Outlander: Caitriona Balfe breaks down Claire’s traumatic ordeal, and her recovery

Outlander season 5 has concluded, and our hearts feel heavy, conflicted, and torn. And that’s not just because we’re now facing another long Droughtlander, but also because of the traumatic experience Claire Fraser endured in the finale.

If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault, please be aware of graphic sexual assault and violence in the season 5 finale.

The episode before the finale, “Journeycake,” set up a harrowing ordeal for our dear Claire, who was abducted by an evil man named Lionel Brown and his men. The finale wastes zero time in catching us up with Claire and her captors, and again I must warn you, it’s very disturbing.

The men have beaten her, tortured her, and raped her, with zero qualms about their actions. It’s awful. Caitriona Balfe portrays Claire’s external and internal pain with skill and grace. In my opinion, it’s her best performance yet.

Speaking with Elle, Balfe breaks down the emotional finale, and what it means for Claire going into season 6. Interestingly, the finale begins with what appears to be a dream Claire is having of herself and her family (sans Roger, Brianna and Jemmy) enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner in the 1960s, but it’s soon revealed to be her disassociating herself from her current, unbearable reality.

I never knew that seeing Fergus and Murtagh sporting groovy hairstyles and bellbottoms was everything I ever wanted, but I digress.

Outlander Season 5 — Courtesy of Aimee Spinks, STARZ

As a producer this season, Balfe had a lot of involvement in every episode. And given how major this episode was for Claire, she threw herself into it:

"Matt [Roberts, showrunner] came up with the idea that Claire would go into this dissociative state or go away somewhere—he didn’t want to stay with the rape. He thought it was a really horrific thing for an audience to sit through, which I agreed with, and he had this idea that Claire would go to the ’60s in her head. When he pitched me that idea in the beginning, I was really intrigued about it—exploring this psychological device that people need to protect themselves. Then it was a lot of work finding out what that would look like and getting the script to a place everyone felt comfortable with."

Fans of Diana Gabaldon’s books know that Claire’s abduction and rape storyline is something that actually happens in the sixth novel, A Breath of Snow and Ashes. But on the show, things have been moved around and altered a little bit for the sake of the story. “In book five, there isn’t a whole [lot] of Claire in comparison to the other books,” Balfe explained. “Her story is on the back burner a bit. I think this is part of the reason Matt and Maril [Davis, executive producer] decided to pull this storyline from book six.”

"It’s a double-edged sword because of course, we want great material and something that really challenges you, but it’s really tough stuff and not something you relish doing or going through, especially when you’re so protective of your character. You’re like, “Do we really have to do this?” But it is part of Claire’s journey and we have an opportunity to do it with a lot of respect and give Claire as much agency as we could. What I’m interested in is how we continue on from this and explore her recovery, because that’s incredibly important."

I am looking forward to seeing how Claire recovers from this trauma in Outlander season 6. She’s a strong, resilient woman and has never succumbed to anything despite the circumstances. But what has happened to her is horrendous, and I’m certain her path to recovery will be very different than the ones Jamie and Brianna took after their trauma. “Matt and I talked about how Claire’s held up as this strong woman and nothing really affects her—[that] she can plow through any situation and she’s completely indestructible,” said Balfe. “I thought it was very important to show that strength is not just about things not affecting you. She’s deeply wounded by all of this. [Seeing this onscreen] can allow us all to have more compassion for people who go through this.”

So what does all this mean for Claire in season 6? Well, if we know the character, she’s going to do her utmost best to move forward and look ahead. She may not even give herself the attention and care she needs because Claire is always looking out for everyone else. And the Revolutionary War is on the horizon, so she’ll have no shortage of potential distractions.

"I enjoyed reading book six. It’s probably much easier to adapt than five was. Even though this has been a really strong season, the book itself was a tougher adaptation. For Claire, this is going to be an ongoing journey of recovery. She will probably try to plow on and get back to normality, but I don’t think she’s fully aware of just how difficult, subconsciously, and psychologically, that’s going to be for her. Obviously, we have the war coming. There’s a lot happening on the horizon. I read two scripts already, and once we get back to filming, I think it’s going to be a strong season again."

There’s also the matter of Outlander featuring so many rape storylines in the first place. Between Jaime, Brianna and Claire, some have accused the show of over-relying on rape as a means of generating drama. “It is a really hard line that we have to tread,” Balfe told Harper’s Bazaar. “Obviously, we try to stick as faithfully to the books as possible, and [rape] is something that creeps up quite often in Diana’s novels. When you have eight or nine books out in the span of 20 years, it probably doesn’t feel like there’s as much, but when you’re compressing all of that down for TV, it becomes quite difficult. We can only try to do it as respectfully and as, I suppose, empoweringly as we can.”

Outlander Season 5 — Courtesy of Aimee Spinks, STARZ

Part of that involved constructing the dissociative sequence in a way where it provided a reprieve from the horrors of what Claire was experiencing, but not so much of one that her experience wasn’t treated seriously. The Outlander also had to avoid getting too caught up in the fun of seeing what all these characters would look like in the 1960s, and keep the scene uneasy. For example, Claire had more dialog in the original version of the dream sequence, but that was deemed to be out of step with the reality of what was happened to her.

“I felt it was really important that the only time we hear her speak is to either say ‘no,’ because this is what she would be saying in real time, or calling out for Jamie,” Balfe said. “Those are the only two times you hear Claire say anything during this whole disassociate dream state. She never participates in the conversation…[W]e always know that the reason we’re there is that something really terrible is happening to Claire, and she’s constructed this as a safe place to go in her mind.”

Balfe also points out that, while some accuse the show of featuring too much rape, domestic abuse is still very common in our society, especially as so many people undergo increased stress due to lockdown measures around the world. “The cases of domestic violence and sexual violence against women have skyrocketed,” she said. “It’s easy to put these things on TV and talk about it in terms of plot devices and so on, but we still aren’t really having the proper conversations about why this is still so prevalent.”

"I don’t know if you can call it fortunate, but the thing that will be helpful for her is that Jamie understands and has had his own experience of this. They will be able to share it in some way. We do have an opportunity to be able to look at this in a very unique way, so hopefully, we can do something great with that."

I for one cannot wait to see the next season of Outlander episodes and am dreading this Droughtlander, even though we’re only one day in. But we’ll get through this together.

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