In our Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 3 review, Mary and Blake break down “Rabbits Don’t Swim,” the episode that turns Castle Leoch into Highland Home Alone.
Mary has a lot more fun with the result than Blake does. She lands at a 4.6 out of 5 Kilt Rating, while Blake gives it a 3.5. That disagreement drives the conversation: the episode has plenty of action, but does enough actually change because of it?
Spoilers ahead for Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 3, “Rabbits Don’t Swim.”
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Blood Of My Blood Season 2 Episode 3 Recap: What Happens In “Rabbits Don’t Swim”?
James MacKinney takes Castle Leoch while most of the fighting men are away, but Ellen and the women quickly realize he has badly underestimated them. Using the castle, hidden passages, traps and the lessons Red Jacob taught Ellen as a girl, they turn Leoch itself into a weapon against MacKinney and his men.
Janet is badly wounded during the fighting. Before she dies, Ellen reveals that she is pregnant and promises that if she has a daughter, she will bear Janet’s name. Maura later tries to stop MacKinney by using the Grant name, while Ellen eventually confronts and kills him after telling him that he sees only what he expects.
Meanwhile, Lovat’s betrayal begins to reveal itself. Brian grows suspicious when Lovat wants to split the Fraser and MacKenzie forces, and Ellen eventually rides out with Grace to warn Brian and Dougal before they walk into the trap.
Blood Of My Blood Season 2 Episode 3 Review
Mary gives “Rabbits Don’t Swim” a 4.6 out of 5 Kilt Rating. Blake gives it a 3.5 out of 5.
Mary sees a fun, bold episode that gives Ellen believable tools through her childhood flashbacks and lets the women of Leoch take control of the story. Blake sees the first real Season 2 stumble: an episode with enormous activity but several emotional turns that arrive before the road underneath them feels fully built.
The central argument becomes simple: there is a lot of movement in this episode, but is there enough actual change?
Do Ellen’s Flashbacks Earn Her Victory?
Mary likes the Red Jacob flashbacks because they give Ellen a history with the exact skills she needs. We see that her father recognized how smart, capable and dangerous she could be long before the men around her did.
Blake’s issue is not with the lessons themselves. It is with when the episode gives them to us. Ellen remembers the exact lesson she needs almost immediately before she needs to use it, which can make the flashbacks feel less like established character history and more like instructions arriving just before the test.
Why Janet’s Death Becomes A Bigger Debate
Janet’s death gives the episode one of its largest emotional moments, especially once Ellen reveals that she is pregnant and promises that a future daughter will carry Janet’s name.
But Mary and Blake both circle the same problem from different directions: Janet needed more specific character texture before the show asked the audience to mourn her. Mary jokes that even one tiny memorable trait — “the muffin girl” — could have given Janet a stronger identity. Blake argues that if Janet were removed from much of the episode, the larger plot would still function almost exactly the same way.
That does not make the scene meaningless. It does make the question of earned consequence much harder to ignore.
Did Maura Earn The Name “MacKenzie”?
Maura’s turn is more complicated. She initially looks like she is abandoning the women, but Ned later explains that she stood up to MacKinney and tried to use the Grant name to help Leoch.
That gives Ellen a real reason to reconsider her. The debate is whether it is enough to jump all the way from mistrust to Ellen calling her “MacKenzie.” Mary is more willing to go with the emotional turn; Blake thinks the reconsideration is earned but the size of the payoff may be too fast.
Why Lovat’s Betrayal Matters
Outside Leoch, Brian starts to recognize that something is wrong with his father’s plan. Lovat suddenly wants to protect MacKenzie lives, proposes splitting the forces and pushes Brian toward choices that do not feel like the Simon Fraser Brian knows.
That material works because Brian’s suspicion grows out of his history with Lovat. He does not need someone to explain his father to him. He knows him well enough to recognize when the pieces stop fitting.
Is “Rabbits Don’t Swim” The Right Final Line?
The title line becomes one of Blake’s biggest craft objections. “Rabbits don’t swim” means something to Ellen and to the audience because we saw the Red Jacob flashback. MacKinney does not know that story.
That is why Blake prefers Ellen’s earlier line: “You see only what ye expect.” MacKinney understands that sentence, and it expresses the actual reason he loses. His assumptions about Ellen and the women give him bad information until it is too late.
Ellen’s Pregnancy And The Janet Fraser Connection
The episode also confirms that Ellen is pregnant. Before Janet dies, Ellen promises that if she has a daughter, she will name her Janet Fraser.
That immediately creates a connection to Jenny Fraser and adds a new emotional layer to the Fraser family history.
We break that down further in our Ellen pregnancy explainer and our Janet MacKenzie explainer.
Mary And Blake’s BOMB Impact Ratings
Mary gives the episode a 2 out of 5 BOMB Impact. Blake gives it a 2.5 out of 5.
The pregnancy confirmation, the Janet name connection, Ellen’s separation from Leoch and Lovat’s political maneuvering all matter. But both hosts ultimately feel that much of the episode functions more like side-story movement than a major reshaping of what we know about the original Outlander story.
Related Blood Of My Blood Coverage
- Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode Guide
- Knee-Jerk Reaction: “Rabbits Don’t Swim” Has Plenty Of Girl Boss Movement — But Does Anything Actually Change?
- Is Ellen Pregnant In Blood Of My Blood?
- Who Is Janet MacKenzie In Blood Of My Blood?
This Week’s Blood Of My Blood Coverage
- Explainer: Is Ellen Pregnant In Blood Of My Blood? Yes — But The Baby May Not Be Jenny Fraser
- Explainer: Who Is Janet MacKenzie In Blood Of My Blood? Why This Makes Jenny Fraser’s Name Hurt More
- Knee Jerk Reaction: KNEE-JERK REACTION | Blood of My Blood Season 2 Episode 3 Review: “Rabbits Don’t Swim” Is The Female Highlands Home Alone
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“Rabbits Don’t Swim” gives Mary and Blake one of their biggest splits of the season so far. Mary sees a fun episode that understands Ellen. Blake sees an episode that keeps reaching emotional destinations before it fully builds the road underneath them. Either way, Highland Home Alone gives us plenty to argue about.
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