Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs
Outlander Season 7 Episode 12 “Carnal Knowledge” has got to be the worst installment of the Starz show yet for one William Ransom (Charles Vandervaart).
**Spoilers for Outlander Season 7 Episode 12 “Carnal Knowledge,” now streaming on Starz**
The episode opens with the young Earl of Elsmere reckoning with the revelation that James Fraser (Sam Heughan) is his true father, making the haughty, yet idealistic, British noble a half-Scottish bastard. He erupts physically, destroying a mirror that belongs to his adoptive father, Lord John Grey (David Berry), and later gets into a brawl with cousin — and romantic rival — Young Ian (John Bell). Not content with just physical violence, he also has Young Ian arrested and breaches propriety by kissing Rachel (Izzy Meikle-Small) without her permission.
William Ransom doesn’t know who he is anymore and he’s taking his frustration out on everyone who comes in his path.
Only two people manage to reach William in any meaningful way. First is “Arabella,” a Philadelphia prostitute who initially blanches at the young man’s temper, only to soften her defenses after he saves her from a night with the creepy Captain Harkness (Adam Jackson-Smith). William doesn’t wish to sleep with her, but she insists, and it seems the two young people have forged a real connection.
The second person who can reach William? None other than James Fraser. William’s real father doesn’t have a tender heart-to-heart with him so much as he sets him straight and convinces him to release Ian.
Decider caught up with Charles Vandervaart recently to sift through all of the ways that Outlander Season 7 Episode 12 “Carnal Knowledge” challenges William Ransom, who blows through the episode on his absolute worst behavior. “It’s me. Hi, I’m the problem, it’s me,” Vandervaart even cooed at one point.
DECIDER: Outlander Season 7 Episode 12 is a big one for sweet William Ransom. He goes through a lot. I was very struck with the fact that he actually kisses Rachel and then she spits it out. Then, from there, there might be a new girl in William’s life. So can you talk me through what that whole encounter with Rachel means to William?
CHARLES VANDERVAART: Gosh, I think that’s maybe William’s rock bottom moment right there. Yeah, I think hurt people hurt people, and William was very hurt. That’s not an excuse, not a justification for his actions. His actions were kind of unjustifiable when it comes to Rachel. I think he was acting recklessly and in his own self-interest at that moment. Everything in his life was falling apart and I think he was trying to cling on to maybe ideas of who he is and his identity and maybe his identity is in part tied to Rachel. Letting go of that and and having yet another little realization that maybe he’s not the person he thought he was. He’s not the person he thought Rachel thought he was.
You know, he’s not part of that triangle, really. He’s like the third tricycle wheel that’s just like not really being used at all. The real love story is between Ian and Rachel. So yeah, I think he acts in a kind of horrible way and hopefully outside of his character. I hope that he can make it up to her at some point in the future. But at this point, he’s seeing red. I think he is a tornado of destruction. I don’t think he’s thinking rationally about what’s going on.
I mean, the prelude to that is him punching Young Ian when he learns that they’re engaged. He then kind of backtracks and says, “You’ve been lying to me.” When William initially caused the altercation, is he mad at Ian because of the engagement or is there an excuse that he creates when he realizes that, “Wait, he’s actually my cousin. He’s known the whole time”?
Yeah, that’s the other thing, right? There’s so many layers to it. I think the punch might be because Young Ian reminds him of his dad in this entire story that just is unfolding in front of William’s eyes for the first time. This is a relative of Jamie Fraser, the father that William never wanted. You know, maybe he actually did want him at a certain time. When Jamie was the groom at Helwater, I think that was his primary father figure, but now he doesn’t want this Scottish traitor that would contradict his entire identity as his dad. And Ian reminds him of that and reminds him of the fact that everyone’s been lying to him his entire life. Because Ian, as well, has been lying to him and hasn’t told him the true nature of his identity.
Then it’s also the added salt in the wound of the woman that William has been pining over for the longest time now is not in love with them and is in love with this representation of Jamie Fraser and the identity he never wanted. Yeah. So it’s very loaded. There’s a lot of emotions there.
You brought up that when he was young, Willie’s father figure was Jamie the groom. There’s a scene this week where Jamie essentially tells William what’s what. There’s this weird, interesting back and forth that feels very paternal and it ends with William giving Jamie his word. Can you talk me through what that scene means to William? Does it help him realize that maybe Jamie has been this father figure this whole time?
Yeah, I was just thinking about that, about how William was not acting rationally at all this episode, and the only person that really could get through to him was Jamie. He had one moment of rational thought where he thought, “Okay, maybe I’m not going to imprison my cousin. Maybe I should take that back. Maybe I’m the problem in this situation.” [Spoken like the chorus of Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero”:] “It’s me. I’m the problem, it’s me.” But yeah, I think a lot of people can relate to the fact that when you’re back hanging out with your parents, you kind of revert to your child self. Maybe this is something that happened there. Jamie, you know, became his father for that moment. Athough William is going to reject that for a long, long time and probably won’t get over it any time soon, yeah, he did kind of fall back into that “you’re father figure in my life” and finally listen to him. Maybe he needed that push. I don’t know if that’s going to last. I think William’s still going to be quite angry for the first of many episodes to come.
I want to talk about a new character we meet this episode: Arabella or Jane. I love her. The moment she came on screen, I was like, “I like you!” Can you talk to me about working with Silvia Presente? And what about Arabella or Jane speaks to and can reach William at this moment?
First and foremost, Silvia is an absolutely incredible actor. I’m so glad we got to do those scenes together because she’s very, very talented and made everything really easy for me.
William is a lost person when he meets Arabella and Arabella is also not in the circumstances she wants to be, and I think they do they do bond over that. There is a strange sense of familiarity there that they both feel even though they couldn’t be more different. William comes from extreme wealth and power and she is struggling with specifically men that have that kind of power over her. So I think it’s quite beautiful that they can form a bond. I think that William has maybe some kind of duty that he feels to protect Jane and Jane’s sister and hopefully that continues.
Yeah, I was really struck by how determined he was to not sleep with her afterwards. He felt like it was his one last bit of honor. Then she finally tells him whores have codes of honor as well. Are we going to see William redefine what being a gentleman and what having honor might mean for him going forward?
Maybe? I think so. I think, yeah, we’re watching the deconstruction of everything he thought was honorable and his moral code that was taught in part by his position of being the ninth Earl of Elsmere and by Lord John Gray and all of these English values. He just discovered that a lot of that is based off of a lie. That’s not his true heritage and that’s not who he is. And I do think that this episode he was trying to hold on to the last morsel of honor that he had. That was how he was holding on to his identity and, yeah, he was stripped from that.
I hope that’s going to end up being a good thing. Maybe it’s freeing for him, that he no longer has to be bound to those ideals. I think that his new sense of honor might be more Jamie Fraser-like. He hates that and in a weird way like, you know, what’s that Master Oogway quote from Kung Fu Panda? It’s like people often meet their destiny on the path avoiding it. And I think William does not want anything to do with Jamie Fraser, but in doing that, he ends up more like him than ever.
Yeah, it’s interesting you say that because I rewatched the scene recently from earlier in the series where Jamie saves young baby William by shooting the eighth Lord Elsmere. I was really struck looking back how the blocking of that is very similar to William in the Arch Bug scene. Both men coming in with the pistol and shooting to save someone he loves. Did that ever occur to you, this character who was basically born and then thrust in the middle of a gunfight, and now he associates love and courage with violence?
Yeah, wow! I never even thought of that! That’s a good comparison. That’s so interesting. I do think maybe that’s just a representation that William and Jamie are both people that are willing to do anything for the people that they love. Like, literally resort to anything. Which is sometimes a fault. You know, there’s a limit to that. I don’t know if I’m about to go and do that in real life. But yeah, I think they’re they’re both people that love immensely and love passionately. It’s that Fraser fire, you know? That passion that I think all the Frasers have in the show.
I want to go back really quick to Arabella and that scene in the brothel. Do you think that was William losing his virginity or has he been around ladies before?
I think that was the first time. Well, I think so. Now you probably have to consult Diana Gabaldon for the actual answer. But that’s how I was playing it, because I think that makes it a bit heavier that his honor has been stripped in kind of this weird way. He was holding on to that last bit of himself, you know? Yeah, I think it was his first time. I think he was shocked enough. You know, I think if he had done that before, it would have been a little bit more, you know, run of the mill. But no, I think this was probably his first time.
Before I go, you mentioned we’ll meet Arabella’s sister at some point. How closely does the show follow the books in terms of this storyline? Is there any hope for any kind of happy ending for these characters?
Full disclosure, I have not read that far ahead in the book. I know what happens in the books. I hope there’s even a happy ending for William. And you know, now that we’ve filmed Season 8 and we’re like way ahead of the curve, I think that there’s a happy ending, but it’s also a bittersweet ending. It’s very…it’s not what William necessarily hoped for. Sometimes you don’t get what you want, but you get what you need. Maybe that’s the case for William.
This interview has been formatted and edited for clarity.
