And we had read that not just sexual assaults, but hostages, kidnap victims, prisoners of war, they would often go somewhere else in their mind as a protection against what's happening to them physically."Ĭlaire's disassociated dreams contain lots of nods to key moments in her life, too. " is a sensitive topic, and we did our research and we wanted to do justice to the material and not just play it in a kind of provocative or titillating way," Toni Graphia explained to Variety. Only Brianna and Roger are missing – stuck in holiday traffic, Jamie supposes.Ĭaitriona Balfe doesn't speak in these scenes but she is utterly mesmerising, and watching the blissful life Claire imagines underlines the horrific thing that is happening to her in reality. The camera cuts away from Claire, bound and bruised, and instead takes us to a fantasy that she is having, using it as a survival technique.Īs the 1967 song 'Never My Love' plays, her dream takes her to a 1960s house, and there, around her Thanksgiving dinner table, sit Claire's family in sixties clothes – Jamie, Fergus, Marsali, Young Ian (in army uniform), Jocasta and even Murtagh (sob). Rape has been shown in Outlander in past seasons – before Stephen Bonnet's attack on Brianna in season four, Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies) attempted to rape Claire and Jamie's sister Jenny in the first season, before his brutal rape of Jamie in the Wentworth Prison episode.īut this depiction of Claire's assault is very different – while we see her being beaten, the rape by Brown (and it is hinted at, by others) is not as graphic as previous assault scenes but is just as upsetting. Readers of Gabaldon's novels knew what was coming next – Brown and his men beat Claire, tie her up and brutally rape her – but episode writers Toni Graphia and Matthew Roberts devised a unique and powerful way to depict the attack. Setting fire to Jamie's whiskey still on the hillside to get Jamie, Fergus and the other men away from the house, Brown and his men went in, knocked out a fighting Marsali (Lauren Lyle) – go Marsali! – and kidnapped Claire.
Unfortunately, nasty Lionel Brown (Ned Dennehy) and his men had meanwhile devastated the Ridge.
It seems that, because both Brianna and Roger thought of 'home' as they travelled through the stones, the stones sent them back to where they belong at Fraser's Ridge. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, then, that in the penultimate episode Roger and Brianna decided that it was time to return with their son Jemmy to the 20th century, even though that journey doesn't happen until much later in the novels.īut, as the finale revealed, their departure wasn't quite what it seemed.Īlthough the trio travelled through the stones, they ended up right back where they started, in the 18th century with an understandably confused Ian looking on.
While Jamie wanted to hunt down his daughter's assailant, he was also obliged to form a militia to stomp out the rebel Regulators – who just happened to be led by his own beloved godfather Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix).Īs the season progressed there were traumas aplenty – deaths greatly deserved (Bonnet) and one that was truly heartbreaking (Murtagh), as well as Roger's shocking near-hanging, Jamie's almost fatal snake bite and the return of a haunted – but still adorable – Young Ian (John Bell). However, regular viewers know that the Frasers never get to be happy for very long, so it came as no surprise to learn amidst the festivities that Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers), who had raped Brianna and robbed the Frasers, was still alive and up to no good. Having settled in Fraser's Ridge in North Carolina, season five began joyously enough with the wedding of Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire's daughter Brianna (Sophie Skelton) to historian Roger (Richard Rankin).