‘Outlander’ Season 8 Episode 9 Recap: “Pharos”

Just in time for the final episode of Outlander EVER, the long-running Starz series provided a classic Jamie and Claire adventure, written by author Diana Gabaldon, no less. 

The episode “Pharos” picks up where “In the Forest” left off, with Lord John Grey (David Berry) being held prisoner by Ezekiel Richardson in a dingy boathouse. With signed testimonies from his former lovers, Neil Stapleton (a character from the Lord John Grey books) and Percy Beauchamp (who’s present for this encounter), Captain Richardson is using Lord John’s sexuality to blackmail him. But why? Well, Harold Grey (aka, the Duke of Pardloe) is due to give a speech to the House of Lords advising the British government to stop funding the fight against the American rebels. Richardson believes this will directly lead to America gaining independence and wants Lord John to convince his brother Hal to keep the war funds going, so the British will continue to control the American colonies. If Lord John doesn’t, Richardson will release the testimonies, discrediting Hal and likely leading Lord John to be hanged for sodomy (homosexual acts between men were made illegal in England by Henry VIII). To add insult to injury, there’s an incest charge in there as Percy and Lord John were stepbrothers.

But “a gentleman does not submit to blackmail,” so Lord John has no intention of cooperating and remains a prisoner while Richardson sends copies of the testimonies to Hal. Before leaving, Percy pleads with Lord John to convince Hal not to give his speech. Turns out, Percy loves Lord John, but LJG is unmoved. Instead, he asks Percy to find William and give him his ring, which he has been fiddling with.

Claire, Jamie, and William arrive in Savannah, as Amaranthus had written about Lord John being missing. Amaranthus says an odd man dropped off a package for Hal, who has been delayed in his travels, and wanted to speak to William. The trio head to Percy’s to confront him, where he tells them Richardson’s plan and that Lord John is being held a few hours away by boat in a boathouse. Thankfully, Lord John provided a clue in his ring, scratching the word “Pharos” — Greek for lighthouse. William knows of one on Tybee Island, so the trio set off to save Lord John.

At the island, Claire keeps an eye on Richardson, who has gone fishing (literally), while Jamie and William sneak into the boathouse and easily take out the two guards. They find a scruffy Lord John, where he and Jamie share some banter before William emotionally embraces him. A pleased Jamie looks on… just look at these fathers and son!

Claire leads Richardson to the boathouse at gunpoint, where Jamie handcuffs him and says they’ll turn him over to the court-martial. While William and Lord John check to make sure there are no more guards and Jamie gets the boat, Claire interrogates Richardson about why he switched from the Patriot side of freedom to the Loyalists.

Suddenly, Richardson becomes a rather sympathetic figure, saying the American Revolution doesn’t mean freedom for the thousands of enslaved people. While England is about to outlaw slavery, slavery will continue to flourish in the U.S. for another 85 years and lead to another war. His specific knowledge of the future leads Claire to guess that Richardson is a time traveler, and she reveals that she’s one too.

Ending slavery is personal to Richardson, and he’s thrilled to know that Claire had lived in 1968, for she knows all about the “reverberations of slavery,” including racism, segregation, and Jim Crow laws. He believes she’s there to help him keep America under the English, leading to slavery being outlawed decades earlier and avoiding the Civil War. But Claire tells him, “You can’t win a war that has already been lost.” And she knows from experience, as she and Jamie failed to change the outcomes of both the Battles of Culloden and Alamance. 

Though she doesn’t believe he can change history, Claire is moved by Richardson’s noble mission to end slavery and his passionate belief that his time-traveling abilities are to make the world a better place. Claire lets him go after he promises not to hurt anyone else. But as he heads out the door, Lord John Grey shoots him dead. And Richardson’s dream of ending America’s dark past with slavery dies with him.

Back in Savannah, Jamie thinks he’s being magnanimous by telling Lord John that he finally forgives him for sleeping with Claire. It hasn’t occurred to him that Lord John may not forgive Jamie for trying to kill him and ignoring him for two years. Claire encourages Jamie to offer Lord John a real apology. Jamie admits he felt betrayed when Lord John said that he and Claire had both been fucking him in their grief. But he also thanks him for everything he has sacrificed for their friendship, including raising Jamie’s son as his own. Lord John says he only said that to explain something unexplainable and that raising William has been the greatest gift of his life. The friends reconcile, but Lord John requests to beat Jamie to restore his honor. Jamie thinks Lord John means a physical battle, but Lord John challenges him to their old pastime of chess. These two are going to be A-OK.

While William is happy to have Lord John back and alive, he’s still grappling with his identity. But Claire is there to help him, noting how Bree, Roger, Swiftest of Lizards, and even herself all had two fathers (oh, hey, Henry Beauchamp!). He may be anguishing over whether or not he’s a Fraser or a Grey, but Claire tells him not to worry about that and just be the son of these two great men. William also takes this opportunity to break up with Amaranthus since he doesn’t love her. Looks like he’s already taking Claire’s advice and being true to himself, following in the footsteps of his fathers. As Jamie and Claire leave Savannah for the Ridge, Jamie gives William that one last look back that he hadn’t given to his son when leaving Helwater back in Season 3. 

It seems likely that William and Lord John’s time on the series is all wrapped up, but Lord John pops up one last time when he visits Percy and gives him an ultimatum —sign an affidavit saying he lied about Lord John’s sexual past, or die. The cowardly Percy signs the affidavit, which will protect Lord John from any future blackmail and likely mean jail for Percy. But as Lord John leaves, he hears a gunshot; Percy has taken his own life rather than face legal justice. 

With Jamie and Claire back home at the Ridge, time passes, and Brianna gives birth to her and Roger’s third child, named Davy (full name: David William Ian Fraser MacKenzie). Jamie confesses to Bree that it’s unlikely he will return from Kings Mountain based on Frank’s book. Brianna begs him to stay for the sake of her and his grandchildren. But Jamie insists that he must protect them by fighting and ending the war in the backcountry.

Jamie later discovers Claire journaling — but she’s not writing medical notes. Instead, she’s musing about disappearances. The words should be familiar as they mirror the opening lines of the first Outlander book, as well as Claire’s opening voiceover narration in the first episode. So Claire is writing her own story? “No, I’m writing our story,” she tells Jamie. So has Outlander been from Claire’s journal all along?!

This full circle moment is interrupted by the appearance of Benjamin Cleveland, declaring that Patrick Ferguson is fighting in North Carolina. And they have two days to gather their troops to fight. And with everything that has happened in her time traveling reinforced by the death of Richardson in this episode, Claire says in voiceover that she’s powerless over Jamie’s fate. The stage is set for the battle at Kings Mountain, with Jamie’s fate only one week from being revealed in the final episode ever of Outlander. Buckle up, everybody!

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.