Back to North Carolina, where Lizzie has just given Claire and Jamie a beehive as a housewarming gift. Jamie tells Claire that bees are the link to the spirit world, so you’ve got to keep them informed of what’s going on (ok sure?), but all of that is forgotten when Bree, Roger, Jem and Mandy walk up the path as though they’d never left.
Claire and Jamie are overcome — remember, they thought they’d never see the MacKenzies again after they returned to the future — and there’s a lot of hugging and crying. It’s very sweet. The kids are so big!
Everyone gets caught up on everything (Rob Cameron, William knowing his true paternity, etc.), and then Bree grabs a bag she brought back with her, full of books for everyone. There’s “Goodnight Moon” for the kids, “The Merck Manual” for Claire, “The Lord of the Rings” for Jamie, and one more: a copy of “Soul of a Rebel: The Scottish Roots of the American Revolution,” which is Frank’s final work, which was published after he died.
Jamie is thumbing through it that night when Claire comes to bed, and when he sees the author photo, he hears Frank’s voice in his mind. (Side note: Loved hearing Tobias Menzies’ voiceover!)
“Wby did you not tell me that Frank Randall looked like Black Jack?” Jamie asks unhappily. Claire says she hasn’t thought about the resemblance in a very long time, and that Frank and his violent forebear were very different men. Then Jamie wants to know if Frank was honest and trustworthy. “He wouldn’t write something that he knew to be false,” Claire says, clearly wondering where this is going.
So Jamie comes out and says it: Frank mentions Jamie’s name “14 times so far” in the book, saying that there’s a Battle of King’s Mountain that will take place in the back country, “and that James Fraser dies in it.”
Now it’s your turn, sassenachs! Grade the episode via the poll below, then hit the comments with all of your thoughts about the premiere.