For the past ten episodes, Ron D. Moore and crew have seamlessly woven the world created by Diana Gabaldon with unexpected but lauded twists and turns. We saw the fan anticipated punishment scene intermixed with Jamie’s narration, a voice we as the readers only heard through Claire’s recollection. Book fans finally met the flamboyant Duke of Sandringham, whose first appearance was not during a feast in Castle Leoch but during a match of wits with Claire Fraser.
As the season progresses, we do know a few details: first, Claire’s arrested as a witch (insert Law and Order ringtone here). Second, the Frasers will go to Lallybroch and most likely christen a few surfaces “Master” style. Third, Black Jack will be back and you know what will happen because that’s all anybody wants to talk about.
But what about the rest of the season? What will the next six episodes bring viewers?
Gratuitous Bitch Slap. Because it. Was. Awe-inspiring.
Now, because I’ve been a very good girl this year and paid my taxes on time, thank you very much, I’m presenting my Outlander Wish List – those little scenes that I’m crossing my fingers and lighting candles for. (Trust me, I have the candles ready.)
Be warned! If you haven’t read the book, stop reading this post right now – but bookmark and come back to it later – and buy the damn book because c’mon!
Wish #1: Claire’s Conflict
For me, one of the most powerful scenes in the book was the emotional and physical vacillation of Claire as she returns to Craig na Dun.
Even after acknowledging her feelings for Jamie (“If I had meant to spare either Jamie’s emotions or my own, it seemed I was very much too late.”), Claire still struggled with the notion that she would return to the stones and to her life in the 20th century. When the opportunity is finally given to her by Jamie himself, the reader is with Claire and every step she takes to and away from the stones.
“I turned toward the split rock and took a step, then another, and another. Pausing, I face around and tried it in the other direction. A step, then another and another…”
And of course, this all leads to her final decision, and I don’t mean which knitted infinity scarf to take back through the stones. (In my opinion, Claire, take all of them. Seriously.)
The bigger the scarf, the closer to God. It’s the Scottish way.
Wish #2: Those Three Little Words
Yes, Jamie and Claire have done the deed. And then did it again and again. And then Jamie showed her his own version of “Butterfly Kisses.”
There was that moment in “The Reckoning” which Jamie told us that falling in love was always forgiving the other person, which made every fan grab their official Outlander handkerchief and weep with joy. There’s no official Outlander handkerchief? What the hell, Starz?
But actually saying those three little words to each other out loud? Nope. Nada.
In keeping with the novel, the writers have withheld what we know is only inevitable: Claire and Jamie are in luuuuvvv. So, for me, my next wish is for the moment we all know is coming: when Jamie and Claire finally tell each “I love you.” (Yes, I know we have seen that preview in which a weeping Claire declares: “I never counted on loving you.” Well, Claire, I totally counted on loving Jamie Fraser. Welcome to the club.)
There have been literary “I love yous” that have made many of us wish for our own grandiose declarations of amour. However, in my opinion, it is Claire’s simple admittance of love that is the epitome of how to write that moment:
Jamie bent his head, putting his forehead against mine.
“You first”
“No, you.”
“Why?”
“I’m afraid.”
“Of what, my Sassenach….”
“I’m afraid if I start I shall never stop….”
“It’s nearly winter, and the nights are long, mo duinne.” He leaned across the fence, reaching, and I stepped into his arms, feeling the heat of his body and the beat of his heart.
“I love you.”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is true love. Insert slow clap.
Wish #3: The exorcism of James Fraser
Jamie’s return to Wentworth Prison and what happens there (Seriously, read the book!) has been the subject of countless interviews and panel discussions. Both cast and crew said yes, they will be going there; that it is necessary to go there, especially in the development of whom Jamie Fraser becomes.
But the scene that I’m saying a little literary prayer for is Claire’s last attempt to save her physically and emotionally broken husband: the conjuring of Jamie’s abuser.
It’s the very notion of transference: when a person literally transfers all feelings initially caused by another to someone else. Well, paging Dr. Freud, you’re the someone else, Claire. She purposely takes on the persona of Black Jack in an effort to release Jamie from his suffering.
“I knew the risk I was taking in this, but better to kill him myself, I thought, than to sit quietly by and let him die.”
This moment, in my literary opinion, shows the strength, perseverance and love of Claire Elizabeth Beaucamp Randall Fraser. Just like Jamie’s risk of going to Fort William in an effort to save Claire, we see how much Claire loves her husband: she is willing to risk her life and his life in order to free him from the demons that haunt him. And it’s through this risk that Jamie, and our love affair with the Frasers, survives.
Now, if any of my moments don’t exactly make it to the small screen, will I be devastated? Absolutely not. (I may reenact it using my Pocket Jamie and Pocket Claire, but don’t judge.)
Who needs your child’s crayon rendering of your family when you can reenact the wedding on your refrigerator?
If the show has proven episode after episode, other moments will take its place. They may not show every scene I bookmarked on my ereader, read over and over again, and memorized every single word and punctuation mark. But if it means I get to hear James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser talking to me about falling in love, that is a sacrifice I’m more than willing to make.
What is on your Outlander Wish List? Which moments do you hope to see in the final six episodes of the season? Leave us a message or tweet us your wish!
