The latest episode of Outlander, "A Hundredweight of Stone," was intense. Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) was trying to wrap her head around the idea that her husband Jamie (Sam Heughan) had died at sea. She was staying with her friend Lord John Grey (David Berry), who also loved Jamie. They were both distraught, and in their pain and grief, something unexpected happened: they had sex.
The cast and crew talked to Glamour about that surprising scene. “Everyone had big thoughts and feelings about that scene,” said executive producer Maril Davis. “But to me, it was a no-brainer. It had to be shown. I think it just shows the lengths or the depths of grief that's happening, that these two people who would never normally be together are thrown together in their joint grief and their need to connect to Jamie.”
"It felt like we had to show some version of them together. But once again, to me, it just illustrates how deep this grief goes and how much you're willing to do to hold on to some part of Jamie."
So the sex was about Jamie, not anything romantic between Claire and Lord John; after all, Lord John is gay, and had mostly unrequited feelings for Jamie from way back.
Things are even more complicated because, after word of Jamie's death reached them, Lord John and Claire got married. Once again, it wasn't about romance, but rather a marriage of convenience to protect Claire from the Redcoats, who are investigating her for seditious activities. And things got yet MORE complicated when it was revealed that Jamie actually hadn't died at sea; he never got on the ship that sunk, and instead turned up in Philadelphia alive and whole. “What's going to happen when Jamie discovers that she's married to his best friend?” showrunner Matthew B. Roberts asked. “That's the anticipation. That's the tension.”
Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan also weighed in, with Heughan calling the scene "remarkable." Balfe revealed that there was a different version in the original scripts: "I think there was [one version] where Jamie is imagining it," she said. "We sort of talked to the writers and found a way of getting it to a point where it was the best version of [what that scene needed to accomplish], where we feel the pain and we feel that these are two people who need to release their emotions. It is not a sexual thing necessarily, but it is a need to sort of mourn and express their pain."
"Hats off to David [Berry], because I probably struggled with figuring out how we were going to do this a lot more than he did. David was an amazing scene partner. We also worked with [intimacy coordinator] Vanessa Coffey, who has been amazing. Sam and I have obviously been doing these sort of scenes for years, and we have such a shorthand, I feel like we know exactly where Claire and Jamie are coming from most of the time. But this is so out of her character, so it's such a hard one to sort of grasp. But it's also amazing, right? That seven seasons in that you're getting thrown something that's as risky and challenging as that. It wasn't an easy week at work, but it's great you get asked to push yourself and force yourself into these crazy situations."
William goes on "a rampage" after learning the truth
There's already enough drama in this house to fill out several seasons of a soap opera. And yet it just keeps coming! Also in the picture is William Ransom (Charles Vandervaart), Lord John Grey's son...but he's not Lord John's biological son; William is really Jamie's son from a prior relationship, but Lord John Grey adopted him as his own. But William doesn't know that...until he overhears Jamie and Lord John discussing him and learns the truth.
We saw the beginning of William's reaction, but Sam Heughan teased a lot more fireworks to come: "I guess William does kind of go on the rampage really and loses control of it," he said. "[And as a result of everything that will happen], Jamie doesn't think, and he just reacts. It's from some deep-rooted place of hurt and pride and jealousy. And then we have a real Outlander moment where Jamie and Claire come together and go at it. They ultimately find some sort of resolve, but what's so amazing about these two characters is that they've had these moments before where they are really challenging each other, but they're healing each other in some ways, too. That's what's so beautiful about their relationship—that they do work things out together. This is probably the biggest challenge they've faced for a long time. And also, Jamie's relationship with John Grey is hugely put in jeopardy. And, of course William, as well."
Caitriona Balfe also teased that the worst is yet to come regarding William: "For William especially, he's been so sheltered up until this point, and this completely rips the rug from under him," she said. "There's a sequence of events that has huge ripple effects for the rest of the season, and for Jamie and Claire and their idea of their own history."
Outlander has always been a very melodramatic show, but it may be setting a new standard for itself. The next episode, "Carnal Knowledge," will air next Friday, December 13 on Starz. I get the idea that a lot of people will be tuning into that one.
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