Last week's tumultuous Outlander ended with a harrowing cliffhanger: as Young Ian attempted to secure abandoned treasure for his uncle from an island along the Scottish coast, a group of pirates kidnapped him and set sail across the Atlantic. That whole mess went down just as Claire told Jamie she's starting to regret returning to him. This week's episode, "The Doldrums," opens with Claire and Jamie's relationship on rocky ground as the two set sail to find Young Ian. They ease into normalcy during the weeks spent cooped up on the ship together, but just as their relationship nears stability, a plague-infested British military ship kidnaps Claire so she can care for its dying crew. Of course.
While last week's episode paused to explore the intricacies and complications of Claire and Jamie's unorthodox relationship (as well as how the rest of the world views and interacts with it), this week returned them to their nomadic roots with an unexpectedly hilarious episode. Jamie delivers a series of very funny deadpan remarks, while Marsali establishes herself as a woman not to be messed with, partaking in an amusing back-and-forth with that home-wrecking "hoor" Claire.
Here's everything we learned from Outlander Season 3 Episode 9, "The Doldrums."
1) Cousin Jared helps Jamie and Claire secure passage to the West Indies.
Jamie will work as a supercargo, the person who oversees all the ship's cargo, aboard the Artemis. He's bringing Claire, Fergus, Yi Tien Cho and his two associates from Ardsmuir, Hayes and Lesley, whom we met in Episode 6. Jared tells Jamie and Claire the ship that kidnapped Ian was the Bruja and it's headed to Jamaica. He assures them Young Ian will be safe as long as he behaves himself, as a healthy male will sell for 30 pounds in the West Indies.
When Jared departs, Jamie tells Claire he sent Jenny and Ian a letter explaining what happened to Young Ian. Then he assures her he wants to be with her. “I meant what I said. You belong w’ me," he says. But, "if you truly want to go back, I’ll take you to the stones myself.” But Claire assures Jamie she wants to find Young Ian first.
Side note: The show's theme song got an "island"-inspired update, likely as a nod to Jamie and Claire's destination of Jamaica, but it doesn't work. The new music feels almost satirical, and the accompanying images of "natives" dancing are seriously problematic and stereotypical. I only hope these scenes are handled more sensitively when Jamie and Claire arrive at their destination.
2) Fergus snuck Marsali on board. They're in love and intend to marry.
Fergus claims he and Marsali are "handfast"—a tradition in which a couple clasps hands in front of witnesses to declare they're married, Jamie explains to Claire—and Jamie is furious. He tries to turn the boat around, declaring Laoghaire will kill him for this. But Marsali is resourceful, telling Jamie if tries to make her disembark, she'll tell everyone she slept with Fergus, even though she didn't—yet. To keep the couple apart, Jamie says he will share a cabin with Fergus, while Marsali and Claire will bunk together. No one is pleased with these arrangements. Claire tells Jamie, “We’ve been apart for 20 years and you want me to room with her?” When Claire stalks off in a huff, an almost-seasick Jamie notes sarcastically, "Now I am gonna be sick."
3) Jamie's seasickness sets in.
In his cabin, Claire brings Jamie ginger tea to ease his stomach. She starts rooting through the supplies Fergus brought from Lallybroch, and finds the beautiful dresses she wore in Paris all those years ago. Jamie saved them, though he did give a few to Marsali. "Sell them? Memories of you? Never," he tells Claire.
4) The sailors are extremely superstitious aboard the Artemis.
The sailors make everyone on board touch a horseshoe for luck, but when one of them gets injured on the first day, they all think there's someone on board who didn't follow the rules.
The Captain invites Claire and Jamie to eat dinner with him, but since Jamie is so sick, Claire attends alone. We've seen Claire in this scenario many times. Faced with a man of authority, she delicately toes thr line between her naturally assertive personality and playing demure for survival purposes. But here, she pushes back against the superstition of the ship, though the captain attempts to put her in her place. He tells her, "it matters not whether I believe touching a piece of iron will bring good luck; the men believe it, and they believe someone has not." Claire tries to argue, "Believing something doesn’t make it real," and he retorts, "On this ship, it does."
5) Yi Tien Cho performs acupuncture on Jamie to cure his seasickness.
Jamie's vomiting his brains out on the ship, and Cho offers his help. When Jamie is suddenly better, Claire attributes it to her ginger tea, but a few weeks later, she enters Jamie's room to find Cho inserting acupuncture needles. Jamie admits he didn't want to hurt Claire's feelings. "We aren’t on the most stable ground… I didn’t want you to see it as more proof you didn’t belong here," he tells her. Claire assures him, “My return has been confusing and frustrating, but it’s never been a question of whether I love you." Claire might've thought this was obvious, but it was something Jamie needed to hear.
With Jamie feeling better, Fergus and Marsali ask him to bless their relationship. Claire tells Jamie he should approve and see if the couple's passion "fizzles out" naturally, but Jamie refuses: “Fizzle out is what I’m afraid of.”
Later, up on deck, Claire spies Cho writing something on the floor. He tells her it's a poem. He's a writer, and he's currently working on his own life story. "I’ve been scribing the story of my life in China so that it will not be forgotten," he tells her. "A story told is a life lived.” Claire asks if he'll share it with her, but he says not yet: "Once I tell it, I have to let it go."
6) The wind stops in the middle of the sea and the sailors blame it on the person who didn't touch the horseshoe.
Claire suggests everyone on the boat touch the horseshoe now, to alleviate the sailor's fears, but they protest—it needs to be done at the start of the journey. Weeks pass, and much of the drinking water on board spoils. The captain tells Jamie the men are looking for the person who didn't touch the horseshoe—a "Jonah" they can throw overboard.
Even though the situation on board is dire, Jamie and Claire find time to be alone together, late at night on deck. Claire admits she misses Brianna terribly, and recites a few lines from Goodnight Moon as she and Jamie gaze at the sky. It's a touching, heartbreaking moment, but an important reminder that it wasn't easy for Claire to leave her old life to find Jamie.
7) The sailors identify their Jonah—it's Lesley. He tries to jump off the boat and Jamie coaxes him to come down. The sailors start a brawl, but Yi Tien Cho calms them with the story of his life as the wind picks up.
Lesley climbs up the ship's mast. He's very drunk and seems intent on jumping. Jamie climbs after him, warning Lesley he'll follow him into the water if he jumps. Then, "my wife will kill the both of us," Jamie warns. He convinces Lesley to climb down, but the sailors try to attack Lesley, Jamie, and his men.
Cho notices a bird flying low on the water and rings the ship's bell to get everyone's attention. The captain tries to stop him, but Jamie implores him to let Cho speak. He tells a transfixing tale of sacrifice and prejudice:
“I was born Yi Tien Cho in Guangzhou, the city of rams. I was found early to have skill in composition, to make the images of my brush resemble the ideas that danced like grains within my mind. I became known as the fenghuang, a bird of fire. My poetry came before the eyes of Wong May, the emperor’s second wife. She asked that I joined her household in Beijing, the Imperial City. It was a great honor, my name inscribed in the book of merit. But there was a condition. All servants of the Royal Wives must be eunuchs. It was most dishonorable to refuse the Emperor’s gift. It was a death sentence. And yet, I had fallen in love with woman."
Claire asks if it was the emperor's wife. Cho continues:
"Not a woman. All woman. Their beauty blooming like lotus flowers, the taste of their breasts like apricots, the scent of a navel in the winter, the warmth of a mound that fills your hand like a ripe peach. I fled. On the night of the lanterns, as the fireworks shot from the palace roof, I left my house and came to a place where the golden words of my poems are taken as the clucking of hens and my brushstrokes as their scratchings. For the love of woman, I am come to a place where no woman is worthy of love. To a place where woman are course and rank as bears. Creatures of no grace, and these women disdain me as a yellow worm, so that even the lowest of whores will not lie with me. By not surrendering my manhood, I have lost all else. Honor. Livelihood. Country. Sometimes I think not worth it.”
As he finishes his story, the sailors bow their head in shame. Cho climbs up the side of the ship as if he's about to jump, but instead, he throws his papers—the story of his life—into the water, just as he told Claire earlier, "Once I tell it, I have to let it go." The wind starts to pick up, and Claire and Jamie approach Cho. He explains he saw the bird flying low, which means the air is heavy and rain is coming. Claire thanks him for telling his story; she realizes he sacrificed a part of himself to keep the peace.
8) Claire and Jamie sneak off to have sex.
With the rest of the crew and ship's denizens preoccupied with the rain, Claire and Jamie sneak off to have sex in the hold. After, Jamie tells Claire he likes her graying hair, "the way the light hits it, like a piece of silver at midnight." Claire laughs. “How could I not love a man who says such things? If you were to say that in the 20th century, you would be the king of all men,” she tells him. She hesitates, then continues, "When I thought about coming back here, I knew we’d have to get used to each other again.” Jamie points out, "No matter what troubles happen around us, Sassenach, this, what it is between us, never changes.” Claire agrees.
8) Their ship is boarded by the captain of a British man-o-war who desperately needs medical help.
The sailors spy a British warship following them. It signals for assistance, and its captain, named Leonard, boards the Artemis to beg for help. Plague broke out on his ship, the Porpoise, killing the captain, the first and second lieutenants, and the surgeon. He was third lieutenant, but with everyone else dead, he's in charge now. Claire agrees to go to the Porpoise to help, and though Jamie tries to stop her, she reminds him of her vow. He realizes he can't convince her otherwise, but tells her, "I won’t take my eyes off that ship until you return."
9) The navy kidnaps Claire.
On board the Porpoise, Claire diagnoses the disease as typhoid fever and instructs Captain Leonard in how to treat it, imploring him to make for land as soon as possible and warning, "It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better." She offers to help for a short time, and Leonard introduces her to a young man named Pound to assist her. But as she attempts to discuss treatment with the ship's cook, the boat starts moving. Leonard admits to Claire he's taking her since both the Artemis and the Porpoise are bound for Jamaica. He needs her help at any cost, and will return her to her ship when they dock. He tells her he already sent this news to the Artemis, and Claire can only watch in horror as she moves away from Jamie. It's not difficult to imagine Jamie's reaction across the water.
Julie Kosin is the senior culture editor of ELLE.com, where she oversees all things movies, TV, books, music, and art, from trawling Netflix for a worthy binge to endorsing your next book club pick. She's the former director of audience strategy and entertainment at HarpersBAZAAR.com. When not glued to her laptop, she can be found taking pictures of her dog or haunting used bookstores.
