Ian, one of Outlander’s best supporting characters, has been given a lot more screentime in the show’s past few seasons, but Outlander's season 6 bottle episode showed why his storyline isn't working. At the end of season 4, Ian traded his freedom for Roger’s to the native Mohawk tribe, only returning to Fraser’s Ridge midway through Outlander season 5. While much of his time with the Mohawks has been hinted at, it wasn’t until recently that longtime viewers of the show were treated to actual answers regarding Ian’s time with the Mohawks. However, some of those answers weren’t that satisfying.
In Outlander season 6, episode 4, Ian tells Jamie about his Mohawk wife, as well as his love triangle with her and a former friend of his, a Mohawk man named Kaheroton. Ian and his wife, who he called “Emily,” struggled to conceive a child, as Emily would often suffer miscarriages several months into her pregnancy. Because of this, Ian’s marriage to Emily was seen as a bad omen, and he was asked to leave the tribe, only to be confronted by Kaheroton, who later married Emily and conceived a child successfully at a trading outpost near Fraser’s Ridge.
However, despite all the extra setup, Outlander season 6 resolves both Ian’s feud with Kaheroton as well as his concerns about being torn between the Frasers and the Mohawks, by the end of the bottle episode. The quick resolution leaves Ian’s continued presence in the show feeling somewhat questionable. If Ian’s time with the Mohawks has now been completely left behind, as evidenced by Ian returning his former wife’s charm necklace to Kaheroton, it's unclear where his storyline goes now or how he'll continue to impact the series. Overall, Outlander’s explanation of Ian’s backstory with the Mohawk tribe felt rushed and too quickly resolved.
Outlander has always tackled multiple time-traveling storylines across multiple time periods and had no problem with it. So it feels odd to contain Ian’s time with the Mohawk tribe to one almost throwaway episode. The reveal of Ian’s wife, and their tragic attempts at conceiving a child, would’ve likely been better suited to a subplot that played out over the course of Outlander season 5 before Ian returned to Fraser’s Ridge in Outlander season 6. Instead, the show clumsily introduced Ian’s layered, heavy backstory with the Mohawks and its resolution all in one episode.
Additionally, with his storyline resolved, it’s unclear how Ian will react to the coming conflict between the Cherokee and the settlers of Fraser’s Ridge. Being sheltered by the Mohawks, Ian will no doubt remain sympathetic to the plights of Native Americans. But, seeing as how his plotline with the Mohawk tribe has been resolved, Ian will likely now have an easier time siding with the Frasers. This feels like a wasted opportunity to reflect on the reality of the Cherokee and the Revolutionary War, and show families separated into loyalist and rebellious factions.
Outlander has been finding ways over the past few seasons to give its supporting cast more to do episode to episode. While the Outlander season 6 premiere did put more of a focus on Claire, Ian, Brianna, and Roger are all being given more subplots as the season progresses. However, in the case of Ian, Outlander may have jumped the gun on introducing (and all-too-quickly resolving) Ian’s longest-running subplot: his time with the Mohawk tribe.
New episodes of Outlander release Sundays on Starz.
