Outlander Review: Journeycake (Season 5 Episode 11)

Aren’t the Brown brothers just the worst?

Thankfully, the family’s foul ways don’t hinder Outlander Season 5 Episode 11, “Journeycake,” from finding great success in these crucial final hours. Their antagonizing presence has actually helped distract us from the gaping hole Stephen Bonnet’s death left behind.

This penultimate episode is a well-balanced snack from start to finish with moments that are sweet like jam and salty like peanut butter.

It’s entertaining to see so many different aspects of the series sandwiched together like this as Outlander finds more than a few reasons for the Frasers to embrace each other’s company.

Outlander is a peculiar series in that it’s a series brimming with time travellers who don’t care much to explore the means of their time travelling ways.

So to have nearly an entire episode dedicated to discussing the show’s time travel lore in such a loud and proud way seems like a gift in many ways. I love and appreciate the subtle ways in which time works on this series — but the not knowing also irritates me to no end!

The opening scene with Ian and Jemmy is a great use of those sci-fi elements and establishes early on that this episode is going to go about things a bit differently than we are used to.

The subtle mention that the opal is burning the boy’s hand as a buzzing sounds in the background is enough to send chills up my arm. The realization that Jemmy takes after his parents in the time-travelling department is almost as great as the complete look of horror on Ian’s face as he realizes his family are total nutjobs.

The urge to discuss the topic of time travel is convenient as it frames Brianna and Roger’s decision to go back through the stones with Jemmy quite nicely. The three of them travelling to a time where Claire and Jamie have been dead for hundreds of years does not make for an easy goodbye; nor does it make sidestepping the magic of the stones any easier.

So Outlander goes all-in on time-travel and crafts an emotional episode that never loses sight of how valuable these family developments can be for the Frasers while working diligently to expand on the lore of the show. It’s as magical as it is crucial to understanding how this world ticks.

The choice to keep Brianna and Roger’s whereabouts unknown is clever, because, again we know very little about the stones’ magic and the possibilities of where they can end up. However, the unchanged foliage suggests the family is back where they started, begging the question: can the stones sense when a traveller desires to stay, or do they send the person where they need to go instead?

Another brilliant choice — bringing Ian up to speed on his family’s time-travelling tendencies.

He takes the news of Auntie Claire being from the future in stride and provides some great outsider dialogue throughout the episode. Unfortunately, when Outlander officially declares who is allowed to travel, Jamie and Ian do not make the cut.

This is not something Ian handles particularly well as he listens to his cousin go and pounds on the cold stone in agony to join her. I hate to see Ian sad, but John Bell has such an incredible range of emotions and his clear desperation makes for a much more compelling story.

Another steamy sex scene for Jamie and Claire — yes, please!

Jamie getting it on with Claire halfway out a window is a particularly great milestone for Outlander in terms of creative sex scenes. It’s then followed by an incredibly hot discussion about sperm cells the next morning. Claire teaching Jamie medical science terminology is never not adorable though.

So is the way John still looks at Jamie, but we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about John and that sweet photo of William he had painted for Jamie. Their relationship, while completely platonic, is still equally as adorable.

William’s presence, even in passing dialogue, assists this episode with the quieter moments in between Brianna’s goodbyes. The balance of happiness and sadness present in both Brianna and Jamie’s demeanour as they discuss his secret son strikes the emotional chords necessary to make this filler content feel like more.

Unfortunately, this episode sheds light on an issue that has plagued Outlander even in it’s greatest successes this season.

Outlander tends to narrow its gaze and let singular issues consume the characters in their entirety. This can be good as it creates the opportunity to play with bottle episodes and lean on their unique individual tones to speak for the season as a whole.

But when you begin to chop up the storyline and narrow that lense on the current conflict, rather than the world the conflict is living in, you sacrifice flow and miss out on the little details that should come naturally in between the wars and the murder pacts.

Episodes like this tend to be information overloads, throwing in important character interactions and world-building information all at once because when Stephen Bonnet is wreaking havoc there’s no time for Jemmy to interact with Ian or for Lizzie to tell Brianna how much she means to her. The little moments don’t need to come all at once.

If Outlander is going to continue cashing in on its success for seasons to come, the series needs to learn how to keep the rest of the world spinning when Claire and Jamie’s stops.

The final moments of “Journeycake” are a testament to what the perfect sandwiching of world-building and conflict can look like. They are also some of the most heart-pounding moments this series has delivered yet!

I’m not a fan of the Browns but their plan to kidnap Claire is downright diabolical. The initial scrimmage is incredibly powerful as the men stab and punch their way through Claire’s surgery, with Jamie unable to come to her aid.

Marsali, frankly, doesn’t care that shes hopelessly outnumbered. She quickly hides her son under the bed, grabs a pair of scissors, and attacks the mob head-on. I love this crazy pig slaughtering badass more with every passing episode — and so should Fergus.

This horrible turn of events coupled with Brianna and Roger’s mysterious journey through the stones is truly a great way to leave us going into the finale.

The final scene of this penultimate episode seriously deserves a standing ovation. There’s just something about a husband yelling his wife’s name in outer agony as he realizes his entire world has been taken that makes you want to get to your feet to cheer him on.

Jamie, in a very dramatic fashion, climbs the ridge and sets flame to the fiery cross, calling forth an army to find his wife. It’s all rather symbolic as we return to the place the Frasers introduced us to at the beginning of the season.

Things may look bad for Claire going into the finale, but things have never looked better for Outlander in its middle age. By embracing the time-travelling element of this story in ways we’ve never quite seen before, it’s become clear this series has plenty of great stories left to tell.

Where did Brianna and Roger end up? Is there a time traveller hiding amongst the Browns (Yes, it’s definitely the guy with the long hair and suspicious American accent)? How much window sex is Jamie and Claire going to have when this is all over? Here’s to hoping the finale will have all the answers because this next hiatus is going to be brutal.

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Outlander airs Sundays at 9/8c on Starz.

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