‘Outlander’ Season 5: Roger’s Fate Is Revealed

SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses Episode 8 (titled “Famous Last Words”) of Starz’s Outlander Season 5. Please proceed with caution if you have not yet viewed all available episodes and wish to avoid spoilers.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Season 5 of Outlander was on hiatus for one week. This meant that viewers had an agonizing wait until the fate of Roger Mackenzie (Richard Rankin) was revealed in Episode 8.

The end of Episode 7 saw Roger hanging from a tree and his wife, Brianna (Sophie Skelton), along with her parents Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe), looking on. As Entertainment Weekly points out, Episode 8 had an interesting way of revealing what happened to Roger after that.

Opening with a return to Oxford in 1969, Roger is teaching some students and they are discussing famous last words of well known historical figures. While it is definitely a nod to Roger’s fate, this is actually revealed by way of a silent movie presentation of the character. In this scene, Jamie is seen to grab Roger’s hanging body before announcing that he was still breathing. He was then freed and Claire started working on Roger, cutting into his throat and inserting a makeshift breathing tube in order to help him breathe.

During the latest episode of Outlander, a return to the silent movie was frequently made as Roger came to terms with what happened to him. It was revealed also that he only survived due to being able to wriggle his hands free from their confinement and slot his fingers in between the hangman’s noose and his neck.

However, this was not without consequence. During the episode, Roger struggled to speak, although, this was more as a result of his fear of speaking and his reaction to the horrific event rather than by way of any physical damage.

Brianna tried to get Roger to speak about his ordeal. Her husband continued to remain silent on the matter, though. The only noise he issued was a shout when their son, Jemmy, reached out to touch a hot kettle.

However, with the return of Young Ian (John Bell), Roger had no choice but to start speaking again. When the pair head out together to survey land, Roger works out that Ian is deeply troubled and stops him at the point of boiling a poisonous herb to use in order to take his own life. It is then that Roger starts talking. He later returns home and Brianna is relieved to discover her husband is ready to move on with his life.

While the fate of Roger might have been precariously hanging in the balance between episodes, for viewers who also read the books on which Outlander is based, would have known that Roger was not about to die any time soon. However, Starz did change some parts of the scenario in order to keep things fresh for the fans.