‘Outlander’ Season 5’s best and worst sex scenes from Jamie and Claire’s window sex to life-reviving handjob
The chief gripe of viewers about Season 4 of 'Outlander' was the minimal time devoted to sexy times given that these scenes are one of USPs of this time-traveling, historical drama. The show has won acclaim for its "female gaze", depicting female pleasure and including women's perspectives on what they find hot, ranging from intimacy to foreplay.
Unlike other adult-themed TV series like 'The Affair' or 'Game of Thrones', women's bodies are not mere objects on this show. Given this track record, the showrunners and writers have to find new ways to do these scenes and keep viewers coming back for more. Season 5 was a particularly mixed bag of some great sex scenes and some terribly executed ones. Here's our pick of the best and worst, so you can skip the bad ones and hit replay on the good ones.
Best of the best
Window sex: One of the best sex scenes this season, came in episode 11. On that particular hot and sultry North Carolina night, Claire (Caitriona Balfe) was feeling naughty and she dabs herself with her "before sex" perfume only to turn and find Jamie (Sam Heughan) fast asleep. Later, in the night, a restless, perspiring Claire wakes up. It's too hot to lie in bed and so she moves to the window hoping a breeze will cool her down.
That particular notion is quickly done away with as Jamie wakes up and decides he wants Claire to stay hot and bothered. Napolean supposedly liked to get an authentic whiff of his lovers before sex and Jamie gives proof of concept in this scene. Jamie buries his nose in Claire, listing what he smells on her. As he moves lower, he smells her special "sex perfume".
He first apologizes for not realizing she wanted sex and going to sleep on her. Then, he makes it up to her, holding her against the open window as he goes down on her. As Claire arches her back out of the window, a breeze stirs up as if partnering with Jamie to give her relief.
Wedding night sex montage: Episode 1 of Season 5 saw Roger Mackenzie (Richard Rankin) and Brianna Fraser (Sophie Skelton) become husband and wife. The season premiere saw a montage of sex scenes not only between the two but also Claire and Jamie's "grandparent sex" and Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) and Jocasta's (Maria Doyle Kennedy) "farewell sex".
Claire and Jamie, after putting baby Jemmy to sleep, have a quiet but passionate quickie made funnier as they try to do it without waking up their grandson. The scene showed all the playfulness and mischief between the two, showing that becoming grandparents hadn't affected their sex life in the least, setting #oldcouplegoals for everyone.
We also have the even older couple, Murtagh and Jocasta, coming together in their "woodland palace". Their sex is tender but tinged with sadness because both know that Murtagh's future as a fugitive is a death knell to their romance. And finally, we have the newly-wed couple, Brianna and Roger, who start their wedding night with a bit of whiskey and Roger serenading and dancing with Brianna. Roger literally shakes when they finally have sex but the camera also lingers on Brianna's face to show that all is not ok with her.
Despite her passion for Roger, her mind is somewhere else. Earlier, she had overheard Lord John Grey tell Jamie Fraser that Stephen Bonnet was still alive. Suffering from intense PTSD, her disassociated state is portrayed sensitively, elevating the sex scene. It examines how rape leaves its insidious mark on subsequent healthy and consensual sex. The best part about the montage is that it frames each couple's journey on the show within the context of sex and that's good storytelling.
Battlefield sex: Of all the places, Claire and Jamie have left their mark, the historical Battle of Alamance in episode 7 is a headliner for many reasons. For one, it was all about context. Not only was it Jamie's birthday but with a battle ahead, there was also the unsaid tension of Jamie being killed or injured. Life and death situations have always been a boon to great sex and this was no different. Claire's "gift" of morning sex in a soldier's tent was all manners of sexy where she channeled Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday" as she slipped over him while Jamie laid back and enjoyed the view. She was reminding "her soldier" that he had to stay alive to come back to her.
And the worst of the worst
Stable Sex: Featured in episode 6, this one topped everyone's list of badly executed sex scenes this season. It even had Diana Gabaldon tweeting about it as fans raged about how awkward and cringy the moment was. In her words, the scene had "bad dialogue, bad direction, bad lighting, awkward set." She had replied to a fan's tweet asking about the "forced and unnatural" sex scene after Jamie rescues Claire from slimy Philip Wylie. There is more than a whiff of possessiveness that Jamie exhibits about "his woman" being pawed by another man.
He doesn't take into account that Claire finds Wylie's attentions utterly loathsome and her intentions in seeking him out had to do with her plan to entrap Stephen Bonnet. He calls her a "woman" who needs to know her place and Claire slaps him. After staring at each other in anger for a few minutes, they have "love-hate" sex standing up in the stables with absolutely no build-up.
It was the first sex scene featuring the couple exclusively in season 5 and fans raged at Jamie's uncharacteristic show of toxic possessiveness and his demeaning words to her. As Gabaldon pointed out, critiquing the scene, in an interview, "Show-Jamie would never say jerka** stuff like that, no matter how drunk—and instead of a coherent and/or passionate fight, the interchange just stops dead with a slap and a long mutual stare, which we are meant to believe is the ignition of sudden sexual desire.” We couldn't have said it better.
Healing handjob: This scene in episode 9 was so very strange. We've always known Claire has healing hands but this one took the cake. When Jamie was near-death after the snake-bite, he asked Claire to hold him because he knew he was close to crossing over to the other side. But when he closed his eyes, about to pass into the after-life, Claire shucked off her clothes, embraced him, and then gave him a handjob. Apparently, this is a good way to bring someone springing back to life because seconds later Jamie took a long breath, brought back from death's door. Later, he tells Claire that he was close to crossing over but her touch brought him back to earth with a bang. With this sex scene, the bad puns just make themselves up. Claire's unconventional ministering made a truly emotional scene slightly ridiculous.
The 'Outlander' Season 5 finale airs on Sunday, May 10, on STARZ, the STARZ app, and STARZ On Demand.