is already on the agenda. All's that's needed is for Roger to tell Brianna what he knows. I'm looking forward to seeing this part of the story play out next week, or whenever it happens.