Outlander's David Berry on Whether Lord John's Fateful Decision Was an Act of Mercy or Murder

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains major spoilers from "Pharos," the penultimate episode of Season 8 of Starz's Outlander.

In what could be his final appearance in the Outlander TV series, Lord John Grey experienced one of the worst moments of his life and, certainly, one of the best.

First, the tragic. After he was kidnapped in the eighth episode, Lord John (David Berry) awakens to learn that it is Captain Richardson (Ben Lambert), the Patriot spy he and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) encountered last season, who has whisked him away... and not in the romantic sense. Assisting in his capture was none other than Percy (Michael Lindall), Lord John's part-time lover, who unfortunately uses their shared secret against the man he claims he loves.

"Lord John is very aware of the harsh reality for gay men at this time," Berry tells TV Guide. "Percy weaponizes this against Lord John, and that's the ultimate betrayal. I think that's why Lord John is not at peace, but certainly reconciled with Percy's fate. He's crossed the line that no other gay man should do to another."

More on that fate in a moment. The reason for Lord John's captivity is multi-pronged. In short, Richardson is a time traveler like Claire and company. His self-imposed mission is to rewrite history so that the British win the American Revolution and, by default, the colonies' remain part of the British empire, which outlawed slavery. Richardson doesn't specify when he is exactly from, but he mentions his great-great grandmother was a slave and he references Jim Crow laws, so it stands to reason he hails from the second half of the 20th century at the earliest. 

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He has kidnapped Lord John because he says his brother, Harold Grey, will give a speech to Parliament that would ask the government to withdraw funds for the war to hold onto the American Colonies. Richardson believes if Lord John can convince his brother to instead support intensified support of British forces, then the British could win the war and America won't be founded with slavery as an unabetted industry. If Lord John refuses, Richardson will release statements from both Percy and Neil Stapleton, another man he was intimate with, to discredit the Grey name.

Unfortunately for Richardson, Lord John has summoned Claire, Jamie (Sam Hueghan), and his son William (Charles Vandervaart) by pleading with Percy to pass along his signet ring to William. Despite pleading his case successfully to Claire, who admits she sympathizes with a hunger to change the past to better the future, Richardson is shot and killed by a freed Lord John when she allows him to leave. Back in Savannah, Lord John confronts Percy and gives him an ultimatum: death or sign an affidavit that says he lied about their relationship to malign Lord John's character and extort money out of him, among other charges. 

"We see Lord John at his most stoic in that scene," Berry says. "It was a deliberate choice to play this in that way. We understand there's a lot going on underneath John's choice to be stoic. But I don't see it as cold and calculating. We see him as making a deliberate choice not to again invest himself emotionally in somebody who has weaponized and also manipulated Lord John's feelings to get what he wants."

After his pleas for mercy go unacknowledged, Percy signs the affidavit, guaranteeing he will spend the rest of his life in jail, before turning his own gun on himself when Lord John leaves the room.

"It does torture Lord John in that meeting at the end, because he cannot allow himself to feel for Percy any longer," he says. "Whether it's love, compassion or empathy, he must choose to be cold and stoic in this world that is out there to kill anyone who shows their vulnerability. I wonder, in a modern setting, if he would be so contained and stoic, or whether he would be allowed to express himself more freely."

Lord John's final words in the episode — possibly the series — ask God to have mercy on Percy's soul, but is Lord John responsible for what happens? Berry says they shot the scene two ways. The final cut features Lord John presenting a gun to Percy, but taking it with him when he leaves. The alternative scene involved a far more menacing presentation of his pistol, laid on the table as soon as he walks in and left there when he leaves, suggesting a course of action that Percy ultimately takes.

"In that cut, he leaves the gun on the table, almost as an invitation for a person to use it, which could be interpreted as an act of mercy or almost as an act of murder," Berry says. "I don't think it changes the scene either way, but it still is an interesting kind of thing that we were playing with. To what extent is Lord John responsible? That ambivalence still lives on in the way that it was presented."

Berry can trust that however the scene was intended, he was in good hands. The episode is not only the 100th in the series' run, but it was also penned by Outlander book series author Diana Gabaldon. 

"It feels really special, and it's a massive privilege," he says of being the focal point of Gabaldon's script. "You feel like you're performing Outlander at its most authentic, I suppose. There's a certain weight and power to Diana's writing, and a punchiness to it. There's a reason why the show's successful."

It isn't all doom and gloom as the show seemingly closes the book on Lord John's story (unless that long rumored spin-off series ever comes to fruition). Percy's tragic end is cushioned a bit by the mended fences between Lord John and Jamie, the latter of whom is still sore about Lord John marrying Claire and then consummating that marriage out of grief when Jamie was thought to be lost at sea. Lord John's longtime affection for Jamie has always been a sticking point in their friendship, but Jamie's brutish pride when learning of the unexpected bedfellows was extreme. He beat Lord John to a pulp and did nothing to save him from soldiers that captured and tortured him further. But after William and Jamie (biological father and son) joined forces to save Lord John (William's father by choice), Berry says the series would have felt incomplete if the two friends didn't have their moment in this episode.

"Lord John and Jamie are the other great romance of the show" he says. "If that was left unresolved, we'd all be really upset. As much as Lord John finds it difficult to forgive Jamie, and they are at a point in their relationship where it seems that there is no bridge back to what they had, Lord John is ultimately happy that they found a place of connection again. I think there's more to work out, but they can do it. They can at least sit down and play a game of chess again and go from there."

Speaking of chess, the game is where they first built their friendship and it is where Lord John says he is due some revenge. Jamie won in a "thrashing" the last time they played and it would only be right to resume their bond with a rematch. Although Berry is pretty confident Lord John wins this round. 

"In other chess matches, he has let Jamie win to maybe pad his ego, but I don't think Lord John is holding back this time," Berry says. "As he said, he took a thrashing from Jamie and now he's back with a vengeance."

Outlander airs Fridays on Starz, streaming on Starz.com.