Claire suffers a big loss, but must turn her efforts to save Jamie by any means necessary… Full recap of “Faith”, including new images and clips (first aired Saturday, May 21 at 9:00pm ET|PT on STARZ).
***SPOILER ALERT***
“Faith” opened with a flash-forward to Claire and a young girl (Bree!!!) in 1954 Boston. The little girl had fiery red hair and was sitting at a table in a library looking at picture books of birds. She called out for her Mama (Claire) and asked what type of bird was pictured. Claire identified the bird as a heron. The little girl then asked her Mama if she’d ever seen a heron in real life, and Claire said yes, in Scotland.
Bree: “When were you in Scotland, Mama?”
Claire: “A long time ago.”
Here we transitioned back to Claire in L’hopital des Anges, lying on a cot with Mother Hildegardet trying to comfort her as Monsieur Forez worked to save her life and her baby. Claire was so pale… she called out for her baby and Jamie. In the background other nuns chanted a constant stream of prayers. Eventually Claire zoned out, imagining a heron flying in the sky.
Later, we saw Claire had been moved to a bed in another part of the hospital. When she awoke, Claire was confused, especially when she felt that she was no longer pregnant. Claire became panicked and shouted for her baby. Mother Hildegarde came immediately and asked Claire to remain calm and save her strength.
Claire: “Where’s my baby?… I want my baby.”
Mother Hildegarde: “I am sorry Madame. She has joined the angels. She was born dead.”
Claire was devastated and seemed to be in denial. When Sister Angelique tried to assure Claire that Virgin Mary (pointing to the statue next to the bed) would comfort her, that made Claire even more frantic. She demanded (in English and French) that someone bring her baby. Claire even stood up and tried to walk away. In the struggle, the Mary statue fell to the floor and shattered.
Sometime later, Claire sat in bed, shivering from fever. She asked where her baby was now, and Mother Hildegarde said she baptized the baby and gave her a name, Faith. This was forbidden since Faith had been born dead, but necessary for the baby could be buried in hallowed ground. “This, ma chere, will stay between you, me, and God.”
Mother Hildegarde had also called for a priest to come to Claire to sit for her last confession and perform an unction. (They seemed to believe Claire would die of complications from the miscarriage and should prepare her soul for the afterlife.) Claire asked again for Jamie, but according to Mother Hildegarde, there still wasn’t any word. When the priest asked Claire if she would like to make a confession, she responded: “My sins are all I have left.”
That night, as Claire shivered in bed, a mysterious figure came to her. At first she thought it was Jamie, but it was actually Master Raymond. He implored that she be silent because if anyone saw him there, he could get into serious trouble. Master Raymond laid hands on Claire and asked what she saw: “blue wings”. He told her to focus on those wings, which would bring healing and carry away her pain. Claire was actually able to diagnose herself with puerperal fever. In the course of the miscarriage, part of the placenta was left behind and festered inside her. Master Raymond continued to rub Claire with his hands, and as he did so, she felt white hotness in her bones, healing her:
“As Raymond’s hands moved over the meridians of my body, I could feel the tiny deaths of the bacteria that inhabited my blood, small explosions as each scintilla of infection disappeared. The fever drained from my bones and my tortured body relaxed gratefully into the frame of his hands, melting and reforming like molded wax.”
Then Master Raymond reached inside of her and helped her push out the remaining placenta. Sister Angelique heard Claire screaming out and came, but Master Raymond hid in time. Claire knew she had been healed and told the Sister to bring Mother Hildegarde. Master Raymond spoke to Claire briefly before leaving again, calling her Madonna. But since Claire didn’t have a child, was the name appropriate?
Master Raymond: “I didn’t call you Madonna because you were with child, my dear. Everyone has a color about them, all around them like a cloud. Yours in blue. Like the Virgin’s cloak. Like my own.” (INTERESTING!)
Claire acknowledged the risk Master Raymond had taken to come and help her, but he maintained that he was her friend and had to help her. When Claire asked if she would ever see him again, he told her to have faith.
When Mother Hildegarde arrived, they praised God for the miracle of Claire’s healing. Claire asked again for any word about Jamie, and Mother Hildegarde finally revealed that he was in the Bastille for dueling and would remain there at the King’s pleasure. Mother Hildegarde saw a bit of a silver lining because since Jamie didn’t kill his opponent, he wouldn’t be sentenced to death. So, Black Jack Randall was still alive and in England… “the cat with nine lives…” So what was the point of all this? Even more than that, Claire felt deeply betrayed by Jamie:
Claire: “Revenge mattered more to him than me or his child. One year of grace is all I asked, to which he agreed. One year. He may as well have run his sword through me.”
Mother Hildegarde: “God says we must revel in mercy, tread sins underfoot and hurl iniquities into the sea.”
Claire: “I’m not sure there’s a sea deep enough.”
Weeks later, Fergus came to see Claire and asked her to come home. She did, but it was clear that, even though her body was healed, she was still dealing with serious emotional trauma. When Claire arrived back at the apartments, all the servants gathered to welcome her home. Fergus helped Claire down from the carriage and she went to enter the apartment. The servants bowed, and Suzette in particular was emotional. She sobbed for Milady’s loss, taking Claire’s hands and kissing them. When Claire got to the door, Magnus was there too. She took his hand, thanked him, and then curtsied to him (perhaps for getting Claire to L’hopital).
That evening, Fergus brushed Claire’s hair before she went to bed. When he went to put the brush down on the table, she noticed he was disturbed… something about her perfume bottles…?
However, Claire couldn’t sleep that night. She seemed overwhelmed by the grief, especially when she came across the Apostle spoons Jamie had brought for Faith. (I was so scared Claire would throw those spoons in the fire, but she just flung them under the bed.) She left their room and walked through the apartment, trying to quiet her sobs. This was how she came upon Fergus having a nightmare, crying and screaming out. Claire encouraged him to tell her about his dream; it would make him feel better.
Fergus: “It’s not just a dream…”
And Fergus then told Claire what happened to him while at Maison Elise. As he told the story, we saw the flashback. When Jamie had gone to the brothel to pay Prince Charles debt, Fergus had went around looking in the rooms. In one room with the door open, Fergus saw a bottle of perfume that he wanted to take for Claire as a gift. (In the present, we saw Fergus give Claire the bottle…oil of lavender… which she recalled as Black Jack Randall’s scent, the one that triggered Jamie’s nightmares of Wentworth). But once he pocketed the bottle, we saw Black Jack Randall close the door. BJR: “You’re not what I ordered. But, um… no, you’ll do.”
And BJR raped Fergus. Fergus screamed out, calling for Milord. Downstairs, Jamie heard and came barreling through the door. He punched BJR until several men came to separate them. As Jamie was forced out of the room, he demanded a duel.
Fergus felt so much guilt, thinking it was his fault that Jamie dueled BJR and was now in the Bastille. But Claire embraced Fergus and comforted him. She now knew and understood why Jamie broke his promise to her.
The next morning, Claire went to L’hopital and asked Mother Hildegarde for her help gaining a private audience with King Louis. She wanted to appeal to him to release Jamie from prison.
Mother Hildegarde: “His Majesty is a mercurial man. There is a price to such requests… The King may expect to lie with you.”
Claire: “If it comes to sacrificing my virtue, Mother, I’ll add it to the list of things I have already lost in Paris.”
Claire arrived at Versailles, looking every bit of the regal lady, dressed in a gorgeous forest green embroidered, caped gown, her hair perfectly coiffed, the stone she received as a gift from Master Raymond nestled in her chest. She was led to Louis private rooms where he received her.
Louis asked Claire to sit and offered her a cup of hot chocolate and an orange. After their drink, Louis asked what he could do for Claire and she requested that Jamie be released from the Bastille. Yes he had broken a royal decree, but Claire tried to explain that Jamie’s defense of his honor when provoked was a Scottish trait. Claire emphasized, with subtlety, that she would be grateful and willing to express that gratitude in any way the King saw fit. Louis took Claire’s hands, noting that she wore two wedding bands. When she said that she had been married before, the King was impressed that she would still, loyally, wear that ring. Louis kissed Claire’s hands and then asked for a favor in return.
He led her through a secret door to another room, that was decorated with various mystical insignia. Louis wanted to use Claire’s skills as La Dame Blanche…
…Monsieur Forez was also there and Master Raymond and Le Comte St. Germain soon joined them room. Master Raymond and the Comte were accused of sorcery and exploration of the dark arts. They even brought evidence from the apothecary and St. Germain’s home. Louis wanted Claire (La Dame Blanche with a pure heart) to judge each of the men and ascertain if there was darkness within them.
Claire agreed and first went to look Master Raymond and St. Germain in their eyes:
Claire: “I see a shadow behind your eyes, Comte. I see an image. A gang of men in the street dressed as aristocrats but wearing masks…Les Disciples.”
Le Comte was ENRAGED! He yelled that he knew nothing about Les Disciples and called Claire a liar and a witch… after all, she drank poison and survived. How did he know this? St. Germain admitted to poisoning her himself! Claire didn’t balk at the accusation, saying instead that she was a white witch, practicing white magic.
Claire claimed to see darkness in Master Raymond too, but only the darkness that lived in the souls of all men, “Even a king’s. Four without darkness, there can be no light.”
As a final test, Louis brought out a massive snake. The Bible said that a true believer could handle a serpent and would not be harmed. This would be a way to discover who among Master Raymond and St. Germain was really a servant of God. But Claire proposed an alternative. She would put together a poison and if they drank and survived, this indicated they were NOT evil and could go free. Claire looked through the things brought from the apothecary, found bitter cascara, and poured it into a cup.
Claire took the cup to Master Raymond first. He drank, experienced some choking and pain, but all was well. However, when she took the cup from Master Raymond to give to St. Germain, the stone on Claire’s necklace turned black. THERE WAS POISON. She and Le Comte saw this and knew that Master Raymond had put something else in that cup… sleight of hand. So, St. Germain was trapped. If he refused to drink, Louis would kill him, and if he drank, he’d die.
St. Germain took the cup and there were tears in his eyes. He cursed both Master Raymond and Claire, saying he would see them in hell. Le Comte drank the poison, fell to the ground, choked, and died.
Louis stepped over Le Comte’s dead body and the ordered Master Raymond to leave France and never come back again. Claire watched him being led away and thought “I’m going to miss you most of all” from the Wizard of Oz. Louis would honor Claire’s request to free Jamie… but first he demanded payment. He took Claire back to his room, laid her on the bed, and had forced himself on her. (Claire: “I closed my eyes and thought of England.”)
The King seemed to finish quickly. Claire sat up and adjusted her hair and skirts. Louis agreed to pardon Jamie and arrange one with the English crown as well if they wanted to return to Scotland. Louis dismissed Claire, and on her way out, she took an orange. (Me: “Claire, girl, you better take that orange. Hell, take all of them… you EARNT that orange.”) Claire then left Versailles.
Eventually Jamie was released and made his way back to the apartment. Claire watched as he climbed the stairs and when we saw him, Jamie looked bad, unclean and with a full beard. However, Claire couldn’t look him in the eye… in the background we heard the constant ticking of the clock.
Jamie knew of the miscarriage but remarked that he didn’t even know if the baby was a boy or girl. Claire wouldn’t respond. She poured herself a drink and sat down across the room. Claire eventually told Jamie the baby was a girl, named Faith, now buried in the cemetery next to the convent. She also told Jamie she knew what happened to Fergus and that Black Jack had to be punished.
Jamie: “Do ye hate me for it Claire?”
Claire: “I did hate you…”
Claire then told Jamie about holding Faith at L’hopital… how beautiful and small she was, with hair and eyes like Jamie. We saw a flashback of Claire singing to Faith… after a time, Louise de Rohan (pregnant herself) joined Mother Hildegarde and helped Claire let go of Faith so she could be buried. Claire wailed and sobbed.
Claire: “So yes… I hated you. But, it was me who asked the impossible of you. It was me that put Frank before our family. It was me who followed you to the woods.
Jamie: “Frank is your family too.”
Claire: “But he’s not here, and now neither is our daughter. It’s not your fault. It’s not even Randall’s fault, not this time. It’s my fault.”
Jamie: “I asked your forgiveness once. You said there’s nothing to forgive. The truth is I already forgave you, long before today. For this and anything else you could ever do.”
Then Claire confessed to “sleeping” with Louis in exchange for this freedom. Jamie responded: “You did it to save my life. Just like I gave myself to Randall to save you.” (I CANNOT HANDLE THIS PAIN.)
Jamie went to Claire and knelt before her, they would have to carry their pain together. She asked him to take her home to Scotland and he agreed.
But first, Jamie and Claire went to Faith’s grave and he left an Apostle spoon on the tombstone.
Jamie: “If we must bury you here in France, let’s leave a bit of Scotland wi’ ye.”
Jamie and Claire knelt at the grave, made the sign of the cross, and held hands while they mourned.
If you missed tonight’s episode, you can watch “Faith” on STARZ Play online HERE or via the STARZ Play app.
How are we doing tonight Sassenachs? You know, one of my Outlander mentors said something to me while I was reading Dragonfly in Amber, and it’s always stuck with me: Everything bad that can happen to Jamie and Claire *will* happen to Jamie and Claire. If you can imagine it, it will happen. However, there will also be a J/C HEA. When it’s all said and done, they will be together and in love. I held on to this tonight and will continue to do so through the remainder of the season.
Share your thoughts and feels in comments.
Incidentally, fellow WSN fangirl Katie had some hilarious (and spot on) reactions to tonight’s episode. Read her feels HERE!
