‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Season 2 Episode 3 recap: “Rabbits don’t swim”
When a clan invades Castle Leoch on Blood of My Blood, Ellen (Harriet Slater) engages in some Highland Home Alone hijinks. But it comes at a cost in Episode 203, “Rabbits Don’t Swim.”
With Dougal (Sam Retford) leading the MacKenzie and Fraser armies to fight the British, that leaves Colum (Seamus McLean Ross), Ned (Conor MacNeill), and the women behind at Leoch. During a contentious dinner where Ellen and Colum are fighting (once again), Ellen leaves the table just in time for James MacKinney (Ryan Fletcher) to pay a visit. But it’s no friendly call — he’s claiming Leoch for his own.
The MacKinney thugs round up the Castle Leoch inhabitants, but Ellen is able to evade them and spy on the great hall. MacKinney claims he’s the rightful heir to Clan MacKenzie and that Red Jacob would have chosen him as his successor if he hadn’t died so suddenly (suddenly = while having sex with his maid). He orders the women to be locked up — Maura (Bobby Rainsbury), Janet (Ailsa Davidson), Letitia (Rebekah Lumsden), Jocasta (Sadhbh Malin), and Mrs. Fitz (Sally Messham) — and claims they’ll be allowed to live if they don’t misbehave.
The same can’t be said for Colum, whom MacKinney very much plans to kill. Except Colum reveals that Castle Leoch now legally belongs to Ellen — “Kill me. Then ye’ll be the laird of nothing.” MacKinney demands to know where Ellen is, but Colum says Ellen does what she pleases, and a flashback shows how Ellen became such an unconventional woman for her time.
As a child, she plays hide-and-seek with her brothers Dougal and Colum but always loses. A rather tender Jacob (Barry John Kinsella) advises his daughter that it’s because she hides where they expect a lass would hide. As his firstborn, he encourages her to challenge their assumptions with the allegory: “When the fox hunts rabbits, he doesna look in the loch.” The wee Ellen reasons, “Because rabbits don’t swim.” He approves of her quickness and tells her, “Let their blindness be their downfall.”
In the present (err, but also the past… it’s tricky with time travel), Ellen, with an assist from her sis Jocasta, does just that by killing the MacKinney man escorting the women. Ellen leads the women to safety in the chapel and though there’s hardly any weapons, that’s not going to stop Ellen MacKenzie from defending her home à la Kevin McCallister. Using her dad’s lesson, Ellen rallies the other women — though some are more keen than others, with Maura complaining that Ellen will make things worse while Janet offers to help any way she can.
In the great hall, MacKinney claims he will make Ellen sign over the deed, or force her to marry him. MacKinney and his son have the physical advantage over Colum and Ned, with MacKinney mocking Colum’s disability, and he reveals that Dougal is set to die. Turns out, Lord Lovat has betrayed the Jacobites to the British Duke of Argyll. Damn, that Simon is a sneaky fox. But MacKinney isn’t the only one with scary news — Colum tells him that he’ll pay for messing with Ellen, as there’s a man who will come for her. Colum and Ned may be bluffing to freak MacKinney out, but if Brian is anything like his son Jamie, that’s no joke.
For now though, the MacKenzie women are taking care of themselves. Ellen has Janet bait one of the MacKinney men, who slips on oil and Ellen stabs him to death. Another, she traps with a portcullis and sics the dogs on. It’s a badass display, but Maura and Jocasta fear MacKinney’s angry revenge. “Hunger makes the fox blind,” Ellen retorts.
But Ellen’s focus on protecting the family castle blinds her, too. When Janet lures two more men into the chapel, she takes a sword in the stomach. Ellen holds her dying sister in her arms and reveals that she’s pregnant! And if it’s a girl, she’ll give her her name. As Janet dies, Outlander fans know Ellen will eventually be true to her word with Jamie’s sister Jenny. But poor Janet MacKenzie, we hardly knew ye.
Maura abandons the women to go to MacKinney, but for all her complaining, she stays loyal to the MacKenzies. And though she mourns her sister, Ellen can’t let Janet’s death be in vain. She tricks two more men into the belfry with the bats where she does a quick switcheroo and slits their throats. With only MacKinney and his son left, Ellen, Jocasta, Mrs. Fitz, and Letitia enter the Great Hall armed to kill. MacKinney holds Maura hostage, but Ellen is willing to kill her too if it’ll stop him. While he’s distracted, Colum stabs MacKinney in the leg (he underestimates Colum just like he does the women). Maura escapes, and Ellen shoots him. “Rabbits do swim,” she tells him before he dies and his son flees.
With the threat to their home gone, Colum and Ned break the news that Lovat is a turncoat and that both Dougal and Brian are at risk. Maura and Ellen form a tentative truce as Ellen decides to ride out to warn both of their husbands. With one sister already dead, Jocasta sends her servant Grace (Ruby Fubara) to go with Ellen. But Janet’s death hasn’t softened Ellen toward her brother. Colum says he will keep trying to make amends for choosing the clan over her, but Ellen says he’ll never be able to make things right.
As for that turncoat Lord Lovat (Tony Curran), Simon’s despicableness extends beyond the battlefield to his home. He beckons Julia (Hermione Corfield) to his bedchamber, where she finds Seema (Lauren McQueen) performing oral sex on him. They think Julia could use a lesson on how to please her husband. Later, Seema bathes Julia and drops the bomb that she knew the Grant bladier who “abducted” Julia intimately. Seema shares details that prove she knew Henry, and Julia does her best to play it cool, knowing that Seema also slept with her actual husband. Before Lovat leaves for battle, Julia requests he send Seema back to the Grants. He refuses, and Seema, fulfilling her spy duties for Arch Bug, overhears Julia. While Seema strokes baby William’s face (back off, Seema!), she confronts Julia about trying to get her fired. Julia agrees it was unfair, and Seema promises to protect her and the baby with her life. You can kind of feel bad for Seema, but knowing her intense feelings for Henry, Julia should remain wary.
Meanwhile, Simon joins up with Brian (Jamie Roy), Murtagh (Rory Alexander), and Dougal, who are headed to Inverness to face the British. The younger men have already slain some redcoats along the way, and Lord Lovat uses that to split his forces from Dougal’s, arguing they can divide the English if Clan Fraser and Clan MacKenzie take different routes. They’re all suspicious, but as Lord Lovat is the one with the most battle experience, they give in — not realizing Simon is delivering them to the British.
Good thing Ellen and Grace are riding to the men’s rescue as Ellen, yet again, defies the expectations of women of her time. And she’ll hopefully make it in time to not only save her husband, but tell him she’s pregnant too.
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.
