Outlander S01E11 Recap: The Devil's Mark

Claire didn't heed Jamie's warning of staying away from Geillis and found herself in hot water again. The warden took the witch craft claims very seriously, and he treats the women very roughly. Claire warned Geillis to leave. Geillis wonders if Claire didn't keep her secrets as she has hers, that Claire may have even lead the Warden to her. Claire kept her secrets. She doesn't think Geillis is a witch, but she certainly is a murderer. Claire knows she killed her husband after Dougal's wife died. Geillis doesn't even deny it. She admits that she started with white arsenic months ago, hoping for it to happen before the baby showed. One of the guards drops down some bread, and Claire calls to him, telling him that she's James Fraser's wife, nephew of the Laird. He doesn't believe her though. Geillis isn't worried. She's sure that Dougal will come for her soon. Claire breaks the news to her. Dougal was sent away, and Jamie too, there is no one coming. Geillis realizes the trouble their in, and offers to split the bread with Claire. She doesn't want any. They'll have to wait until the trial. Geillis asks her to lay next to her, to keep warm for the night, but Claire refuses.

Claire wakes to the witch burning chants. It's to begin. Claire climbs first from the hole, then Geillis. Both women are roughly handled as they're matched to the square. Poles are erected in the square for their bondfire, and they're brought into the hall. Claire Fraser and Geillis Duncan are brought up on the charges of witch craft. Claire knows no one in the crowd, and she knows that few accused are allowed to walk free. Ned tries to gain entry, and Claire is glad to see him. He calls the trial illegal, as the Witch Craft act has been appealled. The judges do not abide by English law, which Ned is glad for. Since they are abiding by Scotish law, Ned offers his services as lawyer. Geillis's housekeeper is brought forward for testimony. She speaks for an hour a case, building the case against them. Even Geillis's singing is considered witchcraft to Jeannie. Ned points out that Jeannie was unhappy with her employment, and she tried to get a job at Castle Leoch speaking ill of her employers. Her testimony is tossed aside.

Another woman is brought forward. She talks about her baby, her changeling baby. She placed it in the tree, and waited for the fairies to bring her baby back. The baby laid there all night, and in the morning they saw Claire take the baby from the tree. She spoke words over the baby, and the changeling died. She never got her baby back. Claire says that she could not let a baby die, she is a healer. Ned pleads with her to let him do his job. Ned addresses the mother. If she was there, why did she not stop Claire? She feared her, she did so in silence, and allowed her to contaminate the baird so that when the fairies came they could not complete the switch. Ned tells her to take comfort in the knowledge that the changeling child died, and her child lives on forever with the fairies. Ned thinks that they should thank Claire rather than condemn her. She too is dismissed. Ned was very skilled, but Claire saw that the people wanted them to burn regardless of the truth. A man comes out with charges against Geillis alone, about her flying about like a great winged bat. Claire calls the accusation preposterous. The judges decide to carry on in the morning. Ned thinks they have a good chance if the women survive the night. Collum didn't send him, he doesn't know he's there at all. He slips Claire a flask to help keep her warm through the night.

Claire drinks from the flask. Geillis takes a drink. She finds Ned a strange man. Ned may be optimistic, but Geillis isn't so much. She knows that they mean to kill them. Claire asks if she was after Dougal for his position or money. Geillis had plenty of money. She took loads of it from her husband, funneling it away over the year to fund a Stuart King back on the throne. Geillis is a Jacobite, politics brought her and Dougal together. He was the only man who she saw as her proper match. He wouldn't be faithful, but Geillis doesn't mind. She loves him, he's fighting for all of Scotland, not just his clan. Collum ordered Dougal away, and he left. Claire is sorry, but Geillis is not. Whatever happens with the examiners, but she would do it all over again. Claire's only regret is that she has only one life to give for her country. Geillis asks if Claire loves Jamie. She cries his name out in her sleep, but she does not answer.

Claire wakes to a quiet morning, no witch chants, only birds chirping. Claire rattles bars with no luck. She tells Geillis if she is a witch, now would be the time to use her powers. Geillis feels the same. Claire notices that the birds are starlings, and talks about happy memories, and their swooping patterns. They do it to protect each other. They're not exactly a flock, but they're there for eachother. The time to continue their trial has come.

Another day, another time getting dragged through the street. There's a quiet murmuring in the courtroom. The retched Laoghaire has come to give her testimony. When they first met, Claire was not Mrs. Fraser, but Mrs. Beecham. She went to her for a potion, to open Jamie Fraser's heart to her. She tells them that it is painful to speak about. She was the one that Jamie was meant to marry, but Claire took the potion herself. Claire did not make an actual potion she says. Laoghaire says that Claire hexed her and stole Jamie. Ned points out that she's clearly a jealous lass with a broken heart. Laoghaire doesn't even try to deny it. She says that when she confronted Claire she struck her. Claire did strike her after Laoghaire put an ill wish under her bed, and tried to seduce her husband. Jamie was the love of Laoghaire's life. Claire makes her own accusations. Laoghaire is the reason that she is there. She fabricated a note from Geillis, knowing that the wardens were coming to arrest Geillis, and planting evidence against her. The examiner silences Claire, calling her an embarrassment.

The next witness is called forward. The priest with a bone to pick against Claire. He knew when he first saw Claire that she was the whore of Babylon. Ned asks if this is a trial or sermon. He tells them all that he prayed that God would curse her body and soul, and God answered his prayers. He told him that he had made a prestigious mistake. When Thomas was under siege by the devil he abandoned hope and administered last rites. He was blinded by vanity and hubris, he rebuked Claire. Claire was the one that saw that the boy was ill from ingesting flora. She did what he could not and saved the boy's life. He falls to his knees and confesses to all of the people that he failed Thomas and God. He is no longer worthy of serving the community and asks that they let him go. Everyone in the room is silenced by his confession. One man stands up, saying that it takes a real witch to turn a man of God away. Claire yells that she has done nothing. The father is forbidden from leaving. Ned asks for a short recess, and he is granted it.

Ned takes the women to a room. The climate has turned, and there is no turning back. One of them has to be sacrificed. Geillis has plied her trade for a long time, and only her husband stood in the way of her burning. With him gone, there is no one to protect her, and it was only a matter of time. Ned suggests that Claire say that Geillis bewitched her, and that she renounce her. It is the only way. He gives them a moment to consider it. Geillis is frantic now. She asks Claire why she is there. Claire was arrested to. Geillis wants the truth. She wants to know why Claire is in Scotland. If Geillis is going to die she needs to know the truth, and all of it. Ned tells them that they must hurry, the crowd won't wait much longer. Claire confesses that it was an accident. She's not there for any reason. She came and it was by accident. She doesn't want to change anything or do anything at all. Claire just wants to go home, she's unsure if it is really possible. Geillis realizes that its all for nothing. Their time is up, and Geillis is not pleased.

Ned announces that Claire would like to address the court. All eyes turn to Claire. Claire looks around. She announces that Ned is mistaken, she has nothing to say. Geillis thinks she is mad. The examiners find them both guilty and sentence them to death. Ned pulls out his pistol, halting the proceedings. Geillis tells her that she does think that it is possible to go back. 1968 she says. Ned fires his pistol as he's dragged away. Claire tells them that they will burn in hell for this. The Examiners have Claire dragged forward. Laoghaire tells her that she will dance on her ashes. Claire is whipped while Geillis and the other watch. The crowd cheers with each lash. Jamie arrives, and brutalizes his way forward. The examiners call for him to stop. He swore before God to protect her, and they are not above God. With his swords drawn he warns that the first man forward will be the first man down. The room is at a standstill on edge. Geillis confesses that Claire is no witch, but she is. She killed her husband with witch craft. She took advantage of Claire, bewitching her. Jamie grabs his wife, as the people turn to Geillis. She tells them that Claire didn't have any idea of her dealings nor does she serve her master. Oh, Geillis. Geillis exposes her arm, saying that it is the mark of the devil. It is really a small pox vaccination scar. Claire realizes that Geillis was from the future, from 1968. Geillis tells them to run, and Jamie drags her away as Geillis exposes her pregnant belly, telling them that she will have the child of Satan, and it will damn them all. Geillis is carried out into the square. Jamie convinces Claire that they must go.

Claire is shaken, her back marred. Jamie tends to her wounds. The cuts aren't deep. She won't be scarred like he is. He knows she has things that she does not want to tell him, but he asks that when she does tell him things, that it be the truth. He has to ask her a question for both of their safety. He asks if she is a witch. She asks if he is serious. Claire has the same mark on her arm that Geillis had, and he has to know. Claire confesses that she is not a witch. She tells him that after he hears the truth he may think otherwise. She's never had small pox, and she never will. She can nurse the sick, but the sickness cannot touch her. The mark on her arm is a vaccine, which he's never heard of, that none of them has, but it prevents her from contracting the disease. She knows about Jack Randall, because she was told about him. She knows the day he was born and the day he will die. She knows that he works for the Duke because her husband told her about him. She knows about the bonny Prince, the Jacobites, and the doomed cause, she knows what will happen to the Scots. She knows all of this because she is from the future. She was born October 20, 1918, some 200 years from now. Jamie lets it all sink in, in silence. She asks if he thinks her raving mad, but he doesn't. He believes her he says simply. He doesn't understand it, not yet, but he trusts her word, her heart, and the truth between them. Whatever she tells him, he will believe. He asks for more. She tells him that she was a combat nurse. She tells him everything. It came pouring out of her. He listened, he didn't understand it all, but he listened.

He goes back to the time that he left her alone in the Glade, and she ran away, realizing that she was trying to get back to the Stones, to get back to her time, to her husband. She admits that it was true, and he beat her for it. He sits down. He's very very sorry. Claire begins to cry, telling him not to be, he couldn't have known. He holds her in his arms, telling her to rest now, he's there. She can't believe that he really believes her. He does, though he admits it would have been easier if she had been a witch.

They rode hard for the next few days, wanting to leave the trial and the questions far behind. Jamie spoke of Lallybroch, of the life they would have together, the life he had always imagined. She tried to listen, tried to invest in the dream of Lallybroch, but she felt adrift.

In the darkness, as she sleeps, he kisses her hand, traces the lines of her face. He kisses her mouth tenderly, caressing her thighs. He pleasures her awake. He brings her close to orgasm, and she begs to have more than just his fingers inside her, but he wants to watch her face. He kisses her passionately as she finishes.

Jamie watches her by the brook. He asks her if she is ready to go home, and seeing her husband she is. She kisses him, and he tells her to take a look up the hill. Claire heads up, and he's taken her to the stones. She wanted to return to her time, and he's giving it to her. He offers his hand, and Claire hesitates for a moment. He leads her the final distance to the rocks. He asks her which brought her, finding the main one. That's the one. He asks what she did. There was a buzzing sound, she tells him and then she just touched the stone. Jamie grabs her before she can make contact. He's sorry for startling her, he wasn't ready. There's no use in waiting. He's sending her back, back to her home, back to her husband. He tells her that there is nothing for her on this side, only violence and danger. He will stay at that camp until nightfall to make sure that she is safe. He tells her goodbye, and walks away without turning back. She wears both wedding rings upon her fingers, tracing the bands. She looks back at Jamie's fire, and forward at the stones that brought her here. Claire proceeds forward.

Jamie's fire burns, and he sleeps next to it. Claire wakes him. She tells him to take her home to Lallybroch. Jamie is overjoyed to hear her words. She drops into his lap with a passionate kiss. Claire finally did something right, and chose Jamie.