‘Outlander’ Season 7, Episode 4 Recap: “A Most Uncomfortable Woman”

It’s truly amazing how quickly the time passes on Outlander. Jemmy and Mandy are growing up fast, and the renovations at Lallybroch are going pretty well for Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger (Richard Rankin) in 1980. However, given how old the place is, bringing things up to date (and up to code!) is proving to be an expensive project, and money is running out. It’s clearly ready to bust into Jamie’s hidden gold, but Bri isn’t there yet — she wants the kids to get a chance to be kids. It’s unclear how asking Jemmy where a secret hiding space he used to visit with his grandpa would destroy his childhood, but whatever. 

Speaking of the kids, though, Jemmy has a lying problem. Everything from breaking a clock radio to stealing all the crisps and biscuits (that’s chips and cookies, non-Brits!) is all down to pixies and Nuckelavees, according to him. Roger is reluctant to destroy his imagination, but there’s clearly something strange going on here, and it’s certainly not a mythical horse-like demon from the North Isles demanding junk food. 

A lot of “A Most Uncomfortable Woman” (Outlander Season 7, Episode 4) isn’t about a woman at all but about Jamie’s illegitimate son, William Ransom (Charles Vandervaart). He’s all amped up on fighting for England and even plays the hero when some of his fellow officers set a prostitute on fire, jumping in and putting out the flames with his coat. This earns him the attention of his superior, who entrusts him with the important task of delivering letters to three men down in the swamps: Samuel Cartwright, Henry Carver, and Joshua Harrington. 

Of course, William gets himself into a spot of bother on the way when a snake scares his horse and the horse throws him off. As he falls, William basically impales himself through the arm with a stick, and that wound gets pretty gnarly pretty quick. He’s got no horse, no supplies, and no money — so it’s a good thing he runs into Young Ian (John Bell) in the woods. 

Once Ian finds out who William is, he reveals their shared connection (though he only says Jamie is a good friend of William’s father, not that he’s William’s real dad). Ian does what he can for William’s wound, but he needs medical attention. They eventually find it from a doctor named Denzell Hunter (Joey Phillips) and his sister Rachel (Izzy Meikle-Small). 

By this point, William’s wound has become severely infected and according to Denzel, the only way to save his life is to cut William’s arm off. However, just before the saw makes its first cut, a huge bubble of pus comes out of the wound and William narrowly avoids amputation. However, he’ll have a lengthy recovery and will need to stay at the house for a while. 

Meanwhile, Young Ian has places to be and can’t hang around, no matter how hot he thinks Rachel is. They clearly have a connection, but Ian is off to meet with the Shawnee Indians to see if they’re interested in fighting with the rebels to gain independence from England. 

That brings us to Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan), who were raring to go back to Scotland but will have to put those plans on hold. That’s because while stopping for supplies in Wilmington, Jamie is conscripted to fight for the rebellion by Mr. Cornelius Harnett. Jamie’s not pleased, but he believes so strongly in the cause that after some consideration, he acquiesces to Harnett’s demands. Claire’s not all that cut up about the change of plans, either — she decides instead that she’ll go to the frontlines at Fort Ticonderoga in New York, where the rebel soldiers are assembling, to work as a doctor. That’ll certainly come in handy! 

Speaking of what went down in Wilmington (more on that later!), Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones) is alive! Claire’s a bit more shocked than I was, but it turns out he avoided being hanged to death because he was literate and the governor needed a secretary of sorts. Since the governor then fell out of favor, Christie basically became a free man. Well, that should alleviate Claire’s guilt about him giving his life for her! 

Christie invites Claire for tea and she clearly feels obliged despite his insistence on kissing her against her will. Throughout their brief conversation, he again confesses his love for her and claims he’ll have no peace while she’s on the earth. That sounds like a bit of a threat to me, but he adds that he doesn’t actually mind that unrest in his spirit. 

In fact, Christie thought she and Jamie were dead and placed an obituary in their honor after hearing about the fire at Fraser’s Ridge. Ah, so that explains the one Bri and Roger read years ago! That’s tied up nicely. 

As it turns out, this decidedly awkward interaction between Claire and Christie seems to have turned both Claire and Jamie on. After she relays the incident to Jamie, they both decide it’s a great time for the first real sex scene of the season, much to the delight of fans everywhere. This one is relatively tasteful — we only get a small glimpse of them going at it in a mirror before the scene fades. 

At the end of the episode, we see that William has recovered from his stick stabbing nicely and has a very memorable scar. As Rachel shaves him, she reveals that she and her brother will be leaving this place very soon since her brother was moved to fight for independence. 

Where are they going? William wonders. Well, they’re headed to Fort Ticonderoga in New York since one of their friends, Samuel Cartwright, told them that’s the meeting point for those ready to wage battle. It dawns on William that Cartwright was one of recipients of the letters from his superior, but he’s still not sure what that means just yet. Still, he offers to accompany them to New York, and given that Jamie and Claire have just arrived there, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be long before the men face off.

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.