War has arrived on Blood of My Blood as the Jacobite rising of 1715 erupts into open conflict. While clansmen clash and die at the Battle of Sheriffmuir, they are not the only characters claiming lives in “Forgive Me, Father.”
The episode opens with Colum (Seamus McLean Ross), who is struggling to live up to his responsibilities as laird of Clan MacKenzie and the expectations left behind by his late father. Because of his pyknodysostosis, also known as Toulouse-Lautrec syndrome, Colum remains at home rather than joining the battle. He is surrounded by his pregnant wife, Letitia, his unhappily married sister Jocasta, and the family lawyer, Ned Gowan.
Julia (Hermione Corfield) is also being kept at the house, held captive by Seema (Lauren McQueen). The former prostitute, now working as a Grant spy, wants Henry for herself and has decided that killing Julia may be the simplest way to remove her rival.
Meanwhile, Ellen (Harriet Slater) and Grace (Ruby Fubara) are camping during their journey back to Leoch. Ellen tells Grace that Murtagh has feelings for her, while Grace reveals that she knows Ellen is pregnant. She then asks the question hanging over Ellen’s future: If Brian dies, what will happen to Ellen and her child, given that she is unmarried?
It is an especially urgent concern because Brian (Jamie Roy) and Murtagh (Rory Alexander) have already joined the Earl of Mar’s army, with battle just around the corner. Murtagh vows to protect Ellen and the baby if Brian does not survive. Outlander fans know he is sincere, given the devotion he will later show toward their second son.
With the Grants now aligned with the Loyalists, Arch Bug (Terence Rae) and Henry (Jeremy Irvine) find themselves in the British camp. Arch asks Henry whether the faeries took him, reflecting what his wife, Murdina, believes. Henry describes the strange experience of time travel and explains that the “faeries” attempted to take his memory of his daughter, Claire. Arch appears to understand what Henry endured, and the two men unexpectedly emerge as allies.
Back at Leoch, Letitia blames herself for the death of the gentle Janet. As he prepares to become a father, Colum reflects on how every person carries pieces of their parents within them. Their conversation is interrupted when Ned Gowan (Conor MacNeill) announces that Dougal escaped Lord Lovat’s trap and has joined Mar’s army. Later, Colum concludes that a Jacobite victory would lead Dougal to claim the position of Clan MacKenzie’s laird. If the Jacobites lose, Ned believes the British will not take Leoch while it remains in Ellen’s name. Colum thinks about his father, Red Jacob, and the love he had for Ellen, regretting that he used her to protect the clan—though he is unlikely to stop doing so.
Ellen faces an immediate danger of her own when she awakens to find Robert MacKinney (Macleod Stephen), James MacKinney’s son, pointing a gun at her. He wants revenge for his father’s death. Grace attempts to intervene, but Robert knocks her unconscious and binds both women. He promises Ellen a slow, agonizing death, yet she urges him to reject his father’s violent legacy rather than become the same kind of man. Her argument begins to reach him, and he releases them while wondering who he might have been without his abusive father. Before he can leave, however, Balloch (Chick Allan) strikes him from behind, apparently killing him, and takes Ellen prisoner for Simon. Brian is certainly not going to forgive his father for this.
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Claire’s mother is in no safer position. Julia begs Seema not to harm William, but Seema remains disturbingly vague about the baby’s location and reveals a plan to claim William as her own—a twisted scheme worthy of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Her desperation and delusions make her almost sympathetic for a moment. That sympathy disappears when Seema threatens to tell Lovat that Julia is also married to Henry, continuing the Beauchamp family’s unfortunate connection to bigamy. Seema has become far too dangerous to leave alive.
Jocasta (Sadhbh Malin) is another character who inspires sympathy as she continues to yearn for Murtagh. Mrs. Fitz (Sally Messham) encourages her to believe that true love may still find her and refuses to condemn Jocasta for not loving her husband. Jocasta admits to Letitia that she is relieved John Cameron is away fighting. Letitia, in turn, hopes that if her baby is a girl, she will never grow up fearing the sound of her husband’s footsteps. She later asks Colum how he would react to having a daughter or a son. Given his complicated relationship with his own father, Letitia prays for a daughter.
The Battle of Sheriffmuir unfolds throughout the episode, turning the conflict into a brutal clash between clans. The British have firearms and cannons, but Dougal (Sam Retford) leads the Jacobites into battle without hesitation. Murtagh delivers one of the episode’s most spectacular kills with a running leap, although the victory comes at a steep cost when Old Rupert (Craig Clelland) is killed by a cannon blast. Brian and Henry find themselves on opposite sides of the battlefield, but they exchange a meaningful glance and choose not to attack each other. Their future descendants, Jamie and Claire, would undoubtedly be grateful.
Henry appears ready to abandon the battle as planned, but he changes course and saves Arch’s life. He tells Arch that he could not face Julia—or Murdina—if he left a fellow soldier behind. Henry’s World War I experience catches the attention of a Redcoat, who introduces himself as Captain Lord Gerard Grey (Digby Edgley). The name is significant: he is the father of Outlander favorite Lord John Grey, whose two sons will eventually become involved in plenty of trouble of their own.
After the fighting ends, Dougal is furious that Mar refuses to press forward and secure a decisive victory. Sheriffmuir will ultimately be remembered as a battle without a clear winner. Determined to continue the cause, Dougal takes 20 MacKenzie men to attack the Duke of Argyll’s supply train. Only Alec (Michael Cooke) returns, badly injured, and tells Brian that Dougal and Old Angus have been captured while the rest of the MacKenzie fighters were killed. Brian promised Ellen that he would bring Dougal home alive, so he and Murtagh set off for Fort William—later known as Black Jack Randall’s headquarters—to rescue him.
With Henry alone at the camp, he reads the letter Julia gave him in the previous episode. She writes that they will be together either in this life or the next. The latter suddenly seems possible when Seema approaches with a knife. Julia tackles her, and during the struggle, she strangles Seema to death. Still shaking, Julia leaves the room and discovers Davina (Sara Vickers) and William safe and unharmed, suggesting that Seema was bluffing about their whereabouts. As ominous music builds, Davina asks where Seema is. Julia quietly answers, “Gone.”
The episode repeatedly explores men seeking forgiveness for their own sins and those inherited from their fathers. By the next installment, however, Julia may be the one asking for forgiveness. Her best chance at redemption could be helping rescue Ellen from her other husband.
Caitlin Gallagher is a New Jersey-raised, NYC-based entertainment writer. When she is not writing about or watching television, she is planning her next Halloween costume, crying over rescue animals, or praising Season 2 of The Leftovers.