Sam Heughan’s Top 10 Best Moments as Jamie Fraser on Outlander

7. Episode 304, “Of Lost Things”: Jamie and Williams part

For those who get choked up over emotional moments involving children, season 3’s “Of Lost Things” was a tearjerker. Following the Battle of Culloden, life threw a lot of curveballs at Jamie Fraser. But there was nothing more unexpected and beautiful than when he unexpectedly becomes a father.

After being blackmailed into a one-night stand by Geneva Dunsany, the daughter of Helwater estate, Jamie learns that he will be a father. At this point in time, he hadn’t met Brianna, so fatherhood was a completely foreign concept.

And it would largely remain one. Jamie’s son William was illegitimate, and in order to spare William the drama that would come with the revelation of his parentage, that part of his heritage was kept secret. While Jamie could never be a true father to Willie, Jamie did watch him grow up to a certain point, until the resemblance between them started to appear uncanny.

There’s something delicate and beautiful about how Sam Heughan plays this period in Jamie’s life. He’s confused, excited, and overwhelmed, and understandably so! Heughan’s acting makes of it all believable, and heartbreaking, when he has to say goodbye to Willie once and for all.

I still look back on this episode in awe of Heughan’s performance, and remember how much I cried watching Jamie say goodbye to his son, who had no idea that he was talking to his father. Sigh, all the feels!