But the show’s ability to put critical distance between the way we see these supporting characters and the way they see themselves makes you wonder how it would frame some of these plot points if the heroes weren’t Jamie and Claire. A white man takes up arms against a stifling government and then gives up on the idea of freeing slaves after learning there are laws against it. A white abolitionist woman stands for a dress-fitting as the slave Phaedre (Natalie Simpson) lavishes praise on her eyes, bosom and skin. Neither seems particularly comfortable, but neither have they discarded their fancy clothes, packed their bags and left.

There’s an interesting story to be told within this setup. This episode could examine how those who consider themselves good people can quickly become complicit in terrible things. We see it often in Jocasta, in Jamie, and there’s a hint of it in Claire at that dress-fitting. The episode could, in classic period-piece style, use the past to ask questions about the structure of criminal law in the present. It could even ask us to evaluate how much sympathy we extend to protagonists — and who gets to be one. A version of this episode that followed Phaedre and Rufus (Jerome Holder) would likely give us a very different take on some of these events.

But despite Jamie and Claire’s mistakes in the past — and questionable decisions here — “Outlander” doesn’t want to cast too long a shadow over their essential heroism. Since they can’t be aligned with the bad guys, they must be the good guys. In this episode, that’s an uneasy perspective at best.

No one can expect them to turn the tide of an institution during a weekend visit. Claire and Ian’s awkward party conversations prove just how entrenched so much of this cruelty is. The dissonance lies in the ways this episode seems less interested in examining the impact of slavery on slaves than on Jamie and Claire. When Jamie muses about growing rice, the episode doesn’t suggest it’s a slippery slope to contribute to the plantation — it’s just his cleverness. When Claire finds out her attempts at heroism have backfired, the camera spends more time on her horror than on those she has put in danger.

Rufus, moreover, is injured enough — and the horrors that wait for him outside are savage enough — that giving him poison him can seem merciful, and not like a way to excuse Jamie and Claire for turning him over to the mob. Presumably they wouldn’t have let him be brutalized, but we’ll never know: This setup neatly spares them from having to make that choice. Even Rufus reassures Claire it’s all right, dying gently amid bittersweet reminiscence. Holder does a great job with what he’s given, but Claire and Jamie get almost as much time to mourn Rufus as he gets to be a person.