‘Outlander’ Season 4 Spoilers: 5 Most Frustrating Moments From Episode 2

“Outlander” Season 4 picks up right after Jamie and Claire were assaulted by Stephen Bonnet, but unfortunately, they never stay out of trouble for long. Their good intentions brought some terrible consequences in episode 2. These were the most frustrating moments from the episode:

Claire confronts Jocasta. Jamie’s aunt (Maria Doyle Kennedy) can hear the judgment in Claire’s (Caitriona Balfe) voice and asks what’s wrong. Claire admits that she doesn’t believe in slavery, and Jocasta doesn’t seem very offended, just perplexed. She wonders if Claire is a Quaker, so Claire makes up a story about treating a Quaker and hearing their views.

Jocasta shares that Jenny, Jamie’s sister, wrote to her, saying that Claire was determined and unafraid to share her opinions. “The same could be said for Jenny,” Claire quips. But Jocasta doesn’t seem to reconsider her stance or see where Claire is coming from. She seems to brush Claire’s abolitionism off as a quirk.

Ian defends the Native Americans. Though Ian (John Bell) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) haven’t seen the future, they can easily see a parallel between the Native Americans and the Highlanders. Ian helps Claire defend indigenous people’s desire to have a say in what happens to the land. Unfortunately, this just makes Lieutenant Wolff (Lee Boardman) think they’re naïve.

Jamie and Claire decide to free the slaves. That doesn’t mean they can, though. Mr. Campbell (James Barriscale) explains, a little too gleefully, that Jamie would need permission from the county court, prove that each one of the slaves did something as heroic as saving a life, post a bond and pay 100 pounds sterling per slave freed. Jocasta has about 150 slaves on her plantation. They can’t afford that fee, so Jamie says they’ll increase profits.

Mr. Campbell says Jamie needs to anticipate backlash too. He isn’t the first with grand ideas about freedom. Others have disappeared. The slave owners around here aren’t willing to change their ways.

Jamie saves Rufus from being lynched. This shouldn’t be frustrating. This should be heroic. However, not even the other slaves are happy with this turn of events. After taking Rufus down, they bring him back to the plantation to take the hook out of his torso, and Claire seems to successfully heal him. Then, Ulysses (Colin McFarlane) explains to Claire that their actions will have consequences. An angry mob is coming to tear Rufus apart as a warning for other slaves.

Claire kills Rufus. Jamie and Claire realize that they saved him for nothing. If they let him escape, the other slaves will be punished. “If your oath is to do no harm then isn’t it better to save his soul than to have those men tear it from his body?” Jamie asks. Claire gives Rufus a poisonous tea, and he appears to be dead before the angry mob viciously takes his body and hangs him anyway.

“Outlander” Season 4 airs Sundays at 8 p.m. EST on Starz.