'Outlander' Season 5 Episode 6: Fans get the Claire-Jamie sex scene they have wanted since the season's start
Fans were a bit grumpy in Season 4 about how the extensive plot points didn't allow any time for the quieter, intimate moments between Claire (Caitriona Balfe ) and Jamie (Sam Hueghan) — a regular feature in the earlier seasons, Season 1 in particular.
Over the now fifth year of its production, the relationship between Claire and Jamie has matured making their interactions harmonious with 'old-couple' vibes. But with that harmony, we have also lost the sizzle the couple had right at the start.
We had a taste of the old friction back in this week's episode with the couple fighting furiously over Jamie deciding to gamble with Claire's gold wedding ring from Frank Randall.
Jamie says something absolutely chauvinistic about how "Sassenach" aka Claire should learn her place as "a woman". Claire slaps him really hard for that. Then, they both huff and puff, staring intensely at each other, before having some standing-up, against-the-stable-wall sex.
However, both actors are no longer in their early 30s and the pair are now much better acquainted and good friends — which oddly makes the prospect of energetically making fake love even weirder. It was partially the reason why Season 4 had fewer sex scenes.
Exec producer Maril Davis addressed this saying: "This is the fifth season, and we're trying to find those intimate moments without always having to show everything and putting actors in that position. But I get it! I want everyone to be satisfied."
True to her words, we had some of that same friction and energy (that had attracted us to Claire and Jamie's love story) in this episode. But, weirdly Jamie asking Claire if she wanted "a bairn" a few episodes back was age-appropriate sexy in a way that the steamy sex in this episode, (which comes across as slightly forced), is not.
However, age is a relative thing since Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy) and Murtagh's (Duncan Lacroix) final goodbye had a few heated kisses and the actors pulled off the push-and-pull romance of the situation perfectly. They could teach a thing or two to the younger Fraser couple.
The events in the episode are set a day before Jocasta's wedding to Ducan Innes (Alistair Findlay) whose family crest's moto is "To Shine not Burn". Innes, similarly, promises a peaceful retreat into the sunset years while Murtagh promises fire, passion and ultimately painful upheavals. Jocasta simply doesn't have the emotional bandwidth to deal with more pain and tells Murtagh to leave.
In a way, she is right about the heartbreak she would know if she waited for Murtagh because this is also the episode that sees Governor Tryon (Tim Downie) declare war on the Regulators. After granting them pardon in the last episode (but with no takers), Governor Tryon has made the Regulators drop their guard against an imminent attack by the "Red Coats".
As Jamie puts it, they are disorganized and not ready for a prolonged battle. Tryon predicts that the war will soon be over and tells Jamie to gather his militia and join him at Hillsborough.
It seems the war will take priority over Claire and Jamie's revenge scheme for Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speelers). A pity since Bonnet heard at the end of this episode that his (and Brianna's) son is the heir to Riverrun, Jocasta's estate. Jocasta wills it to baby Jemmy before her wedding. Bonnet looks evil and extremely kicked about the prospect of stealing something more from the Fraser clan.
Since Jamie has promised Claire that he will never allow Bonnet to take another thing from them, there will be an interesting clash between the Irish pirate and the Scottish laird, when Bonnet comes around sniffing for a share in the inheritance.
'Outlander' airs on Sundays at 8/7c on Starz. The episode will also be aired on the STARZ app, and STARZ On Demand.