[Warning: The below and video above contain MAJOR spoilers for Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Season 1 Episode 5, “Needfire.”]
Outlander: Blood of My Blood took a romantic turn in the latest episode, “Needfire,” which saw Brian (Jamie Roy), Ellen (Harriet Slater), and more travel to celebrate Beltane, a festival that features the needfire, which is said to wash away sins.
With the promise of erased sins in mind, it leads to some risque behavior, especially for Brian and Ellen, whose romance is forbidden due to their dueling clans. Upon arriving at Beltane, Ellen’s sister Jocasta (Sadhbh Malin) teases her by suggesting she explore alone time with her betrothed, Malcolm Grant (Jhon Lumsden), unaware of where Ellen’s heart truly lies.
As the festivities unfold, Brian finds himself dancing with Ellen as they put up a ruse that they’re strangers to one another. Meanwhile, Murtagh (Rory Alexander) longs to find a connection with Ellen, but when he sees her and Brian kissing as they sneak away, emotions run high, leading him to drink.
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As Ellen and Brian find their alone time, Brian makes sure they’re handfast before proceeding any further, as he “ruins her” under the roof of literal ruins. Their actions seal their fate as the pair vows to be with one another only, leaving Ellen in a precarious position with the expectations surrounding her betrothal.
“There’s no going back, you can’t take that back,” Slater says in our latest Outlander: Blood of My Blood Aftershow. “Being handfast… it was basically like being married. They’re engaged. They have a year and a day after that in order to get married and make it official,” she points out.
As for delivering what is sure to become an iconic line for this series, “ruin me,” Slater says, “I was kind of nervous for that line because it made me laugh reading it. I thought it was an epic line, but I think because of the connotations of it these days, and also the fact that I think I was very aware that it was going to be a big line when I read it.”
When it comes to Brian’s insistence that they handfast, Roy shares, “He knows that he wants to be with Ellen. This isn’t just like a fling or anything like that. So when he knows it’s about to go down, he wants to approach it like it’s a forever bond, it’s a promise. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to make a promise to each other, and there’s no greater promise than handfasting in that moment.”
While the lovebirds enjoy some quality time alone, Murtagh numbs his pain with booze, realizing he never stood a chance with Ellen and that Brian was lying to him about being with her. Sadly, a pining Jocasta seeks comfort in Murtagh, leading to a kiss for the future loves that ends rather abruptly when he calls her by her sister’s name. “He’s got to live with those consequences, which he can pretend he forgets because he was drunk, but he doesn’t,” Alexander shares.
Meanwhile, back at Castle Leathers, Julia remains bound to the property as her pregnancy progresses, and Lord Lovat (Tony Curran) seeks answers about the child he believes is his. The woman delivering these premonitions and prophecies suggests that there’s a child of importance on the horizon, but is the prophecy of this baby Julia is carrying true? Executive producers Maril Davis and Matthew B. Roberts offer insights on the topic, as they and the stars break down Episode 5 in the aftershow above. Watch the full interview, and stay tuned for more on Outlander: Blood of My Blood in the weeks ahead.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Season 1, Fridays, 8/7c, Starz
—Reporting by Kate Hahn
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
