&34;He can forgive, but he can't forget,&34; says actor Rory Alexander of Murtagh witnessing the connection between Brian and Ellen. Outlander: Blood of My Bloo

"He can forgive, but he can't forget," says actor Rory Alexander of Murtagh witnessing the connection between Brian and Ellen.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood stars talk Murtagh's sense of betrayal, love for Ellen

"He can forgive, but he can't forget," says actor Rory Alexander of Murtagh witnessing the connection between Brian and Ellen.

By Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at ** with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, *Ms. Magazine*, *The Hollywood Reporter*, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, *It Happened One Fight*, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

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Jamie Roy and Harriet Slater in 'Outlander: Blood of my Blood'. Credit:

Sanne Gault/Starz

**This article contains spoilers from Friday's episode of *Outlander: Blood of my Blood, *"Needfire."**

- In episode 5 of *Outlander: Blood of My Blood, *Murtagh finally learns the truth — that his dream girl, Ellen MacKenzie, is carrying on with his best friend, Brian Fraser.

- Murtagh spies on the couple, seeing them kiss and getting his heart broken in the process.

- Actors Jamie Roy and Rory Alexander talk about this massive betrayal and how it will impact the friends going forward.

Nothing stings quite like the betrayal of a friend.

Murtagh Fitzgibbons (Rory Alexander) experiences that firsthand in the latest episode of *Outlander: Blood of My Blood *when he witnesses his best friend and cousin, Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy), kissing the girl of his dreams, Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater).

When Murtagh and Brian travel to Inverness for Beltane, Murtagh hopes it will finally be his chance to catch Ellen's eye. Little does he know that Ellen is already head over heels in love with Brian — a fact he discovers when he watches them from behind a copse of trees and witnesses them kissing.

"He can forgive, but he can't forget," Alexander tells *. *"I don't know if anyone else has been in this situation where you see the person that you like snogging someone else, but it doesn't go away. You have to prioritize whether it's your friendship or whether it's your feelings for the person. You can go down one of those paths, but you still know that the sad, vengeful path still exists."

Rory Alexander as Murtagh Fitzgibbons in 'Outlander: Blood of my Blood'.

Victoria Will/Starz

Despite the fact that Brian and Ellen have to keep their relationship a secret (there's the minor snag that she's engaged to Malcolm Grant), Brian probably could have saved himself some trouble by being honest with Murtagh — and it's something that has been weighing on him since the beginning of the season.

"At his core, Brian wants to do the right thing," says Jamie Roy. "He always wants to do the right thing. Then, when he meets Ellen for the first time and he realizes, 'Oh my God, this is the woman who my best friend is madly in love with,' it automatically creates this knot in his stomach, which just doesn't go away. It constantly gets pulled both ways. Like, do I tell him, but do I follow my heart?"

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It's particularly challenging because Brian is rarely a person to deny those he loves anything. "Brian's always been very selfless," explains Roy. "But when he meets Ellen, something ignites within him. He hasn't wanted stuff for his whole life, but then all of a sudden, there's just one thing that he wants. So, when Brian is debating, should I do what's right or what I want? He only wants one thing, and that's it. He'll give up all the rest. He makes peace with that."

Harriet Slater and Jamie Roy in 'Outlander: Blood of my Blood'.

Sanne Gault/Starz

Still, Roy knows that things would probably go a lot better if Brian could only work up the courage to tell Murtagh the truth, instead of waiting for him to find out by accident. "It would make his life so much easier," Roy says with a laugh. "And I'm sure Murtagh would understand to a point. It only is going to get worse. And then, of course we see that Murtagh finds out by spying on Brian and Ellenin the worst possible moment. I remember filming that and feeling really bad. I genuinely felt, as an actor and character, like, 'Dang!'"

Roy's misgivings aren't misplaced. Alexander acknowledges that this moment isn't only a turning point for Murtagh and Brian's friendship but for the course of Murtagh's life as a whole. Given that, does Brian need to watch his back?

"Anyone scorned is a dangerous thing and not always acting rationally or in the way that they'd like to," muses Alexander. "Murtagh's got his heart in the right place, so he would try and preserve what him and Brian have got. But that doesn't mean he is not going to be angry and upset about it. But I'd have to really throw the whole clan under the bus to get after Brian, which might also go against Murtagh's love of Ellen. If he protects Brian, he protects Ellen."

Guests at the Beltane festival in 'Outlander: Blood of my Blood'.

Sanne Gault/Starz

Even if he wants to preserve his relationships with Brian and Ellen, hurt people hurt people — and inevitably, Murtagh hurts more people than just himself. After witnessing the kiss, Murtagh drinks himself into a stupor, eventually provoking a fight and ending up alone in his tent, drunk and bleeding.

Jocasta (Sadhbh Malin) comes to tend to him, and Murtagh confesses that his pain isn't physical. "I just want to be wanted, ye ken?"

Sadhb Mailn as Jocasta Cameron in 'Outlander: Blood of my Blood'.

Sanne Gault/Starz

She does. The two begin to kiss passionately, but Jocasta stops abruptly when Murtagh accidentally calls her Ellen. "There's an easy get out of being like, 'I was drunk and I don't remember it,'" says Alexander. "And that very much lets Murtagh too much off the hook — he knows exactly what he's done, and him and Jocasta are quite similar in that they're not the focal point of their families. They're slightly outsiders.

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"They have this cheeky sense of fun, but are taken on this journey by the clans that they're involved with," he continues. "She is his counterpoint. It's almost like he's compromised something in himself when he lets her down because they could have this story that would be a perfect pairing and his own foolish ambition is the thing that gets in the way."

*Outlander: Blood of My Blood *drops new episodes on Starz Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT, and is available to stream on the Starz app the same day.**

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