Outlander: Blood of my Blood season 1 episode 6 recap: Traumatic labors

NOTE: This post contains spoilers for Outlander: Blood of my Blood’s sixth episode, "Birthright”.

Giving birth is never a walk in the park on Outlander, and it seems like the vibes are similar in Blood of my Blood as Julia goes into labor in less than ideal conditions in this new episode.

Meanwhile, Henry has an idea that might help him finally find his wife, but his plan goes sideways. Let’s recap what happens in the latest episode of Outlander: Blood of my Blood.

Julia goes into labor

At this point in the story of Blood of my Blood, Julia has been at Castle Leathers for months and her pregnancy is far along enough that she is about to give birth to her son. Indeed, she wakes up one morning to find that her water has broken.

She goes to find Brian, who is still upset with her because he doesn’t understand why she would have slept with Lovat. She tells him she was already with child when she arrived at Leathers and decided to go to bed with his father to make him believe the bairn is his. She adds that the only reason his mother was able to keep him is because Brian is the laird’s son, so she did what was necessary to protect her child.

Tending to Lord Lovat’s fire, Davina Porter hears him whispering Julia’s name in his sleep, which reminds her of a time when it was her he was calling to his bed. A flashback shows Davina didn’t have much of a choice when it came to sleeping with Lord Lovat. He forced her to have sex with him, on several occasions, which led to her pregnancy with Brian.

Mrs. Porter informs the laird that Julia is in labor and he decides he is going to marry her so that the bairn is a legitimate child. Davina protests and Lovat threatens to hit her, but she explains Julia is too far into the process to go to the kirk.

In fact, now that she is in labor, Julia has to go into confinement. For a woman whose last pregnancy was in the 20th century, this is a new, jarring experience. It entails Julia being locked in a room with a bunch of women supposedly there to help her give birth.

The main hall of the castle is used as the birthing chamber and Brian comes to find his mother. She asks if Julia’s baby is his and he explains there is nothing between them. Curious about her own relationship with Lovat, he asks if she and the laird ever loved each other. Of course, Davina doesn’t admit to her son how he was really conceived.

Brian is concerned about his position within the Fraser clan and hopes he can improve his relationship with his father. Later on, he shares a drink with Lord Lovat and alludes to the fact that he’d like a better position as a Fraser, but Lovat doesn’t have much faith in Brian and would rather put all his focus on the bairn who is about to be born.

Victim shaming

A group of women arrive to assist Julia and at first it all seems quite nice, all of them being excited that they will witness the birth of a (supposedly) future king of Scotland. They are here to comfort and guide Julia, and they draw comparisons between her situation and Mrs. Porter's.

Unfortunately, that upsets Davina, who tells the others that they are nothing alike because Julia seduced Lord Lovat and sought his attention, and boy do things take a turn. Suddenly, everyone is against Julia, they start calling her a jezebel and pretty much say they will tend to the baby but if something happens to the mother, she is on her own.

They shame her, tell her to confess her sins, call her a woman of loose morals… The whole experience is rather brutal. They ask who the father of the child is over and over again, Davina thinking Julia is lying. Julia tells Mrs. Porter she doesn’t need to hate her, that she will not take anything from her and begs her to not harden her heart against her.

The thing is that Davina was abused and mistreated by Lord Lovat, but when he got her pregnant, he never considered marrying her. When he assaulted her, Lovat made it sound like Davina brought it all on herself by being a temptress, and Mrs. Porter has carried that trauma all this year, and clearly struggles with Julia’s situation.

Eventually, Julia manages to get through to Mrs. Porter and tells her everything she is doing is to protect her baby. Another flashback shows how when Davina was in labor with Brian, she was also harassed by women who shamed her and threatened her child. Maybe she and Julia aren't that different so, back in the present, Davina then sends everyone away.

Lovat thinks Mrs. Porter is jealous so he bursts into the birthing chamber, followed by Brian and a reverend. He wants the child to be born in wedlock but this really isn’t the right time for Julia who is in the middle of pushing. As Davina screams at him to get out, Lovat strikes her and Brian intervenes, telling his father to go but before Lovat leaves (after the reverend said Julia is in no condition to get married), he tells Brian he will pay for his defiance.

As Julia’s son is about to arrive into this world, the show goes back to the birth of her daughter, Claire. A flashback shows Julia in labor as Henry tries to distract her from the pain. Claire arrives and the two of them are over the moon to meet their baby girl, and it’s much more touching than what is going on in the present.

When Julia's child is born, he doesn’t make a sound at first but Mrs. Porter gets him to let out his first cry before putting him in his mother's arms. Both women are quite emotional over the bairn, and hopefully they will have a better relationship moving forward.

After receiving lashes for defying his father, Brian goes to see Julia. He meets the bairn and they discuss how he doesn’t know when his birthday is. Julia then goes to fetch a cake and puts a candle on it before asking Brian to make a wish and blow it.

Henry loses his mind

Meanwhile, over at Castle Grant, Arch Bug is keeping an eye on Henry and wants to know what he is up to. Henry explains he wants to find local midwives to see if anyone has come across his pregnant wife. Bug is touched by Henry’s predicament, having himself lost a child at birth. He offers to talk to Isaac Grant about it and see if they can have midwives come to the castle to find out if anyone treated Julia.

Later on, midwives start arriving at Castle Grant but none have seen Julia… Until one shows up to tell Henry that she met a Julia Beauchamp who died in labor, and so did her baby. Henry is devastated and refuses to believe her but she convinces him otherwise. The shock triggers Henry to the point that he feels as distressed as he was in the trenches of World War I.

However, of course, the midwife is lying. She was paid by Bug to tell Henry that Julia died, so that Henry would stop his search.

Henry runs outside in tears and hears Julia’s voice. He starts laughing as he fully goes into a nervous breakdown, mixing the present with the past. He runs around yelling the war is over, reliving the day he ran to announce it to Julia. Except it is not Julia he goes to. In his mind, he is in London talking to his wife, but in reality he is in Una Hay’s brothel with Seema, the English sex worker he previously met there.

When he calls her Julia, she doesn’t correct him. Instead, Seema kisses him, and leads him to her bed. They have sex, and it’s quite devastating to see Henry completely lost in his grief. He is convinced he is with Julia, but really isn’t and it’s unclear if he’ll be back to himself the next morning. But if he is, it will be a rude awakening.

Is Henry going to return to his senses? Will Julia find a way out of Leathers? We’ll have to wait for a new episode of Outlander: Blood of my Blood, on Starz and MGM+, to find out.