‘Outlander’ Season 4 Episode 11 Recap: “If Not For Hope”

We’re getting close to the end of Outlander‘s fourth season already, and it feels like nothing and everything has happened simultaneously. “If Not For Hope” focuses largely on Brianna’s (Sophie Skelton) time at River Run with Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy) and thankfully doesn’t waste too much time following the most boring (dirt) road trip ever as Jamie (Sam Heughan), Claire (Caitriona Balfe), and Young Ian (John Bell) follow the Mohawk to try and find Roger (Richard Rankin) after Jamie accidentally-on-purpose beat him to a bloody pulp and sold him as a slave. But more on that later!

First, we need to discuss the tea on Lord John Grey (David Berry), who turns up at River Run when Jocasta throws a party full of random ancient dudes and insists that Brianna give them the ol’ razzle-dazzle in the hopes that one of them will marry her and raise her bastard kid as his own. One of them does take the bait, but thankfully Brianna saw Grey giving it to some dude in the foyer the night before, which gives her the perfect blackmail opportunity to set up a sham engagement. In fact, the two of them do find common ground and realize they can help one another so it’s less sleazy than it sounds, but hoo boy, I can’t wait to see Claire’s face when she finds out about this one.

The other reveal here is that Grey is actually bisexual—as he haughtily tells Brianna, he can handle his husbandly duties regardless of his partner’s gender, thankyouverymuch—rather than outright gay, but it seems a pointless detail to have added. Still, I’m glad he saved Brianna from marrying Forbes, who was super creepy (and hilariously put out when Grey ruined his proposal by announcing that he and Brianna were already engaged).

Elsewhere, Fergus is driving Marsali (Lauren Lyle) up the wall by being up hers and the baby’s backside 24/7. She just wants him to man up a bit and start getting some of the fighting spirit back that initially made her fall in love with him, which is which it’s a great idea for him to go off and join Murtagh’s militia, apparently. Frankly, this seemed like a somewhat selfish and annoying request; I get that it was meant well, but who would rather have their husband dead than just a little soft around the edges? Marsali, I guess?

Thankfully, Fergus (Romann Berrux) narrowly avoids arrest when Murtagh’s (Duncan Lacroix) taken in after the two knock Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers) out and are seen basically trying to abduct him. The upside of a pretty crappy situation is that Bonnet, a known murderer who’s already escaped the hanging galley once, is likely going to be dead within the next couple of episodes. You have to hand it to Murtagh, though—he’s loyal as hell and was totally willing to sacrifice himself to ensure that Bonnet was brought to justice. In fact, he’s one of the only gutsy, decent men on this show. Sigh, I think I love him.

I suppose we have to acknowledge Jamie, Claire, and Young Ian’s journey here, though I’d much rather ignore it. After everything that went down back at Fraser’s Ridge, the fact that Jamie spends most of his time pouting and feeling sorry for himself isn’t surprising but it is pretty obnoxious. Claire finally feels guilty enough for being angry at him for talking to their daughter like garbage that she placates him and makes sure he feels like a special snowflake, because God forbid all the attention isn’t on Jamie Fraser at all times.

The whole scene in the tent really irked me, particularly because Claire should be angry at Jamie. He accused his own daughter of lying about being raped without even waiting to hear the full story because he’s immature and hot-headed. As Brianna’s mother, Claire would be totally justified in her anger. Instead, Jamie turns the whole thing into a pity-party about how he’ll never be a good father to her and while Claire tries to assure him that’s not the case, I think he’s hit the nail on the head here. Until he grows up a bit and realizes—as Claire finally tells him in so many words here—that their loyalties need to lie with their daughter too and not just with each other, he’ll always fall short.

Of course, Jamie isn’t concerned with learning any meaningful lessons about becoming a better person. How could he be when Claire just climbs aboard for another arduous (and this time totally undeserved) sex scene? Sigh. Roll on Episode 12!

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.

Stream Outlander Season 4 Episode 11 ("If Not For Hope") on Starz