From roundabout filicide to possible uxoricide, Lord Lovat is at it again on Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2 on Starz, so Jamie’s dad and Claire’s mom better watch out.

“The Dance” starts with King George I (Guido Renner) at a young Duke Sandringham’s (Jacob Dudman) Merlewood House honoring those who were loyal to England in the Jacobite Uprising, including restoring the lands and titles of Lord Lovat (Tony Curran). The British (by-way-of-Germany) king also gives Captain Lord Gerard Grey the title of Duke of Pardloe, with his wife, aka Lord John’s mom, accepting on his behalf as Gerard’s still out in the field, terrorizing Highlanders.

Brian (Jamie Roy) and Murtagh (Rory Alexander) share a drink on the land that will become Lallybroch, and Brian reveals Simon caused Ellen to lose their bairn. He apologizes for not telling Murtagh how he felt about Ellen sooner, but Murtagh is currently feeling gracious about his BFF stealing his crush now that he has Grace. Brian’s not sure when they’ll be formally married since Ellen can’t get married until Leoch is no longer in her name, but he’s willing to wait forever.

Over at the Duke of Sandringham’s, Uncle Mac (Simon Merrells) is jealous of Lord Lovat while his sister Margaret (Erin Shanagher) is intrigued. He’s into her too, but Uncle Mac reminds him that his wife, Julia (Hermione Corfield), is right there, and that she used to be a maid. Simon counters with how Mac’s bladier Henry (Jeremy Irvine) had tried to snatch her. It’s honestly crazy how chill Lovat is about Henry, and normally you’d think Simon would pick up on Julia and Henry staring at each other, but he’s too busy eye-fucking Margaret to care. He makes an excuse to dance with her, leaving Julia and Henry time to plan a secret meet-up.

Captain Lord Grey (Digby Edgley) storms into Leoch with his Redcoats looking for Dougal following his escape from Fort William. Colum (Seamus McLean Ross) feigns ignorance and says he didn’t support the Jacobites, but Gerard isn’t buying it. Meanwhile, Ellen (Harriet Slater) sneakily tells Maura (Bobby Rainsbury) to go warn Dougal (Sam Retford), who’s hiding in the crofter’s cottage. As the MacKenzies predicted, Gerard tries to seize Leoch for the crown, but Ned Gowan (Conor MacNeill) cites that Ellen is the current owner and that there will have to be due process.

In a more amorous storyline, Murtagh surprises Grace (Ruby Fubara) at Cameron House. She denies him a kiss out of fear they’ll be caught, but Murtagh is far too smitten to care. They make plans to meet in the threshing barn again, and before fleeing from Jocasta (Sadhbh Malin), Murtagh tells Grace he loves her.

Although Gerard concedes he cannot seize Leoch with it under Ellen’s name, he arrests Colum and sentences him to death. Dougal, with impeccable timing, enters and gives himself up, but it doesn’t have the intended effect of saving his brother. Instead, Gerard orders them both hanged. But Ellen has a plan to save them and convinces Gerard to meet with her. 

Julia and Henry find a private room at the Duke of Sandringham’s where she reveals she was only able to time travel before because she was carrying William. Julia wants Henry to take William back to their time and reunite with Claire, but Henry is not giving up that easily. He suggests that they run away or fight Lovat, but Julia shoots down both pitches, fearing they’d leave their children orphaned.

Before meeting with Gerard, Ellen tells Dougal and Colum that she’ll bargain for their lives on a few conditions: Colum be the one and only laird of Clan MacKenzie, with Dougal war chieftain in name only. And she wants the land east of Broch Morda, which conveniently touches the land Brian just got from his dad. If they don’t agree, no biggie — she and Brian will get to keep Leoch when they’re both killed. The brothers think she’s heartless, but hey… didn’t she just come up with a scheme to save them both?

With Lovat distracted by Margaret, Henry continues to brainstorm about how to keep his family together and says they should try for another baby. While dancing in the 18th century, he and Julia flash back to a memory from their time when they were learning to foxtrot and decided to give Claire a sibling. Back in the past, Julia denies the idea, feeling that they’d be using the child solely to help her time travel again. (Unlike Ellen, she doesn’t seem concerned about the possibility of conceiving again.)

Ellen schmoozes Gerard with some whiskey and compliments before saying that he’ll make a folk hero out of Dougal if he kills him. She claims she’s looking out for Gerard’s reputation, but he recognizes the political game she’s playing. She throws some coin in to sweeten the pot, and he agrees to let Dougal and Colum live. If only Jamie and Lord John knew about this interaction between their parents.

At Cameron House, Jocasta’s hubby John (Alastair Mackenzie) announces that he’s leaving to manage a sugar cane plantation in the West Indies and bringing Grace with him. Grace unsuccessfully tries to get Jocasta to save her and later breaks the news to Murtagh. She loves him back, but she won’t run away with him out of fear that he’d be hanged. So, yet another reason why Murtagh ends up as the curmudgeon Outlander fans know and love. And though Murtagh’s heart is broken, I’m feeling significantly worse for Grace, who will have to continue to endure John’s abuse even further from home.

Uncle Mac finds Margaret and Lord Lovat canoodling, and Margaret seems thrilled that her brother has caught them in the act. (Arch Bug did try to warn us that those Grant siblings are weird.) But she won’t go all the way with Simon… not until he marries her. Amidst a little history lesson on King George I, Uncle Mac also proposes Simon marry his sister. Lord Lovat is into the idea of being aligned with the well-connected Grants, but there’s just one small problem —  his current wife, Julia. But now that they’re practically brothers-in-law, Simon spills to Mac that the MacKenzies hid that Ellen was handfasted to his bastard son Brian, which directly led to his nephew Malcolm’s death. Uh-oh.

But the MacKenzies will be far from a united front when Uncle Mac comes seeking revenge, as both of Ellen’s brothers are very ungrateful that she just saved their lives. She signs Leoch back over to Colum, minus her parcel of land, and tells him to never set foot on it. Ouch. But she’s not mad at Ned as they reminisce over performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream together, complete with Ned quoting Titania. The lawyer hands her a letter from Colum, but it’s unclear if she takes it.

While the MacKenzies don’t even realize they should be stressing about Lord Lovat’s actions, Julia is acutely aware of the danger she is in as she watches Simon and Margaret flirt. Her conclusion, as she tells Henry, is that Simon is going to have her killed so he can keep William and marry Margaret. And though Outlander fans know many of the fates of the Blood of My Blood characters, Julia’s future is a mystery. Here’s hoping this 20th-century woman can outsmart the Fox once more. 

Caitlin Gallagher is a New Jersey-raised, NYC-based entertainment writer. When not writing about or watching TV, she can be found planning her next Halloween costume, crying over rescue animals, or praising Season 2 of The Leftovers.