‘Outlander’ season 2, episode 11 review: The Duke of Sandringham’s head games

There were many things that unfolded on this weekend’s new episode of “Outlander,” but the majority of them seemed to revolve around one person more so than anyone else: The Duke of Sandringham. We always knew that there was something shifty about this man, but who would have imagined that things would go to this level, this quickly?

Basically within the span of a single hour we saw Sandringham reveal himself as a traitor, and was planning to turn Jamie and Claire over to the British for them to be hanged over what happened with the Jacobite Rebellion. He really became a mustache-twirling villain, someone who seemed to especially enjoy hearing about how Claire managed to put the Comte St. Germain to death. He thought that he had it all figured out, but there was one thing that he especially underestimated: The intelligence of one Claire Fraser to help figure out a way to get out of this situation, with a worthy distraction by Mary and then also a message that eventually made it to Jamie.

After learning that Sandringham and Danton were behind the rape attack in particular, the episode concluded with a violent series of events that led to Mary stabbing Danton to death, and then the Duke trying to save his own hide before Murtagh beheaded him, giving Claire the vengeance she so sought. This was as shocking an ending to an “Outlander” episode as we have ever seen, and while Mary killing Danton could have been out-of-character for her had the rape not been so severe, the precise circumstances she went through, coupled with her own quiet intensity, were enough to justify her revenge.

As for how this changes things moving forward with the Rebellion, that remains to be seen, since the odds are still firmly stacked against our heroes. It’s not so much as they eliminated a threat in this episode as it is that they lost someone who could have been an ally. This will be hard to get back from, especially when there are others who have Prince Charles’ ear.

This episode, fittingly titled “Vengeance is Mine,” lacked some of the war-time action sequences of the Battle of Prestonpans; yet, it made up for it with some thrilling scenes of espionage, moments of intensity, and probably the biggest ending to an episode this season. Grade: A.

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