Outlander Season 1, Episode 3: 5 thoughts while rewatching The Way Out

2. Claire and Jamie should have caused rumors

There are various moments that Claire and Jamie head off for private time alone a lot. We get to see what they’re really up to — Claire wants to learn more about the Black Kirk, Jamie wants to get Claire back to her surgery when she’s drunk. They are innocent reasons, but they wouldn’t seem like that from the outside.

Surprisingly, there are absolutely no rumors about the two of them. There should be in this time period. Okay, with Jamie mentioning the dressing irritating him, it would be easy to understand why they’d go off alone. But what about the next evening when they enter the hall entertainment late?

What about when they were up at the kirk? Surely someone would have seen them head that way. These are small villages and people talk.

This is especially the case with Claire already being the center of gossip. And by the end of the episode, gossip was even rifer. The Sassenach spy was one of the most talked about things in the village, so why not the Sassenach spy with this Mr. McTavish?

Murtagh had even warned Claire of the danger of rumors spreading. In that time period, the rumors could lead to forced marriages to protect dignity and reputation. If he was so worried about rumors starting about Jamie and Laoghaire, surely he would have been cautious about rumors starting about Jamie and Claire? Shouldn’t there have been that warning?