S04.E04: Common Ground

[Netfoot]

Sure, but my point being that a 35' log might be more than Jamie & Claire can comfortably fell, debark, transport and then hoist up to the roof level.  They need a house, and they need it finished and chinked before cold weather sets in.  They have only hand tools, and a one-horsepower tractor.  Nothing strange about choosing a practical size house, which appeared to me to be quite large in comparison to many other log cabins.  

Don't get me wrong -- I like a spacious home.  My ideal two-bedroom house would be 15,000 square feet, not counting the deck/verandah.  But if I had to build it myself, I just might settle for something a little less ambitious.  Especially if I had to finish it by first snow.

[WInterfalls]

8 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

But if I had to build it myself, I just might settle for something a little less ambitious.  Especially if I had to finish it by first snow.

Exactly, they need a better shelter than the one they currently have before winter hits. So build a small cabin now and then you can start working on a big house in the spring. 

[ganesh]

No, you make interlocking 15' logs or whatever. That's all I meant. Or build two rooms. I didn't hear them say how they needed to get done before the first snow, so I can buy that, but Jamie was talking about building an office for Claire to see patients, so I wasn't aware of any time constraints. 

[BitterApple]

It takes a lot of wood to heat a large space, so maybe that factored into Jamie keeping the size of the cabin modest.

I wonder though, where's Ian supposed to sleep? They can't all be in one room, especially given Jamie and Claire's steamy love life, lol. 

Sometimes I have to rewatch the episode a couple times to pick up on what I missed (also the accents are so thick I can't understand the dialogue the first time around). During the tavern scene, Jamie tells Fergus to find Highlanders along with as many men from Ardsmuir Prison as he could. I don't want to jinx it, but dare I get my hopes up that we're going to be reunited with an old friend next week?

Edited November 29, 2018 by BitterApple

[Hannah Lee]

21 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Sure, but my point being that a 35' log might be more than Jamie & Claire can comfortably fell, debark, transport and then hoist up to the roof level.  They need a house, and they need it finished and chinked before cold weather sets in.  They have only hand tools, and a one-horsepower tractor.  Nothing strange about choosing a practical size house, which appeared to me to be quite large in comparison to many other log cabins.  

Don't get me wrong -- I like a spacious home.  My ideal two-bedroom house would be 15,000 square feet, not counting the deck/verandah.  But if I had to build it myself, I just might settle for something a little less ambitious.  Especially if I had to finish it by first snow.

Plus, with winter coming, a small cabin will be much easier to keep warm all winter long than a large one.   And keep in mind that Jamie spent years living in a cave, and years living in prison.  His sense of living space is probably very different from the rest of ours. 

They've got enough open space around them that they can expand down the line. 

IIRC Jamie had staked out the footprint for Claire's 'healer's shed' but I don't think they were actively building it yet, instead they're focusing just on the main one-room cabin.

 

ETA - Just saw that Bitter Apple made the same point, that I somehow missed before posting:

Quote

It takes a lot of wood to heat a large space, so maybe that factored into Jamie keeping the size of the cabin modest.

Edited November 30, 2018 by Hannah Lee

[Hannah Lee]

On 11/28/2018 at 10:12 AM, kwnyc said:

They are far enough apart for it not to be TOO weird. Let's see: Bree's great uncle (Dougal) is the many-times-over grandfather to Roger. And while Bree has half-18th century DNA, Roger's all 20th century. :-) (Yes, I think about these things.)

 

I was thinking the other day, if Bree someday became famous and wound up on "Finding Your Roots"  what would the DNA analysts on that show make of her? 

She'd have clusters of sequences that hadn't been seen together in generations, since over time they get diluted with other new ancestors. Bree skipped over 4-5 generations of grandparents when Claire went back.

[ganesh]

With all the ridiculousness of the show, I don't know why I was hung up on the engineering of the cabin. I just wish they had said something like, "let's get built what we can before winter."
 

[toolazy]

On 11/29/2018 at 11:08 AM, ganesh said:

Yeah, but there's nothing stopping them from making it 30 by 30 except for time. 

Winter is coming. 

[BitterApple]

14 hours ago, Hannah Lee said:

 

I was thinking the other day, if Bree someday became famous and wound up on "Finding Your Roots"  what would the DNA analysts on that show make of her? 

She'd have clusters of sequences that hadn't been seen together in generations, since over time they get diluted with other new ancestors. Bree skipped over 4-5 generations of grandparents when Claire went back.

Speaking of which, what the hell is Claire going to tell everyone, assuming Brianna makes it through the Stones? IIRC, the entire clan believes Claire never had children. Now 20+ years later, their daughter shows up out of nowhere? How is Claire going to tap dance around that one? 

[Netfoot]

4 hours ago, BitterApple said:

How is Claire going to tap dance around that one? 

Call her a niece?  

What I'm waiting to see is whether the boyfriend (Roger?) shows up as well, and if so, how many bloopers and clangers he drops!  Because he doesn't strike me as the kind of person who could maintain the fiction.  Hey, maybe he is the reason they had to burn the cabin and head for the hills?

[GingerMarie]

When Jenny asked about children with her husband Claire said something along the lines of 'I never had children with him'.  She never said I have never had a child. 

[AAEBoiler]

On 11/26/2018 at 12:40 AM, heavysnaxx said:

Why is Claire wearing PANTS in the last scene?

I'm not complaining 😉

[AAEBoiler]

On 11/30/2018 at 2:28 PM, toolazy said:

Winter is coming. 

Sorry, different show.

[Camera One]

I really liked how they showed the pioneering aspect of this episode.  Though it was a tad unrealistic they could clear the land with 3 people with no neighbors to give a hand (especially at Jaime and Claire's age).  I did want to see how they built that stick house, though.  

The slower, quieter pace of the episode was nice too.  There was some violence, but I was so relieved that their friend didn't get murdered.  I also liked their representation of the Cherokee.

I like the old housekeeper's granddaughter, but telling Roger about Brianna's mom dying puts him in a terrible spot.   I thought Brianna and Roger would try to go to the future to prevent the fire, but it looks like she has already "disappeared"?  Having Roger as a handy history guide might be helpful.

When I heard about Jaime and Claire dying in the fire, I too immediately thought they might have faked their deaths.  After all, this is Jaime and Claire we're talking about.  

It's strange because technically, it's true they lived in the 1700s so they would already have died 200 years ago, but we're watching the events in parallel, so it's like they're happening at the same time.  

[gingerella]

See Show, we don't need constant violence and threat of rape to have a nice, interesting episode! I could watch an entire season of them trying to build their homestead, making closer ties to the local Cherokee tribe, etc.  That said, opening scene I felt sure that Ian would have gone and somehow joined the tribe he and JQM were trading with, so I was very surprised when he popped up in Wilmington all fresh as a daisy and eager as a little puppy. But good for him for not getting himself into hot water like his aunt and uncle seem to do constantly.

His Excellency: 'Highlanders are like the Savages." Yeah right asshole. Have you heard the ballad of BJR, the pscho torturer who liked to rape men whilst torturing them? Yeah, those redcoats are some fine upstanding men. I was actually hoping and waiting for Jamie to tell him about BJR and was bummed he didn't set the dude straight. Then there was Jamie's 'There is the law, and what is done...' I felt like that entire convo was filled with double entendres and hidden meanings that neither Jamie nor His Excellency were getting. Like Jamie's replies didn't mean what that dude thought they meant. I felt like this is all going to come back and bite Jamie in his fine ass.

Marceli - I felt for her, she's scared of giving birth, I get it. But I was totally confused when she told Claire, "I'd no want any other healer by my side [than you]" because Claire isn't going to be very near to Wilmington so what was the point of saying that? Sometimes these lines seem so out of place and maybe the situation is different in the books and Claire stays with her until the birth but if so, then why say that in the Show? And it was kind of Claire to say that Leery raised Marceli well but we all know that those two girls likely raised themselves. I mean, just based on sex alone, Marceli was all for pre-marital schtupping, it was Fergus that told her they would wait until married. So she's sort of like her mother I guess, because Leery seemed to be a trollop who may or may not have really given her old maidenhead to someone before marriage. And she IS psycho and delusional, so I wish Claire would be more straight with her. Like, "I'm here for you if you need anything motherly, you can count on me." Don't glorify the girl's nutjob mother, thank you very much. God, can you tell how much I loathe Leery? Yeah, I do, in case that wasn't abundantly clear by now!

I am going to stop calling Ian 'Young Ian' now as I fear we'll not see Ian the Elder for some time again. I was, as always, enjoying his presence, he brings so much to every scene he's in. I loved when they rode out of Wilmington and he was on the horse behind the wagon, he looked like the cat that ate the canary, so pleased with himself to be embarking on this great adventure with Claire and Jamie. And I enjoyed the scene of them getting to their land...so of course every moment I was waiting for fucking Bonnet and his merry band of jackholes to appear through the woods and rape and pillage them.

Roger, Roger, Roger. Don't be such a pigheaded male! Tell her you fucking miss her and work shit out. But then, Roger finds proof that Claire found Jamie and they lived together on Fraser's Ridge! Yeah Roger, you're a handy person to know! It's clear Brianna still has feelings for him but she too is pigheaded like her mother, so it's going to be awhile before these two get together for real. The scene of Roger in his office at Oxford reminded me of @Anothermi's comment that she feels Roger shares a lot of personality traits with Frank. I see some things but not that many, but I was reminded that Frank was a don at Oxford and it looks as though Roger's headed in the same direction, interesting parallel, and yet what else would a history major do?!

Fiona furnished a Georgian-era manor house in mid-century modern?! What the everloving fuck?! She doesn't seem the type to be mod so I found it really an odd set decoration choice. And not for nothing but I want to live in that damn house myself!

I appreciated Claire's rationale that perhaps her Cherokee ghost was trying to warn them off rather than welcome them to the neighborhood, at least she's showing some self reflection there, atta girl Claire! And I was totally confused at first because I thought when the Cherokee came back they had thrown down spears on the ground and I thought, are they trying to help protect them, because they seem pissed off. Then later I realized it was the poles that laid out the perimeter of their land. And yet, they were given 10,000 acres right? There is no way they staked out the perimeter of 10,000 acres, so what exactly where they staking? Their house and immediate surroundings? And then Jamie says "I'll speak to JQM's in the morning", as if he's going to wake up, have some coffee around the campfire, and then pull out his coconut phone (oops, sorry, I'm still thinking about Jamaica!) and call JQM. I mean, it was never made clear at all that JQM was camping nearby and close enough that they'd know where to find him. I hate lazy continuity stuff like that.

RANT PAUSE: to say that I not only love Ian, but I adore Rollo, yes I do! He's already saved their collective asses more times than I can count by warning them about bad shit about to happen. Someone give that doggie a bone!

John Quincy Myers: I'd pay him to help me build my homestead, because dude is connected, and speaks the native language, and he's just a fucking badass that gets it done. I like him, like, alot. So of course he gets attacked and looks like he's going to die. Because apparently this Show cannot allow it's viewers to have any secondary characters that are likeable actually stick around. And I suppose that speaks to the fact that Trouble seems to follow Jamie and Claire like a bad STD...I'd say that JQM should stay with J&C while he heals, but shit's always going down with those two so, yanno, maybe not?

And Jamie, how's about you don't go looking to shoot a bear, in the woods, at night, in a new place that you don't really know well yet, with only one firearm, alone, by yourself. You got lucky that time dude. I thought he was bringing the dead guy to the Cherokee to say, mea culpa but he tried to kill us, so the speech about how he was a rapist and thus was thrown out of the tribe was fascinating. When he said, "Oftentimes Man is monster" I thought, yeah, this dude was the BJR of the Cherokee.  And then I read upthread that that particular native American actor was an actual Native American who was convicted of some pretty ugly domestic violence so that pretty much ruined that scene for me. The part with Claire meeting the elder female healer was interesting yet confusing. She told Claire, there will be death but it won't be your fault. Huh? Sweetheart, have you met Jamie and Claire? Death is always either a few miles behind them, or just around the next corner.  Tell us something we don't already know!

When Brianna's roommate told Roger that she'd gone to Scotland to see her mother, I felt a chill...So Brianna finds out from Roger that her mother found Jamie, and now she wants to find them both, I assume? And Roger knows that J&C die together in a fire (unless it's a ruse as per above comments upthread, which is highly likely given we're talking about J&C), so Roger really has to also try to go through the Stones, find Brianna and Jamie and Claire, and then tell J&C about their death date by fire, so that they can change that history. I mean, something like that is pretty easy to do I assume if you've a firm date and know what to do to avoid that happening, right? I wonder if that fire ends up being a ruse as hypothesized upthread, in which case perhaps Jamie and Claire go forward together through the Stones, to Claire's present day to extend their time together, if that is possible. I'm thinking not though because of the infamous Highlander/Jamie ghost we saw in S01E01, and because Jamie cannot hear the Stones buzzing, as Claire, Brianna and Roger can. So maaaaybe, there's more kerfuffle and danger's a'comin', and Jamie arranges for them to pretend to be killed in a fire to throw someone off scent, and he and Claire go back to Scotland and he dies there and she goes back to her time? I'm just thinking aloud here...

I really enjoy the story lines around Ian, and Roger/Brianna more than Jamie/Claire at this point. Anyone else or is it just me?

Edited August 5, 2021 by gingerella

[SassAndSnacks]

I really like this one, mostly because I could watch Jamie, Claire, and Ian build a home all day.  Like, in person.  I want to sit there and watch them split logs and clear trees in person and just hang out with them.

Anywaaaayyyyy...

On 8/4/2021 at 7:30 PM, gingerella said:

I could watch an entire season of them trying to build their homestead, making closer ties to the local Cherokee tribe, etc.

Me too!  I enjoyed the interactions.  And it was so interesting watching them make a home and how they did it. 

On 8/4/2021 at 7:30 PM, gingerella said:

There is no way they staked out the perimeter of 10,000 acres, so what exactly where they staking?

It was my interpretation that they were staking the perimeter of the treaty line with the Cherokee?  Didn't Gov. Tryon give Jamie land adjacent to the treaty line?  I caught just a quick peak at the map.  

 

Also, Claire's breeches = A+.  They did not get enough attention in this episode.  

[Cdh20]

57 minutes ago, SassAndSnacks said:

I really like this one, mostly because I could watch Jamie, Claire, and Ian build a home all day.  Like, in person.  I want to sit there and watch them split logs and clear trees in person and just hang out with them.

Anywaaaayyyyy...

Me too!  I enjoyed the interactions.  And it was so interesting watching them make a home and how they did it. 

It was my interpretation that they were staking the perimeter of the treaty line with the Cherokee?  Didn't Gov. Tryon give Jamie land adjacent to the treaty line?  I caught just a quick peak at the map.  

 

Also, Claire's breeches = A+.  They did not get enough attention in this episode.  

Jamie liked Claire’s breeches, he backed her up against that tree!

[Anothermi]

Sorry to @gingerella that I am so late posting. I viewed the episode when I said I would and then got caught up with an unexpected visit from old friends. 

I did like this episode for many of the same reasons already stated. A bit more focus on what it is like to exist in the wilds; Ian's reactions to this new adventure. 

On 8/4/2021 at 4:30 PM, gingerella said:

Then there was Jamie's 'There is the law, and what is done...'

I noted that Jamie was very cagey in that meeting. That particular reply could have more than one meaning but I suspect Jamie was relying on the fact the the Governor said it to HIM first when he offered Jamie land back in the first (?) episode. At the time Jamie pointed out there was a big fee legally attached to the offer and that is when that phrase was first uttered. So he was quoting the Governor which could be read as implying he was "on side".

On 8/4/2021 at 4:30 PM, gingerella said:

I was waiting for fucking Bonnet and his merry band of jackholes to appear through the woods and rape and pillage them.

Usually I'd be right there with you, but I'd totally forgotten about him in this episode. I think because he was associated with "piracy" rather than inland pillaging. 

On 8/4/2021 at 4:30 PM, gingerella said:

It's clear Brianna still has feelings for him but she too is pigheaded like her mother, so it's going to be awhile before these two get together for real.

I completely get the unable-to-communicate-on-the-same-wavelength dilemma. I think it is a very human problem. Roger—unlike either Frank nor Jamie—is not confident that the woman he loves actually loves him back. A lot of that is tied up with his vision of what "being together" means and the words he chooses to convey that vision. We saw both Roger and Brianna wanting to be together but being unable to find a common language to express it. Brianna's pigheadedness results in exactly the same  dilemma for her.

On 8/4/2021 at 4:30 PM, gingerella said:

And then Jamie say "I'll speak to JQM's in the morning", as if he's going to wake up, have some coffee around the campfire, and then pull out his coconut phone (oops, sorry, I'm still thinking about Jamaica!) and call JQM. I mean, it was never made clear at all that JQM was camping nearby and close enough that they'd know where to find him. I hate lazy continuity stuff like that.

😆 I love this!  Yet I assumed that phrase: "I'll speak to JQM's in the morning" told us he had to be relatively near by. Having said that, I think we've seen that taking half a day—or even a full day—to get from one inhabited place to another is just the time frames they operated in. 

On 8/4/2021 at 4:30 PM, gingerella said:

I appreciated Claire's rationale that perhaps her Cherokee ghost was trying to warn them off rather than welcome them to the neighborhood, at least she's showing some self reflection there, atta girl Claire!

Not just this! I appreciated that Claire didn't do something stupid AT ALL this episode. I'm going to have to mark that in a diary! It's a rare event. 

On 8/4/2021 at 4:30 PM, gingerella said:

RANT PAUSE: to say that I not only love Ian, but I adore Rollo, yes I do! He's already saved their collective asses more times than I can count by warning them about bad shit about to happen. Someone give that doggie a bone!

💕💕 Completely Agree!  🦴 Here boy....

 

I was happy to see that—as I hoped—John Quincy Myer is a new important secondary character.  Show had me on pins and needles with the severity of the injuries he appeared to sustain. Still, he bounced back PDQ. I'd like to see JQM teaching the rest of them important Cherokee phrases because 1) we already know that Jamie is fast at learning languages (magical even); but 2) both Ian and Claire are going to need to know how to communicate with them (Claire for gaining more "healer" knowledge and Ian for his implied amorous pursuits. 😉)

On 8/4/2021 at 4:30 PM, gingerella said:

And Jamie, how's about you don't go looking to shoot a bear, in the woods, at night, in a new place that you don't really know well yet, with only one firearm, alone, by yourself.

Well. Somebody had to do the stupid thing! Jamie just lost the draw this time. That's how Claire came to end up looking so good this episode. 🤪

On 8/4/2021 at 4:30 PM, gingerella said:

The part with Claire meeting the elder female healer was interesting yet confusing. She told Claire, there will be death but it won't be your fault. Huh? Sweetheart, have you met Jamie and Claire? Death is always either a few miles behind them, or just around the next corner

I was looking forward to seeing who Tantoo Cardinal was to portray.  She is a well known Canadian actor—with a long resume. I can remember when she played much younger characters! (👵)  Loved this character as soon as I saw her face. Glad they didn't make her a "baddy".  

Of course the trope of the inscrutable "seer/ healer" making vague and incomprehensible pronouncements ticked you off. I, too, wonder why they wasted the ink. But now I'm going to expect every character that I really like to die a horrible death because history demands it. That is one way Claire won't be "at fault".  You are right about the fact that almost everybody associated with Claire and Jamie is in danger of  meeting a terrible, violent end.  That's why I think it's got to be a broader context being referred to.

On 8/4/2021 at 4:30 PM, gingerella said:

When Brianna's roommate told Roger that she'd gone to Scotland to see her mother, I felt a chill...So Brianna finds out from Roger that her mother found Jamie, and now she wants to find them both, I assume? And Roger knows that J&C die together in a fire (unless it's a ruse as per above comments upthread, which is highly likely given we're talking about J&C), so Roger really has to also try to go through the Stones, find Brianna and Jamie and Claire, and then tell J&C about their death date by fire, so that they can change that history. I mean, something like that is pretty easy to do I assume if you've a firm date and know what to do to avoid that happening, right? I wonder if that fire ends up being a ruse as hypothesized upthread, in which case perhaps Jamie and Claire go forward together through the Stones, to Claire's present day to extend their time together, if that is possible. I'm thinking not though because of the infamous Highlander/Jamie ghost we saw in S01E01, and because Jamie cannot hear the Stones buzzing, as Claire, Brianna and Roger can. So maaaaybe, there's more kerfuffle and danger's a'comin', and Jamie arranges for them to pretend to be killed in a fire to throw someone off scent, and he and Claire go back to Scotland and he dies there and she goes back to her time? I'm just thinking aloud here...

Bolded part #1: I'm with you that it means Brianna has decided to go to the past to find them. But as someone upthread pointed out: what a long route she'll have to take! Go to Scotland to get to the past and then use the old, slow, dangerous methods of crossing the Atlantic to get to North Carolina and then over the mountains to get to where Fraser's Ridge is located! Plus it's NOT the era for a young woman to be travelling alone!!!

So, yes, Roger will have to go after her. Because he can and because he can't stop himself. I think you've got something with assuming Roger will share news of their future death so they can plan to use it as an escape. (might this be what the Cherokee healer/ seer was alluding to? It's possible that unexpected deaths could occur with this kind of plan.)

Glad you talked yourself out of Jamie going to the future. I just can't—and don't want (at this point)—Jamie to go to the future.  I've explained it before so I won't repeat myself.   I can see that Claire might outlive Jamie because his body has endured a lot of physical abuse over his life. Those things come home to roost as you get older (OK, we know that Jamie is going to look like he 35 even when he is 75! Just start waving your hands about this now.). But Claire has avoided the worst health hazards endured by women in the 1700s by giving birth and raising Brianna in the future. I can see her outliving Jamie even though she's 5 years older.  So your theory is possible.

[gingerella]

23 hours ago, Anothermi said:

I noted that Jamie was very cagey in that meeting.

Exactly, but when Jamie tries to play the game he usually gets burned so I've no doubt that this isn't going to turn out the way he wants it to.

23 hours ago, Anothermi said:

Roger—unlike either Frank nor Jamie—is not confident that the woman he loves actually loves him back. A lot of that is tied up with his vision of what "being together" means and the words he chooses to convey that vision. We saw both Roger and Brianna wanting to be together but being unable to find a common language to express it. Brianna's pigheadedness results in exactly the same  dilemma for her.

See, I think that Roger is more like Frank in this sense because Frank also wasn't sure/certain that Claire did/would/or could love him back the way he loved her after she returned from the Stones. I felt like Frank was always trying to get her to love him the way she used to, but he knew it wasn't working no matter how hard he tried.

23 hours ago, Anothermi said:

Well. Somebody had to do the stupid thing! Jamie just lost the draw this time. That's how Claire came to end up looking so good this episode. 🤪

I didn't think of it that way, but you're right!

23 hours ago, Anothermi said:

I'm with you that it means Brianna has decided to go to the past to find them. But as someone upthread pointed out: what a long route she'll have to take! Go to Scotland to get to the past and then use the old, slow, dangerous methods of crossing the Atlantic to get to North Carolina and then over the mountains to get to where Fraser's Ridge is located! Plus it's NOT the era for a young woman to be travelling alone!!!

Right?! We already know there are other portals on the planet because we saw the one in the cave in Jamaica. I wonder how one figures out how to get to the time they want to be in though? This is where the time travel aspect is sorely lacking and we're all expected to hand wave shit like people ending up exactly where they ought to be. How on earth did Claire end up a second time in the correct time period to find Jamie? And let's assume that Brianna will show up shortly. As you say, she has a long ass circuitous route to get to her parents now. UNLESS...did she see the Lallybroch deed? I think she did. Is it possible that she goes to Lallybroch and meets Jenny and Ian, who then send word to Claire and Jamie, though that will be a hella awkward conversation given that Claire and Jamie have not told Jenny and Ian that they actually did have a daughter together. AWK.WARD. Cause yanno, I love me some Jenny but as Ian says, "She stirs a pot of shite like it's God's work!" Ha, it would be funny if people keep showing up at Lallybroch looking for Claire and Jamie. First Brianna, then Roger. It's like a Benny Hill comedy show!

[gingerella]

On 8/8/2021 at 6:48 PM, Anothermi said:

Glad you talked yourself out of Jamie going to the future. I just can't—and don't want (at this point)—Jamie to go to the future.  I've explained it before so I won't repeat myself.   I can see that Claire might outlive Jamie because his body has endured a lot of physical abuse over his life. Those things come home to roost as you get older (OK, we know that Jamie is going to look like he 35 even when he is 75! Just start waving your hands about this now.). But Claire has avoided the worst health hazards endured by women in the 1700s by giving birth and raising Brianna in the future. I can see her outliving Jamie even though she's 5 years older.  So your theory is possible.

Well, yeah, ultimately I think Jamie would be miserable in the 20th century. But I could see Claire returning to Scotland with him so he can draw his last breath on Scottish soil at Lallybroch, but then Claire decides to go back to her time because maybe there are other children she wants to know from their larger family they are accruing (ie: descendants of Willie, Fergus & Marsali, the Murrays, etc.)? But then again, IF Jamie dies at Lallybroch, why wouldn't Claire have checked the family cemetery when she went there to visit on that trip she and Brianna took after Frank's death? That was odd now that I think about it because she'd already been there and knew there was a family cemetery there. Even if the house was closed up and in disrepair, there are ancient graveyards all over Scotland that are left to be. I know, I went off on a tangent there. I do prefer another ending but, yanno, I'll keep my trap shut for now!

[Anothermi]

16 hours ago, gingerella said:

IF Jamie dies at Lallybroch, why wouldn't Claire have checked the family cemetery when she went there to visit on that trip she and Brianna took after Frank's death?

IIRC Claire went to the cemetery where she thought Jamie would be buried. She believed he had died at Culloden. She knew where those men were buried and she finally went there to say her good-byes to him. I think that is why she never checked the burial plot at Lallybroch. Not to mention she was awash with memories while sitting on those stairs, and none of those memories were as mundane as visiting the family plot where she would have seen Brian, Ellen and Willie's graves.  She was in Boston when Roger brought the news about Jamie being alive and running a print shop in Edinburgh wasn't she?

Having said that, there is nothing to prevent anyone else (calling Roger!) from taking a meander through the Fraser family plot at Lallybroch. 😉

[Scarlett45]

1 hour ago, Anothermi said:

She was in Boston when Roger brought the news about Jamie being alive and running a print shop in Edinburgh wasn't she?

Yes she was back home in Boston. 
 

Also, even if Jaime had died at Culloden, there may not have been a marked grave for him, either there or at Lallybroch. I can understand why she wouldn’t visit Lallybroch to look for cemetery markers.  

[mythoughtis]

On 8/10/2021 at 7:02 PM, Scarlett45 said:

Yes she was back home in Boston. 
 

Also, even if Jaime had died at Culloden, there may not have been a marked grave for him, either there or at Lallybroch. I can understand why she wouldn’t visit Lallybroch to look for cemetery markers.  

Why wouldn’t she have wanted to pay her respects to Ian and Jenny?   That would have  been reason  alone to stroll through the cemetery.   If it was accessible.  The house itself was padlocked. 
Headstones from the 1700s would probably  not be readable in 1968 though. 
 

I hope Roger does some more research and finds the actual date of the fire since the year was smudged on the copy of the article.  That would be important to know before he goes through the stones( which we know he is going to do). 

Edited August 26, 2022 by mythoughtis