25 Days of MacBree-mas Day 15: The evolution of Roger and Brianna’s relationship

Outlander has seen Roger and Brianna’s relationship grow considerably and believably since Season 2. Here’s a look at the evolution of their relationship.

Relationships go through stages and changes. We’ve been fortunate to see those changes in Claire and Jamie’s relationship from the very beginning. There’s another couple in Outlander that we’ve watched grow and change, and that’s Brianna and Roger.

On Day 15 of the 25 Days of MacBree-mas, we’re looking into the evolution of their relationship. From start to the current point in the TV series, we’re looking at just how things have changed for the two.

And they have certainly changed. It all started with a knock on the door.

Meeting each other

Claire and Brianna arrived in Scotland shortly after the death of Frank in 1968 in Outlander Season 2. Hearing about Reverend Wakefield’s passing, Claire had to pay her respects. And there she and Brianna met Roger, Reverend Wakefield’s adopted son/nephew.

It was a sort of reunion for Claire, who had met Roger as just a boy. However, for Brianna and Roger, they were meeting for the first time. Roger was immediately head over heels for Bree, but our young Randall Fraser wasn’t all that interested. She was grieving, angry at the world, and simply not interested in whatever had pulled her mother to Scotland.

Yet, the two became friends. They found comfort in each other’s grief, something to bond over. While Claire did everything she needed in Scotland to gain what she thought would be closure, Brianna and Roger went sightseeing and started looking through boxes in Reverend Wakefield’s attic.

Bonding over the truth

The two had a bond that they wouldn’t find with anyone else. It was all about the truth.

While finding newspaper clippings and letters in the reverend’s attic, Brianna confronted her mother about the faeries and going missing. There she learned that Frank wasn’t her biological father.

As Brianna’s world came crashing down, it also became confusing. She learned of time travel and of Jamie. Of course, like most of us would, she refused to believe the truth. Instead, she pulled further away from her mother.

However, she was able to bond with Roger. The reverend wasn’t his biological father after all, but he had raised Roger as his own.

They would then start to bond over the truth of time travel. The two got to see it with their own eyes, when they raced to the stones with Claire to prevent Geillis from going through the stones. And there started the search for Jamie, knowing that he hadn’t died at Culloden.

Figuring out the world

Brianna and Roger had the chance to bond with each other more in the search for Jamie. However, their relationship would be put on hold. As the trio ran into a dead end, Claire decided it was time to head back to Boston.

That didn’t stop Roger from searching. He’d created a bond with both Claire and Brianna and he wanted to help them. Plus, the historian side of him wouldn’t let him stop searching. And so he headed to Boston with news that Jamie Fraser was in Edinburgh in 1765.

Perfect! The timing suited the time they were in now. There was a chance Jamie was still there in the past.

This would help Bree and Roger continue their relationship. While Brianna tried to figure out what she wanted to do in the world, she knew that she had to give up her mom; allow her to return to the man who she loved with all her heart. This was the man she left behind to make sure Brianna had a good, safe, and loved life.

It was during this time that they went from friends to being a couple and we didn’t get to see it. They fell in love with each other, although Brianna wouldn’t admit that she was in love. Not really. She didn’t know what love was. As happy as they were, they would be driven apart by their different wishes in their relationship and their life.

A trip to the past

Who would have thought the 18th century would have brought the couple together? Outlander Season 4 saw their relationship go from one where they were on different pages with wishes to the need to be together. Roger needed to protect Bree, and Brianna realized that she wanted to be with Roger for the rest of their lives.

Of course, it was never going to be that simple. They could never just be happy. There wouldn’t be an amazing story there, would they? Fuelled with anger, Roger would walk away after the handfasted and he would find himself back on a ship away from Bree. We would witness Brianna raped, and see her go through a pregnancy where she didn’t really know who the father was.

Meanwhile, Roger would go through a life-changing situation. He’d go through being sold to the Mohawks, and the journey that it would take to head to their tribe. He’d experience imprisonment and the fear that he would never get out alive, stuck in a time that wasn’t his.

Yet, Roger would make his way back to Brianna, knowing that Bree was possibly pregnant with Stephen Bonnet’s child. He would make a promise to look after this child, to be the child’s father. And so, they’ve gone from friends to parents in a time that isn’t their own.

What’s in store for Bree and Roger in Outlander Season 5? What do you love the most about the evolution of their relationship? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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