It all started with a vase. \u201cI\u2019d never lived anywhere long enough to justify having such a simple thing,\u201d said the second World War nurse Claire Randall in the narration, as she eyed one through a shop window on her honeymoon in Inverness. \u201cAt that moment, I wanted nothing so much in all the world as to have a vase of my very own.\u201d Did she buy it and live happily ever after with lovely professor husband, Frank? Did she heck. Instead, Claire found a magic stone circle, fell through time to the 18th century, fell in love with flaming hot Scot Jamie Fraser and embarked on TV\u2019s wildest journey.<\/p>\n
Twelve years have passed since the adaptation of Diana Gabaldon\u2019s Outlander books gave us the time-travel bonkbuster we didn\u2019t know we needed. You can\u2019t help but breathe a sigh of relief for its stars, Caitr\u00edona Balfe<\/a> and Sam Heughan, whose chemistry has sizzled admirably across eight long seasons (it took 17 months to film the first one after Covid). As it limps towards its finale this week, the end is long overdue \u2013 but it is a bittersweet farewell to a wonderfully ludicrous show.<\/p>\n In its prime, Outlander was a perfect period drama: beautiful, brave protagonists; endless sweeping shots of the Highlands; intricate attention to historical detail; cunnilingus in the ruins of a castle. But that magical twist in its first episode also opened the story up to go absolutely bananas. And \u2013 in the words of Claire \u2013 \u201cJesus H Roosevelt Christ\u201d, did it.<\/p>\n I barked with disbelief when the series\u2019 first villain, British army officer Black Jack Randall, not only turned out to be an ancestor of Claire\u2019s first husband, Frank, but was even played by the same actor, Tobias Menzies. (He was also a sadist, obsessed with Claire\u2019s new husband, Jamie, who he eventually tortured and raped \u2013 but more on that later.) Luckily, Claire is a woman who can navigate such mind-boggling events. She is also a walking, talking encyclopedia \u2013 which is extremely fortunate for someone constantly trying to survive history\u2019s sticky spots.<\/p>\n She and Jamie do everything a couple dream of doing together: escape a witch trial; attempt to stop the Battle of Culloden; move to Paris to do business with the king; spend 20 years apart; reunite, survive a shipwreck and settle in Carolina; prepare for the American Revolution. Despite all this, the pair still look like supermodels well into their 60s. But it\u2019s the small moments, too: Claire masturbating Jamie back to life; Claire demonstrating the wonder of waxing to Jamie (\u201cYour honey pot?\u201d he asks, confused. \u201cIt\u2019s bare.\u201d); Claire casually inventing penicillin 200 years before Alexander Fleming. The only thing this defiant duo cannot do together is time-travel: only Claire can go back and forth through the stones, which led to that lengthy separation.<\/p>\n Beyond being delightfully preposterous, there is a lot to respect Outlander for, from the Emmy-winning costumes to digging deep into the politics of the times it takes us to. Jamie and Claire\u2019s irresistible connection, though, is what makes the show. Yes, there is a lot of sex \u2013 the wedding night episode alone, in which Claire teaches virgin Jamie how to make love, left fans light-headed (\u201cI said I was a virgin, not a monk.\u201d). But how nice it is to simply see two horny people both head over heels and completely equal in a relationship: \u201cAye Sassenach, I am your master, and you are mine,\u201d Jamie says. (Sassenach, Gaelic for English outlander, is his nickname for Claire.)<\/p>\n That said, a lot of criticism has, quite rightly, been levelled at Outlander for its depictions of rape. From the moment she drops into the 18th century, rape is a constant threat to Claire \u2013 then, in season five, she is raped by a group of men. And it\u2019s not just Claire: a whole episode focuses on Black Jack abusing Jamie, then later in the series young Fergus is raped, as is Claire\u2019s daughter Brianna. Balfe has said that the show \u201cmaybe [hasn\u2019t] always gotten it right\u201d but she stands by the decisions to include such stories: \u201cI don\u2019t think you can pretend these things don\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Such critique hasn\u2019t stopped Outlander from becoming a global phenomenon \u2013 its first series has been distributed to 87 territories and it is huge with US audiences. The prequel series, Blood of My Blood, launched last year \u2013 with a whopping 10-minute sex scene \u2013 and season two is now in production. VisitScotland says the \u201cOutlander effect\u201d has ramped up tourism over the past decade. Filming locations report that visitors have doubled \u2013 and one even claims a 60-fold increase. Outlander\u2019s legacy is undeniable.<\/p>\n What, then, of this last episode? Admittedly, I tapped out of Outlander in season five, after an episode proved that it had completely lost the plot (they find a shack in the woods and it plays out like a Netflix<\/a> horror series). But this is a show I have such a soft spot for that I used it as a litmus test for potential boyfriends. Play me a montage of Jamie and Claire\u2019s best moments and I will sob for hours. I own an Outlander mug that I got from a trip to Linlithgow Palace. I have interviewed the stars multiple times and really had to keep it together when, after asking what his ideal first date in Scotland would be, Heughan suggested an alfresco fish supper in Skye. (That was the moment I pivoted from vegetarian to pescatarian.)<\/p>\n