'Outlander' Season 3, Episode 5 Recap: Loose Threads Are Tied Up and We Finally Get the Reunion We Were Promised

Claire’s work husband, Joe, presses her about what really happened in Scotland over the summer and she mentions something about someone from her past, but she can’t really tell him that the love of her life is lost in eighteenth-century Scotland. She says something cheesy about fate keeping them apart, and Joe, bless his heart, says, “Fuck fate.” He is the one person on this show who cuts through the nonsense and melodrama—and he is greatly appreciated.

Roger, poor sweet Roger, arrives in Boston to surprise Brianna for Christmas, and when he shows up at the Randall home, Claire and Brianna are having a loud fight about Brianna’s decision to withdraw from Harvard. Brianna explains that she can’t return to her previous life knowing what she now knows about her true parentage. And then she runs off, leaving Roger in the friend zone with Claire. Yikes.

All is not lost. As Roger chats with Claire, he reveals that he has found Jamie, which is like, Way to bury the lede, Roger! In a 1765 article he found, there was a line, “For as has been known for ages past freedom and whisky gang together”—the exact line Claire once quoted to Jamie. The printer of the magazine was an Alexander Malcolm (Jamie’s middle names), who was apparently living in Edinburgh. Roger expects Claire to be happy with the news, but she says she gave up hope and can’t take it up again. She also says she can’t leave Brianna. Roger, having struck out twice in one night, asks what he can do to help, and Claire asks him to not tell Brianna he’s found Jamie. This show takes every single opportunity to draw out the inevitable. Sometimes, it makes for good drama. Other times, like this, it’s just irritating.

Back at work, Claire and Joe have a mini episode of Bones while studying the 100-year-old skeleton of a woman found in a cave in the Caribbean. Then Joe gets down to business, asking, “What aren’t you telling me about your man in Scotland?” Claire admits that Jamie is Brianna’s real father, and Joe, who is the most amazing wingman a woman could have, tells her to get a grip and go fight for the man she loves. Once again, he comes through in the clutch.

Meanwhile, Brianna, in the throes of a young-life crisis, concludes that history is “just a story; it changes depending on who’s telling it,” and also that “history can’t be trusted.” Girl, I guess.