RECAP: ‘Outlander’ Season 8 Episode 6 — “Blessed are the Merciful”

There’s a clear contrast between how men and women resolve conflicts in Outlander Season 8 Episode 6. Here in Outlander’s colonial America, men wage war and hold grudges to solve their conflicts, and women use diplomacy, respect, and conversation. Outlander Season 8 Episode 6 is titled “Blessed are the Merciful,” and mercy abounds from the great and varied women of Outlander.

That said, we begin Outlander Season 8 Episode 6 with, well, a man. Captain Cunningham (Kieran Bew) lies injured in Claire’s (Caitríona Balfe) apothecary. She says his spinal injury has likely paralyzed him from the waist down. The Captain’s mother, Mrs. Cunningham (Frances Tomelty), asks Claire if she’s ever seen anyone with injuries that severe before.

She’s a doctor—sorry, healer, because the concept of women being doctors is still foreign in the 1770s—so yeah, she has. As for the extent of his injuries, Claire says, “Only time will tell.” “It usually does,” Mrs. Cunningham replies. Jamie decides Cunningham must remain in custody at the Frasers’ house.

Josiah (Paul Gorman) tells Jamie how he and Benjamin Cleveland (Turlough Convery) defeated members of the Loyalist militia Ninety-Six on their way to Fraser’s Ridge. Cleveland suggests that Jamie hang Cunningham to show what can happen to Loyalists on Jamie’s land. “A bit of Loyalist blood is good for the soul,” Cleveland says gleefully.

Outlander Season 8 Episode 6 highlights key differences between the men and women of the series.

Cleveland is still annoyed that Jamie previously turned down his help in dealing with Loyalists and was half inclined to let Jamie hang. Dude, sorry Jamie doesn’t enjoy killing people he dislikes for sport! Cleveland’s happy to help Jamie out, but says Jamie owes him. Frank’s (Tobias Menzies) ominous voice in Jamie’s head, last heard in Outlander Season 8 Episode 3, rings through Jamie’s ears: “It’s your own fault. You knew his help would come at a price.”

Young Ian (John Bell) continues his search for survivors from the massacre at the Mohawk village he once lived in. He tells Rachel (Izzy Meikle-Small) that living with the Mohawks was like being born a second time, and that leaving them was like a kind of death. Rachel’s reluctant to bring up Young Ian’s Mohawk wife, Emily (Morgan Holmstrom), but says he shouldn’t feel reluctant to say he loved her. She worries that Young Ian thinks of Emily often when he’s already built a new life.

In Savannah, Brianna reads Roger’s letter from Outlander Season 8 Episode 5, where he described his time in captivity in the Continental Army’s camp. Roger, who returned to Savannah with Brianna, says ministering to the scared officers gave him a sense of purpose, and he’d like to be formally ordained. He says that the cannon blasts on the battlefield reminded him of when his father rescued him during a Blitz bombing as a child, and how he sent his own father through the stones of Craigh na Dun in Season 7.

“We were always part of history,” Roger says. “We didn’t change God’s plan; we were always part of it.” Brianna’s still skeptical but supports his certainty. They then have sex for what feels like an interminably long time. It’s the final season: do we really need to see a lengthy Brianna and Roger sex scene in Outlander Season 8 Episode 6 when there’s a ton of plotlines to focus on?

With each segue leading to the finale, the question of what is necessary and what isn’t comes into focus.

At the Continental camp, William (Charles Vandervaart) and his cousin Ben (Alex Bhat) argue over Ben faking his death. Ben says he was radicalized by reading Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, but his British family would be mortified to see him defect to the rebels’ cause. William says he wishes Ben really had died.

Ben says he faked his death for the sake of Amaranthus (Carla Woodcock) and their son, which confuses William–why would faking his death help them? William does tell Ben he’s been comforting Amaranthus in her grief, and Ben punches him. And Ben doesn’t even know William and Amaranthus are engaged! Some of Ben’s Continental comrades take William away to a temporary cell on the campsite.

Young Ian and Rachel travel to a mansion owned by a Mohawk leader known as Joseph Brant (Meegwun Fairbrother), who points out that Young Ian is still a Continental ally. Brant won’t tell Young Ian what happened to the Mohawk village that burned, nor what happened to Emily. They exchange tense words over various conflicts between the Mohawks and the Continentals. Rachel asserts that war just perpetuates needless violence. Brant’s wife Catherine (Océane Kitura Bohémier-Tootoo) says the world would be a different place if women ran it. Go, Rachel and Catherine!

Even though they’ve just met, their kinship and commitment to doing right by others peacefully are palpable. Catherine confirms that Emily and her son–her son with Young Ian!–are alive and living in the Brants’ mansion. She asks Young Ian to consider how both Emily and Rachel would feel about meeting. Catherine for MVP of Outlander Season 8 Episode 6! In one scene, she’s already managed to have way more decorum and courtesy for people in difficult situations than literally any man this entire episode. Never is that more true than five seconds later, when Brant asks Young Ian and Rachel to leave.

While men thirst for vengeance in Outlander Season 8 Episode 6, women push for mercy instead.

On Fraser’s Ridge, Jamie is approached by Hiram Crombie’s (Antony Byrne) wife and the wives of other men who betrayed Jamie to support Captain Cunningham. Jamie canceled every traitor’s tenancy on the Ridge, but Mrs. Crombie (Pauline Turner) asks for mercy on behalf of the women and children. Again with women leading the charge for mercy! She appeals to Jamie’s kindness and says none of the women knew about their husbands’ traitorous deeds.

Jamie refuses to reconsider, and Mrs. Crombie expresses her sorrow at having to leave. “God bless you and your family, sir,” she says, and she genuinely means it. Dinner at the Crombie house is probably super awkward that night, given that Mr. Crombie tried to get Jamie killed and Mrs. Crombie’s out here wishing Jamie well out of the goodness of her heart. Catherine Brant was right, women should be running the world!

Young Ian apologizes to Rachel, who can’t put her feelings aside. She knows Young Ian was forced out of his Mohawk village, but wonders if he would have stayed with Emily if given that choice. Young Ian is silent, which feels like enough confirmation for Rachel. Young Ian says he doesn’t have to see Emily or their son, and can be content with just knowing they’re alive.

William gets a visitor in the rebel camp cell–Rachel’s brother Denzell (Joey Phillips), who’s come to…examine him? Denzell, ever the efficient doctor, plans to misdiagnose William as having smallpox so he can be sent to quarantine on the edge of the camp and make his escape. He says he’s sorry to see William go, and William replies that he hopes they’ll meet again at the end of the war.

Despite centering women for much of the episode, Claire is pretty sidelined.

The whole scene is a charming moment of levity–Denzell goes to comically embarrassing lengths to misdiagnose William, who has no idea what Denzell is doing in the first place–but can faking a death from smallpox be as simple as Denzell makes it out to be? Surely Outlander Season 8 Episode 6 isn’t the time for harebrained schemes to start working!

Brianna and Roger head to Fergus’ (César Domboy) house. Outside, Roger says hello to Fergus’ young son Henri-Christian, because we haven’t had a Season 6 throwback in a while. Remember when Roger rescued Henri-Christian from drowning in a river? Fergus has a letter from Francis Marion (Mark Huberman) for Roger. Marion’s impressed by Roger’s actions in battle in Outlander Season 8 Episode 5, and will help him get firearms for the Ridge militia as requested.

Rachel returns to the Brants’ house to appeal to Brant. She confesses that she fears Young Ian and Emily still have feelings for each other, and that if she and Emily were ever in trouble at the same time, Young Ian would help Emily first. But she doesn’t want to stand between Young Ian meeting his son with Emily again. Brant agrees to arrange a meeting. When the meeting happens, Rachel looks distraught to meet Emily, but composes herself. 

Izzy Meikle-Small is doing great work in Outlander Season 8 Episode 6! They’re polite but not cold–each woman loves Young Ian too much to be outwardly resentful of one another. Rachel tells Emily she’s only ever heard nice things about her; Emily wishes Rachel’s family health and happiness. Emily asks Young Ian to take their son, Swiftest of Lizards (Nikosis Sakihaw Kingfisher), to live with him, as she keeps having nightmares about him dying. Rachel says they’ll take him, but only if Emily is certain.

Oggy finally gets a name, and it sparks emotions.

Swiftest of Lizards comes in carrying a puppy, whom Emily says is the grandson of Young Ian’s dog Rollo (RIP Rollo, gone but never forgotten). He presents the puppy to baby Oggy, who still doesn’t have a real name. Emily offers to name the baby Oggy and chooses Hunter. Unbeknownst to her, Hunter is Rachel’s maiden name, and Rachel tearfully approves of the name choice.

Jamie revokes the banishment after all. Claire is with him as he announces this to the tenants, which is nice because she’s been pretty sidelined this episode. Outlander has long since ceased to be a show just about Jamie and Claire, and it’s odd that Outlander Season 8 Episode 6–four episodes out from the series finale–hasn’t touched much on that.

Anyway, Jamie says the tenancies are still voided, but he will form new tenancies with the wives of the Ridge. Mr. Crombie raises a stink about it even though his wife’s kindness and humility are the whole reason he gets to stay on the Ridge. Can they kick him out, but keep Mrs. Crombie on the Ridge? She seems great. Claire tells him he did the right thing. Jamie’s not as sure, but says it will “lighten the weight of my heart.”

One more act of woman-led mercy, or rather a request for charity, emerges as Jamie and Claire come home. Mrs. Cunningham says her son can no longer stay on the Ridge now that he’s paralyzed and without supporters to join his Loyalist cause. She wants to take him back to England, since it’s their homeland, and live out their days in a place they know they love. The Captain is still in custody at the Frasers’ house, but Jamie relents.

Jamie’s empathy and kindness allow him to relent, but does this spell his doom in Outlander?

As the Cunninghams leave, Mrs. Cunningham tells Claire they might have had a great friendship in another lifetime. “I counted you as a friend,” Claire tells her kindly. They’ve had a weird little acquaintance over the last five episodes, but maybe that’s Claire’s own act of mercy by calling it a friendship. This is likely the end of the Cunningham storyline.

As the Cunninghams’ carriage pulls away, Jamie reminds Claire that their troubles have not gone away: Major Ferguson (Charles Aitken) tasked Cunningham with building up a loyalist militia in the Carolinas, and is set to be at Kings Mountain, where Frank’s book says Jamie will die. It sure feels like they’re setting up Kings Mountain to be the series finale’s setting, doesn’t it?

Outlander Season 8 Episode 6 puts women and their commitment to mercy at the forefront of progress between characters. It’s a hopeful contrast to the wars–both real and threatened–waged among men in this episode, especially with the looming threat of Jamie’s potential death in the future. But it still feels like there are so many storylines left to resolve in the final four episodes. Can Outlander pull it off?

Outlander Season 8 Episodes 1-6 are now streaming on Starz, with new episodes dropping every Friday.

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