Warning: This article contains spoilers about Friday’s episode of Outlander, “Brotherly Love.”
Over the course of seven seasons, there’s been no shortage of shocking twists on Outlander.
But this week’s episode might just take the cake. After returning to Philadelphia to assist Lord John Grey (David Berry) and his nephew, Claire (Caitriona Balfe) learns devastating news. Jamie (Sam Heughan), in his attempt to return to the Colonies and Claire, has died. His ship, the Euterpe, perished at sea and there were no survivors.
This horrible revelation plunges both Claire and Lord John into abject grief, as they struggle to come to terms with a world without Jamie. Claire insists that she would know in her heart if Jamie was dead because her heart would stop with his. Meanwhile, Lord John must wrestle with attempts to support Claire and his own grief (which Claire feels is not his to share).
“Why should we judge who’s deserving of more grief?” Berry asks Entertainment Weekly. “Lord John has a deep and profound love for Jamie. The extent to which we sympathize with that depends on how much you really think that he should feel this grief, but there’s certainly the love that he’s displayed for the Frasers over time. His relationship with them is undeniable. He’s done everything for them.”
“To think that he would not feel a profound sense of grief for the loss of Jamie takes away from the full dimensionality of the character,” he continues. “That’s something that we really flesh out — how and why Lord John feels this grief and the extent to which he processes this grief and how it’s different from Claire, but in many ways similar because they both share a profound and deep love for this man.”
Robert Wilson/Starz
The two don’t have much time for mourning when Captain Richardson (Ben Lambert) shows up at Lord John’s house to warn him that Claire is about to be arrested for treason as a rebel spy. Richardson frames it as an opportunity for Lord John to distance himself from Claire, but Lord John realizes that the only way to protect Claire is to marry her. So, he pops the question, explaining that she must marry him and assume the protection of his good name as a Loyalist.
Berry stresses that this proposal comes at a moment of great duress when neither of them are thinking clearly. “I don’t think Lord John wants to be married to Claire at all,” he notes. “That is an act of sacrifice for Jamie and Claire. It is Lord John completely acting again in service of the Frasers. It’s an act of love for them and for Jamie — to protect the thing that Jamie values most, which is Claire.”
“She’s recklessly spiraling and putting herself in danger,” Berry continues. “Lord John is trying to hold things together for them. Does he want to be married to Claire? No. He has a life and needs and wants that exist beyond the Frasers. To understand the sacrifices that he’s making and the frustration that he feels towards Claire is a huge source of drama and conflict between the two of them.”
Robert Wilson/Starz
Indeed, Claire is reluctant to agree, insisting that she would rather die or be hanged for the crime in a world without Jamie. But Lord John reminds her that if she is convicted, she will not be the only one in danger due to her associations with others dear to them both.
“Claire is being extremely ungrateful for the service that he’s done to protect her,” Berry says of Claire’s response to the proposal. “She’s not getting on with the practical element of the fact that her life is in danger. He’s perhaps a little bit insensitive toward the fact that she just wants to die because Jamie doesn’t exist anymore. But the extent to which he can truly feel sympathy for that is limited because he also feels such a deep sense of grief for Jamie’s loss. There is a need for him to propel things forward and motivate her to live. That’s a great act of heroism on his part.”
Will the marriage happen in time to save Claire from the noose? Or will Claire end up her taking her own life? How will this complicate not only Lord John’s life, but William’s (Charles Vandervaart) as well?
Hopefully, more answers await in next week’s episode. Outlander airs at 8 p.m. on Starz on Fridays.
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