Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 6 Recap: What Happens in “Small Mercies”

The villains take center stage in Blood of My Blood Season 2, Episode 6, “Small Mercies.” Lord Lovat (Tony Curran) sets his sights on both Ellen (Harriet Slater) and Julia (Hermione Corfield), while the episode also reveals the early roots of a notorious Outlander nemesis.

Before that conflict unfolds, Julia and Davina Porter (Sara Vickers) bury another enemy: Seema (Lauren McQueen). Seema intended to kill Julia and claim William and Henry as her own, yet Julia still feels compassion for her. She believes Seema’s death will remain with her for the rest of her life.

At Leoch, Grace (Ruby Fubara) tells Colum (Seamus McLean Ross) and Ned (Conor MacNeill) that Ellen has been abducted, although she has no idea who took her. Despite reconsidering his position in the previous episode, Colum seems more alarmed by the possibility of the British taking Leoch after Ellen’s death than by his sister’s safety. Ned is appalled when Colum refuses even to send a search party.

Had Colum made any effort to look, he would have found Ellen at Leathers. Lord Lovat has returned after capturing Inverness and remains unconvinced by Julia and Davina’s claim that Seema simply ran away. He orders them to prepare for a visitor, while Maisri (Katharine O’Donnelly) joins the gathering with a reading and a supply of spiced wine.

Simon sits down with his daughter-in-law Ellen and insists that Balloch did not abduct her—he rescued her from MacKinney. Ellen is unconvinced, calls him a traitor and confronts him over the purity test that nearly ruined her life last season. Simon admires her defiance and even apologizes before inviting her to stay for a meal. That offer feels dangerous, especially after Episode 203 established that the Fox’s kindness usually conceals a cruel scheme.

The forced dinner does at least reunite Ellen and Julia. The women pretend to be no more than acquaintances from Braemar, while Julia introduces Ellen to Davina, her mother-in-law. It should be a warm moment, but Lord Lovat keeps insisting that every action he takes is for his children. He encourages everyone to drink Maisri’s spiced wine, then raises a toast comparing the Frasers and MacKenzies to the Montagues and Capulets. 

Meanwhile, the MacKenzies—the episode’s real-life Capulets—return home after the Battle of Sheriffmuir, carrying both survivors and grief. Rupert’s wife and Wee Rupert (Louis O’Rourke) mourn his death, while Wee Angus (Marlow Walters) keeps asking where his father is. John Cameron (Alastair Mackenzie) arrives and unsettles both Jocasta and Grace before revealing that Dougal and Angus have been captured by the Redcoats.

At Fort William, Captain Lord Gerard Grey (Digby Edgley) interrogates and tortures Dougal (Sam Retford), who refuses to reveal anything. That changes when a new Redcoat recruit presses a burning coal against Dougal’s face and groin. The recruit is Black Jack Randall (Finley Glasgow), a character Outlander viewers know for his later torture of Jamie. Lord John Grey’s father orders the aspiring sadist to stop and has Dougal taken to the vault. 

Even with his brother in enemy custody, Colum shows no interest in mounting a rescue. He argues that leaving Dougal behind is the best way to protect the clan, but Ned can barely hide his disgust with his laird.

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Ellen is in desperate need of help. She has become pale and sweaty, yet continues drinking the wine at Lovat’s urging. When Maisri arrives to perform her reading, she gives Ellen a chilling message: “Life’s promise holds fast, but death’s call must be answered.” Brian may still be alive, but Ellen’s painful cramps suggest that her unborn child may not be.

Inside the tide-dependent vault, Angus (Ross Mann) and Dougal discuss Rupert’s death. Angus comforts Dougal by saying their sons will have one another—a particularly touching detail because Wee Rupert and Wee Angus are played by the real-life sons of the original Rupert and Angus actors from Outlander. Dougal admits that he regrets never having sons, but their conversation ends when the rising tide threatens to drown them. Fortunately, Brian (Jamie Roy) and Murtagh (Rory Alexander) have infiltrated Fort William and are proving highly effective at killing Redcoats.

Ellen continues drinking as her condition worsens, and Julia begins feeling ill as well. When Davina wonders whether Maisri has cursed them, Julia realizes the wine is responsible. By then, however, Ellen is bleeding and reveals that she is pregnant. Julia confronts Simon, who confesses that he ordered Maisri to give both women a potion designed to destroy their wombs. He believes the prophecy naming young Simon—William—as king cannot come true if more children are born into the Lovat line. Julia delivers the devastating news to Ellen, who assumes she has miscarried and demands to be taken home to Leoch.

Dougal and Angus are nearly drowned when Brian and Murtagh reach the vault. With no key available, the rescuers use a wall torch to force their way in. Angus boosts Dougal high enough to push open the grate, allowing Dougal to escape—but Angus drowns. There is no time to grieve as they flee Fort William, where they encounter the young Black Jack once more. Dougal is ready to kill him, but Brian stops him after the terrified boy wets himself, insisting that he is only a child. They spare Black Jack, a choice that will haunt Brian for the rest of his life.

With help from her mother-in-law, Ellen reaches Leoch. Mrs. Fitz (Sally Messham) and Jocasta (Sadhbh Malin) bathe her, tend to her injuries and put her to bed. Colum tries to visit, but Mrs. Fitz orders him to leave Ellen alone. She does, however, reveal that Ellen was at Castle Leathers. Brian may have rescued Dougal, but now Colum could hold him responsible for what his father has done.

The episode closes on a more hopeful note. At Leathers, Arch Bug (Terence Rae) helps Henry (Jeremy Irvine) and his “faerie wife,” Julia, communicate through the stone fence. The pair promise to exchange letters by hiding them in their stone “postbox” until Henry gathers enough gemstones to travel back to their own time.

Claire’s parents have found a fragile glimmer of hope, even as Jamie’s parents face devastating heartbreak. Viewers already know that Lovat’s plan will ultimately fail, and Ellen’s apparent loss of the baby makes the theory that she and Brian will adopt Julia and Henry’s William seem increasingly plausible.

Caitlin Gallagher is a New Jersey-raised, NYC-based entertainment writer. When not writing about or watching TV, she can be found planning her next Halloween costume, crying over rescue animals, or praising Season 2 of The Leftovers.