Just 23 of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, and just five are black.
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There is a frustrating lack of diversity in the C-suites of corporate America, not just in racial terms, but in gender as well. She didn't mean it was appalling that her brother, only 38 years old, had attained the top spot at a publicly traded company, but that, by most accounts, he was only the 10th black businessperson to do so.Īnd she was right. And in that, there is a kind of closure.When Joel Gay became CEO of Energy Recovery ( ERII) in April, his sister Roxane Gay, a vocal novelist and essayist who has a devoted following on Twitter, called it "appalling." It challenges what we know of redemption and reminds us that no man or woman is any one thing. His incomplete and reluctant redemption leaves us unsettled, uncomfortable. The show is making a smart and nuanced narrative choice as Black Jack's character arc wanes. Maybe, though, he is on the path toward redemption, and maybe that's all we're going to get. After all the evil he has done, the bar has to be way higher. Alex dies, as at peace as he can be.ĭoes this mean Black Jack has found redemption? I don't think so. Black Jack does end up marrying Mary in a rather grim and perfunctory ceremony. That must be a hell of a thing to live with, to know that fraternal devotion cannot overcome true nature. He knows that not even his love for his brother will keep him from being cruel to Mary. She doesn't blink at impossible choices.Īs Black Jack wallows in self-pity, he tells Claire he does not regret anything he did to Jamie. As an aside, throughout this episode I am reminded of how ruthlessly practical Claire can be. He asks, "What kind of God creates a world where monsters thrive? Beauty and purity is rewarded with poverty and death." Claire glibly replies, "The same god that offers an opportunity for redemption." If only she were right.
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Poor Alex uses what strength he has left to ask his brother for one hell of a favor: He wants Black Jack to marry Mary so she has "position." Black Jack freaks out and runs to a pub, where Claire finds him nursing his torment. Black Jack is not at all pleased with how much Alex is suffering, but he wants the impossible-a cure that does not exist. "Oh, brother," Dougal says, "So you turn your back on me one final time, and leave me alone in the dark." No closure for old men.Īlex Randall grows sicker. When he finally turns to his brother for a response, he finds that Colum has died. He goes to see his brother to seek closure, and does so at length-talking of all his misery, how he blames his brother for it, and so on. Colum also appoints Jamie as guardian until Hamish comes of age, which means that Jamie will control the clan for many years to come. In a meeting with Jamie and Dougal, Colum cedes leadership of Clan MacKenzie to his son Hamish (who is, lest you forget, Dougal's biological son). We, and Claire, are granted even more closure. She complies, offering Colum something that will feel like "drifting off, into a deep sleep." During their chat, she also learns that Geillis Duncan was kept alive long enough to deliver her baby. He too is not long for this world and has a euthanasia-related request for Claire. Things get more interesting when Colum MacKenzie shows up.
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That she's willing to sacrifice sick, innocent Alex only endears Claire even more to Randall.
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Claire demands quid pro quo she'll help Alex if Black Jack tells her where the English army is. As she's leaving the boarding house, Randall comes after Claire and practically begs her to help his brother. Mary also drops a bombshell: she's pregnant! With Alex's baby! It's quite the disconnect, seeing how deathly ill Alex is and imagining him involved in the conception of a child, but we have to suspend our disbelief. I, for one, wanted to look away, because I will never un-see what Black Jack did to Jamie. We are forced to see that Black Jack is not only his villainy. He has been supporting Mary and Alex financially, visiting, being a good brother. Claire wants to run, but Mary begs her to stay, and as Black Jack sees to his brother, we bear witness to his "human" side. (I'm sure there's a moral in that.) Claire quickly springs into action, offering to prepare a poultice to loosen Alex's chest muscles, but before she can really get to work, in strolls Black Jack Randall. One of the most decent men on this show is not long for this world. Alex, meanwhile, is not doing at all well-pale, sweaty, coughing, blood staining his mouth. She knows Claire tried to keep her and Alex apart in Paris, and she lets Claire know it. In Inverness, Claire runs into Mary Hawkins, who is now living there with Alex Randall.