Season 3, Episode 4: ‘Of Lost Things’

If you placed any bets on what “Outlander” would do with Jamie once he was on parole, I hope you put all your chips on Full Romance Novel. In this week’s episode, the pot veritably boils over with the sort of scenery chewing that makes it feel as if it covered as much ground as a feature film. It wasn’t particularly resonant, but sometimes a show just wants to take a breather, set up new pieces, have some fun and wink at the audience.

If nothing else, this episode is an exercise in good casting; even characters with only a line or two manage to be memorable. And Geneva (Hannah James) is the type of guest star who shines in episodes like these. Haughty, cold, very good at getting information from drunk men and blackmailing sober ones, we understand how formidable she could be, and what a shame it is that her only chance at scheming is forcing Jamie into bed.

There’s a lot going on here. It’s no accident Geneva bears such a striking resemblance to Claire. It’s also no accident that Jamie’s air with her is more frustrated than it has been in a while; there’s a fun-house-mirror quality to their standoffs. Given all that, their bedroom scene has to walk a fine line — Geneva is committing essentially the same crime as Black Jack Randall has, but her motives have to be sympathetic enough for both Jamie and the audience to forgive her. James plays Geneva as ruthless but human, and makes the most of this surreal inversion of Jamie’s wedding night, where this time, Jamie’s the powerless one without much recourse. (And the shots of Geneva coolly posed in her ruffled nightdress beg comparison with a hung-over Claire in a translucent shift that night.)