Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Episode 7 of Outlander Season 7 on Starz, called “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers.”
Outlander is nearly at the halfway point of the seventh season, and “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers” guaranteed that the imminent midseason finale is going to be intense for all the characters, no matter which time they happen to be in by the time the final credits roll. While Jamie, Claire, and Young Ian have a fairly straightforward – albeit dangerous, with the considerable complication of William – path in the American Revolution, a new villain emerged for Brianna and Roger in the ‘80s that very quickly took something precious from them. Rob Cameron kidnapped Jemmy, and getting him back won’t be as simple as calling the authorities.
And normally, a huge cliffhanger with a kidnapping would make me very eager to find out what happens next, but I’m actually filled with dread at the knowledge that the next episode will also be the midseason finale. First things first, though: let’s get into how Rob Cameron showed his true colors and turned out to be far worse than just the guy who gave Bree trouble at work for being a woman. I should note here that I’m several books behind in Diana Gabaldon’s novel saga, so any speculation is completely spoiler-free for what the author wrote!
How Rob Cameron Became Outlander’s Newest Villain
I’m sure I’m not the only one who had been getting sketchy vibes from Rob Cameron ever since his “prank” on Brianna at work, and there was definitely something off with him in the previous episode when he got a look at Roger’s journal of the family’s travels through time. Plus, he basically invited himself over to Lallybroch for dinner, and that’s just rude!
And if he was going to be worse than he initially seemed, I assumed that it would have something to do with Brianna. Instead, Rob Cameron was on his very best behavior when he dropped by the MacKenzies unannounced for dinner. He brought wine, endeared himself to Jemmy and Mandy, and was seemingly so engrossed in Roger’s father’s old hymnals that Roger made the fateful decision to leave Rob alone for a few minutes… in the same room as the chest of letters from Claire and Jamie.
Rob didn’t give away any clues that anything was off, however, and proposed that he take Jemmy and his nephew out to the movies and then for the two kids to have a sleepover the next night. Roger and Bree were on board, although the newly-arrived Buck MacKenzie sensed that something was off with the man when Brianna reluctantly brought Roger’s ancestor to work with her. Buck assumed that Rob had the hots for Bree, but the truth was much more sinister.
Rob Cameron never intended to take Jemmy to the movies and then drop him off for a sleepover with his nephew, but evidently planned to use the information from Roger’s journal and the letters from Claire and Jamie to travel through the stones to the past. It’s not 100% clear if Rob intended to take Jemmy through the stones or just use him as a blood sacrifice a la Geilis Duncan, but after Mandy’s shrieks alerted her parents that her connection to her brother was broken, they connected the dots that Rob had taken the boy.
Roger and Buck traveled to the stones and discovered Jemmy’s scarf, with no Jemmy. It appears that the man who previously seemed mostly skeezy and sexist is a whole lot more sinister than he first appeared, and Rob Cameron and Jemmy are seemingly now in the past.
Why Would Rob Want To Time Travel?
It’s easy to track how Rob figured out how to time travel, given that he had access to Roger’s journal and the letters from the 18th century. What’s less easy to figure out is why Rob Cameron would want to travel back to the 1700s, since I have to assume that Roger wasn’t writing about traveling to any other time. He evidently does have enough of the blood of a time traveler to be able to go through the stones himself, and Jemmy’s absence from the stones is at least a good sign that Rob didn’t go full Geilis on the boy.
A lot presumably depends on how much detail Roger went into in his writings about time travel. The kidnapper clearly knew how to time travel and that jewels were needed to make it through the stones, but did he know how to focus on someone or something in particular to guide the process? And why did he take Jemmy?
Well, I can’t help but suspect that the stolen Jacobite gold has something to do with why Rob Cameron went to pretty elaborate lengths to kidnap Jemmy. The young boy is currently the only person other than Jamie and Claire who knows the location of the gold (assuming it didn’t slip his mind over the years since the family arrived in the 20th century). If Jemmy was kidnapped by Rob in a quest to go after the goal, I might start to feel guilty for encouraging Sophie Skelton and Richard Rankin’s hilarious debate during our interview about whether or not Roger and Bree should go get it!
What Advantages Do Roger And Bree Have?
Rob Cameron obviously has a head start on Jemmy’s parents, as it was some time before they even knew that something was wrong, let alone that the new villain had taken their son to the stones. That said, Roger and Bree not only have more experience with time travel, but they know how to live and blend into the 18th century. Plus, Jemmy is old enough to cause some trouble for Rob Cameron if properly motivated.
The promo for the midseason finale suggests that Roger will be going through the stones to try and find Jem, while Bree stays in the ‘80s with Mandy. I can only assume that Roger will take Buck with him, and we’ll get an answer sooner or later about whether Buck truly dies in 1778 or his return was simply never recorded.
I can’t help but suspect that the portal that Brianna accidentally discovered in the tunnel at her job will have a part to play. The tunnels were mentioned early in “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers,” with Jemmy asking his mom if he could go see them himself. There was no sign that Rob even knew about the tunnel portal, but with a tearful Bree staying behind in her present while Roger goes to the past, could something happen that sends her after him via that access point?
That’s only speculation, and there’s the issue of Mandy, assuming that Bree wouldn’t want to take her toddler time-traveling back to the 18th century. Still, Outlander had to have had a reason for introducing that portal, right?
Why I’m Dreading The Midseason Finale
Now, I’m all for watching the midseason finale to hopefully get an update on poor Jem after his kidnapping was the big cliffhanger from “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers,” since I’m not exactly worried that Outlander just killed off Jamie when there’s still a season and a half left before the show ends and possibly resolves the mystery of his ghost.
That said, the reason why I’m dreading the next episode is that the second half of Season 7 won’t air until 2024, and I’m pretty confident that even more stressful cliffhangers are on the way to close out the final episode of the 2023 TV schedule. And that’s with no date for when the upcoming Droughtlander will end!
Fans will actually have to wait longer than usual to get the midseason finale, as Starz is taking a brief break from Outlander and skipping a new episode on August 4. The Outlander Season 7 midseason finale will air on Friday, August 11 at 8 p.m. ET on Starz, and be available streaming starting at midnight on the same day. If you want to revisit some earlier days of Outlander, you can find the show streaming with a Netflix subscription.
