It would be impossible for the showrunners to capture all of the events of Drums of Autumn, but this episode does give you a sense of the Frasers struggle for survival in building their new home on Frasers ridge, though it leaves out some of the more harrowing moments of its source material in this respect. It's always hard to rate episodes like this because on the one hand, it is relatively forgettable, with the natural threats of the North Carolina wilderness that were found in the book giving way to a more generic Indian threat in the tv show. The problem is, Sam and Cait are so talented and have such great chemistry that it would be enjoyable to watch them read a phone book together. The one thing that is so great about the first half of Season 4 is that you just get to see Jaime and Claire finally live together and build a life without a constant threat of war and imminent death hanging over their heads.
Again, my biggest problem with the episode is that the betrayal of Roger MacKenzie continues as the showrunners continue to spit on Roger MacKenzie's character from Seasons 2 and 3. Roger MacKenzie again goes out his way to research and find information on whether Claire made it back to Jaime. But unlike his actions before, he does it for a selfish reason, to try to worm his way back into a relationship with Brianna. I swear, it is as if the showrunners decided that they were going to try to make Roger as unlikeable as possible. Were they concerned that if Roger came across as a good guy it would take away from Jaime's character?
The same is true when Roger decides not tell Brianna about the obituary. In the tv series, the reason he gives in this episode is that her mother is already dead and has been for hundreds of years (oh just wait, the showrunners make it even worse later), a limp excuse considering that Brianna can time travel. You see, in the book he doesn't tell Brianna for a much different reason. After hearing Claire's story, he is convinced that it is impossible to change the past, since Claire and Jaime couldn't stop Culloden. He believes that telling Brianna would do nothing but cause pain since it would not be possible for them to change the past even if they were to go back to try to warn them. Once again, the plot matches the original material, but the explanation and reasons given are different and hollow in the tv series. At this point, it is really hard to have any good feelings for Roger which is such a shame considering his status in the books.
Once again, another Outlander episode that would be unwatchable except for the fact that Cait and Sam are so incredibly talented and can, on their own, carry a mediocre story.