RECAP: ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Season 2 Episode 5 – “Forgive Me, Father”

In Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5, Julia (Hermione Corfield) and Ellen (Harriet Slater) find themselves stuck as captives across Scotland while Brian (Jamie Roy) and Henry (Jeremy Irvine) are on opposite sides of the battle between the Scottish and the English.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 opens at Castle Leoch’s chapel, where Colum (Séamus McLean Ross) openly prays for forgiveness, feeling he’s led Clan Mackenzie to ruin. He prays to God for mercy, not just for what he’s done before, but to “forgive what I’ll do still.”

At Castle Leathers, Seema (Lauren McQueen) continues to believe that Henry might love her if Julia is out of the picture, and has kept Julia captive for hours. Julia insists in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 that she will not run away if the clearly exhausted Seema rests.

Julia’s scrappiness, so often utilized against Lovat (Tony Curran), is called into action again as she insists she wouldn’t run away, even though she desperately needs to find Henry and baby William and make their way back to the 1920s. Julia calls Seema “mad” to believe Henry would ever fall in love with her. “I think it will make him see me once you’re done and there’s nothing left to stand in the way,” Seema seethes.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 opens at Castle Leoch’s chapel.

Heading back to Castle Leoch from the Mackenzie battle encampment in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5, Ellen asks Grace (Ruby Fubara) which would be worse: for her lecherous employer, John Cameron (Alastair Mackenzie), to live or for Murtagh (Rory Alexander) to die. Grace tries to deflect comments about Murtagh’s interest in her, but Ellen insists Murtagh pines for Grace. Grace confesses that she knows, from observing Ellen’s careful horseback riding and calculated composure, that Ellen is pregnant. She asks what might happen to Ellen and the baby if Brian dies, but Ellen says she’d rather leave that possibility “unspoken than give it life.”

At the Mackenzie encampment in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5, Murtagh promises to look after Ellen if anything happens to Brian, who in turn notices the cloth flower Grace gave Murtagh. Brian says it’s hard to go to war when “your heart is no longer your own.” Henry is stuck at the Grants’ encampment as the clan prepares to fight for the English. Arch (Terence Rae) asks Henry if he was truly captured by “fair folk, as Murdina (Sorcha Groundsell) suspected. Henry says “faeries” took his memories of Claire (Mae Roberts, Tuesday Roberts), but reuniting with Julia restored them.

Letitia (Rebekah Lumsden) prays in the Castle Leoch chapel. As Colum joins her, Letitia confesses she’s still shaken by Janet’s (Ailsa Davidson) death during the MacKinney’s attack on the castle in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 3. Colum says he once believed Janet to be the weakest of his siblings because she had “no talent for war.” Ned (Conor MacNeill) informs them that Lovat’s regiment has overtaken Inverness, but Dougal (Sam Retford) has led Clan Mackenzie south to join the Earl of Mar’s forces in Perth.

Ahead of the Battle of Sheriffmuir, Dougal orders Brian not to die, because they have unfinished business to sort out regarding Ellen’s love for Brian despite being a Mackenzie. When the battle begins, the brutality is brief, as Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 focuses more on its non-fighting characters.

Julia begs Seema to tell her where William is, and Seema refuses.

Having fallen asleep while resting on the way back to Castle Leoch, Ellen awakes with a gun pressed to her cheek. The gun belongs to Robert (Macleod Stephen), who wants revenge on Ellen for killing his father, MacKinney (Ryan Fletcher). Robert ties up Ellen and Grace, and tells Ellen he’ll kill her slowly so she can beg for the mercy she didn’t show MacKinney, but Ellen insists she won’t stoop to begging.

By the fireplace in Castle Leoch, Jocasta (Sadhbh Malin) says she feels relieved that John is off to battle, preferring his departure to being at home, drunk or filled with dread every time he comes near. Letitia compliments her courage to state things as they are, but Jocasta sadly admits that ability has come at a “cost more than I ever meant to pay.”

Julia begs Seema to tell her where William is, and Seema refuses. Julia says Henry would never marry Seema under any circumstance, but Seema wonders what she can do to get rid of Julia without damaging her chances at winning Henry over. As the torment continues, poor Julia is stuck in a circuitous standoff that seems to go nowhere for most of Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5. After what feels like a number of attempts to intimidate one another, Seema threatens to take William, saying he’s too young to remember Julia’s name or voice.

Later, Colum and Ned sit by the same fireplace Jocasta and Letitia sat by earlier in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5. Colum worries Dougal will want Castle Leoch for himself if the Jacobites win. Ned says that if the Jacobites lose, the English court won’t investigate Ellen’s claims over Castle Leoch, since she’s a woman and wouldn’t have led any battles against the English.

Battle scenes are interspersed throughout Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5.

Colum wonders what his father, Red Jacob, would have done, and Ned believes Ellen would’ve been weaponized against him since she was his favorite child. Colum says Ellen is the shield Clan Mackenzie can hide behind, but that their father would never have put her in that position. Ned assures Colum that he shouldn’t be blamed for his efforts to protect the clan, but Colum still feels guilty.

Battle scenes are interspersed throughout Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 like cutscenes from a video game. They’re quick and action-packed, but over before much tension can be established. The intent is clear–keeping the audience informed about the battle while making it quick, since Brian, Dougal, and Murtagh’s fates are already known in the broader Outlander lore–but it feels comically fast.

Ellen tells Robert that he doesn’t have his father’s hunger for blood and questions his intent on killing her. Their conversation goes back and forth as Ellen implores him to “become something better” and Robert wrestles with his conscience versus his quest for justice. Like Julia, Ellen spends too much of Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 stuck in a loop of the same argument.

That same sense of repetition appears in settings, too; Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 features a third fireside chat. Jocasta sits beside a fireplace at Castle Leoch again, this time meeting Mrs. Fitz (Sally Messham) by the one in the great hall. Jocasta tells Mrs. Fitz that she envies Ellen for being Red Jacob’s favorite child and for being courageous enough to choose her own fate without knowing how others will react.

Brian and Henry lock eyes on the battlefield in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5.

Mrs. Fitz says she knows Jocasta secretly pines for Murtagh, unrequitedly. Jocasta says she’s tried to tell herself life would be easier if she loved John, but that it’s a “shame to live in hope.” Mrs. Fitz corrects her, believing the only shame is in pretending you have no hope at all.

On the battlefield in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5, Brian and Henry lock eyes as they find themselves fighting on opposite sides. They share a nod, but Clan Mackenzie is weakened as a redcoat kills Old Rupert (Craig Clelland), whose death empowers Dougal’s determination to win the battle. Across the battlefield, Henry saves Arch from being killed by a Jacobite.

Colum meets Letitia in their bedroom at the castle in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5. Letitia, several months pregnant, asks if he’d be disappointed if their child is a girl, but Colum says he’d be grateful, as a son would have the burden of leading men who could see him fail, and he’d have to teach a son that “power is no birthright” and must be guarded even from family. Letitia worries Colum would teach a son to “bury kindness, like you have.”

Letitia prays for a daughter because a son would spend his life trying to please Colum, and she doesn’t “wish that on any child.” She asks him to stay a while, and Colum, collapsing under the weight of Clan Mackenzie’s responsibilities, chokes back sobs as he kisses her hand. The Mackenzie siblings’ relationships, outside of Ellen, have felt underutilized in Outlander: Blood of My Blood thus far. But Colum’s scene with Letitia, and Jocasta’s honesty about her marriage, are a welcome expansion of the world of the greater Mackenzie clan in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5.

At least Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 is consistent with its worldbuilding style.

As the battle pauses, Dougal learns the Earl of Mar plans to declare it a victory for the Scottish. Dougal doesn’t feel the battle has accomplished enough, and plans to assemble twenty Mackenzie men for a quest of their own making, but doesn’t include Brian or Murtagh.

At the Grant encampment, an English captain (Digby Edgley) compliments Henry on his confident battle style, but is confused to learn that Henry is English, given his Scottish garb. “It’s a long tale,” Henry sighs. The Englishman introduces himself as Lord Gerard Grey. Outlander fans will recognize the name; Lord Gerard is the father of John Grey, David Berry’s beloved character from the original series.

Fun as it is to see a member of the Grey family appear in Outlander: Blood of My Blood, it feels unbelievable that the parents of so many Outlander characters would cross paths given their multi-century origins. Time travel starts to seem more believable than the convenience of having these characters meet, but the original series had its own host of outlandish character meetings across time, so at least Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 is consistent with its worldbuilding style.

Lord Gerard looks forward to hearing Henry’s tale in the future. Arch asks Henry why he didn’t leave the battlefield when he had the chance, and Henry confesses he couldn’t face his family if he left other men to fight, then jokes that he wouldn’t be able to face Murdina if he left and Arch died.

Alec finds Brian at the Mackenzie encampment in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5.

Robert eventually concludes, monologuing about revenge during Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5, after Ellen tells him about Janet’s death despite her innocence. Robert unties Grace and Ellen, but believes himself to be a coward for not going through with his original plan to kill Ellen. Ellen says it takes more courage to lay down a blade than to raise it.

Balloch (Chick Allan), having secretly watched Grace and Ellen leave the Mackenzies in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 4, clearly followed them, as he sneaks up on Robert and fatally strikes him on the skull. He carries Ellen off despite her kicking and screaming. Grace realizes Robert’s blade is still on his person. This is where we leave Ellen and Grace in Outlander: Season 2, Episode 5, setting up an intriguing cliffhanger for their story.

Alec (Michael Cooke) finds Brian at the Mackenzie encampment in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5. He had helped Dougal raid supplies meant for the English-allied Duke of Argyll, but Argyll’s men caught and killed most of Dougal’s men, but left Dougal and Old Angus (Ross Mann) alive and captured them, while Alec escaped. Murtagh wonders if Dougal and Old Angus are being held captive at nearby Fort William (a location Outlander fans will remember as a key part of Jamie’s early history).

Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 is a step back after a riveting sophomore season.

Henry reads over the letter that Julia left him in Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Season 2, Episode 4. As Julia’s words assure him that their love will “outlast time itself,” she herself gets into a fight with Seema at Castle Leathers. During the struggle, Seema nearly injures Julia with a dirk, but Julia manages to get her hands around Seema’s neck and strangles her to death. Julia frees herself from the locked room using a key Seema had hidden in her apron, but breaks down as she grapples with her actions. As she cries, Davina (Sara Vickers), unharmed and holding Willia, finds Julia. Davina asks where Seema is, and Julia can only choke out, “Gone.”

Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 is a step back after a riveting sophomore season. Julia and Ellen, though trapped, are relegated to scenes that rehash the same conflicts over and over again, with little progression until their violent ends. Castle Leoch’s scenes, taking place almost exclusively by fireplaces, give the usually dynamic Mackenzies little to do but sit and talk, though their conversations flesh out their inner lives in a way they have needed. The arrival of Lord Grey teases an interesting future for the series’ increasingly intertwined ties to key Outlander figures and locations, but those ties make it difficult for Outlander: Blood of My Blood to stand on its own.

For an episode that moves more slowly than its characters deserve, the expansion of the Mackenzies’ inner lives and the connection to Outlander‘s overall lore make Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 a treat for longtime fans, even if it feels stuck in its own time loop.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 5 is streaming now on Starz.

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