Caitriona Balfe’s Top 10 Best Moments as Claire Fraser on Outlander

4. Episode 207, “Faith”: Claire and Jamie lose their first baby, Faith 

This episode should have been one of several that put Caitriona Balfe on the map, and I’m not sure if it was submitted for Emmy considering or not, but it certainly should have been.

“Faith” is a traumatic episode for the Fraser clan as Claire gives birth to a stillborn baby. It impacts Claire in the most devastating of ways. I don’t think I can adequately describe Balfe’s performance with mere words here, but it was out of this world. From the moment she’s taken to the hospital to the moment she learns why Jamie dueled with Black Jack Randall, there’s an aura about her that makes it impossible to look away.

I know I sound like a fangirl, but with this kind of performance, how can I know I not be? In the space of one episode, Claire loses her baby, has to contend with the fact that Jamie is in jail for dueling, and learns that her husband didn’t betray her but was rather was standing up for Fergus’ honor after Fergus was raped by Randall. As she often does, Balfe must portray a lot of different emotions on screen, and I don’t think many could have pulled it off like she does.

Claire goes through a lot of pain in this episode. To play it, Balfe sort of gets a vacant look in her eyes, one that strikes right at the center of the heart and pulls you into each and every scene.