Claire makes a startling discovery about Roger and Brianna’s newborn daughter. A familiar face returns to the Ridge with explosive consequences.
The Happiest Place on Earth opens with Claire finding Allan Christie at Malva’s grave. Claire tries to comfort a distraught Allan. Allan’s grief turns sinister when he confesses he was madly in love with Malva and the baby she was carrying was his. He’s been raping her for years. When Malva discovered she was pregnant she started sleeping around to claim one of the men was her baby’s father. They decided to “blame” Jamie so they could go away together and start over. However, Malva had a change of heart and didn’t want to hurt Claire because she loved her. Malva was going to tell the truth when Allan cut her throat.
Allan attempts to kill himself but Claire stops him but an eavesdropping Ian shoots him with an arrow, killing him. Ian believed the baby was his. Ian and Claire go about burying the body in the woods. Mrs. Bug comes across them and tells them because she knows them; Allan must have done something terrible. She proceeds to help them bury Allan.
The Baby
Remember, Brianna was pregnant (though she really didn’t look like it in the last episode). Brianna gives birth to a baby girl. Roger and Brianna name her Amanda. Jamie and Claire are over the moon for this little girl but while Claire is promising to teach her about herbs and healing; Claire notices the baby’s blue tinged nails. She listens to the baby’s heart and realizes there is something wrong.
Amanda has a patent ductus arteriosus heart condition. While Claire is a masterful healer this is something she can do. She’s not a heart surgeon and it would be very dangerous to try to do in the 18th century. However, Claire does know someone who could do it which seems obvious that it is Joe Abernathy. He; however, is in the future.
Wilmington
The Fraser/MacKenzie family go to Wilmington in search of supplies and gemstones. While there Brianna runs into Lord John Grey and his “son” William which Brianna knows is actually Jamie’s son and therefore her brother. William seems to know that Jamie Fraser was the groom Alex MacKenzie from his childhood which I don’t love because in the book he didn’t remember that.
Brianna and Lord John discuss telling William that Jamie is his father which gives Lord John the most terrified face. Brianna tells John about Frank and how she loves him no less even though she loves Jamie too. I don’t think Brianna understands the secrecy here. It isn’t about William not loving John it is about him and his identity as the Earl of Ellesmere.
Meanwhile, Jamie sees them together and lets go to visit Lord John. The two have a goodbye considering they are now on opposite sides of the revolution. Jamie mentioned the gemstones for Brianna and John gives Jamie the sapphire he’s carried since Ardsmere.
Through the Stones
The night before they head off to the stones, Jamie and Brianna have a father/daughter moment outside. They walk among the fireflies and Brianna mentions it reminds her of Disneyland where there are twinkle lights into the trees. She proceeds to tell him there is a giant mouse named Mickey which seems to horrify him. Brianna explains it is a man dressed as a mouse. Apparently, Frank and Claire took her to Disneyland every summer. I’m not a Frank fan but that made me like him.
That night Jamie gives Claire a stone. If she wants to go with Brianna and the kids so she can be there when Mandy has her surgery; she should go. Claire takes it to the window and throws it outside. She isn’t going to leave Jamie.
The next day, Jamie and Claire say their goodbyes to the MacKenzies. Jamie tells Jemmy if he should ever meet a giant mouse named Michael tell him he sends his regards. I love it. One of my favorite moments from the book.
Roger, Brianna and the kids touch the stones and then wake up at the bottom of them. Jemmy wakes and runs around with his toy plane. Roger and Brianna look up as a real airplane flies over them. They made it to the future.
Reality Sinks In
Claire lies awake and finally turns to Jamie. She seems to want to make love but really she’s in pain from her family going back to the future. She sobs in Jamie’s arms.
The Fire
Life on the Ridge is moving on without the MacKenzies. Claire seems to have been out making rounds or harvesting in her garden. She walks into the house and something seems off. She calls out but nobody answers. As she moves further into the house, Wendigo Donner is revealed when he lights a match. He wants to know where Claire got them and she tells him her daughter made them.
Donner is angry Roger wouldn’t help him (only pray for him) when all he wanted was to go home. He tells her did manage to escape and went to the stones with his gemstone but when he woke up he hadn’t gone anywhere.
Claire tells him he has to steer by thinking of where you want to go. Donner is baffled because he clearly knows little about the stones or how they work. Who sent him back in time?
Now that Donner is without a gemstone he demands one from Claire who says they don’t have any. Jamie is marked in by one of Donner’s crew and then the Bug’s are brought in when one of Donner’s men finds a gold bar in Mrs. Bug’s sewing basket.
Jamie seems angry and asks Mr. Bug about it. but Mr. Bug isn’t willing to give an answer. Donner tells them all to shut up and sends men into Claire surgery to ransack it and find gemstones. The men break Claire’s ether containers, and Claire tells everybody not to breathe it in.
Because of the darkness, Donner goes to light a candle, and Claire wants him not to. The camera pulls out and we see a distant shot of the house as it explodes.
