Spoiler warning: If you haven’t watched the last 4 years of Outlander, this article contains spoilers. Why are you even reading it?!
There is no new episode of Outlander, Season 5 this week. I know! This is not the time for a Droughtlander, Outlander! It’s a global pandemic, we need you. Though, let’s face it, last week’s episode was so good, that they deserve a break, so I have decided to do us all a favor and break down all of Jamie & Claire’s best fights and make-up (hey, sex) scenes to get us through this week. You’re welcome. Let’s start at the very beginning.
Season 1, Episode 9 – “The Reckoning” – No, You Didn’t, Jamie!
This episode actually contained their first ever fight as a couple, a make-up scene, a follow-up fight and then a really intense make-up sex scene. So what were they fighting about? In the previous episode, Claire and Jamie were enjoying some honeymoon sex in a field — as one does — and they were rudely interrupted by Red Coat deserters who also happened to be rapists. Claire saved them though, when she knifed the would-be almost rapist in the back with her tiny little ankle knife.
Cut to Jamie telling an in-shock Claire, that he and the guys were going to go confront a man and it would be too dangerous for her, so she’d have to stay back with one of his guys. Claire is not happy. PTSD, James. Probably not the best time to gallop off without her. Long story short, Claire takes a walk, gets kidnapped by the Red Coats and Blackjack Randall almost rapes her. Honestly, Claire is having a very STRESSFUL 24 HOURS, can someone please acknowledge this?! Thankfully, Jamie saves her with an empty gun.
Note for the record: From this point forward, I am #TeamClaire for this episode.
The River Fight
On their ride back to the castle, they stop at a river, and Jamie blames Claire for what happened. He tells her she’s his wife and she must listen to him. She retorts, “Oh you think I’m your property!” Then she slaps him. (We might know where their daughter gets her fondness for slapping from. Hi, Mom! See Season 4 fight below). Jamie grabs her and it looks VERY TENSE. She tells him he only wants a wife to keep his bed warm, and that a wife is just place for him to put his c*ck. And he does not like that and he grabs her. She screams, “Let go of me, you ‘f*cking bastard,’” and he calls her “a foul-mouthed b*tch.”
I know. They’re really mad. How will they recover from this? (When I first watched this scene, I had shock face on the whole time. My mouth was ajar. That’s right, ajar). But then Jamie crumbles. He falls back on his knees and reveals he was scared of losing her. “You’re tearing my guts out, Claire.” She breaks and runs to him and says she’s sorry and asks him to forgive her. Which he does in under 3 seconds. And then he does something no 18th century man did, he apologizes to her for what he said and says he didn’t mean it. Then in a voice over Jamie says, “I had forgiven her before that day for everything she could have done or would ever do. That was falling in love.”
This scene is perfect. Actual perfection. Truly the best scene of the entire series. Balfe and Heughan’s performances are at peak level here and both have said this was their favorite scene to film.
The Spanking Fight
But then they get ready to head back to Castle Leoch, and shit goes bad again. They’re at an inn and Claire thinks everything is fine, but the highlanders are mad she put them in danger and tell Jamie it’s his duty to teach his wife a lesson. So he takes off his belt and walks towards his new wife. And she’s like, “B*tch what?!”
Now remember, it’s 1743 or something and apparently that’s what husbands did back then. They taught their wives lessons with spanking (but not in that safe, sane, consensual kinky way). Jamie grabs Claire and attempts to spank her and she really fights back — in the struggle, she kicks him in the face, throws hard objects at his head, scratches him and calls him a sadist. But he ends up carrying out the punishment. In the middle of it, the highlanders are shown laughing saying they’re not sure who’s punishing who. This is probably one of the most controversial scenes from the book series.
Caitriona Balfe said that for Claire, “There’s big psychic wounds. I think that it was such a betrayal to her; this man that she had fallen in love with so deeply, would then do something to her.”
The next morning, ice cold Claire and Jamie come down to breakfast and the men immediately ask how her butt is. Seriously, they do. Claire ignores and then sexiles Jamie for the next few days. In fact, at one point, she’s getting into bed and Jamie starts to take off his clothes to join her, and she’s like, “(Scoff) What are you doing?” And he’s all wide-eyed and puppy dog like, and says, “I thought…” And she crushes him with, “Think again.”
So how did they make up? With a whole lot of carpet sex. Jamie comes to her and says he realizes that what he’s been taught about treating women will not work for their marriage. He then kneels before her and makes a pledge of his loyalty and respect to her and only her. He holds his knife to his heart and says may it pierce his heart, if ever his hand is raised in rebellion against her again. Swoon.
Claire seems unfazed by this but then breaks, and we see them both realize there’s no going back for them. Jamie then tells her, “You are my home.” And Claire’s a goner. He says, “I want you Claire. I want you so bad I can scarcely breathe.” And then Jamie says the hottest thing anyone could say in this scenario: “Will you have me?” This show crushes consent in the best way. Perhaps when schools are back in session, Jamie Fraser can go around to every sex-ed class and TEACH CONSENT. (And maybe leave out the spanking your wife part, Jamie).
Claire responds, “Yes I’ll have you.” Spoiler alert: She’s always had him. (There was never any question about that, since she fixed his broken dislocated shoulder in episode one, she had him).
And then they have what can only be described as probably the most shocking and best sex scene in television history. Why? Because mid-act, Claire grabs a knife and puts it to Jamie’s throat while still doing her business. The level of multi-tasking skills Claire has in this scene cannot be understated. She says, “Listen to me, James Fraser, if you ever raise a hand to me again, I will cut out your heart and have it for breakfast.” And guys, I think she really means it. Jamie does too, because he immediately says, “You have my word!” (He would have agreed to anything at this point).
A lot of people think this is an S&M scene. It’s not. It’s just merely a wife getting her husband to hear her with a knife in the middle of sex. It’s about power, and Claire taught Jamie about equality in a really, unique way. Honestly, she deserved an award. A sex Oscar.
After their equality sex lesson, they enjoy some post-sex banter.
Jamie: What does “f*cking” mean?
Claire: Um, what?
Jamie: You called me a “f*cking bastard.”
Claire: Oh, it means what we just did.
Class over, kids.
Behind-the-scenes facts: The River fight was actually the scene with which Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan chemistry tested. Somewhere on YouTube that audition lives and wow, they have had chemistry since the minute they met. It’s on tape, people. We have the receipts.
During the spanking scene, Caitriona Balfe didn’t tell Sam Heughan she’d be throwing so many objects at his head. Maybe he got hit and had a slight bruise. And that kick to his face? One of those may have made contact during one of the takes.
The sex was also the first love scene they ever filmed. And they both got awful carpet burns. So after that, they never did it on a carpet again.
Season 1, Episode 12 – “Lallybroch” – When Your Wife Flips You Off the Bed
Jamie returns to his home, Lallybroch with Claire, who has just made the decision to stay with him in the past and not return to the future. It’s a big turning point for them. Jamie’s sister, Jenny Fraser, is elated to see her brother, until he accuses her of being an unwed whore who clearly had Blackjack’s Randall’s bastard child and named it after Jamie. Claire tries to get him to calm down, and Jenny says, “Tell that trollop to stay out of this.” Wow. His sister is NO JOKE. Thankfully, Jenny’s husband Ian (Steve Cree), enters and diffuses the situation. He asks who Claire is, and she responds, “I’m the trollop. But you can call me Claire Fraser.” Ian seems pretty happy about his new funny, sister-in-law.
Jamie and Claire’s first disagreement happens when Jenny tells Jamie he owes her an apology, and he gives a classic guy response, “Well, didn’t I?” Claire responds, “No you didn’t, you owe her an apology.” And Jenny says, “This is between my brother and me.” Jamie tells Claire he needs to speak to her alone. Uh oh.
He tells her that she can’t embarrass him in front of his family and the servants, and says she has a sharp tongue, but there’s a time and place for it. To which Claire responds with her iconic line, “I’m not the meek and obedient type.” Nobody ever would think that, gurl. Nobody. Jamie relents and just says, “Um, can you at least just yell at me in private? And when we’re alone, you can throw cutlery at me.” Claire tells him to remember she has a good throwing arm. (See “Reckoning” fight, we know).
The next fight happens after Jenny saves Jamie from the Red Coats finding him. He has to hide naked in a river under water. Jenny screams at Jamie, who’s still naked and tells her to turn around before his little Jamie snaps off. (It’s a cold river!). Jenny sees his back scars for the first time and runs away. Jamie angrily asks why Jenny was there and Claire says, “She saved your ass.” Later than night, Jamie is having a wee little nap and Claire’s had enough, so she flips him off the bed. This wasn’t really a fight (if it was, Claire WON). Jamie never had a chance. When he tried to speak up, she silenced him. She basically told him to stop acting like a power hungry douche with his sister and he listened. The end.
How do they make up? This is the first time they say, “I love you,” to each other and it ends with them heading to bed and some fade to black hibbity dibbity. This actually also might be the scene where they conceived their first child. Because not long after, Jamie is kidnapped.
Season 2, Episode 4 – “La Dame Blanche” – It Was Only a Bite
After Jamie’s sexual assault at the end of season one, Claire and Jamie’s intimacy was obviously impacted. Claire is pregnant and Jamie can’t look at her or even sleep without having nightmares of Blackjack Randall. Jamie comes home one night looking pretty happy. He was at a brothel hanging with the would-be-king doing undercover work to change history. (That actually sounds insane but makes sense in Outlander-speak). He jumps into bed with Claire, sans pants and is ready to go. Claire is into this too, until she sees bite marks on his thighs. Uh oh. Big fight incoming. She asks where he got them from, and then Jamie’s response is the worst response in the history of responses. “I doubt a gently reared woman like you would know the term ‘soixant-neuf.’” To which Claire irately responds, “I know what 69 is!” JAMIE. WE ALL KNOW.
Jamie tries to explain the bites and says Claire is the reason he felt alive for the first time since the attack. Claire yells because it was with another woman. He says, “No nothing happened!” I’m no mathematician but thigh bites do not equal “nothing happened.” When Claire tells him she feels totally alone in her pregnancy, Jamie says she has no idea what he’s been going through. And then she says something that shows why this couple is so strong and should teach a master class in communication: “Well then, tell me god dammit.”
So he tells her that the brutal attack made him feel like he was, “naked and alone, trying to hide under a blade of grass.” Claire is in tears and Jamie tells her he will sleep somewhere else. They’re so upset and it’s really sad.
But, thankfully, Claire decides to take matters into her own hands, naked. She goes to the tiny room Jamie’s sleeping in, doesn’t say anything and then gets on top of Jamie and they connect for the first time since the attack. The best part of this make up scene is that it shows a pregnant woman in a love scene. I know that shouldn’t sound so unique, but it is. It is! Most shows don’t show that pregnant women have sex. But they do!
Season 2, Episode 5 – “Untimely Resurrection” – Claire Wants Jamie to Save Frank
Claire realizes that Blackjack Randall can’t be killed for another year, otherwise her future husband Frank won’t be born. So she begs Jamie not to kill Randall for another year. This discussion gets intense and Jamie gives Claire a knife and says if she doesn’t let him kill Randall, she might as well kill him. She doesn’t react to this knife drama, and says, “It’s just one year, and then I’ll help you kill him.”
The most powerful part of this fight is when Jamie agrees not to kill Randall for one year, Claire goes to touch his hands and he physically recoils and tells her not to touch him. Claire is gutted and quite frankly (see what I did there), so are we.
The only reason Claire might be right in this particular case is because, let’s not forget, if Claire hadn’t married Frank, they would have never been in Scotland on their honeymoon and Claire would have never traveled back in time. Which means she wouldn’t have met Jamie and she could very possibly just go poof in the middle of a scene. At least, I think it means that. I don’t really get the intricacies of time travel! But either way, without Frank, there would be no Jamie and Claire!
Thankfully, by the beginning of the next episode, Jamie has forgiven Claire and is giving her a pregnant foot rub. Helpful, JAMMF. He explains that he doesn’t really care about saving Frank, causing Claire to be like, “WTF, why did you promise me?” And then he explains that if they can’t change history and she has to go back through the stones, he wants her to be able to go back to Frank. (Worst. Plan. Ever. Jamie. And I hate that that’s exactly what happened). From Claire’s expression, she’s not into the plan either.
Season 2, Episode 7 – “Faith” – Claire and Jamie Lose Their Baby
In episode 6, “Best Laid Schemes,” Jamie goes back on his word to Claire and fights Randall, seemingly killing him, causing Claire to miscarry. Jamie is thrown into prison and Claire must grieve the loss of their child alone. This episode flashes back to her miscarriage, which happened pretty late in her pregnancy. In fact, Claire holds her deceased daughter in one particularly heart-wrenching scene.
Once Claire learns the horrible reason why Jamie had to go back on his word, she spends the rest of the episode working to free Jamie from prison. Turns out Blackjack Randall sexually assaulted Jamie and Claire’s adopted son, Fergus, just as he did to Jamie. When Jamie returns home, with a prison beard, Claire can barely look at him.
He asks if Claire hates him. And as they flash back to her holding their deceased daughter, Claire says, “I did hate you.” She then says she blames herself for putting Frank before their family and that she’s the reason they lost their daughter. She asks Jamie how they can ever be the same.
Jamie kneels before Claire and says, “What has happened here is too much for any one of us to bear alone. The only way we can live with it, is to carry it together. We lost our child, by the grace of God we may be given another.” Claire responds, “Then bring me home. To Scotland.” They visit their daughter’s grave together before leaving France.
This isn’t a typical Jamie and Claire fight, and hence there isn’t an immediate make-up, since they are grieving their child. But in Season 2, episode 8, “Fox’s Lair,” they’ve returned home to Lallybroch, and they seem to be back in the rhythm of things. By episode 12, Claire is pregnant again. So they made up. Probably many, many times. Then, of course, they are separated for 20 goddamn years.
Season 3, Episode 7 – “Crème de Menthe” – Jamie Gets Jealous About Frank
After finally reuniting after 20 long years, Claire gets upset with Jamie that he wasn’t honest with Ian about where his son was. She tells Jamie he is not Young Ian’s father and doesn’t know what it’s like to be a worried parent. And Jamie says, “Yeah, but I am Brianna’s father, and I couldn’t raise her.” Eek. He’s mad Claire, and he’s been mad for 20 years. Not at Claire, but then he makes it personal. “I had no say how you and Frank raised her.” To which Claire, says, “I’ll have you know Frank was a very good father.” (She probably could have skipped that fact!) Then Jamie says, “Was he a really good husband too?” And there it is: JAMMF jealousy. Claire is speechless, and asks what does he mean? And Jamie says, “Did you fall in love with Frank again?” She quickly answers, “No. I was in love with Frank, but before I met you.” Pretty sure this fight would have ended up with some make-up sex, but they’re interrupted with the news that Jamie’s stupid print shop burnt down. We also learn something that Claire doesn’t know yet: Jamie has another wife.
Season 3, Episode 8 – “First Wife” – Jamie Forgot to Tell Claire One Little Thing
Jamie and Claire arrive back at Lallybroch for the first time in 20 years. Jenny gives Claire the coldest shoulder ever. (In her defense, Jenny thought Claire was dead and Jamie and Claire never told her Claire’s a time traveler).
Later that night, in their room, Jamie tries to tell Claire something but he doesn’t do it fast enough and, all of a sudden, two young girls pop open the door and call him, “Daddy!” Say, what?! Then evil Laoghaire whips in and calls Claire “a Sassenach whore.” (The way whore sounds with a Scottish accent is actually hilarious, it almost makes me want to change my name to that). Laoghaire then reveals that she is Jamie’s WIFE! No Jamie, no. Claire’s in shock. Did he actually marry the girl who tried to kill Claire? What in the James Alexander Malcolm McKenzie Fraser was he thinking?!
As Claire angrily packs, she and Jamie have a well-deserved HUGE FIGHT. It’s worth a re-watch. Jamie says that those aren’t his kids and he only married Laoghaire because of the kids — he didn’t live with her and he did not love her. Claire spits, “Oh, so you can marry a woman and just discard her?!” Jamie responds, “I’m damned one way or another, if I felt anything for her, I’m a faithless letch and, if I didn’t, I’m a heartless beast.”
Then Jamie spits “you left me, and let Frank raise our child.” Claire flips and says, “Left you?! You made me go back.” And then Jamie says the saddest thing, that for 20 years he imagined Frank holding their child and taking her body. And Claire says, “Well I don’t have to imagine you and Laoghaire.”
What happens when Jealous Jamie meets Jealous Claire? Well…
Jamie says “I would do anything to be with you, even lie.” Then he grabs her and kisses her. And she slaps him. So he kisses her again, pins her to the floor and says he loves her and only her. This seems to work, because all of a sudden they are angrily making out and headed to sexville. But then Jamie’s sister Jenny cools them down, literally. She tosses cold water on them and yells, “Stop it! You guys are fighting and rutting like crazy wild animals, and are VERY LOUD.” That pretty much ruins the mood (#ThanksJenny) and Claire storms out. Jamie, who has his pants half on, seems pretty annoyed with his sister. (Same, Jamie, SAME).
The next morning Claire’s heading out with her stuff, and Jamie stops her and says he’s only loved one woman in his life. But then Laoghaire whips out a gun and points it at Claire. Ugh, Laoghaire! Can you just GO AWAY FOREVER, PLEASE. *Narrator: “But she would not go away forever, in fact she’d come back again in Season 4.” Jamie stands in front of Claire and tells her to put the gun down, but that little raging idiot accidentally shoots Jamie in the chest and arm. Claire quickly hockey checks Laoghaire, who runs away.
Claire then performs surgery on Jamie to remove all the bullets. When Jamie wakes up, she’s still super mad at him. And let’s just say she enjoys giving him a butt shot of penicillin more than she should. In fact, she smiles whilst administering the shot.
They end up making up in episode 9, “The Doldrums,” with some quickie boat sex and a super cute post-sex chat, in which Jamie tells Claire he likes her gray hair. And she tells him he would get laid a lot in the future if he said that in the 1960s.
Behind-the-scenes fact: During their bedroom fight scene, Sam accidentally threw Caitriona across the room and she landed on her bum and couldn’t walk for three days without pain.
Season 4, Episode 10 – “The Deep Heart’s Core” – Family Fight
After Bree told Claire she was sexually assaulted, Claire finds her wedding ring in Brianna’s stuff. You know the wedding ring that Stephen Bonnet pulled off of Claire’s throat? (Hi, traumatic). Claire puts two and two together and Bree confirms it was Bonnet, but tells Claire that she can’t tell Jamie because he will try and kill Bonnet. (I don’t see the problem here, Bree?) But Claire reluctantly agrees to keep it from Jamie.
Meanwhile, thanks to Lizzy’s terrible detective work, Jamie and Ian thought Roger was the one who assaulted Bree. Jamie sees him and punches him in the face about 37 times, and then tells Ian to get rid of him. So Ian sells him to the Mohawk, who then make him walk about 500 miles tied to a horse. (And what’s worse is we were forced to watch 499 of those miles, which was why Season 4 was the weakest).
Cut to the Frasers having a nice family moment in the kitchen, Brianna comes whipping into the cabin super angry, turning Fraser’s Ridge Cabin in to Fraser’s Rage Cabin, demanding to know where Roger is. She looks at Jamie and says, “What did you do to him?” Claire looks at Jamie’s bruised hand. Uh oh, Jamie.
What’s worse than Claire being mad? Mini Claire being mad, and Jamie had both his wife and daughter super pissed off at him. Honestly, Lizzy was to blame for ALL OF THIS. Brianna soon starts dishing out slaps for everyone (except her mom), first her dad, Jamie (he kind of maybe deserved it). Next up Cousin Ian (didn’t really deserve it), Like mother, like daughter people. That throwing arm clearly got passed down. Even Claire was like, “Brianna! Stop it, gurl.” Luckily, Murtagh quickly left that Slap Cabin before he got hit.
I feel bad for Jamie in this scene. He’d literally just bonded with his daughter for the first time ever. They went bee hunting and then they commiserated about the fact that they are both rape victims. Jamie explains he thought Roger went back to the future. And he says, “So Roger didn’t bed you?” And Bree’s like, “No, he did, but I wanted it.” And this is where new Dad Jamie goes wrong. He says, “You bedded him from lust!” And then accuses Brianna of lying about being violated, so Brianna slaps him (Hard) mid-sentence. Claire runs over to Brianna, and Jamie has never looked sadder. He tries to apologize, but Bree tells him to go to hell.
Before Young Ian is Bree-slapped, he asks “then, who attacked you?” And Claire pulls out her wedding ring and puts it on the table for Jamie to see. And everyone realizes it was Bonnet. This is a big moment for Jamie and Claire, when he realizes Claire knew and didn’t tell him.
Later, Brianna tells Claire she has to go with Jamie to get Roger back. Claire doesn’t want to leave a pregnant Bree alone. They decide Brianna will go to Aunt Jocasta’s where she will be safe. Jamie says, “You knew it was Bonnet and you didn’t tell me.” And Claire replies, “You told me you hit a tree.” And then leaves without another word. Mom and Dad are FIGHTING guys and it’s really BAD because they’re not even talking about it. Silent fights are the WORST fights. That means you’re REALLY, REALLY MAD. And why are they fighting? Because their child is deeply upset. And that’s really the one thing that could splinter Jamie and Claire emotionally — their daughter being upset.
Season 4, Episode 11 – “If Not for Hope” – Mom & Dad Fraser Fight
Jamie and Claire’s cold spell lasts a whole episode. Young Ian tries to get them to talk to each other. In the book, Young Ian implies he knows they haven’t been sleeping together — which means everyone knows that Jamie and Claire have a lot of sex. Even their nephew! LOL. But Young Ian knew all was not right with the world if they weren’t doing it, and he was just trying to help them and the world, guys.
Claire and Jamie do end up making up in a tent, when Claire reveals she’s not mad at Jamie but at the world for hurting Brianna. Jamie reveals that he thinks Brianna and Claire loved Frank more, and Claire calls him a fool and explains that Brianna is exactly like Jamie — and has his temper and didn’t mean what she said to him. They both apologize to each other and then really make it up to each other with some tent sex.
Season 5, Episode 6 – “Better to Marry Than Burn” – Stables Fight
This was a fun reminder that Jamie and Claire can still fight, but not enough screen time was dedicated to it. It started in the middle of the wedding, continued in the stables and then within 20 seconds, Jamie and Claire were having very angry sex next to a poor innocent horse named Lucas! (What did LUCAS ever do to you Jamie and Claire?!) Their post-coital make-up scene was sweet though — and when Claire reveals she got a sex bruise, Jamie kisses it and makes it better.
The fight begins in the middle of Aunt Jocasta’s wedding, when Jamie wants to gamble with Claire’s wedding ring from Frank. She gets mad he wants to risk losing something so important to her, so she gives him both wedding rings! Claire storms off. Jamie gets drunk and then finds Claire in the stables. He says something about her thinking she can do whatever she wants and this pisses her off, so she slaps him. (Sidebar: Claire has slapped Jamie three times in the show. Ok, maybe more, since she kicked his ass in the spanking scene just as much as he did hers). I think they just both wanted to push each other’s buttons in this scene. Because that slap just turns drunk Jamie on, and soon there’s all this stable sexing.
And there it is, five years worth of Jamie and Claire fights, which we love because when they fight, they make up. Okay, Outlander, no more taking any more weeks off.
Though, I am willing to fill in again with a future article: “Every time Sam Heughan has accidentally wounded Caitriona Balfe.” (Though, Caitriona Balfe should probably write this).
NEXT NEW EPISODE: Spoilers – “The Ballad of Roger Mac” – Season 5, Episode 7 recap and next week’s promo. Another new promo released showed that Bonnet is back. And he might be holding Claire at knife-point on a beach. Also, Brianna has a gun and so does Jamie. And is it next Sunday, yet?! What day is it? Seriously, does anyone know?
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