"Outlander", season 4, episode 4: bear killer

Season 4, Episode 4: "Common Ground"

"It is said that the Highlander has much in common with the Indian savage. You believe him?

"Outlander" has repeatedly drawn parallels between the Scottish Highlands, who fought the English occupation of their lands, and the Native Americans, who struggle against occupation by the British and other new Americans. . In this week's episode, he is drawn by the governor who offers Jamie 10,000 acres of Her Majesty's Land – and warns him of the welcome he can expect.

Jamie's response as he stared at the governor: "Savagery can exist in many forms, Your Excellency." It's a Jamie beat at its best: a natural leader, deeply aware of injustice and determined to tell the truth in front of the power.

But his early days with Claire and Ian on the farm are punctuated by Cherokee's warning visits. They are naturally unhappy with the movement of the Frasers on their ancestral lands. And the Jamie who refused to buy the governor's opinion on the "savages" is the same Jamie who refuses to move when Claire suggests they are building further from the common border.

"After what you've said, there are Indians everywhere on these lands," he says. "So, no matter where we go, we will have the same problem." Whether he likes it or not, Jamie adheres to the English mentality. When they traveled this country for the first time, Jamie acquiesced on hearing that it was a Cherokee territory, sensitive to their fight. Now it's his land, and it's a problem.

It's a conflict that the series can not quite master. The parallels between the Highlanders and the Native Americans do not hold as well when the Highlanders are portrayed as brave heroes and the Cherokees are presented as a threat, up to the sinister music and drum drums. The episode seems well aware of the friction between entrusting Jamie's role to his hero and the fact that he's settling on an ancestral Cherokee land, but fleetingly: John Quincy Myers acquiesce with Jamie's good and peaceful intention, but when he learns that the Cherokee is launching his Frasers. "His border sinks into the ground at his feet, he does not understand much Jamie's frustration.

"The Cherokee warned you," he says, before suggesting that Jamie reconsider all this directorial work: "Next time, they might not be so courteous.

There is no way to easily get out of the position they are in: ultimately, the episode must find another way to resolve the tension. So, Jamie kills the violent "bear spirit" who wanders through the woods – a pariah Cherokee who has lost his mind – and earns the respect of the tribe.

This reconciliation is clearly intended to undermine the image of Native American characters as the "savages" described by the governor. We see them here in the context of a community rather than as mere antagonists for our heroes. But the result is still that Jamie did what the Cherokees were not willing or able to do. Apparently, this movement is heroic enough to end the territorial conflict at one go. Jamie is honored with the name Bear Killer. The Frasers greet Cherokee visitors on their fire (a Cherokee elder even tells Claire that she "has medicine" and gives her her blessing) and everything is fine, it seems.

It's a little too nice. But the Cherokee will be increasingly at risk with the arrival of new settlers, and Jamie and Claire will have a lot of chances to prove their commitment to the new friendship. The Governor's warnings alone suggest that Jamie and Claire could still struggle with their privileges in this New World. After all, "there is the law and there is what is done" is good news only for the people in power.

And "Outlander" is clearly ready to put aside his embarrassment in race and colonialism and settle in the lives of his settlers. We have a lot of Frasers in woodsy domestic happiness. Claire, Jamie and Ian feed trout, cut trees, repair nets and plan the establishment. (Housewarming surprise gift for Jamie: a clinic.) In particular, Claire and Ian settled in a comfortable rhythm. He has become a practical surgical assistant, and Claire clearly loves his cheerfulness.

The only one missing from the family portrait is Brianna.

Saying goodbye to a pregnant Marsali in Wilmington sends Claire a spiral of guilt over Brianna, who is far more separated from her mother than Marsali is from her own. Finally, Claire confesses to Jamie, as a terrible secret: "Sometimes I fear it's not worth it to leave her." Letting Brianna return for Jamie remains one of the biggest decisions Claire has ever made, and she is not surprised to think now that she is starting again.

In 1970, the first step of Roger's redemption is the best gift of excuses that a man can offer: a documentation that your mother has definitely found her first husband after traveling 200 years in time. His phone call to Brianna to give him the news is really well done, full of small clumsy discussions and the strange intimacy of sharing a secret, even if they are not on good terms.

The second stage of Roger's redemption is heavier: he must decide whether to tell Brianna that Jamie and Claire's happiness was short-lived, as they died in a fire at Fraser's Ridge in the 1770s. , there is no time to fear: Roger's second call to Brianna ends with his own revelation.

Brianna went to visit her mother.

Other gossip:

• Speaking of knitting, Claire's shawl really sells her functionality as a garment here. This echoes his oldest and most practical Scottish clothing – a deliberate visual link between his old and new world.

• I laughed out loud when Claire and Jamie watched a green screen talk about paintings. Sometimes breaking the fourth wall is fun!

• I'm always happy to see Tantoo Cardinal, who plays the old Cherokee, on a mailing list. She's great – very happy to have her here.

• "You must not be disturbed. Death is sent by the gods. It will not be your fault. Well, that's encouraging!