Well, sassenachs, this is it; the Outlander Season 7 finale has finally arrived. This doesn’t mean the end of the show — there’s still one more season to go before the Starz adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling book series finally comes to a close — but it does mean we’re one step closer to a definitive ending. “A Hundred Thousand Angels,” written by Matthew B. Roberts and Toni Graphia, and directed by Joss Agnew, isn’t lacking in big twists (including one that I certainly didn’t see coming, so long as you’re willing to temporarily suspend your disbelief), but it’s also an episode of both loss and new life, as well as a promise that our favorite Frasers will soon be back home where they belong, away from the dangers of war. Before we get into all that, though, there’s a lot to dissect in this finale.
The ‘Outlander’ Season 7 Finale Brings Good and Bad News
After what’s surely been a long and toiling surgery, all Denzell Hunter (Joey Phillips) and his sister Rachel (Izzy Meikle-Small) can do is watch, and pray, that Claire Fraser (Caitríona Balfe) successfully wakes up. The only person who outright refuses to leave her bedside is, of course, her husband, with Jamie (Sam Heughan) tearfully promising that Claire’s blood is his own — as it’s been since the moment they made that vow to each other back in Season 1. As morning dawns, Claire croakily utters her first words: “I’ve decided not to die.” While she’s not out of the woods yet, and even acknowledges herself that recovery will be a slow and painful process, she remembers how devastating it had been for her when she’d believed Jamie dead. How could she put her husband through the same treatment by dying on him now?
Now that Jamie has resigned his commission in the most dramatic way possible, he’s got nothing to do save remain at Claire’s side, even if it means taking care of her in particularly unglamorous ways — like helping her to the bathroom, or holding a candle to the results so she can make sure there’s no blood (which would indicate a damaged kidney). As the two cuddle in bed, Jamie promises they’ll return to Fraser’s Ridge as soon as Claire is feeling well enough to make the trip. So far, everything proceeds to be going well as far as Claire’s healing is concerned, even though Denzell privately admits to her later on that he doesn’t know how she could operate on a loved one; it was difficult enough for him to perform such an extensive surgery on Claire, someone he’s come to care for quite a bit.
In other good news, Ian’s (John Bell) returned from his mission with Lord John Grey (David Berry), and he passes on word of William’s (Charles Vandervaart) well-being to Jamie. Later that night, as Ian wrestles with whether to remain with the Continental Army as a scout, especially now that Jamie has resigned his commission, Rachel reveals her own news to Ian when they’re in the privacy of their tent — she’s expecting! It may very well be time for everyone to return to Fraser’s Ridge, a safe distance away from any fighting. But not everyone is destined to make it to North Carolina; when Ian wakes up the next morning to take his loyal half-wolf Rollo for a walk, he finds that his four-legged companion has passed away peacefully in the night. “He waited, I think,” Ian says, weeping over Rollo’s body. “Until he ken you were here for me.” He voices his intention to bury Rollo, and Rachel insists on going with him, no matter how far away the site is: “I married him as well as thee.”
Meanwhile, back in 1739, Roger (Richard Rankin) has a tearful, joyful reunion with Brianna (Sophie Skelton), Jem (Blake Johnston Miller), and Mandy (Rosa Morris), conveniently right down the road from Lallybroch. Along with Buck (Diarmaid Murtagh), the four decide to stay at their ancestral home a bit longer, which conveniently allows Brianna to come face-to-face with her namesake: her grandfather, Brian Fraser (Andrew Whipp). Naturally, Brian has the uncanny feeling that he knows Brianna from somewhere, even though he can’t put a finger on why, but their conversation also briefly turns to Brian’s late wife, Ellen, which feels as much like this show laying the groundwork for the upcoming Blood of My Blood prequel spin-off as it is for Brianna to speak with someone she would have never known otherwise.
William Learns a Tough Lesson in the ‘Outlander’ Season 7 Finale
When the episode opens, we find Jane Pocock (Silvia Presente) being interviewed by a broadsheet reporter about her role in Captain Harkness’ (Adam Jackson-Smith) death. She’s defiant to the last, and the exchange between her and the man who calls her murder an “abominable offense,” as well as tries to shame her for being a brothel worker, makes me wish that we’d gotten more with Jane this season before the particularly tragic ending to her story. “I will not give any more of myself to any man,” she declares, but then the reporter namedrops Jane’s sister Frances (Florrie May Wilkinson), as someone who may end up readi
ng what he writes. That’s enough to lower Jane’s defenses, and she agrees to tell the truth of what happened in her own words. Of course, whether the truth itself gets published is yet to be seen — but William is trying to find a way to see her and meeting roadblocks at every turn. When he asks John to throw his weight around for answers, the report back isn’t good; Jane has already signed a confession.
After that route fails, William resorts to the last person he’d ever want to ask for help: Jamie. Their mission? To break Jane out from where she’s being held under guard, awaiting her execution. Masked and armed, they slip inside, knocking out a guard and stealing his keys — only to discover that Jane has decided to take her fate into her own hands by slitting her wrists with glass from a broken wine bottle. It’s too late to do anything other than lay Jane’s body out properly in the bed, remove her shackles, and secure her remaining personal effects, along with a lock of hair. While William mourns arguably the first woman he’d begun to have real feelings for, Jamie urges him to flee. By the next morning, however, there’s another favor William needs to ask the Frasers for, and it involves the person Jane cared for the most.
Claire Gets a Surprising Blast From the Past in the ‘Outlander’ Season 7 Finale
While Claire’s recovery has been about as promising as anyone could hope for, both she — and we — are shocked when she’s visited by a familiar face, seemingly in her dreams. It’s none other than Master Raymond (Dominique Pinon), the apothecary Claire first met in France back in Season 2. We’ve known for some time that Raymond was in possession of certain powers, having the ability to heal Claire from a possibly deadly sickness after her miscarriage, but it’s unclear whether his appearance here is only in her mind or if he’s using some other power to reach her. Either way, he comes with an important request: forgiveness, for something that he won’t divulge to Claire just yet. “Some day, you will know,” he prophetically discloses, leaving the impression of blue heron wings across her mind (as he once did before) before taking his leave. When Claire snaps awake, it’s morning, and Jamie’s clearly fallen asleep, but he’d neither seen hide nor hair of Raymond. Either way, the conversation leads Claire to dwell on their first daughter Faith, the one she lost in France, which turns out to be foreshadowing in its own way.
When William arrives at the church after Jane’s death, he has someone else in tow — Frances, Jane’s little sister. Jamie and Claire immediately slip into the role of concerned surrogate parents, gifting the young girl all of Jane’s personal belongings and inviting her to come with them to Fraser’s Ridge so she can live a life free from the brothel. Once he’s alone with his father, William demands to know all the details about how he was conceived, no matter how difficult they might be to hear, but Jamie promises that he doesn’t have regrets about what happened since it resulted in William himself. “I will never call you father,” William declares, before striding away — but something tells me he might be willing to go back on that sentiment before this show ends.
You can already tell how much Jamie and Claire are bonding with Frances, and how willing she is to open up to Claire, sharing memories of dragonflies and watching the Northern Lights with her late sister and mother. Yet when it’s time to start packing up to head out for the Ridge, Claire’s drawn back into the church by an eerily familiar song — it’s Frances, singing “I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside,” which, if you’ll recall, was what Claire sang to Faith while holding her stillborn daughter in her arms. But how would Frances know that song, since it was written in 1907? When questioned, she tells Claire her mother taught it to her, and for some reason, Claire’s first instinct is to tell Jamie that… Faith must have survived somehow. Claire, please. You’re a doctor. You know better than this. But if Frances isn’t their descendant, is it possible she picked up the song some other way — or from some other time traveler? We’ll have to wait to find out when Outlander returns for its eighth and final season.