‘Outlander’ recap: Murtagh makes everything better

For as much as the heart of “Outlander” is tied up in the love story of Claire and Jamie Fraser, it’s likely that the soul of the show exists wholly in Murtagh Fraser, played by an ever-winning Duncan Lacroix.

It’s a tricky thing to bring in a third to a relationship and have it play as something more than a character who is merely along for the ride, but when done well, giving a couple a true companion underlines why tricycles are so much more balanced than bicycles.

Imagine a version of “Outlander” where Jamie and Claire journey to France on their own, with only each other to depend on as they endeavor to change the future through subterfuge and manipulation. As appealing as this may seem on the surface (because who doesn’t love a good, old-fashioned “Jamie and Claire take on the world alone” plot?) this week’s episode, “Useful Occupations and Deceptions” proves that such a plot would likely be isolating and irritating without Murtagh there to mitigate damages.

The reason for this is relatively straightforward. While it’s important for Jamie and Claire to depend upon each other, their love often serves as a deterrent for the truth. Claire can’t tell Jamie the truth about the continued existence of Jack Randall because she knows that it would distract him from the task at hand.

That’s where Murtagh comes in. More than just Jamie’s right-hand man, Murtagh serves as a steadying force for Claire as well. While it’s amusing when he’s dispensed to accompany her everywhere as a traveling bodyguard, it’s deeply moving when she shares with him the truth about Randall and they come to the decision that Jamie can’t know.

It’s a moment the show earned throughout its first season, when Murtagh and Claire’s affection and burgeoning friendship was forged through a shared love of Jamie, and it’s heartening to see the show remember that it’s there.

That’s the importance of having Murtagh in France. Without him to confide in, the audience would be left to fester alone with Jamie and Claire’s secrets and fears, as well as making it far more difficult to get a read on where each character was at mentally without them breaking into a relationship-challenging fight.

With Murtagh’s presence, the need to depend on Claire’s voiceover is lessened (though it’s still painfully overused), and the audience gets insight into how Claire and Jamie are feeling without unnecessary bits of exposition.

But Murtagh wasn’t the only great thing happening in “Useful Occupations and Deceptions,” which may have been the first episode of the second season of “Outlander” that really felt like a typical episode of the series.

Much of “Useful Occupations” centers around Claire getting restless as the lady of the house and deciding to make herself useful at a local hospital. She quickly wins over Mother Hildegarde, the hard-nosed nun in charge, with her her magical medical knowledge from 200 years earlier which never fail to make her look like the smartest person in the room.

The hospital is great because Claire is always at her best when forced to have her wits about her, and Mother Hildegarde seems as though she’s going to be an invaluable asset to the show’s cast even before she name-drops being friends with Johann Sebastian Bach. Also, there is an infection-sniffing dog that works at the hospital and his name is Bouton. Perhaps you thought that “Outlander” was a show that didn’t desperately need cute animals. You thought wrong.

Jamie, on the other hand, is feeling stymied by his lack of progress with Bonnie Prince Charles, who alleges that he’s found funding for his Scottish uprising through wealthy Englishmen, much to the dismay of both Jamie and French Minister of Finance Duvernay.

Thankfully, a young scamp appears in the brothel where all of Jamie’s meetings with Charles take place and is quickly hired into Jamie’s employ to steal letters. This leads to Jamie eventually finding out that while Charles has secured funding for his uprising, he’s overstating the amount he’s been promised.

It’s also leads to the gang’s finding out that nefarious meddler Sandringham is one of the Englishmen funding Charles, which is really no surprise but isn’t exactly welcome news to anyone.

But, perhaps most important, Jamie hiring the pickpocket leads to one of the best lines of dialogue “Outlander” has ever produced when, in response to learning that the Fergus (said pickpocket) had also complimented Suzette’s breasts moments before complimenting her own, deadpans, “That doesn’t make me feel very special.”

“Useful Occupations and Deceptions” is a lighter, looser “Outlander” and the show is all the better for it.

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