‘Outlander’ Season 7 Episode 8 Recap: “Turning Points”

It’s mid-season finale time for Outlander Season 7, and there are a whole lot of loose ends to tie up and a few to dangle a bit more loosely to keep us excited for the next half of the season in 2024. “Turning Points” picks up pretty much right where we left off in Season 7 Episode 7 (“A Practical Guide For Time-Travelers”), with Jamie (Sam Heughan) lying “dead” — or, more accurately, unconscious — on the battlefield. A scavenger woman and her son pick through the valuables he has with him, but it’s not long before a sword-wielding Claire (Caitriona Balfe) turns up and frightens them off. She soon discovers that the most serious injury her dear husband suffered was to his hand, and even that just needs a bit of bandaging before he’s back to normal. 

Still, Claire is rightfully upset. After all, Jamie is a rifleman and wasn’t meant to be in the fray. She’s angry that he put himself in harm’s way because he could have gotten killed. Of course, her anger is motivated by the fear of losing him, but that’s tempered slightly by a few of his characteristic quips and the knowledge that had Jamie and a few of his fellow snipers not gotten involved, the British would have advanced further and killed many more Continental soldiers. 

Claire and Denzell (Joey Phillips) have been pretty overwhelmed caring for the injured and the dying since the most recent battle broke out, and Denzell is struggling. His Quaker background means violence doesn’t sit well with him, but Claire assures him he’s not the only one affected by the loss of so many lives. It’s a stark reminder that while fighting for freedom is a noble cause, war leaves so much damage in its wake. 

Speaking of Claire, she’s growing increasingly worried. She knows that while Jamie is safe and sound, he’s likely to fight again and may not be so lucky next time. She knows more fighting is coming — it has to in order to draw the French into the war — but not knowing how or when it will happen (and whether or not Jamie could become a casualty in it) is seriously stressing her out. She makes this heartfelt admission to Young Ian (John Bell), but that tension is quickly broken when Ian’s dog Rollo starts eating the gooseberries Claire needed to give Denzell for one of his patient’s “injured rectum.” Yikes. 

Ian offers to take more gooseberries to Denzell, or rather to Rachel (Izzy Meikle-Small), so he can steal a smooch. She’s clearly into it but also realizes it’s not exactly proper and puts a stop to his affections. After all, a quick makeout sesh isn’t a big deal in 2023, but in the mid-18th century, it could land you in some pretty hot water. Still, there’s a clear connection between the two and Ian is torn. He wants his feelings for Rachel to be reciprocated, but he also doesn’t want her to end up dead because of them. Rachel later confirms with Denzell that marrying Ian would have her ousted from the Quakers, though this doesn’t really seem to deter her. 

The following day, a Continental Army offers shows up wanting to buy cinchona bark from Claire to treat malaria in his camp. He’s happy to trade for any of the potions in his collection, and Claire’s delighted to find a pretty big bottle of laudanum up for grabs. It will come in handy for the many gravely ill and dying soldier in her care. The two seem to hit it off well enough, chatting about philosophy and ambition. It’s not until he’s making his way back to camp that he introduces himself: It’s none other than Benedict Arnold, and Claire’s floored. Meeting someone in person that you’ve only ever read about in history books will do that to a person. 

Claire later explains to Jamie that Benedict Arnold’s name is synonymous with being a traitor. That’s because he eventually becomes disillusioned with fighting for independence and decides to join the British, exposing all of the Continental Army’s secrets and fighting against the very men he once led. Not cool, Benedict. Claire doesn’t know when the about-face happens, but she needs it to because history must go on as it was written. 

It’s not long before another battle breaks out, and the Continental Army decides to take aim against General Simon Fraser, Jamie’s cousin. As a rifleman, he can and should take his cousin out, but he can’t bring himself to do so. Instead, he shoots the hat off another Red Coat, and when the man turns around, he realizes it’s none other than his son William (Charles Vandervaart) that he nearly killed. However, Jamie soon loses sight of him in the fray and has no idea whether or not he’s one of the soldiers that was hurt or killed. Oh, and one of Jamie’s fellow rifleman gets a good shot at General Fraser, so that’s him dunzo.

However, the victory in this battle is decisive. Jamie later tells Claire that it’s a matter of days before the British offer a proper surrender. In the meantime, General Fraser requests to see Jamie one last time before he dies. He takes Claire with him to say his goodbyes, and it’s at the British camp that Jamie finally comes face to face with William. They exchange few words, but Jamie hands over his hat saying he owes William one. The look on William’s face is one of slight confusion — he knows there’s a heaviness about the meeting but clearly isn’t sure why. Oh, and William gets promoted to Captain, too. Hooray for him? 

The following morning, Jamie is informed that the British are ready to capitulate, but on one condition: Jamie and Claire will need to take General Fraser’s body back to Scotland so he can be buried in his homeland. This is fantastic news for them both, since their plans to head there have been derailed for a year already. Claire is clearly overjoyed to hear the news as well, and somehow, Young Ian manages to grab himself a ticket aboard His Majesty’s ship. 

Before Ian heads out, he leaves Rollo with Rachel, which she finds to be a heartwarming gesture. However, it’s also a potentially dangerous one, as Arch Bug (Hugh Ross) comes across the pair out walking together one day and gets the inkling that Rachel is someone Ian cares deeply about. This doesn’t bode well given his promise to destroy what he cares most about, so watch this space. 

Meanwhile, in the 20th century, Roger (Richard Rankin) and Buck (Diarmaid Murtagh) are ready to head through the stones into the past to chase Rob Cameron (Chris Fulton) and Jemmy (Blake Johnston Miller), who they believe has gone through in search of the Jacobite gold. Brianna (Sophie Skelton) confirms that when Rob kidnapped Jemmy, he took a letter with him about the gold, so going back in time to find their son is the only reasonable plan. Thankfully, they seem to have a store of stones to get them back (though why they didn’t offer one to Buck before now is anyone’s guess). 

As we say goodbye to the first half of Outlander Season 7, Claire and Jamie climb to the decks of the ship and see Scotland in the distance. It’s an emotional and hopeful scene, one full of promise. Of course, as any longtime fan will know, peace is likely not going to be forthcoming (or won’t last very long if it does). 

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.