Outlander (2014) s05e06 Episode Script

Better to Marry Than Burn

Previously: Duncan Innes has proposed marriage.
I have yet to give him my answer.
I'll no stand in the way of your happiness.
- You will escort Claire home.
- What about the militia? I made you a captain without time to teach ye what the word meant.
Da left you here to protect the Ridge while he's gone.
He doesn't respect me, Bree.
I've told Gerald Forbes to draw up a will leaving River Run and all its contents to Jeremiah.
Mistress Fraser, I'd like to introduce you to Mr Wylie.
- Who's Dr Rawlings? - Me.
It's no longer safe for you to remain here.
I know you stay because of the vow you made to my mother and to me.
I release you from it.
Be hard to find.
There are dragoons ahead.
Halt.
Make yourselves known.
Thank goodness.
Oh, you are a welcome sight, lieutenant.
We are making our way as far as possible from Culloden.
Whom do I address, sir? Of course, where are my manners? I am Samuel Torrington.
My wife and daughter are inside.
Will you have them step out? By order of the duke of Cumberland, we are to search every conveyance on these roads.
Very wise precaution.
My dears.
Not a word.
It's empty, sir.
Very well.
You should be on your way.
Allow me, miss.
Have you a destination, sir? To the border, across to Carlisle.
My brother has an estate.
You'll be far from the fighting there.
Good day, sir.
Travel safely.
Thank you.
God save the king.
And which king would that be? Lieutenant, gold, with the king of France's mark on it.
Must be intended for Charles Stuart.
We've found ourselves some Jacobite traitors.
Hector.
Sir, lower your weapon.
Papa! Morna? Morna.
Morna.
Morna.
Morna.
Morna? - She's dead.
- No.
- Ye canna help her.
- No, no.
- We must go.
- No.
- Jocasta, come.
- Hector, we canna leave her.
Morna! Drive on! Morna! Morna! Morna! - Do you have a moment, ma'am? - Come in.
Good morning, Mr Innes.
Sorry to disturb you.
Margaret, Abigail, you may leave us.
I ken the wedding's tomorrow, but I wanted to give you this.
- Is that lavender I smell? - Aye.
To soothe your nerves, perhaps.
I ken a bride has much on her mind, flowers and frocks and ribbons to choose.
It's the MacKenzie motto.
"I shine, not burn.
" A wee token of my affection.
I ken perhaps that you dinna burn with passion for me, but the name "Innes" comes from the Gaelic, an island formed by two branches of a stream, and in time, I hope that we might Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Innes.
It is most kind.
- Pardon me, mistress.
- Ulysses.
Your nephew and Mr Forbes are waiting for you downstairs.
Indeed.
I'll leave you to it, then.
Do you really think I canna feel the look you were giving that poor man? I only want you to be happy.
Happiness doesna come into it.
In time, Mr Innes may afford me a wee bit of peace.
My apologies, gentlemen.
Now, no need to apologise, auntie.
We've come to River Run for celebrations in your honour.
Take as long as you please.
Well, thank you.
How generous you are, Mistress Cameron.
I'm sure Brianna must be sensible of the kind attention you've bestowed upon her son.
But you're sure Mr Innes understands what this means? Mr Innes has graciously agreed to allow me to serve as guardian of River Run until Jeremiah comes of age.
We have no children, after all.
Shall we begin? And the colonel as witness.
There you have it.
River Run has a new master.
And in his absence, I should attend to my guests.
You'll excuse me.
Mistress.
Come, little laddie.
Just a wee sniffle.
It's not so bad.
What I wouldn't give for a box of tissues.
Yeah, or some baby aspirin.
Here.
Though I suppose it wouldn't make much difference.
How is it that 200 years from now we have a man on the moon, but still no cure for the bloody common cold? You could have gone to the wedding, you know.
I can handle a kid with a cold.
I know, but I wanted to help.
Jocasta insulted you at our wedding.
So you thought you'd insult her by not going to hers.
Well, two birds with one stone.
Adso has brought us a gift.
What's this? I don't think that's a gift from Adso.
And I hope it's not a gift from the gods.
It should be Murtagh at Jocasta's side.
Instead, here I am, rubbing shoulders with the very devils who'd see him dead.
You can't be so hard on yourself.
You asked him to wait.
If Murtagh isn't here today, then that's his own choice.
Come on.
Let's try and enjoy the day for Jocasta's sake.
Aye.
- Excuse me.
- I had no idea you were such a good dancer.
Well, to tell the truth, I'm not certain I am.
I think I must have danced with every girl in the province.
All of them hoping to secure an advantageous match with Lord John Grey, no doubt.
Aye, it is the social event of the year.
I'd wager there's not a single young lady in North Carolina who'd forfeit her chance to be worshipped in Cupid's grove tonight.
Speaking of never missing a chance to be worshipped Naturally.
Lord John Grey, Colonel Fraser, this is an advantageous meeting.
- Good day.
- Your Excellency.
Mistress Fraser, delighted to see you again.
Your Excellency.
- Mistress Tryon.
- Her Excellency.
If you don't mind.
- My apologies.
- Pay him no mind, Mistress Fraser.
I usually insist upon the title as a reminder to him.
And just as he's finally begun introducing me this way to the good people of North Carolina, we're leaving for New York.
- Typical.
- New York? May I introduce the honourable Judge Martin Atticus? Your servant, sir.
I swear, if I had my gloves, I would throw one down.
Then we would see who had any sense of good old-fashioned honour.
- Good Lord, who is that man? - Quincy Arbuckle, Your Excellency.
Always at least one self-righteous pillock at a wedding.
I'm quite surprised by your language, Your Honour, but can't say I disagree.
And what's worse is I'm certain I attract them.
The moment anyone discovers that I'm a judge, suddenly everyone in the vicinity is a moral philosopher or expert in matters of the law.
Well, my most recent legislative victory was a stroke of genius, if I may say so.
Indeed.
We are fortunate to have a governor so wise and merciful to offer pardons to these dishonorable men.
My, news does travel slow in the backcountry.
Well, you have a fellow Scotsman, Samuel Johnston, to thank for proposing it: an Act for Preventing Tumultuous and Riotous Assembly, prohibiting 10 men or more from gathering under certain circumstances.
Reasoning being if men cannot gather, they cannot conspire.
Yes, exactly.
If only I'd thought to do such a thing sooner, then Lieutenant Knox might be with us still.
Good heavens, Your Excellency.
Am I to be forever reminding you of proper etiquette? Very sad indeed, terribly so, but not an appropriate conversation for such an auspicious day.
Quite right.
Come, let's leave the men - to their morbid talk of politics.
- Let's.
I hear there's a game of high-stakes whist taking place later.
I find it very beguiling watching men gamble away their fortunes.
The swarm is gonna be here in a day.
Aye, the crop will be crawling with the devils if we wait any longer.
We should burn Mr Fraser's field and be done with it.
Gentlemen, please, if I may.
Fire! That got everyone's attention.
That panic you felt in your chest, that terror, the instinct to protect yourselves from danger.
Now, imagine if there really was a fire.
- But we'd be rid of the buggers.
- Perhaps, until more come along.
But you'd be ridding yourselves of a lot more as well.
One shift of the wind and your homes could be reduced to ashes.
Are you willing to take that chance, Mr Lindsay? I wish Colonel Fraser was here.
He'd have an answer for this.
Colonel Fraser is 10 days' ride away.
So, what is it you propose we do, Captain Mackenzie? No answer.
I'm not saddened by leaving the palace at New Bern.
The building has certain elegant amenities, but I've never felt comfortable there.
- My God, is that Philip Wylie? - You know him? It's hard to tell under all that powder, but yes.
I met him at a dinner in Wilmington.
- Though I found him rather - Persistent? I was going to say "annoying.
" Ever since he returned from Paris, he's become an insufferable dandy, not to mention a rake.
Rumour has it he's in an obscene amount of debt after losing his fortune to gambling and in houses of ill repute.
Well, he's coming towards us.
Towards you.
But perhaps I can distract him for you.
I'm the wife of a politician, after all.
It's a particular talent of mine.
- Mr Wylie! - You should have seen the look on Robert's face when I told him that there were certain times during the month from now on when he would be sleeping in the guest chamber.
And he agreed to it? Well, what could he say? There it was, written in plain ink, the words of this Rawlings physician.
He was cursing the day that women were taught to read.
But don't you think it a little sacrilegious? A child is a divine blessing.
If it's God's will, what sort of woman would willingly prevent herself from bearing one? Perhaps the sort of woman who doesn't have the means to provide for an infinite number of blessings.
If you'll excuse me.
- Well, Mistress Fraser.
- Mr Wylie.
Deuced clumsy of me.
May I fetch you something to restore your spirits? No, thank you.
How very good to see you.
I assure you, madam, the pleasure is entirely mine.
Well, you are looking well, sir.
Fortune has smiled upon me this year.
The trade with England has quite recovered.
May the gods be thanked.
And I've had my share of it and more besides.
May I likewise observe how becoming you look? As always, you're a most welcome ornament to this humble affair.
Excuse me, Mr Wylie.
Mistress Fraser's aunt is in need of her opinion, and we simply cannot keep a bride waiting.
Mr Wylie.
Forgive my tardy intervention, but You're doing the best you can.
Tell that to Evan Lindsay or Ronnie Sinclair.
- They're afraid.
- So they should be.
If the locusts swarm their farms, their families will be starved come winter.
- If your father were here - Hey.
What would he be able to do any differently? I wish I knew.
But I'm done trying to outthink him.
Funny how certain things stick in your brain.
Locusts and smoke.
Aye.
This story my father read to me when I was a boy, it's just It's coming back to me now.
Something about a plague of locusts somewhere in the American West.
I hope there's more.
They used smoke to drive them away before they could land.
- You think that'd work? - So many stories are based on fact.
Think of all the great writers, so much truth in fiction.
It could work.
We could set fires around the fields using green wood, and when the main swarm comes, there'll be so much smoke, they won't land.
I mean, we'd lose some of the crop.
There's no helping that.
- But if we can ward off the rest - That could work.
It could work.
We just have to create enough smoke to cover the fields.
Hanged? I thought you said the Riot Act outlaws assembly.
It does.
It also permits me to indict any man who was seen at the Hillsborough Riots, or any past riot.
Think of it as delayed justice.
These men should have been arrested months ago.
And if they refuse to submit themselves to the king's justice? Then I've given the sheriffs leave to discipline any man who resists.
As I said to you when you arrived on these shores, Mr Fraser: - There is the law - And then there is what is done.
I'm glad you think so.
But I'm curious.
Why do this now? Your wife mentioned you were bound for New York.
Yes, I begged her to exercise discretion until it was made certain, but Been offered the governorship there.
I mean, there's a few minor formalities that need to be observed, but I have friends who have assured me it's a fait accompli.
And I take it these friends ken the troubles we have with the Regulators? You know, when I first took office in North Carolina, my wife wept for a week.
I shared many of her reservations, and yet I must admit I have grown quite fond of the place.
Pain me to leave it in chaos, legacy of lawlessness.
Some of these men are savage at times, but they're not entirely godless.
- A legacy of mercy would be - And they shall have mercy if they choose it.
Best of both worlds.
Heaven or hell.
- Here's two more.
- Thanks.
- Are you filling those pots with? - Shite? Aye.
I'm using it to stave off insects.
And there I was thinking it usually attracted them.
I'm making smudge pots.
They've been used for centuries.
Oil and dung goes in here.
We don't have crude oil, obviously, so we're using goose fat.
When the pot's heated, smoke will pour out the top like a wee chimney.
If we place enough of them out in the field, it should be enough to cover what the green fires can't reach.
- Very impressive, Professor MacKenzie.
- Aye.
The only problem is I don't know how we're gonna push the smoke from the firepits out over the field.
Wind's picking up.
But who knows what it'll be like by the time we're ready? I have an idea for that.
Here.
I'll handle this.
You keep shovelling your shit.
Abigail, have you seen my husband? No, mistress.
Shall I look for him? No.
No, thank you.
Don't worry.
Chantilly lace, a favourite of the mistress of King Louis of France, Madame du Barry.
My humble gift to the soon-to-be Jocasta Innes.
- Lovely.
- Pity.
It would look far lovelier on you.
- I'm afraid such things are hard to come by.
- The excise duties are quite inconvenient.
That is, unless you know the right people.
As I was saying, fine lace is of little use to me out in the backcountry.
And I was saying, if you knew the right people, you wouldn't be languishing in the backcountry.
You'd be enjoying the finer things in life.
I can procure you whatever you wish, whatever your heart desires.
I know an Irish seafaring gentleman who does business in the port of Wilmington.
You mean a smuggler? Why, Mistress Fraser, you wound me.
You take me for a common thief? I only meant to imply that I have certain friends who are in the business of acquiring rare and exquisite things.
Mr Wylie.
I have something that may be of interest to you.
Oh, it's absolutely sinful.
My husband makes it.
Which one is he, pray tell? Silver or gold? Silver.
The gold is from my late husband.
My sympathies.
Do you mean to say that Mr Fraser permits you to wear another man's token so near his own? My husband is a very Clearly an extraordinary man.
May I ask when he died? Your first husband, I mean? A lifetime ago.
He must have been quite the man to inspire such devotion after all these years.
Yes, he was.
A star fixed in the firmament of a heart forever.
To love.
Indeed.
Mr Wylie, I was wondering if I might ask your advice.
Certainly.
I'm at your service.
On a matter of business.
This man of yours, this associate Well, if he knew of a way to circumvent certain financial inconveniences.
Anything you want, name it, and it's yours.
Well, I was wondering my husband's whisky venture, it's barely breaking even.
But a partner with the right connections Trust me, Mr Bonnet is possessed of shall we say, a notoriously unhappy temper.
He doesn't do business with people he doesn't know.
Thankfully, we I would be dealing only with you.
And of course there'd be your share of the profits.
It does pain me to hear such dull words as "profit" coming out of those lovely lips of yours.
Let's not spoil such a splendid day by talking of such tedious matters.
You've shown me your pride and joy.
Now I want to show you mine.
Take it as far as you can.
See that the rest of those pots are delivered to Evan Lindsay's field.
- Have your brother help too.
- Aye, captain.
Go on.
When your father left me in charge, I thought I might have to mend a fence, wrangle the odd runaway cow, but no.
I get a biblical plague.
I'd like you to meet Lucas.
Magnificent.
Isn't he? I believe he's a descendant of Eclipse of the Darley Arabian line.
Eclipse? One of the most famous racehorses who's ever lived.
Aren't you sweet? Sweet? Strange choice for such a magnificent creature.
All right, then, good-natured and spirited.
And above all, beautiful.
What the hell are you doing? Mistress Fraser, Claire, you madden me.
You bitch! Jamie, no! She plied me with drink and practically begged me to take her where she stood.
The woman's a vile succubus! How dare you? Stop! Are you really going to kill someone at your aunt's wedding? He's not worth it.
I see you near my wife again I will kill you.
You understand? Claire.
What were you thinking spending time alone with a man like him? He knows Stephen Bonnet.
What? He told you this? Well, it turns out, it's a very small world.
That smuggler he employs in Wilmington Wylie's up to his neck in gambling debt.
So I thought if I could tempt him with a business deal, then maybe he'd set up a meeting.
I had a feeling it was Stephen Bonnet.
Turns out, I was right.
Christ.
Speak of the devil and he appears.
Ye willna believe this.
Lord John told me Bonnet put a dagger to a man's eyes in Wilmington.
Just goes to show what kind of man Wylie is.
Now I've thrown him in horse shit and you've threatened to kill him, how are we supposed to get him back on side? You say the man likes to gamble.
Don't stop! Keep your fires going! Fergus? Back so soon, Mr Barlow? I thought you'd had enough.
It's you.
If you think that's enough to replace my coat, you're sorely mistaken.
It was given to me by the countess of My wife was right.
I cannae kill a man at my auntie's wedding.
So it seems we'll have to settle this another way.
If you're referring to the incident in the stables, it's as I told you.
I was the perfect gentleman.
Mr Wylie.
You're acquainted with the governor's wife? Indeed.
A fine woman, but between you and me she's not known for her discretion.
One word in her ear and in a fortnight, every man, woman, and child in the Province of North Carolina will ken what kind of gentleman you are.
I've no doubt that Her Excellency thinks me a rake already.
It'll be no news to her.
I'm afraid my reputation precedes me.
But she hasn't heard the things I have to say about you.
We settle this now.
One game of whist.
You win I'll allow you to leave with your honour intact.
And if I lose? The stallion Lucas.
Oh, you Scots are all alike, aren't you? You brutes place far too high a price on things like pride.
The difference between you and me, Mr Fraser, is given the choice between pride and gold I'd take gold any day.
Besides, Lucas is worth 10 times this amount.
If you want to play at this table, Mr Fraser, you're going to have to produce something far more valuable.
Have you lost your mind? He saw you wearing it earlier.
It's the only thing he'll take for the horse.
Because he saw how much this ring means to me.
Don't you see? I humiliated him and this is his idea of revenge.
And what if it is? If I win this game, we get the horse.
If we get the horse we get to take revenge on a man much worse than Philip Wylie.
No.
Not this.
Not Frank's ring.
Claire.
Stephen Bonnet Stephen Bonnet tried to rip this out of my throat.
- Or have you forgotten? - That's why I need you to trust me.
This is our chance to get the bastard once and for all.
I willna lose it, Claire.
And what if you do? Who are you doing this for? What do you mean? Answer the question.
For Bree.
For our daughter.
For her honour or for yours? If you're going to take this then you might as well take both of them.
We lost some beans.
The cornfield was saved.
It worked.
Captain MacKenzie.
Mr Lindsay.
I thought this plan of yours was one of the most foolish I'd ever heard of.
I'm indebted to you.
I only lost half an acre.
My family willna go hungry this winter, thanks to you, captain.
We all helped.
Mistress.
Maybe when Da returns, he'll promote you to major.
Christ.
I hope not.
What is it? Mistress, a guest has arrived late.
He has a gift for you.
I'll no receive any more visitors today, Ulysses.
Tell him to leave it downstairs with the others.
Well, that's a right shame, seeing as I came all the way here to give it to you myself.
What are you thinking, coming here today of all days? The governor himself is downstairs.
Lucky for me, I ran into your man outside, and, well, that was before I could do anything rash.
I felt it wouldn't do, mistress, to have a man shot the night before your wedding.
You're completely mad, you ken that? Aye, I suppose that's part of my charm.
I didn't want to come empty-handed.
Why have you come? To ask something of you.
Something I have no right to ask, but I will all the same.
Because I can't face the rest of my days if I don't.
Will you wait for me? You ask me now the day before I'm to be wed.
You have no love for Duncan Innes.
Any fool can see that.
You might have informed me the day he proposed.
You said not a word, only that you wouldn't stand in the way of my happiness.
Well, I'm standing in the way of it now, aren't I? Christ.
I didn't think you'd say yes.
If you'd just listen to me To what end? - You're a wanted man, Murtagh.
- Aye, for now.
But to have you by my side in spite of everything, in spite of all that's happened Is that supposed to convince me? Is that an opinion, a reason, a question? What are you trying to say? I told you once I wanted a woman who could hear in a man's voice that he meant all the right things.
Even if he hadn't the right words to say.
I'm sorry.
Why in God's name would you choose to grow old with a man like Innes? I've long since grown old, Murtagh.
Ye canna fault me for wanting to spend the time I have left with a good man.
A man whose only cause will be my happiness.
Do ye ken what it means? "I shine, not burn.
" My father told us that you could place a MacKenzie in the hottest fires of hell itself, a fire that would burn any other man, but a MacKenzie wouldna burn.
No.
A MacKenzie would survive.
The night we lost Culloden Hector came running into the house with a madness in his eyes I'd never seen before.
He told us, me and my youngest daughter, Morna.
Told us to gather up all we could carry.
We were going to America, he said, to a better world.
So we did as he bade us.
And we rode off in the dead of the night.
We were bound for the estates of my eldest girls Seonag and Clementina.
They had bairns of their own by then.
I kent well what the redcoats would do if they reached them, drunk as they were on the blood of Jacobites.
What I didna ken is that Hector had stolen a case of gold.
Stuart gold.
Arrived from France too late for the battle.
We'd been travelling till near dawn when two dragoons came upon us, and She was 16, Morna.
She was so beautiful.
I left her there in the mud, lying next to strangers.
Her bones may be there still, on the road, gone to dust, while I've sat here for 30 years, growing old in a palace made from the gold that took her from me.
Seonag and Clementina perished in the fires.
I'm so sorry.
Whenever I closed my eyes, I I I saw it.
Could hear Morna screaming for me, could smell the fires burning to the north, calling for the last of my children.
And when the world grew dim around me I saw it even clearer.
My blindness is punishment for leaving her, for not looking back.
Hector believed in the Jacobite cause, and like you, he believed he could change the world.
And I lost everything because of it.
I am not Hector.
I willna risk your happiness.
After the war to come There'll be another and another, on and on until long after we're gone from the world.
You You once said that you wanted a woman who'd truly lived, who kent what life is, not what she wished it to be.
Well, I ken what this life is, Murtagh.
And I ken what sort of man you are.
What sort of man is that? A sort of man who will lose everything for what he believes in.
The sort of man I swore I would never give my heart to again.
Please.
Go.
I must rest for tomorrow.
I love you, Jocasta MacKenzie.
This world may change but that will never change.
I only wish I'd been brave enough to say it sooner.
I hope you're worth it.
I've been looking for you.
You're drunk.
Had cause to celebrate.
I didn't think there was anything else Stephen Bonnet could take from us.
But you almost let him take those.
Bonnet had nothing to do with this.
You're condemning me for wanting to make Wylie pay for what he did to you.
No, I'm condemning you for letting your hatred of Bonnet and Wylie come between us.
You let him use your Scottish pride against you.
My pride.
What about yours? You say and do what you like, no matter the consequences.
You think too much from your own time.
I don't need you to tell me how to behave, thank you.
Sometimes you need reminding.
You're a woman like no other, Sassenach.
But don't forget you're still a woman.
Look.
Look down.
Watch as I take ye.
Watch, damn ye.
You dinna hate me for coming after you like a ravin' beast? No.
Actually, I quite liked that part.
Though I think I have a rather nasty bruise.
Wish I had seen the look on Wylie's face when he lost.
The man was almost in tears.
Till I told him I'd trade him the beast for a whisky partnership.
And an introduction to the best smuggler in North Carolina? Aye.
Mr Bonnet will be personally meeting Mr Alexander Malcolm, purveyor of the finest whisky in the Carolinas.
And I thought Mr Malcolm's smuggling days were well over.
Believe me, so did I.
We have him.
The bastard will finally pay for what he's done.
You were right, Claire.
I'm not doing this for Bree.
I'm I'm doing it because I I wanna see the monster that hurt our daughter dead, for no other reason but I need to see it done.
Is that so wrong? No.
Promise me, Jamie.
Promise me that Stephen Bonnet will never take another thing from us again.
I promise.
I promise, mo nighean donn that these rings will never leave your hands again.
I swear it.
Is this what the gentlemen of America are drinking? I'm afraid they don't serve ale at the coffeehouse.
What makes you think I prefer ale? No, I I was just I meant nothing by it, Mr Bonnet.
I thank you for coming.
I know you're a busy man.
I I've come from River Run and the wedding of Jocasta Cameron.
Cameron? Kin to James Fraser? The very same.
Mistress Innes now, of course.
Well, you must give the old bat my heartfelt congratulations.
As a matter of fact, it appears you're to be congratulated.
Your son is now the proud owner of River Run.
Your Excellency.
I've received some rather regrettable news.
It's a shame after such a celebration, but it's the way of the world.
Do you know how many Regulators submitted themselves to the mercy of the courts? Not one.
Not one man.
I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but it seems we're gonna have our war.
I've arranged for munitions to be delivered to General Waddell.
As soon as he is in receipt of those, he will meet with me in Hillsborough.
Gather your men and then find us there.
Oh, and you're free to enjoy this evening's festivities.
Don't worry, colonel.
It should all be a very quick fight.
Aye.
And the Regulators are disorganised no way prepared for war against the crown.

Previous EpisodeNext Episode