Outlander Season 7 Episode 12 “Carnal Knowledge” on Starz picks up right where last week’s tumultuous episode left off, with Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) running from the Redcoats with pal Lord John Grey (David Berry) in tow. What makes this development all the more dramatic is that it’s unclear what Jamie does or doesn’t know about what’s been going on in Philadelphia these past few weeks. When Lord John Grey learned that Jamie was presumed dead at sea, he took it upon himself to swiftly marry his widow, Claire (Caitriona Balfe), to save her from the noose. He also, uh, took it upon himself to sleep with Claire.
Almost as soon as Jamie and Lord John escape the city of Philadelphia, the British noble wastes no time confessing what he’s done. He spitefully doubles down when Jamie laughs off that he can’t believe it, going so far as to blurt out, “Damn you! Neither one of us was making love to the other. We were both fucking you!” Which leads to Jamie punching Lord John hard.
Fans of Outlander know all too well that Lord John Grey’s great love has been Jamie Fraser. While Jamie might see Lord John as a friend and sometimes ally, Lord John has not-so-secretly pined for the man since Season 3. When Decider spoke to Outlander star David Berry about this brutal confrontation between the two men — over Claire — he explained that he feels there’s always been “an element of danger” in their friendship.
“There are many instances where Lord John has saved Jamie or Lord John could have held Jamie over the coals for something or other,” Berry said. “There is that always threat of violence between the two of them, but love or this friendship always kind of surmounts that.”
“But in this instance…Jamie lashes out in a way that I think betrays that trust in that relationship.”
When we catch up with Jamie and Lord John Grey after Outlander‘s iconic credits roll, the violence has only intensified and it’s all one-sided. Jamie has been wailing on Lord John, who then challenges the Scot to kill him. Jamie appears to comply.
“I think that [Lord John] was just acting out of spite and testing Jamie and his anger. Like just throwing that venom into his face, like trying to shame him in a way,” Berry said, explaining Lord John’s death wish in that moment. “Like, if you’re going to do it and just go ahead and kill me. You have no values here. You’re acting like an animal, like a terrible, brutal barbarian.”
“And I think that his frustration in that moment is Jamie’s not talking to him; he’s beating him up.”
Lord John Grey is only saved, briefly, by the arrival of some Continental soldiers. When they realize who Lord John is — and find papers re-enlisting him in the British army on his person — these men capture Grey. For the rest of the episode, Lord John is a prisoner of the American rebels, nursing a horrific blow to the face that poor Denzel Hunter (Joey Phillips) does his best to heal.
“The way that people treated me on set, because the makeup was so convincing, they were shocked and appalled at the way I looked,” Berry said, recollecting the “very gnarly” prosthetics needed for Lord John’s injuries. “It really did help me inform my performance and inform the way in which I was feeling.”
Ironically, Berry said that the eyepatch Lord John eventually sports helped him see the character in a more “heroic” light than ever before.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called a ‘pirate’ or a ‘superhero’ on set just by wearing the eyepatch,” Berry said. “The eyepatch does carry with it all those symbols of a hero.”
“So in a very perverse way, like when we see Lord John with the eyepatch, it does endow him with this heroic quality.”
Well, Lord John’s going to need to draw upon some sort of superhero powers if he’s to survive the deadly situation he finds himself at the end of Outlander Season 7 Episode 12 “Carnal Knowledge.”