‘Outlander’ Season 4, Episode 7 Review: “Down The Rabbit Hole”

I’d be remiss in not starting this Outlander Season 4 recap without mentioning the best part of Episode 7, “Down The Rabbit Hole”: Brianna (Sophie Skelton), heading hundreds of years back in time to the 18th Century in search of her parents, decides the best thing she can bring with her on her travels is… a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Girl, yes! She does it right, too—cheap white bread, grape jelly. What’s not to love?

I mean, there is the fact that she didn’t pack more seasonably appropriate clothes. With only a cloak, a map, some random coins, and her PB&J to her name, she treks through the Scottish highlands with basically no protection from the elements and definitely not enough food to make it wherever she thinks she’s going. Of course, the foil of having her twist her ankle, only to be brought in by walking loony bin and eternally aggrieved Laoghaire (Nell Hudson) and her rather lovely daughter Joan (Layla Burns) was a good one that brought much of the episode’s twists—nice touch.

The other major element of this episode is that—surprise!—Roger (Richard Rankin) is a total stalker. After treating Brianna like garbage in the 1970s, he decides to follow her through the sacred stones back in time, God only knows for what reason. To try to convince her to marry him? To continue to be a jerk? Whatever his motivations, I couldn’t help but find myself wishing he’d lost that coin toss with Bonnet for his life aboard the ship taking him to North Carolina. On a superficial side note, he looked way better with the beard.

The flashbacks of Frank in this episode were a nice addition, though they did seem somewhat out of place. Triggered by various elements in Brianna’s journey—her collapse in the forest outside of Laoghaire’s house, hearing Laoghaire fighting with Ian Murray Sr. over money—were a bit of a stretch, though I suppose it does make sense that she’d recall memories of the father she knew as she searches for the one she’s never met.

It was good to see Laoghaire again, albeit temporarily, as we needed a little psychotic levity to spice things up a bit. It’s been a teensy bit boring the past few weeks, but the tension of wondering when she would discover that Brianna is Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire’s (Caitriona Balfe) daughter and her reaction when she finally does was enough to keep things a little more exciting this time around. Wait until Brianna tells Claire and Jamie about their encounter!

You have to feel bad for poor young Joan, though admittedly Laoghaire does seem like a good enough mother when her crazy is contained. For someone who complains of being destitute, however, she certainly seems like she’s doing OK considering the massive house she lives in and how nicely (for the times, anyway) it’s decorated. Then again, she’s not exactly entirely sane and her whole M.O. is milking the “wronged woman” persona to the extreme, so I suppose we should take it with a grain of salt.

It was nice for Brianna to meet some “family” at this point in history—her short scenes with Ian Murray, father of Young Ian, were heartening (and seemed to be for Brianna as well). The importance of those familial connections is a huge focal point this season, so it’s good to see connections being made. Hopefully, this one will inspire Brianna on her long journey to America, a journey which she can actually afford to take complete with a new servant woman thanks to Ian’s generosity.

That being said, it looks like Roger is set to reach the Colonies before Brianna, given that she’s just boarding the ship at episode’s end while Roger is somewhere out in the middle of sea trying to play the hero—a terribly dangerous game at the best of times, but much worse when you’re dealing with someone like Bonnet, I’d say. Obviously the plan will be to have Roger catch up with Brianna at some point, which is a shame. I keep finding myself hoping against hope that she’ll get away from him for good and never speak to him again, but alas, I think we’ll have no such luck. Until next week!

Jennifer Still is a writer and editor from New York who cares too way much about fictional characters and spends her time writing about them.

Watch Outlander Season 4 Episode 7 ("Down The Rabbit Hole") on Starz