Outlander season 4 episode 8 review: Brianna and that painful ending

Outlander season 4 episode 8 was not your typical episode of the series. Even if you had a feeling how the story was going to go in the books, there is still a difference between having some of this knowledge and actually watching it play out on-screen. This was a difficult, painful final fifteen minutes as Brianna’s happiest moment of her whole life was completely taken from her — and instead, she hit an overall low point.

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The scene that everyone will be talking about, and understandably so, is the assault that happened in the closing minutes. It was the result of a painful domino effect. Roger and Brianna had just found one another, and with that, they decided that they were ready to move forward and have a life together. They did a makeshift handfasting ceremony were they pledged allegiance to one another as husband and wife. Then, they were together … or at least they were together before Bree learned that Roger knew about the obituary and didn’t tell her about it. This caused a divide and an escalation of words. Roger, once again, showed that he doesn’t know how to do anything other than just go to extremes. That’s a problem for him and it will remain one, no matter who is around or what he wants out of his life. Roger’s mistake was not being honest with Brianna, and then his mistake beyond that was acting out and then eventually deciding that he should go rather than trying to work things out.

The relationship with Roger and Bree, at least for now, is crumbling. In the aftermath of Roger leaving, Brianna then ran into Stephen Bonnet and she saw the ring in his possession. She knew this ring due to her mother and offered to buy it from him. Bonnet didn’t want that; instead, he assaulted her physically and committed a serious of heinous acts over her body. He gave her the ring in the aftermath of it; it was traumatic, and it was incredibly painful to watch. While Outlander did not show the act itself, they showcased something almost as chilling — Bonnet’s men hearing what was happening but doing nothing about it.

We wondered going into this episode how the producers were going to feature some of what transpired with Bree, given that we are talking about one of the most painful moments in the entire series. They didn’t shy away from it, and instead are going to use this as a jumping-off point for more story. The pain is far from over here, and Roger himself may land in some trouble. Remember that Brianna’s servant Lizzie saw Roger with her outside and, because of that, may think that he is responsible for the act. A misunderstanding could lead to horrible problems for him moving forward.

What happened with Jamie and Claire?

This was pretty high-stakes in its own way as Jamie started to realize precisely some of the dangers that were coming for Murtagh and all of his associates in the Regulators. Governor Tryon made it abundantly clear to him that he wants these rebels effectively destroyed, which Jamie in theory should want. After all, we are speaking about someone who is trying to curb people rebelling against the Crown! Yet, what Tryon doesn’t know is that Jamie’s got that rebellious streak in him and he loves Murtagh. That’s why he was willing to create a risky gambit to ensure that Fergus could pass along a message to him that his plan to rob the British on the road was instead an elaborate ambush.

How Jamie did that was tricky — he knew that one of Tryon’s men in Fanning was previously injured so, while at the theater, he “accidentally” aggravated that injury. In the aftermath of that, Claire actually did save Fanning’s life by conducting an operation on him in front of the crowd. Jamie was able to sneak away and Claire actually got the respect of much of the noble class.

What was also so fascinating about all of this is that the person who Tryon thinks to be a traitor right now is none other than another prominent figure: Colonel George Washington. It was fun seeing Claire actually geek out to a certain degree; after all, this is by far the most famous person she has met since she first traveled back through the stones.

There are some clear issues coming for Jamie and Claire as they continue to try and build their home. While it seems like they are going to have some good news soon in meeting Brianna, they remain stuck in the middle of a political war.

CarterMatt Verdict

While we know that there are some rather fascinating things to come for Jamie and Claire, overall Outlander delivered one of the most painful stories we’ve ever seen on the show. This was a gut-wrenching performance by Sophie Skelton as Brianna fell victim to some of Bonnet’s horrendous behavior. This is an event that will dramatically alter her life and it’s going to be a rather difficult situation for her to navigate now moving forward. It’s not an episode that will be forgotten anytime soon.

Related News – Be sure to get some more news regarding Outlander, including a preview for the next new installment of the series

What did you think about Outlander season 4 episode 8? Be sure to share some of your thoughts right now in the attached comments. (Photo: Starz.)