It’s been more than 20 years since Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) interacted with Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones), so the patriarch of the Christie family was skillfully reintroduced to viewers by a newly created flashback to Jamie’s time at Ardsmuir Prison. The writers largely culled the events from Voyager, bestselling author Diana Gabaldon’s third novel in the Outlander series, pulled from Jamie’s narrative in the early part of the novel and from the memories of his time in prison that he later related to Claire (Caitríona Balfe). “[Showrunner] Matt [B. Roberts] did a great job taking those disparate bits and adding his own stuff to make a compact story—changing the young boy whose tartan is exposed to an old man who’s ‘away wi’ the fairies’ (as they tactfully say in Scotland), the explicit rumbles over rabbits and Jacobite songs, and some of the dialogue between Colonel Quarry [Jay Villiers] and Jamie,” Gabaldon exclusively tells Parade.com in critiquing the episode. “Most importantly, the flashback gives us our first look at Thomas Christie; his personality and background, and (most importantly) the basis of his relationship with Jamie.” In the episode, Jamie was none too thrilled when he returned to the Big House on Fraser’s Ridge after a visit to Marsali (Lauren Lyle) to find Tom had been welcomed to the Ridge by Roger (Richard Rankin) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton), who had no idea of the history between the two men—no knowledge that Tom was actually Jamie’s nemesis. But as Jamie himself told Claire, when he issued the flyer welcoming settlers from Ardsmuir to the Ridge, he hadn’t said, “Except one,” meaning Tom Christie. “When I saw Mark’s first full scene as Tom in the dailies, I went and found him on Twitter and sent him a DM saying, ‘Congratulations—you’ve got that man cold!’” Gabaldon shared. “And he really does. You can see Tom’s conflicts as clearly as if they were printed on his T-shirt, and yet you never, ever have the feeling that it’s acting.” As the episode played out, the tension between the two men grew even stronger when, while undergoing some TLC from Claire, who stitched up Tom’s hand after an accident cutting rushes and the knife slipped, Tom had an unexpected reaction to Jamie’s wife, passing out from the sight of his blood. “It’s probably the first time ever that he’s felt himself to be vulnerable with a woman (he didn’t have a choice about that, and was unnerved when it happened),” Gabaldon pointed out. “But she’s not only healing him; he fainted in her presence, which unsettles him terribly. (And then, of course, Jamie is right there being all strong and manly—and owning something else precious that Tom has never had or expected to have.)” And then we met Tom’s offspring: Allan (Alexander Vlahos) and Malva (Jessica Reynolds), who aren’t as innocent as they first appear. We first discovered this fairly early on, when Richard Brown (Chris Larkin) showed up during a party at the Big House and accused Alan of having stolen a powder horn, which he did. “Alex’s performance as Allan Christie is great, too, but his character in the show is much more a construct of the script than the book (he’s deliberately kept in the background in the book),” Gabaldon continued. As for Malva’s transgressions, they’ll be revealed later in the season, so we won’t spoil them here for those who haven’t read the novels, but Gabaldon, who thinks Reynolds is “horribly wonderful as Malva Christie,” did share an interesting bit of information about how she selected her name. “People ask me now and then where her name came from,” she explained. “Off a bottle of shampoo. Actually, at the time I was writing that novel, I was using an Aveda shampoo called “Black Malva” (supposed to be formulated specifically for brunettes), and I found the name entertaining–especially because of the Latin root, meaning “evil/bad” (and I did wonder whether the people at Aveda knew that…).” Outlander airs new episodes Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Starz. Next, Check Out the Latest Sneak Peek From Season 6 of Outlander and Find Out Which Cast Member Calls It His Favorite Season Yet
