Surprise encounters and shocking revelations are just a few of the things in store for Jamie, Claire and the rest of our favorite Outlander characters in season 2, episode 11. The jaw-dropping eleventh episode of this season was penned by series author Diana Gabaldon herself.

At A Crossroads

The bloody siege of the English encampment from last week’s episode is over and after losing a few good men, Jamie, Claire, and the rest of the army have moved forward, gathering supplies along the way in preparation for the next big battle.

The episode opens with everyone stationed in Northern England awaiting their next cue from Prince Charles, but it’s clear from the get-go that there’s a bit of a debate going on over whether they should move forward in the way they originally planned. Jamie is hellbent on marching forward to take London, just as Prince Charles wishes. The Lord General on the other hand, doesn’t think it’s such a good idea.

“And what of our Prince’s decision? Do we not all serve him and his noble cause?” argues Jamie. “We are but five days from reaching that city and now you want us to turn back and retreat to Scotland?”

Even so, as the opposing generals reason, it’s not the smartest move tactically. There are three armies stationed somewhere between where they’ve currently set up camp and the city of London. With no idea as to where any of them are stationed, moving forward is definitely a bit of a risk.

In the end, Jamie is the only one who swears to stand by the Prince if he chooses to move forward in the attempt to take London, and it’s clear his royal highness isn’t too pleased with the fact that he can only count on the allegiance of one man.

The rest of the generals’ refusal to move forward puts a bit of a damper on Jamie and Claire’s plans. Despite the fact that Claire insists that even if they were to take London, there’s no way they’d ever be able to hold down the city, Jamie was hoping that being able to change this one small thing would prove that they could in fact change history as Claire knows it. It’s clear, however, that it’s not in the cards and so, the army prepares to begin their trek back to Scotland.

To Inverness

Later, Jamie learns that O’Sullivan and the rest of the generals view him as a big threat when Dougal comes barging in and presents him a letter ordering them to proceed to Inverness ahead of everyone else — according to Dougal, it’s their way of exiling them.

“O’Sullivan fears that you have too much influence over the Prince and Murray, well, he did naught to defend you,” Dougal tells Jamie as Claire reads over the orders. “They want you and me gone, and gone now.”

Just as Jaime’s off to speak to Prince Charles himself, Dougal pulls him back and tells him it’s no use. He left with Murray at dawn. There’s nothing left to do but make the most of the cards they’ve been dealt and move on to Inverness ahead of the army just as the orders state.

Jamie, Dougal, and their men begin the long journey to their next destination and just as they’ve settled in to rest up, they find themselves being attacked by an army of redcoats.

Claire, Jamie, Fergus, and Dougal flee on horseback while the rest of the men hold the British back. Just as they think they’ve lost them, they realize a group of redcoats is hot on their tail. They manage to shake the army, but not before Rupert gets shot in the eye.

In the end, the crew takes shelter in an old church, where Claire tends to Rupert’s wound, hoping to wait out any redcoats that may still be following them. Their efforts, however, prove futile and as night falls, they find themselves surrounded by British army men with few options left.

A Risky Bargain

Out of options, Jamie offers to surrender himself and barter for their freedom. Dougal on the other hand wants to stand up and fight. In the end, it’s Claire who takes action and begins crying out for help, pretending to be an English woman being held hostage.

“Say I’m your hostage — they won’t fire the place with me inside,” says Claire passionately. “Exchange me. Use me to bargain with them — it worked the last time.”

Claire may be ready to surrender to save them all, but Jamie clearly isn’t having it. It’s not until Claire insists that as Lady Broch Tuarach, every man in the church is her responsibility, too, that Jamie concedes and lets her move forward with her plan.

Dougal emerges from the church to strike a bargain with the English, telling them that the hostage’s name is Mistress Beecham.

Claire rides off with the English who eventually take shelter for the night in a pub. The next morning, an officer informs her that she’s to be taken to Belmont. Claire panics for a moment because she knows Jamie will be thinking to look for her at the Garrison. It’s clear plans have changed, but despite it all, she figures out a way to get a message to Jamie to let him know where to come looking for her. She recognizes the beggar outside of the pub as Munro and leaves word with him for Jamie so he’ll know where to come find her.

A Big Surprise

When she arrives at Belmont, Claire gets the shock of a lifetime when the house she’s escorted to is inhabited by none other than the Duke of Sandringham.

Later over dinner, the Duke says he would never have condemned Claire to the Tower of London by blurting out her real name and confesses that he once had the displeasure of going over a “mere misunderstanding.” Claire hits the nail on the head when she asks if the misunderstanding in question has anything to do with where his loyalties lie. After, he lets her in on the fact that he knows he’s being heavily watched over by a slew of redcoats who’ve taken post around the entire perimeter of his property.

“They think they’re being inconspicuous but really, with those coats?” says the Duke. “They claim that they’re resting. Resupplying before they move on. In fact, I’m being watched. Every entrance of this house is being watched -— I’m still suspected of being a Jacobite.”

After he explains that he’s essentially a prisoner in his own home, the Duke of Sandringham gets to the real reason as to why he didn’t sell Claire out: knowing that Jamie will undoubtedly come to rescue her, he tells Claire he wishes to be rescued as well.

The Duke then insists that there’s no way Jamie will make it past any of the entrances alive without the help of his trusted me and so, the two strike up a bargain: Jamie will rescue both Claire and the Duke and then escort the Duke to a safe place.

After Claire writes up a message in gaelic to be delivered to Jamie via Munro, she gets a second surprise: Mary is in fact the Duke’s goddaughter and she’s been living in Belmont with him. After a happy reunion, Mary leads Claire to the kitchens — the only place in the house they can speak without being overheard — and begs Claire to help get her out of the arranged marriage she’s to have with a wealthy merchant named Mr. Granger. Claire pacifies Mary by promising she’ll speak to the Duke on her behalf.

The Master Plan

Later, when Claire goes to speak to the Duke about Mary, she puts the shocking puzzle pieces together about that horrible night in Paris where Mary was raped. After seeing that the Duke’s servant, Danton, has a distinguishable mark on his hand, she realizes he was one of the men involved in the attack that night.

“You, you put them up to it -— your own goddaughter,” says Claire, disgusted.

“Yes, well that was unfortunate,” says the Duke flippantly. “There was never any intent that you should be killed, Mrs. Fraiser. That was the Comte’s original desire, to be sure.”

From here, the Duke goes on to explain that he owed the Comte St. Germain a rather large sum of money that he couldn’t pay and as remittance, offered to do the Comte’s dirty work. Instead of having Claire killed as the Comte wished, however, the Duke said he persuaded him that rape would be a sufficient form of punishment wherein Claire was concerned. Of course, we know now that that didn’t go as the Duke planned and instead, Mary was the one that was violated against her will.

And then, the Duke of Sandringham reveals what has been his master plan all along: he’s struck a deal with the British Army, willing them to make themselves scares under the guise of clearing a path for Jamie to come and rescue both Claire and himself. Instead, however, it’s all been a ruse to lure Jamie in so the Duke can turn both him and “his traitorous British wife” in and get back in the good graces of the British crown.

“You could be hanged side by side -— so romantic,” offers the Duke of Sandringham.

After he reveals his plan, Claire is locked up in her room, but manages to escape when Mary appears through a secret door. She fills Mary in on what’s going on, attempting to recruit her into helping her get a message to Munro, who’s lurking in the gardens, to let Jamie know it’s a trap.

Mary, however, is too frightened to assist and Claire leaves the young girl in her rooms and tries to escape through the kitchen. Her plans are thwarted when she comes face to face with the Duke who’s in there having a midnight snack. Just as all hope seems lost, Mary comes in, and when she realizes Claire has been detained, she pulls through, rushing to the front door where she meets Munro and informs him of the trap the Duke has set.

’I lay your vengeance at your feet’

Soon after, Mary is carted off by Danton and brought back down to the kitchens. Mary lies and tells the Duke she was trying to run away because she doesn’t want to marry Mr. Granger, just as the Duke is scolding his goddaughter, Jamie storms in to the kitchen with Murtagh. Claire wastes no time in informing them that the Duke arranged the attack in Paris and that Danton helped carry it out.

After disarming Danton, Jamie turns his rage onto the Duke. With everyone’s attention on the Duke, Mary, who can hardly believe what she’s hearing, takes matters into her own hands and drives a knife straight into Danton. Meanwhile, Murtagh takes care of the Duke of Sandringham once and for all, beheading the man and presenting his severed head to Claire.

“I kept my word,” says Murtagh as he kneels before Claire. “I lay your vengeance at your feet.”

With that, Claire, Jamie, Murtagh, and Mary take their leave from Belmont, having been rid of the Duke of Sandringham once and for all.

Outlander airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. on Starz.

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