TV Review: OUTLANDER: Season 5, Episode 3: Free Will [Starz]

Outlander Free Will Review

Outlander: Season 5, Episode 3: Free Will is one of the most self-contained episodes of the TV series-to-date. The main storyline involving the Regulators and the British is placed on the back-burner and a dark family narrative is in the forefront of the episode.

The Revenge of the Abused

Fanny Beardsley (Bronwyn James) is an every-person when it comes to the abuse that she endures and her self-loathing response to it. Most viewers can put themselves in her shoes and see her multiple revenges against her abusive husband as his comeuppance. Many would not go to the sadistic lengths that she does but obviously her numerous traumas have altered her perception of what is right and what is wrong.

Between the emotions fueling the strangulation attempt and its intervention by James “Jamie” MacKenzie Fraser (Sam Heughan), Fanny raw strength is entertaining and confounding. Even Jamie is surprised by Fanny’s brute force, with her being able to push him away at will.

What is unfortunate is that this same strength does not reside in Fanny’s emotions (or its been severely weakened by her circumstances).

Fanny has been diminished in so many ways by her husband, including her sense of worth and outlook on life. A natural feeling for a new parent is to want to be a good parent and to strife for that goal. That need is absent in Fanny, the final, vile ramification of the abuse she has undergone.

Her reaction at the end of the episode is irrational (from the point of view of the non-traumatized). Making the Beardsley household a house of joy and love where people are respected and cared for would have been the ultimate revenge.

Rather than do that, albeit surrounded by the ghost of those mistreated, she leaves with nothing to her name but her cloths and a horse. She deserve more than that but at least she is able to leave with her life.

She did survive and when it comes down to it, that is the most important thing. Now she can heal.

Mercy for the Monster

Aaron Beardsley (Christopher Fairbank) is an unrepentant rogue who revels in her villainy, bringing back love / hate memories of Black Jack Randall.

Aaron Beardsley gets far more mercy than he deserves from Jamie in Free Will.

Aaron doesn’t think he did anything wrong with his current wife or his indentured servants nor is he sorry about his behavior. The latter makes him more of a character and three-dimensional. To Aaron, it would seem, one man’s villainy is another man’s righteous action. How does Aaron see the world? What made him the way that he is?

Telling Aaron the reality of his situation and giving him the choice of life or death is a level of magnanimity that Mr. Beardsley has never known and most-likely never exhibited.

Claire, Jamie, and The Future

In almost all things, Jamie is unwaveringly selfless, putting others’ needs above his own. When it comes to his daughter and grand-son, Jamie seems to be thinking only of himself and his emotional well-being. This is both good and bad.

The good has to do with character-building. Jamie’s decision makes him more human (a selfish-streak rears its head) and more interesting of a character (the self-interest of his decision does not bother him). Everything is not black and white with Jamie Fraser. There are grey areas where the reasoning behind decisions gets murky.

The bad, in this case, is that the greater good is not being served by Jamie’s decision i.e. the ultimate safety of his daughter, grandson, and his grandson’s father.

Keeping Bree, Roger, and Jeremiah in the past satisfies Jamie’s need to keep his family close but it does not satisfy their need to achieve the maximum amount of safety possible.

When the war starts and the killing begins, Jamie will eventually see the error in his current judgement (substitution). Until then, Dr. Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) will have to endure the dread of something else terrible befalling Bree, her son, and Roger ahead of the American Revolution and possibly during it.

Leave your thoughts on this Outlander Free Will review and this episode of Outlander below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more Outlander can visit our Outlander Page. Readers seeking more TV show reviews can visit our TV Show Review Page and our TV Show Review Twitter Page. Want up-to-the-minute notification? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter,  Instagram, Tumblr, and Flipboard.