Warning: spoilers forward for Episode 3 of Outlander: Blood of My Blood, referred to as “Faculty of the Moon” and out there streaming with the Starz app.
We’re solely in Week 2 of Outlander: Blood of My Blood within the 2025 TV schedule, and the story has heated up and already resolved no less than one main storyline. The MacKenzie brothers lastly had some sense knocked into them about each campaigning to turn into the following laird, however there are nonetheless loads of issues for each units of star-crossed lovers. Whereas Henry is doing fairly okay for himself, all issues thought-about, Julia needed to make a heart-wrenching determination to maintain her being pregnant.
As for Ellen and Brian… effectively, the primary scene of “Faculty of the Moon” featured them getting so steamy with one another that I began doing the maths about when that ought to truly be taking place, based on Outlander‘s timeline. And I’ve questions.
The Steamy First Scene
It was clear from the two-part sequence premiere that Blood of My Blood wasn’t losing any time in stoking the fires between Ellen and Brian, and the opening credit sequence means that followers will not have to attend for Season 2 for issues to get spicy. In reality, I used to be already questioning if it was Jamie Roy and Harriet Slater‘s flip with the present’s intimacy coordinator when the episode opened with the pair kissing on the grass, along with her skirts up and his fingers exploring down as soon as she gave him the go-ahead.
And whereas that clearly goes to must occur for Jamie to be born and co-lead Outlander, the love scene began so instantly within the episode that my first ideas had been 1) that it was VERY quick and a pair of) I hoped it was a fakeout. Luckily, it was a dream sequence of Ellen’s, and one of many few humorous moments of the episode got here along with her response to being woke up simply when the dream was getting good.
This was nice information to me, no less than! Not solely is Blood of My Blood not skipping the juicy courtship part that was a lot enjoyable with Caitriona Balfe‘s Claire and Sam Heughan‘s Jamie in Season 1 of the unique sequence, however the timeline wasn’t skewed by them already sharing a romantic interlude this early. It was nonetheless surprising sufficient that I began performing some Outlander math.
Will The Numbers Add Up?
The primary motion of Outlander: Blood of My Blood thus far has been set in Scotland, circa 1714. The longer term is essentially the most unsure for Julia and Henry, for the reason that solely canon for his or her fates set by Outlander was that they’d died in a automotive crash when Claire was a bit of lady. The one actual rule that they cannot break is presumably that they by no means get to return to renew their lives within the twentieth century.
As for Brian and Ellen, there’s some extra data out there each from the unique present and the novels penned by Diana Gabaldon. Due to a helpful timeline from the creator’s German web site, it is not too laborious to attach some dots on when sure occasions might want to occur for Blood of My Blood to maintain to canon. We simply want to interrupt down some dates that Gabaldon sprinkled all through her saga, which is at the moment at 9 books and counting.
Whereas e-book and TV present canon won’t ever solely match inside the world of Outlander, Diana Gabaldon turned “100% on board” with the brand new sequence when she heard showrunner Matthew B. Roberts’ pitch for the prequel. So, I really feel snug making use of the dates from her books to Blood of My Blood at this level.
Truthful warning, although – the following part won’t imply a lot for any BOMB viewers who have not first watched Outlander. Be cautious shifting ahead, as there can be spoilers forward for the unique TV present and Diana Gabaldon’s books!
What We Can Deduce From Diana Gabaldon’s Dates
With Blood of My Blood‘s first season set in 1714, Ellen and Brian are seven years away from the delivery of Jamie, their youngest surviving youngster, in 1721. William, their oldest son, was 5 years older than Jamie earlier than he died on the age of 11 in 1727. Working backwards, that signifies that William was born in 1716, probably conceived in 1715. (For good measure, Jenny was born in 1719.)
Provided that there was no indication in canon that William was an illegitimate youngster, it stands to motive that Brian and Ellen may very well be married as early as 1714 however no later than late 1715. This might imply that followers will get to see a marriage earlier than the top of the primary season or sooner or later early within the second, which is already in manufacturing.
Combining the place Blood of My Blood started, what Diana Gabaldon’s books and the unique present instructed us concerning the timeline, and a smidgen of real-life historical past from the period, here is what the timeline ought to appear like:
- 1714: Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie meet (Blood of My Blood Season 1, Episode 1)
- 1714 – 1715: Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie marry
- 1715: The Jacobite Rebellion
- 1716: William Fraser is born
- 1719: Janet Fraser is born
- 1721: Jamie Fraser is born
- 1727: William Fraser dies
In filling within the blanks left by each the Outlander novels and the Starz present, Blood of My Blood is not simply telling a pair of affection tales. As of Episode 3, the sequence is incorporating the Jacobite rising of 1715 identical to how OG Outlander included the Jacobite rising of 1745. Hopefully no villains as horrifying as Black Jack Randall will arrive to plague Jamie’s forebears, though Dougal being whipped by his father within the newest episode was an uncomfortable parallel to Jamie being whipped within the first season of Outlander.
I wasn’t pondering the Jacobite rising of 1715 once I watched the opening scene of “Faculty of the Moon” with Brian and Ellen seemingly getting up shut and really private, although. My knee-jerk response had been that it was an excessive amount of too quickly, and I stand by that. However in wanting on the dates, it looks as if Brian and Ellen will seemingly must act on their emotions sooner relatively than later.
There’s the not-so-small problem of Ellen being betrothed to a different man, in addition to Brian understanding that he’d fallen for the girl that Murtagh had been craving for. Admittedly, Murtagh’s craving was from a fairly far distance, and Outlander already gave away that Murtagh’s destiny can be extra aligned with Ellen’s son than Ellen herself, however I think about that would nonetheless be a tough dialog with Brian.
What The Future Holds
My eyes are going to be peeled shifting ahead for Blood of My Blood to carry Ellen and Brian collectively in order that they’ll get married and get to work on their firstborn earlier than an excessive amount of time passes. That’s, except the story begins to maneuver by way of the weeks at a slower tempo. It ought to actually be pretty straightforward to gauge how a lot time has handed, assuming Julia’s being pregnant progresses as regular.
We all know from Episode 3 that greater than a month has handed since Julia’s arrival again in 1714 because of the watchful eye of the housekeeper. Since she and Henry had been already conscious of the bun within the oven earlier than the automotive crash, she’d seemingly already been no less than a month into her being pregnant when she arrived within the 18th century.
Assuming her plan was certainly to sleep with Lord Lovat for the aim of with the ability to go her unborn youngster off as his, I am actually curious to see if the person is sober and sensible sufficient to do the maths for a way quickly she begins exhibiting. Hopefully Julia will not be caught in that family lengthy sufficient for him to start out counting months.
See what’s subsequent for the 2 {couples} with new episodes of Outlander: Blood of My Blood on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Starz, in addition to streaming through the Starz app. Whereas I am most invested in Brian and Ellen’s story after three episodes, I am extra fearful about Julia than anyone else.