Fergus meets with Percy, who announces, “I wish to acquaint you with the facts of your birth.” Then he tells Fergus that he is the son of the Comte St. Germain, which is a huge deal. You Oldlanders who’ve been watching the show since Season 2 know that, while the Frasers were living in Paris, St. Germain got mad that Claire meddled in his business. So he arranged for a violent attack on Claire and Mary; he later poisoned Claire.
Fergus scoffs at Percy’s announcement, calling it “preposterous.” The explanation is complicated, but basically, Le Comte got sick of Amelie, who was one of his ladies. So he drugged her with opium, and sold her to a brothel while she was pregnant. She’s dead. St. Germain is believed dead. His estate is being held in a trust… and Percy thinks Fergus should lay claim to it. Fergus reminds Percy that evenif he is a St. Germain, he’s a bastard, with no legal claim to anything. But Percy produces what looks like a marriage contract between Amelie and St. Germain, so: “Allow me to congratulate you, sir. You are not a bastard.”
But what might Percy want from all of this, Fergus wonders? Part of the estate is a large parcel of land in the new world, and Percy representing some interests in Paris who want to establish a French colony populated by French settlers on that land. But the Comte’s lawyer won’t sell. But if Fergus is proven to be a legitimate heir, Percy’s associates will pay a lot for the land.
At home, Fergus updates Marsali and relates some details he hadn’t shared with Percy. He remembers Amelie well, though he never suspected that she might be his mother. The other prostitutes mockingly referred to as “the countess” for her haughty manner, but it might’ve been a more apt nickname than any of them realized. And though Amelie wasn’t a fan of any of the children born in the brothel, she hated Fergus more than the rest. When she died of a “morbid sore throat” (likely diphtheria) when Fergus was 6, she summoned him to her room to say “be a good boy.”
Fergus is filled with anger to think that he’s the son of the same man who tried to kill Claire in France way back. And he doesn’t trust Percy, whom he suspects is as willing to sell his services — in several senses of the word — to the highest bidder. Plus, would selling the land to these Parisian interests potentially result in French rule in the new world, which likely wouldn’t be any better than the current British one?
But Marsali knows there’s something more going on, so she gently presses her husband, and he eventually tells her: To accept Percy’s offer would be to state publicly that Le Comte St. Germain is his father… and Jamie is not. Though learning that a great man is your dad is the dream of any orphan, he notes, “I’m already the son of a great man.” Marsali’s sweet face displays what I’m feeling at this moment: Aw, guys!
This story originally appeared on TVLine
