Outlander Homepage Originals
4297 days. That’s the amount of time between the premiere of Outlander season 1 on August 9th 2014 and the final episode on May 15th 2026. For readers who have followed the lives of Jamie and Claire Fraser since the publication of the very first book on June 1st 1991, the relationship has been an even longer one - 12,767 days and counting, given that book 10 is yet to come. As seasons of the televised version have come and gone, things have changed from the story that first flowed from Diana Gabaldon’s imagination. For some fans, these changes have been welcomed and accepted. For others, they have been confusing and frustrating, particularly in this, the final season. But through it all, the Outlander fandom has endured. And as with any relationship that has lasted a significant amount of time, the thought of saying goodbye is painful. And so, it was with beating hearts that fans prepared to watch what is, at least for now, the finale of an all encompassing tale. Je Suis Prest? Not so much!
A night sky and the sounds of a cracking fire begin the episode, with the camera moving back to reveal the fiery cross aflame, with Jamie and his men standing around it. It is a beginning full of testosterone. Jamie turns to face them all, saying “Je Suis Prest” with quiet conviction, and this is immediately followed with the battle cries of the various clans, Mackenzie and Fraser amongst them. We see the determination on their faces. This is a battle they do not intend to lose.
The opening credits begin, and we are taken back to season 1, with the soaring vocals of Raya Yarborough and the images that were first seen in 2014. It is a nostalgic touch and we get the feeling that it is just the first of many small connections to the past, even before the blue forget-me-nots appear on the title card.
The first goodbye is a written one, as we hear Jamie’s voiceover reading his last will and testament. Knowing the prediction of Frank’s book and leaving nothing to chance, Jamie is dividing his property and possessions between Claire, his children, grandchildren, (including Fanny in this iteration of the story and we’re not saying anything more about that…) his nephew Ian and his sister, Jenny. It is a personal list, and Jamie has obviously thought long and hard about every bequest. He signs the will with his personal seal, and leans back, deep in thought.
The next morning, Jamie and Claire are lying in bed, talking. We have seen many bedroom conversations between the two, but this one is different. It has been reported since the episode aired that this was actually the final scene shot, so we get the sense of dual paths of emotion: Claire and Jamie are facing the possibility of being parted from each other, while Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan were also saying goodbye to their partnership in creating these characters over the years. It is obvious that the emotions are genuine and it brings a heightened atmosphere to the scene as a whole.
Claire tells Jamie a story about the bees, and how she had seen a pair of them asleep in a flower, holding each other’s feet. Jamie responds by reciting a bit of poetry from WB Yeats. He comments that he has lived longer than he ever thought he would and that he has experienced the joy of seeing his grandchildren, although he would like to see if there are future grandchildren to come, from either William or Bree. He wonders whether some provision would be made in Heaven for people to look in on their families.
“Being a ghost may be quite interesting,” he says and comments that there are a few people he would like to visit in that state, “just to see the look on their faces.” We immediately think of the ghost in season 1. Is this a premonition of what is to come? This is further confirmed when Claire tentatively asks, “Would you look in on me?” and he responds that maybe he’d take a wee glance, but that he wouldn’t want to frighten her.
The connection to the first ever episode continues as an increasingly emotional Claire (or is it Caitriona?) tells Jamie about the blue vase that she had seen in a shop window when she first arrived in Scotland, and how she had realised that she had never lived in one place long enough to own one. Jamie asks if she had bought it and she shakes her head. She tells him that the next morning she had gone to Craig na Dun, in search of a certain blue flower.
“The rest is our history,” she whispers, and they kiss.
Jamie asks if she ever regrets seeing the flower and touching the stone.
“Never,” she replies. “I still don’t have the blue vase, but I have everything I never knew I wanted.”
But when she says that she hopes he has had everything he ever wanted, Jamie replies, “No.”
Tenderly, he tells her that he would like to sleep in a flower with her, holding her feet.
It is a beautiful scene, punctuated by frequent touching of each other’s faces, stroking each other’s arms and cuddling close. The genuine affection between the two is obvious, but there is a definite feeling of sad finality that permeates every line.
Outside, Roger and Brianna are talking about the future, determined to manifest a time after the battle where they are all together again. Brianna knows that Jamie needs Roger, she tells him, but she wants him back safe. She doesn’t want him to try and be a hero, because she needs him and the children need their father.
“And I need all of you,” Roger replies, commenting that he is going for all of them. It is a future worth fighting for.
“Just please be careful,” Brianna says. “And please bring my Da home.”
Roger nods gently, but they both know that it is a promise that he cannot make with any certainty.
Fanny is sitting looking at her mother’s locket, when Claire walks in, saying that she wants to talk.
Fanny is upset with Claire, calling her a liar. Claire had promised she would always be there, she says, but now she and Jamie are going to battle and leaving her behind.
Claire explains that although they would love to take her with them, it is something that they must do without bringing her into the danger.
Fanny assures Claire that she is isn’t afraid, adding that she could help.
“I help you all the time,” she sobs. “You have taught me so much.”
“And you have learned so much,” Claire replies.
She tells Fanny that the young girl is needed to stay behind to help look after everyone, while she and Jamie have to go to try and make things better for everyone on the Ridge.
“I can’t promise we’ll come back,” Claire says, but adds that no matter what happens, Fanny will always belong there. The Ridge is her home, with Brianna, Roger, Rachel and Ian also part of her family.
“I just found you and Grandda,” Fanny cries. “I can’t lose you so soon.”
Claire tells Fanny that there is something else that connects them, something that goes beyond time or place. For a horrid moment, it seems like the conversation is going to move into their supposedly shared ability of time travel, but thankfully, the message is literally more heartfelt. Claire puts one hand on her own heart and one on Fanny’s and tells her that they will also be together. Fanny will never be alone, no matter what happens or where they are.
This is another poignant scene of genuine tears, and it feels like a goodbye between Caitriona Balfe and Florrie May Wilkinson. It is not hard to see that Caitriona Balfe has been a mentor to the young actress and no doubt their connection will also continue into the future. Within the show though, this goodbye has been intensified by the manufactured storyline making Fanny Jamie and Claire’s granddaughter - and in that plot line, we can understand Fanny’s complete devastation. She has lost her mother and sister traumatically, and now faces losing her newly acquired grandparents in similar fashion. It seems spectacularly unfair and worthy of a good sob - something that young Ms Wilkinson is proficient at.
And so we move to the next goodbye, this time between Jamie and Brianna/ Sam Heughan and Sophie Skelton. Jamie walks out to join Brianna on the porch, whereupon he hands Frank’s book to her, stating that he is leaving both the book and the Ridge in her hands. Jamie is particularly generous in his mention of Frank, saying that Frank had given him a greater gift than the book, having raised Brianna to be the person that she is - the light of their love and a beacon of hope for the future.
“No matter how the story ends,” he says, “it will all have been worth it.”
Brianna has started crying and comments that she is pleased that Jamie is still smiling.
Jamie tells her it is because she looks so much like her mother, listing the times when he is reminded of Claire. They are all times when Brianna has been with her children, or with Roger.
“You look like your mother in love, is all I mean,” Jamie says, stroking her face.
“I don’t need to tell you that I love you, ‘cause you’ll see it in my eyes,” Brianna responds, “but I’ll say it anyway. I love you, Da.”
“And I you,” he whispers back.
Again, it is obvious that the emotions are completely genuine and we see the affection between the two. It is another tactile scene, a stroke of the face, a kiss on the forehead, arms around each other and tearful smiles. At this point, we wonder how many more goodbyes we can deal with.
Fortunately, Rachel and Ian make it easier for us. They are walking hand in hand towards the Ridge, when Rachel announces that it is far enough. They kiss, and Ian walks ahead alone. It seems a bit jarring after all the teary moments of the past ten minutes, but at least we get a break. (Plus there was no slow motion effect as Rachel watched Ian walk away, so we can be confident of his survival in the battle!)
And after that 20 second respite, it is time for another brief but teary farewell, this time between Claire and Brianna/Caitriona Balfe and Sophie Skelton. They don’t speak either, but the strength of the hug and the look on their faces says it all.
Jamie has one more farewell to make. He goes to the bees and bids them good day, before asking a favour of them.
“I wanted to ask you,” he begins. “If she comes to you, tells you I’m gone, you’ll feed her? Take heed for her? I trust you with her.” Tearfully, he stands, but then turns back.
“I remember a bit more of that poem now,” he says, reciting: “And I shall have some peace, For peace comes, dropping slow.”
Determined, he puts his hat on his head and walks back up the hill to where his men and Claire are waiting for him. And so, the ride towards Kings Mountain begins.
A short while later, the mountain itself is visible through the spyglass. Claire says she wishes they were back at the Ridge and Jamie agrees. He tells her that he’s not afraid of dying, but is afraid of not seeing his home again. Claire assures him that they will see the Ridge once more. He nods, but it is time to get down to business. Asking Ian to keep an eye on the men, he goes in search of Benjamin Cleveland.
There is news of Ferguson and his men. They have taken the higher ground up on the mountain, about a day’s ride away. Ferguson is easily spotted, wearing a red checked shirt instead of a coat, and riding a white stallion. The rest of the men are a mixture of Provincials and non-uniformed men, but all are armed. Jamie asks how many there are and Cleveland replies that there are a few more than their own party, but not enough to make a difference. Cleveland says they will make an attack from all sides and will trap Ferguson and his men up on the mountain, like rats. At this point, the measured tones of Frank Randall gives more precise statistics. Ferguson’s men number one thousand, compared to 900 patriots.
Claire is standing by a rushing stream when Jamie finds her next. He asks if she can forgive him.
“Am I betraying you by coming here?” he asks.
“Only if you die,” she replies.
Jamie recounts a story of a conversation that he had with Mandy just before they had left, where Mandy had asked him if he could hear animals. They discuss Mandy’s ability to tell where Jem is even if she can’t see him and Jamie said that he had also asked the young girl if she could hear people too. Mandy had replied that she and Jem could hear each other, Roger, Brianna and Claire.
“They can’t hear you?” Claire asks and Jamie tells her that according to Mandy, she can’t feel him at a distance, because he is a different colour in her head. While Jem is red, Mandy says, Jamie is the colour of water. Claire comments that Jamie should ask Jem if that is what he sees too and Jamie says that he will, assuming that he sees Jem again. It is another sobering reminder of the imminent danger and the two of them clasp hands.
Jamie says he wants to ask three things of Claire, should he die. Firstly, he wants her to find a priest and have a mass said for his soul. Claire says that it may take some time and he replies that he will wait in purgatory until she can find one, adding that he has been there before and it isn’t so bad. (Presumably, he means when he almost died at Culloden, but Claire doesn’t ask for clarification.)
Secondly, Jamie mentions young Davy and the fact that Mandy says her baby brother is also the colour of water. Jamie thinks this means that Davy can’t travel like the rest of the family. If he dies, he tells Claire, they should all go back to the twentieth century and leave Davy with Ian and Rachel.
Surprisingly, book Claire - presumably overcome with emotion and worry- agrees to this, but show Claire doesn’t. She tells Jamie that Brianna would never leave her son behind and besides, the eighteenth century is now her home. If he isn’t there with her, Claire says, she will want to stay there in the life that they have built together.
Jamie’s third request is a simple one.“Remember me,” he says, tearfully stroking her face once more. They kiss - and we wonder how much more anticipated grief we can stand. The kiss turns into farewell love making. Unlike their frantic sexual goodbye before the battle of Culloden, this one is tender and gentle.
All too soon, the sun rises. It is the morning of the battle and the men are assembling. Ian is wearing warrior paint and Jamie hands Roger a wooden cross, so that no-one will shoot him. Roger and Claire are to wait behind at the camp, where they will be needed, for, as Jamie pragmatically tells them, “Ye’ll help no-one if you’re dead.”
Just before they move off, Jamie gives a stirring speech, telling the men they have come far and have a bit further to go. They should be grateful for the breath still in their bodies, the strength in their bones and the courage within them.
“Let our hearts be ablaze, never with fury, or fear or hatred, but the desire to fight and fight well,” he says. “Not for gold or glory, but for our families and for freedom.”
The men cheer in response and Roger comes forward to bless them. He asks God for protection, and for them to be able to show mercy where they can.
It is time to go.
“Look after her, Roger Mac,” Jamie says.
Jamie and Claire’s parting words are in Gaelic.
“I love you, my heart,” Jamie says.
“I love you,” she replies.
They kiss once more, and Jamie formally bows to her before turning away. The moment has come.
Claire says to Roger that she feels like the Lady of Shallot in her tower, cursed, unable to see what is happening except through a mirror.
“Let’s try not to break the curse, just yet,” Roger replies and reluctantly, they return to the camp.
The battle has begun. Ferguson’s men are above on the mountain, shooting down towards the patriots, who are firing back. Hiram Crombie is not so lucky, and we see him fall.
“Keep going!” Jamie yells, reloading his rifle. “We must get to the top!”
Back at the camp, Claire is rolling bandages, but not for long. The sound of battle is audible and she cannot stay still. She loads some supplies and a pistol into a satchel and dares Roger to try and stop her. She heads in the direction of the fighting and, resigned, Roger follows her.
At the Ridge, Brianna, Rachel and Lizzie are keeping themselves occupied, shelling peas and husking corn. They are all worried. Fanny comes to join them, the locket, engraved with the word Faith (too much, perhaps?) clearly visible around her neck. She has seemingly regained her composure, telling the women that if Claire and Jamie are in their hearts, as Claire has told her, then they are with them on the battlefield. They have to stay strong, or else Claire and Jamie might not come back.
“You’re right, Fanny, Brianna says, putting an arm around the young girl. “They need us to be strong, just like we need them to come back.”
This is a reasonably pointless scene, and only seems to be there to give Rachel and Lizzie something to do in the episode. (Poor Lizzie hasn’t been seen for ages, her place as official Ridge helper seemingly now occupied by Fanny.) The four of them grasp hands in solidarity, and we are returned to the fighting.
Frank’s narration is louder and more urgent now, matching the urgency of the battle. Frank tells us that Ferguson used a silver whistle to rally his troops, as his voice was not strong enough to be heard above the noise of battle. Sure enough, the whistle can be easily heard - “like calling a pack of dogs”, Jamie observes. The men are racing up the mountain, and appear to be gaining ground. Jamie yells at the men not to wait for his command, but to be their own officers. It is a signal of trust, to be sure. By contrast to Ferguson, he doesn’t need a whistle.
Claire and Roger are also getting closer to the fighting. They come across the body of Hiram Crombie and find another injured man who Roger begins to help back to the camp. The body of a man physically resembling Jamie comes hurtling down the hill and Claire rushes over to him. It is not Jamie, but the sight is enough to spur her further up the hill, ignoring Roger’s cries from behind her.
Suddenly, a large explosion knocks her off her feet and her bag containing her medical supplies and pistol falls from her shoulder and slides away from her. She swears, but doesn’t retrieve it, choosing instead to keep climbing the hill. (This doesn’t ring true, as Claire would never be without supplies. It also leaves her defenceless, which seems foolhardy. But on we go.)
The fighting is fiercer, but somehow Jamie, Ian, Buck and Kezzie/Josiah (we are never told which) manage to work as a team and save each other from a number of close calls. The tomahawk wielding by Kezzie/Josiah is particularly impressive. Even Claire manages to grab a pistol from a dead soldier to defend herself just in time.
The British are losing and starting to retreat. Claire finally reaches Jamie, and just as they make eye contact, Ferguson rides out of nowhere. There is a frantic slashing of swords and Ferguson falls from his horse. He is hauled away and Jamie, relieved, tells Claire that it is over. They look at each other, relieved.
“Frank was wrong,” Claire says.
“The battlefield is ours,” Jamie replies and they tearfully embrace.
Now that she knows he is all right, Claire tells Jamie that she must go back and tend to the wounded. Jamie turns back to the men, who are jubilantly celebrating.
“Victory is ours!” Jamie yells, making a great show of pointing his sword at Ferguson and asking “Do I have your surrender, Sir?”
(Game of Thrones fans may be reminded of a similar scene where Oberyn Martell celebrated his victory over the Mountain just a bit too soon…)
And here we discover the important piece of information that was missing from Frank’s book. Ferguson has a pistol concealed under his shirt.
Claire reaches Jamie. He tells her not to worry as she presses her hands over his chest. Desperately she looks around at the others, who are all standing in shock. Jamie smiles at her, telling her that he is not afraid. Claire tells him that she is not going to sit there and watch him die. She hauls him up into her arms, begging him not to go.
“Forgive me, Sassenach,” he says. Then his eyes flutter closed.
As Claire sobs and entreats him not to go, one by one all of Jamie’s men fall to their knees in respect and sorrow.
Time has passed and Ian and Roger are trying to get Claire to leave Jamie.
“He’s gone,” Ian says.
But Claire merely says, “No,” and kisses Jamie’s forehead.
Roger tries next.
“Claire,” he entreats, “It breaks my heart to say it, but we’ve lost him.”
“He just needs to rest,” Claire says. “Needs his strength. He just needs to rest. Just rest.”
She refuses to let Jamie go, reminiscent of the scene with baby Faith in season 2.
This is a big change to the way Claire reacts in the book and one which weakens Claire, in this reviewer’s opinion. In the previous episode, Claire had told Jamie that by staying in the 20th century and becoming a doctor she now had skills that she could use to help him if he was hurt, but there is absolutely no evidence of that here. In the book, Claire is searching for wounds, applying tourniquets, pressing on the chest wound, getting Ian to feed Jamie honey water and telling Jamie forcefully that while he may think he is going to die, he is actually going to live, by inches, with her. She is also actively thinking of the blue light and its healing power. She is fierce with her grief and panic, rather than the defeated version portrayed on screen, Caitriona Balfe’s heart wrenching performance notwithstanding.
As night falls, Claire is alone with Jamie’s body, crying, “Where are you?” and it is unclear who she is calling for. Is it the blue light? Master Raymond? Jamie himself?
Morning dawns and Claire has not moved. Roger comes to her again, holding his wooden cross, possibly for strength, or maybe to emphasise that he is now trying to reach her as a minister, rather than as a son-in-law. He tells her that it is time to bury Jamie, and that while he would never try to say anything in an attempt to make things better, there are now things that need to be done.
“Let’s take him home,” he says.
But Claire doesn’t acknowledge Roger in any way, so he leaves, his concern plain to see.
Claire raises herself up and strokes Jamie’s face.
“He is home,” she whispers.
Again, this is confusing. Where does she think Jamie is? Where is the home she speaks of? Has she given up? In the book, while Claire also doesn’t acknowledge anyone who speaks to her, neither does she given up. She is determined that she can still feel Jamie’s heart beating. Somehow she draws the musket ball from his body, willing him to breathe, and when she finally feels him starting to go from her, it is then she yields to the blue light within her. Absolutely none of this internal fierceness is conveyed here, which is such a shame. A voiceover could have made all the difference. Instead, Claire sinply lies down next to Jamie, sighs deeply and closes her eyes. Are we meant to assume that she has just died too?
Suddenly, we are back in 1945, with Jamie’s ghost staring up at Claire in the window. He watches and smiles, as Frank appears and the brief scene from the first episode replays. Next, Jamie’s feet on the cobblestones give way to grass and he is at the standing stones at Craig Na Dun. He looks at the central stone and touches it, mirroring what Claire had done (or will do). Jamie does not travel, but as he walks away from the stones, blue flowers magically spring up - forget-me-nots. Then we get a brief montage of some Jamie and Claire romantic moments from throughout the seasons, before we are back on the mountain. But this time, the two appear to be lying on a broken standing stone and Claire’s hair is completely white. The camera pans ever closer, until, with a Jon Snow Game of Thrones gasp, their eyes both open…
Apparently, 4 different endings of this scene were shot, with this one being the one chosen. Matt Roberts has said that he wanted it left open to interpretation, so that viewers could decide for themselves what has happened. Are Jamie and Claire alive? Are they in another time? It’s up to us. This feels strange and frustrating to this reviewer. White hair should mean that Claire is at the height of her power, yet she showed none of it. Much was made of her healing blue light, yet we didn’t see it. (Or if we did, it was very faint. Much zooming in still didn’t reveal it.) The book made it very clear that Jamie had lived. Why make it ambiguous here? If it was to keep open the possibility of a movie after the final book comes out, then Jamie and Claire will need to be very much alive and on the Ridge for their story to continue. And if everything truly finishes here, why not give Jamie and Claire (and their loyal fans) the happy ending, back at the Ridge with their family being their ‘world all around them’? Even more annoyingly, Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan have both said in interviews that they themselves are not sure what the ending means. How is it a good ending if even the actors are confused??
And then, just as Raya Yarborough’s beautiful voice finishes another poignant song through which the credits have been playing, there is another scene, directed by Caitriona Balfe, and full of many little “Easter eggs”. It is now the modern day and a sign for the Poisoned Pen bookshop is visible. Stacks of the book, ‘Outlander’ are being carried over to a signing table where people are waiting in line. Among these people are prominent members of the production team, and behind the table is none other than Diana Gabaldon herself, wearing a blue shirt, with a blue vase containing blue flowers sitting on a shelf behind her. The woman getting her book signed asks about the significance of a leather bound journal that has apparently been with Ms Gabaldon at other signings. Gasp! It’s the same one in which Claire was writing her story in the previous episode.
“Well, it’s just a wee bit of inspiration,” Diana says with a smile. End of Outlander.
What are we meant to do with that? How did the journal get to the modern day? Is Diana Gabaldon meant to be Claire, or was the scene just a nice tribute to the woman who created the whole story? This reviewer finds it ironic that the journal was referred to as a ‘bit of inspiration’. If only the show runners had used Ms Gabaldon’s novels as inspiration instead of going rogue, it could all have been so different.
And so, the final season of Outlander, the one branded as a “love letter to fans” has come and gone. It was a season that began with a murder and the permanent altering of the Fraser family tree, continued with the unexpected loss of a main character and ended with the beloved two main characters gasping on a mountain top. Not quite the love letter this reviewer was hoping for, but more of an “it’s complicated” half hearted break up. But as with all relationships that have come to an end, there remains, for a time at least, the hope that perhaps it isn’t over after all and that one day, we will be able to go back to the way things were. And in the meantime, we’ll just all have to have faith…
This final recap was written by Susie Brown, a writer and teacher librarian who lives in Australia, While she was largely underwhelmed by the final season, she’d still like to acknowledge the actors who always gave their all, no matter what the scripts said. And now that 12 years of Jamie and Claire’s story have come to an end on screen, she will look forward to book 10 - to find out what really happened!
