Outlander Episode 4 Recap: La Dame Blanche

Luckily, Claire and baby recover, though she quickly identifies bitter cascara as the substance in her drink. Those keeping score at home might recall that cascara is the herb Master Raymond, the apothecary sage, sells to fiends on a mission. More on that in a minute.
While Claire rests up, Jamie distracts her with more bad news: Duverney has been whispering in the king’s ear about supporting Prince Charles, which is more than unfortunate because it means we’re going to have to see more of Prince Charles. But Jamie has a plan: the Frasers will host a dinner for the Duke of Sandringham. The hope is that Sandringham will see how pathetic Charles is in the flesh.
Jamie’s plan forces Claire to divulge that which she has desperately tried to avoid: Black Jack lives still. She braces for the fury, but instead, Jamie is ebullient. “This is wonderful news,” he says. “I get to kill him myself,” he continues. This is the most delighted he’s been since last season, and that can’t be a good feeling for poor celibate Claire.
But she has other concerns, which brings us back to good Master Raymond, who swears up and down that he did not sell the cascara to the Comte knowingly. He also senses there’s something else troubling Claire, and he takes her to a storeroom that I would say, if I didn’t know better, is also Borgin and Burkes. There he gives her two presents: a poison-detecting necklace and the prediction that she’ll see Frank again. Another of many half-yay’s for Claire.
But speaking of presents, Louise de Rohan has a surprising bit of news: she’s with child! But her husband isn’t the father. Claire talks her out of terminating the pregnancy before suggesting Louise make it look like the baby is legitimate. “You mean sleep with my husband?” she asks aghast. “My lover would be furious.”

As we’re well aware, marital relations largely have been suspended in the Fraser household as Jamie emotionally recovers from the torment he endured at the hands of Randall. But tonight, once Claire returns home, love is in the air … until Claire spies bite marks on her husband’s thighs. Jamie produces a rambling explanation that involves the words “other girl” and “rather insistent.” Claire should be happy, he says, because for the first time since his rape, Jamie feels like a man again. It is maybe not the best way to explain to your wife why you were at a brothel, but it does spark a tense and necessary conversation between Claire and Jamie about the trauma he experienced and how hard it has been on both of them.
Claire tiptoes to Jamie’s bed later, disrobes, and informs her husband that, if he’s been feeling lost in the world, now’s the time to find himself and her. Houston, we finally have liftoff.
They don’t get much time to revel in the afterglow, however, because Jamie hears someone on the roof. Unfortunately, it’s not Santa. No, the truth is far more disappointing: it’s Prince Charles. Claire’s look of disgust speaks for every one of us who just watched Jamie put a shirt back on. Charles has dropped in because he’s just been run out of his mistress’ arms. He’s got a bite on his hand and a sob story about being spurned by his lover. The bite is from a pet monkey, which means the spurning lover is none other than Louise, who’s taken Claire’s advice and has convinced her husband that the baby is his. This should make for excellent dinner discussion with Charles.

On the day of the dinner, however, Claire rushes to the hospital to treat victims of an explosion. Despite admonitions from Jamie to hurry back, she lingers. Unfortunately, before departing for home, we find that one of the carriage wheels is busted. The three of them—Claire, Murtaugh, and Mary Hawkins—will have to hoof it. This whole thing seems ill-advised and, sure enough, they’re attacked on the way home by masked assassins. Until now, this season hasn’t been nearly as graphic as the violence in Wentworth, but we get close. Murtaugh’s knocked unconscious, and attackers grab Claire and Mary. One proceeds to sexually assault Mary, before another removes Claire’s hood and starts screaming, “La Dame Blanche!” Quickly, the thugs scatter. What that means remains unknown to us for now, like so much else.
Back at the ranch, Jamie is entertaining guests solo, which means he alone has the privilege of watching Charles slobber all over Louise’s hand. Soon, however, Jamie’s summoned to the courtyard to find the gloomy trio limping in. Young Alex Randall, Black Jack’s younger brother and Sandringham’s secretary, runs to Mary’s side. Before the attack, Mary had confided in Claire that she’d fallen in love with the young man and, once the gang gets her upstairs, he sits vigilantly at her bedside while the others prepare to entertain a bunch of people they don’t like. Alex does seem genuine in his love for Mary, so chalk up something positive for the Randall family tree.
Meanwhile at dinner, Charles begins a slow descent into madness, hastened by Louise’s announcement of her pregnancy. Fortunately, his soliloquy on the fickle nature of life is interrupted by a frightened, disoriented Mary running downstairs, screaming at the top of her lungs. The party guests rush in to find Alex trying to calm her, only to think he’s her attacker. And then, without warning, everything dissolves into a brawl. It might as well be Scotland again.
The Comte escorts Prince Charles from the whole distasteful mess, which manages to rid the room of its two worst characters, but also spells trouble for the Frasers. As is custom around these parts.