‘Outlander’ Recap Season 5, Episode 7: “The Ballad of Roger Mac”

It may have taken us seven episodes to get here, but “The Ballad of Roger Mac” is not just a highlight of Outlander‘s fifth season but of the show as a whole. Not only has this season’s biggest storyline reached its climax (along with Claire and Jamie early in the episode—zing!) but some pretty Big Things happen that will likely inform the tone of the rest of this season and possibly future seasons as well. In other words, it was well worth the wait.

Let’s start with the deaths, of which there appeared to be two, though one is rather misleading. We lost Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) this week, which is sad on so many levels. Not only was he incredibly important to Jamie (Sam Heughan) as his godfather, but he was genuinely a kindhearted man who simply wanted to right the wrongs being done to the underdogs and find some justice in the world. Instead, he was shot by a young militiaman whom Jamie had encouraged to never let down his guard and Jamie was left devastated and absolutely furious, rightfully so.

The scene in which Jamie commands two fellow Red Coats to help him get Murtagh back to Claire’s tent was heartbreaking to watch and his panic and desperation were palpable, as was Claire’s sorrow as she realized that there was no saving him. Is it wrong that I found myself thinking, “Wait ’til Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy) hears about this!”?

Of course, then there’s Roger (Richard Rankin), who at episode’s end seems to be dead and hanging from a tree after getting himself into a bit of a pickle with the Regulators and being mistaken for one himself. Obviously that would never have happened had he not wrapped his arms around Mrs. Mackenzie, who he met aboard the Gloriana, in front of her husband. I thought it was abundantly clear that Roger is of the “ain’t shit” variety and should never be sent on important missions but I guess some people missed that memo.

There’s also the fact that neither Roger nor anyone else should have been trying to get the Regulators to stand down, especially given that thanks to Brianna (Sophie Skelton), they knew that the Battle of Alamance was basically the end of the little rebellion and resulted in a whole lot of death. Sure, they didn’t want to lose lives (particularly Murtagh’s) if they could avoid it, but every one of them knew the rules of time travel: you don’t mess with the timeline, people. The Regulators standing down would have meant the Revolutionary War probably wouldn’t have come to pass, changing basically everything and potentially even meaning that the likes of Claire, Roger, Brianna, and many others may not have been born.

But of course, I digress. The hooded figure that appeared to be Roger hanging from the tree being lowered into Jamie’s arms was this week’s cliffhanger so we don’t actually know if it’s him under that hood. If we’re following Diana Gabaldon’s The Fiery Cross, it is indeed Roger and while he does actually survive since the noose isn’t tied properly, he’s left unable to speak. That doesn’t mean Outlander will follow the same path, but I doubt the writers have plans to kill him off, so I’m sure he’ll be (relatively) fine.

Still, whether he lives or dies, this experience could have a few different results. It could act as a catalyst for Jamie to rebel more openly against the English since it’s down to them that any of these battles took place. (That could happen anyway because of Murtagh, of course.) There’s also a possibility that Claire could be tempted—or guilted by Brianna—to take Roger back to the future to get him more modern medical help. It’s unlikely that she’d leave Jamie behind not knowing when she could get back to him, of course, but stranger things have happen. Only time will tell which way this goes, but we have a few more episodes to build the tension for Season 6, which we already know is a sure thing.

Other things of note:

• Lionel shooting Isaiah through the lung and then stomping on Claire’s medical equipment is not only the definition of not cool, it’s an indication that he should probably be locked up before he murders anyone (else?).
• There was a whole lot of shirtless Sam Heughan in this ep, from the “Happy Birthday” sex scene to the weird creekside blood ritual Jamie performed before the battle. I doubt many people will complain about that, but it was extremely noted.
• Let’s hope now that Lord Tryon (Tim Downie) is off to be governor of New York now because his Little Man Syndrome act is wearing mighty thin
• No Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers) this ep, but something tells me that will change in the next week or two.

Jennifer Still is a writer and editor from New York who cares too way much about fictional characters and spends her time writing about them.

Stream Outlander Season 5 Episode 7 ("The Ballad of Roger Mac") on Starz