Outlander season 7 ending explained: A big ball of timey-wimey stuff

NOTE: This post contains spoilers for Outlander season 7 episode 16, "A Hundred Thousand Angels.”

It only makes sense to refer to Doctor Who in the title of this last recap of Outlander season 7, given that it was an episode of the cult series that inspired Diana Gabaldon to write the Outlander books in the first place, and that this season finale is indeed a “big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff” as the Doctor would put it.

Indeed, the show’s time-travel magic operates once more to have characters reunite, and others make a surprising comeback. But this finale also delivered a tragic fate to a recent addition to the Outlander family. Let’s recap.

Controlling the narrative

For as long as it has been on (10 years!), Outlander has known how to tease its fans. Therefore, the opening scene of the last episode of season 7 remained shrouded in mystery until Fanny told Claire about dragonflies. Indeed at the top of the episode the show featured a quick scene with a young blonde girl, a young red-headed one, and a black-haired woman, following dragonflies in a field. Fans could then assume these ladies were a younger Fanny and Jane with their mother, but it is truly during a moment between Claire and the young orphan later in the episode that this becomes clear.

“A Hundred Thousand Angels” then transitioned to an interview where a reporter asks Jane about the murder of Captain Harkness. He wants all the gory details, believing a rumor that she stabbed him 26 times, but Jane is not about to give him the satisfaction. She knows what her fate is, she knows she will not get out of this situation alive, so she refuses to share her story with him. As she puts it, she will not give any more of herself to any man.

The reporter then tries to manipulate her into telling him her side of the story, playing the sister card. He argues Jane should tell him what happened in her own words so that Fanny ends up hearing her version, and not one that came from the rumor mill or the retelling of a journalist. A fair point that seems to shake Jane a little.

Jane’s life, however, is not the only one that hangs in the balance in this episode. Claire is recovering from the surgery Denzell performed on her at Tennent Church, but she is not out of the woods yet. We find Jamie at her bedside, talking about how he wishes he could give her some of the blood she lost, because they are “blood of my blood” after all.

However, he is relieved when Claire wakes up and tells him she has decided not to die. She knows what it feels like to think your other half is dead, so she says she would not do that to him. They share a sweet moment, recalling the many times they previously scared one another by getting too close to death’s door, before Claire falls asleep again.

A boy on a mission

Over at the British camp, William is looking for help and turns to Lord John. He explains Jane’s predicament and asks if John can find out where she is so William can go speak on her behalf. John wants to know whether or not she is guilty of murdering Harkness and William explains why Jane did what she did. After inquiring about her situation, John informs William that Jane signed a confession.

When he asks William if he loves Jane, his son says there is “something about her” and that he tried to protect her from Harkness but feels like he made things worse. Arguing there wasn’t much William could do besides kill Harkness himself or marry Jane, Lord John tries to cheer up the lad by joking that he doesn’t recommend murder as a way of settling differences as it tends to lead to complications.

Explaining that Jane is being held in a meeting house, John adds that as they are under Martial law, there will be no trial. The army will do as they see fit and execute her, and there is nothing the two of them can do. He tries to comfort William by saying the ordeal was not entirely in vain as Jane did manage to save her sister after all.

Meanwhile, Ian returns from mission “Saving Cousin William” and Jamie is relieved to hear his son is safe and sound. He, Rachel (and Rollo) are happy to see Ian but inform him about what happened to Claire. They reassure Ian that she should recover and Jamie explains that he decided not to go back to the army. When his nephew asks if they will allow it, Jamie says they are going to have to. Surely, that is a plot point the show will return to in season 8.

A vision from the past

A week later, back at Tennent Church, we find Claire in need of Jamie’s help to relieve herself. She is not fond of requiring his assistance to sit on a bucket, but sometimes even the strongest of people need a hand. She then checks her urine to ensure there is no blood in it - and luckily there isn’t so her kidneys seem to be functioning normally. Jamie then lies down beside her and they share a tender embrace as Claire asks her husband if they can go home. He promises that as soon as she feels well enough, they will return to the Ridge (where they will obviously need to rebuild their house but that’s a matter the show can solve over Droughtlander).

Then, things start to get weird. Claire has a dream (or is it a vision? Sorcery? Who knows at this point!) about Master Raymond. He is someone we haven’t seen since season 2, in Paris, where we left him presumably dead. Yet here he is, visiting his “Madone” and saying he has come to ask forgiveness. When she asks what for, he simply says “Someday you will know.” Ah, Master Raymond, cryptic as ever! But when he kisses Claire’s hand, she sees something that is also from season 2: a pair of wings, a bird image she last saw when she lost her first daughter, Faith.

When Claire later wakes up, she is hella confused, and so are we. She asks Jamie, who has been by her side all night, if he saw anyone. He hasn’t and she explains she thought she saw Master Raymond. She adds that when she lost Faith, he was with her and Jamie assumes that’s why she dreamt of him. When Claire says Master Raymond once told her they would all see each other again, she wonders if that means that when she dies she will see Faith. Jamie thinks so, adding that that is what makes death easier to bear.

Reunited, at long last

Jumping back to 1730s Scotland, Roger and Buck are on their way out of Lallybroch when suddenly (and conveniently), in the middle of the road, appears Jemmy. He runs to his dad, who is flabbergasted, and explains he didn’t come here all by his lonesome. Indeed, out of the fog come Bree and Mandy. As Richard Rankin’s Roger lets out a relieved “BRIANNA!”, the MacKenzies gather in a big hug that is the most heartwarming sight of this episode. Even Buck is touched.

Later on, we find Brianna not missing out on the chance to speak with the person whose name she inherited. She in fact has a chat with her grandfather, Brian Fraser, who is quite startled when he catches a glimpse of her up close. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that Bree looks very much like Ellen, Jamie’s mother and Brian’s late wife.

Bree is thankful Brian welcomed her family, who are just “strangers” after all, into his home. She navigates the whole “you are my grandfather but I cannot tell you” situation quite well and shares a lovely moment with Brian where he explains how he managed to keep his heart open after Ellen died and that memories of her come to him from time to time. He often hopes to catch a glimpse of her and is glad he did when he saw Bree. Let us now hope that in season 8 we will get to see Bree tell Jamie about how she met his da!

Because yes, it seems like Bree and Roger are going to go back to the future, but not the 1980s one where they have a pretty decent life, aside from when they are chased around by Rob Cameron and his goons. The thing is that the MacKenzies feel like maybe they need to figure out “when” they belong, and not “where”, so as Bree states she misses her family, it would make sense to get the entire MacKenzie-Fraser clan back together next season.

A fractured relationship

Over at the church, Lord John visits Claire, telling her he came as soon as he heard what happened. When he calls her “my dear”, it ruffles Jamie’s feathers, who appears from behind like a peacock ready for another dance. But John is not here to fight him for Claire’s favor, so he corrects himself and calls Claire “Mrs Fraser” before Jamie thanks him for saving William. Again, John manages a jest about how there is no need to thank him as he has a “vested interest” in William’s welfare as well. Perhaps ever since John got beat up he has decided to show off his wit and his sense of humor more?

Jamie inquires about William’s wellbeing and John explains that he is okay but “on a fool’s errand” where he is only in danger of having his heart broken, something neither of his dads can save him from. The conversation then switches to their unfinished discussion regarding what happened between Claire and John, but when John asks if anything really remains to be said, Jamie says no, and Claire comes close to let out a cheer when she hears that. The tension is still palpable though, and it doesn’t look like John and Jamie will be playing chess again anytime soon.

Before John leaves, Claire makes a point of thanking him for everything that he did for her back in Philadelphia. “You saved my life,” she tells him, referring to how sharing his grief with her prevented Claire from ending her days. “We saved each others’,” John answers.

Devastating losses

It is then time to start packing up before heading back to North Carolina. Claire can now walk around and she receives another visitor, Denzell, who confesses he hopes he never has to operate on a loved-one again.

Later on, at night, yet another person knocks on the door and this time it’s William, who is desperate enough to save Jane that he has come to Jamie for help. Jamie therefore tells Claire that William, who has never asked anything of him, wants his help so she tells him to go.

Over at the meeting house, Jane is drinking and looking at the “dancing lights” (aka the Northern lights) outside her window, awaiting her fate. She waves at the lights and we then see Jamie and William outside, ready to rescue her. They manage to sneak in using a trick Brianna taught Jamie (which prompts William to realize he has a sister) and they knock a soldier out before William rushes upstairs to get Jane.

However, they are too late. William finds the lass on the floor, where she has slit her wrists. It is devastating, but not entirely surprising. We knew Jane wanted to control her own fate, so it is understandable she chose this over being hanged by the British army. William will undoubtedly beat himself up about this later, but now he doesn’t have time as he and Jamie need to flee. Before doing so though, William lays Jane on the bed and removes her shackles while Jamie cuts a lock of her hair, for Fanny.

Jane, however, is not the only tragic loss in this season finale. After Ian and Rachel discussed the idea of returning to Fraser’s Ridge and the lass told her husband she is with child, Ian wakes up to a terrible sight. His dog, Rollo, passed away peacefully overnight. Ian is overcome with pain as he sobs over his pet’s lifeless body and, honestly, so are we. That’s one more Outlander scene we’ll never watch again, so we’ll just echo what Jamie tells his nephew and say that it will be strange to see Ian without his hound from then on.

The sins of the father

Back at the church, Jamie tells Claire what happened and mentions Jane has a sister. The next day, William brings Fanny to the Frasers and Jamie gives her the lock of Jane’s hair before telling Fanny she can come live with them on the Ridge. He promises she will be safe and that no man will harm her as long as he lives. William says he wishes to bury Jane decently and Fanny asks to see her sister, so Jamie says he will see to it.

Before he leaves, William wants to clear the air with Jamie, or at least get some answers. Claire takes the hint and takes Fanny outside while William basically asks Jamie if he raped his mother. The latter says that he didn’t, and also explains that he didn’t love her. His response when William wonders if she loved Jamie is simply that she was very young.

Jamie adds that Geneva was courageous, bold and confident before acknowledging the part he played in her death (she died after giving birth to William so he feels responsible for getting her pregnant in the first place). When his son asks if he regrets it, Jamie says he is not sorry, implying that what happened with Geneva at least gave him William. The latter insists that he will never call Jamie "father" and, as Lord John has previously warned William about carelessly using the word “never”, it may wound Jamie now but we can collectively reiterate “never say never, William.”

You gotta have Faith

Claire and Jamie take Fanny to a field where countless souls have been buried under unmarked graves, including Jane. The young girl runs through the sepulchres yelling her sister’s name, but she cannot unfortunately know which one is hers. That’s when Fanny shares a memory about Jane with Claire and tells her about the dragonflies and how Jane loved the dancing lights. She explains their mother used to say they were angels and that if you waved at them, they would carry you to Heaven. Claire then gives her Jane’s belongings that Jamie got back from the British and amongst them is a locket with a picture of Jane and Fanny’s mother, engraved with the name “Faith”.

Could it be? Well, hold on to your time-traveling hat because later on Claire hears Frances sing a very familiar tune. It’s “I do like to be beside the seaside”, a song written in the 1900s that Fanny cannot possibly know. It’s also the song Claire sang to Faith when she rocked her dead daughter in her arms back in Paris! When she asks Fanny how she knows it, the girl says her mom taught it to her. COULD IT BE? We told you, this episode goes hard on the “wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff”. Jamie arrives and finds a frazzled Claire who tells him she thinks their daughter Faith might have lived.

What did Master Raymond do? Did Faith somehow survive thanks to some time-traveling rewrite of the events surrounding her death? Or was some sort of witchcraft involved? Is it why Master Raymond asked for Claire's forgiveness in her “dream”??

Let the speculations begin. We’ll have to wait until Outlander returns for season 8 on Starz and MGM+ to find out what the heck is going on here. In the meantime, good luck with this new Droughtlander, Sassenachs.