A lass with her skirt pulled up lies in the Highland meadows with her kilted beau. This is the stuff Outlander dreams are made of. But Ellen MacKenzie’s sexy dream about Brian Fraser in Blood of My Blood is as steamy as it gets in the third episode of the Outlander prequel. Instead, the episode focuses on the mothers of Jamie and Claire using their wits to get by in 1714 Scotland.
The majority of “School of the Moon” belongs to the MacKenzie clan and their attempts to keep the lairdship in the family. But before the political intrigue gets started, Ellen and Brian canoodle in the grass, with Ellen telling him, “I am yours forever. You stole me away.” (A wee bit of foreshadowing for those who know how Jamie’s parents eventually get together.) Brian asks Ellen to tell him how he can please her, and as she puts his hand between her legs… she’s rudely awoken by Mrs. Fitz. Alas, it was all a dream.
In reality, Colum has arranged for Ellen to be betrothed to Malcolm Grant to secure his position as laird following their father’s death. Ellen confronts Colum and argues she’s more valuable as an advisor than being married off. She has ideas about trade, alliances, and stopping the threat of MacKinney from taking the title of laird. But even though Ellen and her bhràthair used to be the closest of the MacKenzie siblings, with Ellen nursing Colum after he became ill, Colum’s threatened by how Red Jacob used to listen to his sister. He cruelly shuts her down. Yet, the interaction is good for one thing — Colum notes she should do what’s best for the clan, and that gets Ellen to thinking.
Outside of Ellen’s dream world, Brian is trying to convince Murtagh that they should stay at the MacKenzie Gathering. But a mopey Murtagh sees no point in hanging around any longer now that his crush Ellen is engaged to Malcolm. No matter that he’s never spoken to her, Murtagh’s devotion to Ellen is unwavering. Yikes, once he realizes Brian is the star of sex dreams, things are gonna get uncomfy for these buds.
Over at Castle Leathers, the canny Mistress Davina Porter rightfully suspects that Julia is pregnant. She demands that Julia must “bring down the flowers” — a term for terminating pregnancy by inducing menstruation (which Carla Spivack argued in the William & Mary Journal of Women and Law was an acceptable form of early-term abortion during that time). Davina pushes savin on Julia, a type of juniper that was regarded as an abortifacient in Europe as early as the 1600s.
Rather than take the gin ingredient, Julia argues that Davina kept her out-of-wedlock baby — Jamie’s dad, Brian. But Davina says she was only allowed to do that because it was Lord Lovat’s child. And if Julia insists on going with the pregnancy, Lord Lovat will “get rid of the bairn himself.” Julia denies the savin and claims she’s not pregnant.
Back at the Gathering, Dougal tells Ellen he won’t force her to marry… well, at least not to Malcolm Grant. At the equivalent of a Highlander rap battle, Dougal wages his own campaign to become laird and secures an alliance with the Jacobites by offering Ellen’s hand to Marcus MacRannoch. For Outlander fans, MacRannoch will be familiar as he helps Claire get Jamie out of Wentworth Prison in Season 1, in large part due to his admiration for Ellen. And fun fact: The actor who played MacRannoch in Outlander, Birdie McCardie, portrays Grant clan patriarch Isaac in Blood of My Blood.
Brian and Murtagh come home and want to spill the tea about the Gathering to Lord Lovat, who is busy doing his business on the privy (cue a flashback to Jamie recommending “parritch” to King Louis in Outlander Season 2). Thank goodness Brian thought to spare Julia yet again from his father’s disgustingness. Brian tells Simon about Ellen’s betrothal to Malcolm Grant, knowing that he’ll want to put an end to it. Murtagh is grateful, but Brian didn’t take into account that Simon would have no qualms ending the MacKenzie-Grant alliance by any means necessary — even if it means destroying Ellen’s reputation.
Ellen and Ned Gowan talk about how her brothers will destroy the MacKenzie clan if one of them can’t concede to the other. A flashback shows a fateful night cattle raid (a cateran tradition that inspired the episode title, “School of the Moon”), where Colum was injured after the clan raiders followed Dougal in a reckless quest. Not only did the degenerative disease pycnodysostosis that Colum has mean he never fully healed again, but it made Red Jacob have no faith in either of his sons as clan leaders.
While Jacob may have literally and figuratively scarred his sons, his artful manipulation rubbed off on Ellen in a good way. She gives both of her brothers a talking to and then enlists Ned’s help to see if her proposal to keep the lairdship in her family will work. Offscreen, Ned convinces the brothers of Ellen’s plan to present themselves as a united front — with Colum being the peacetime laird and Dougal as his war chieftain. The stubborn brothers agree, and at an oath-taking ceremony, they kneel and pledge their fealty to each other.
This display of brotherhood is received well, and, though she’ll never get the credit for her political prowess, Ellen had Ned look into the precedent of one clan having two leaders ahead of time to shut down any protests. Her co-lairdship plan works like a charm, and even MacKinney pledges his oath to the brothers. Ellen also plays the game in her personal life by telling Malcolm Grant that she “couldn’t have dreamt of a more favorable match.” Oh, Ellen, how we know that’s not true.
After the oath-taking, Ned Gowan and Henry Grant, AKA Henry Beauchamp, meet at a brothel where Ned enlists Madame Una Hay to help Henry find Julia. Henry promises he’ll pay whatever it takes to find his long-lost wife. Henry leaves to join the disapproving Arch Bug while Ned decides to have his “usual” at the brothel. When I think of sweet Bill Paterson helping Claire in Outlander… let’s just say I never needed to see this side of Ned Gowan.
The episode ends with Julia making a devastating choice. She writes a letter to her husband about how though she’s lost hope, she can’t lose their baby: “I can’t bring myself to let go of the only piece of you I have left here, my love. So, forgive me for what I am about to do.” In the middle of the night, she offers herself to Lord Lovat, knowing that it’s the only way she’ll be able to keep her child, Claire’s sibling.
Though the MacKenzie clan experienced a triumph in “School of the Moon,” the two female leads of Blood of My Blood had to make some major sacrifices. But knowing they’re the moms of Jamie and Claire, you can feel confident these women won’t stay defeated for long.
Caitlin Gallagher is a New Jersey-raised, NYC-based entertainment writer. When not writing about or watching TV, she can be found planning her next Halloween costume, crying over rescue animals, or praising Season 2 of The Leftovers.