Outlander – Season 7 Episode 3 “Death Be Not Proud” Recap & Review

Death Be Not Proud

Episode 3 of Outlander season 7 titled ‘Death Be Not Proud’ begins with Jem getting a mysterious trunk. Fiona brings it to the MacKenzies and they open it to see that it has a musket ball and tons of letters by Jamie and Claire. They are relieved to hear that they are alive and it cuts back to the 18th century. 

All of the thugs have fainted after inhaling the ether and Wendigo too is about to fall. Before the lit match in his hand can come in contact with the ether, Jamie, Claire and the Bugs run out. The house explodes and everyone tries to quell the fire. Seeing that it is too late, Jamie and Claire resign to their fate while cursing the obituary.

Meanwhile, Roger is excited to learn that they did indeed change the past. Since the ether was Claire’s and the match was Brianna’s, they ended up causing the fire which the Frasers could then escape.

Back on Fraser’s Ridge, Jamie, Claire and Ian are going through the burnt-down house. The Frasers cheer each other up while Ian finds the portrait of William. He gives it back to Jamie and hints that he knows William is Jamie’s son. He assures him that he will keep it a secret as anyway, only a Fraser could recognise another Fraser. 

While Lizzie helps out Claire, Jamie finally confronts Arch Bug over the hidden gold. Turns out, it is the Jacobite gold meant for Charles Stuart’s campaign that had gone missing. Dougal and Hector were present when the gold was sent from France. Along with Arch who represented Malcolm Grant, they each took one-third of the gold.

It came too late so Grant used it for his clan. No one knows what Dougal did with his gold. As for Hector, Arch calls him a traitor as he used the money for his own estate on River Run. Arch kept searching for it till he found the leftover gold in Hector’s crypt which he secreted away piece by piece.

Arch believes he took back the gold for his country while Jamie calls him a thief. He relieves Arch of his oath to him which upsets the old man. He is furious that Jamie is kicking him out but Mrs. Bug thinks that it is a good thing as they can just take the gold and start afresh.

That night, Jamie and Ian keep a watch to see where Arch has hidden the gold. They see him digging under the house and call out to him. However, Arch shoots at Jamie who dodges it. In retaliation, Ian shoots an arrow which fatally wounds the man. They run to find that it was never Arch but Murdina Bug disguised as him. Ian breaks down as she was always kind to him.

Claire tries to comfort Ian as she tells him he was just protecting Jamie. Jamie, too, wonders why he was so fixated on the gold and why he didn’t let the Bugs just leave with it. They give Mrs. Bug a proper funeral with Lizzie claiming that she can now stand watch over the graveyard.

Arch shows up and the Frasers allow him to stay. After everyone leaves, Ian goes up to Arch and offers him his life for murdering his wife. Arch says it would be too easy to take his life. Instead, he will make him pay when he has something worth losing.

Meanwhile, Jamie has found a new spot to rebuild their home. However, he would like to take Ian back to Scotland before the war gets worse. That night he again dreams of the future and this time Claire is convinced as he says he saw Fiona and Jem playing with a humped box connected to a small club with a pigtail-like cord – a telephone.

As they prepare to leave, they decide to melt down the gold into musket balls and cover them in soot. One is kept in Jem’s trunk and the rest is hidden in a cave that he and Jamie had found. With it being the residence of a Spaniard skeleton, Jamie tells the MacKenzies that if they ever need some property, ask Jem about the Spaniard. Roger deduces that the property is the infamous Jacobite gold and suddenly they are curious.

However, they decide not to ask their son about the location. But before they leave for Boston, they decide to visit Lallybroch which has been abandoned. Bree keeps looking at the gate and Roger correctly guesses that she wished she could see Jamie and Claire. As they are about to leave, a real estate agent arrives and reveals that the home is up for sale. 

Back in time, as the Frasers prepare for Lallybroch, Jamie gifts Claire a knife. They have a tearful farewell with Lizzie and Josiah. As they head out, Claire finally finds their cat, Adso. She decides not to take him with them but lets him roam free on Fraser’s Ridge. She gets further emotional as she sees the branch with a ribbon that Jamie had used to mark the entrance of Fraser’s Ridge. She asks if they will ever return and he is optimistic.

Episode Review

Despite never travelling in time, Jamie seems to have the hang of communicating through it. And with Outlander after all being a fantasy show, it won’t be too far-fetched to consider that Jamie can actually dream of the future.

And if memory serves, he did unintentionally hint to Claire that he is alive after the Battle of Culloden. And now in episode 3 of season 7, we see him storing letters for Bree till they can reach her time period. But it also means that Bree and Roger never went back to the Frasers after saving Mandy which somehow feels sadder. 

And while Roger thinks they changed history as the Frasers do not have a house to burn down anymore, sir, are they going to be living homeless? Houses can be rebuilt after they are burned down… Maybe that obituary will come true with a second explosion, who knows? But that just means bad luck for the poor Frasers.

Episode 3 is definitely Ian’s. It has been a while since he was in the spotlight and we missed him. Something feels off, though, about the Bugs’ storyline. Outlander didn’t give us much to go on as both Arch and Murdina were mostly considered the grumpy old caretakers at Fraser’s Ridge. If only they had been given a personality and more importance to the plot, maybe Mrs. Bug’s death and funeral would have had more impact.