For the most part, Outlander Season 5, Episode 3 stuck to the book storyline. There was a moment for Jamie changed at the very end. Did it work?
Outlander Season 5, Episode 3 delivered its darkest and creepiest episode ever. For the most part, it was just like the story from “The Fiery Cross,” but there was one moment at the very end that changed. Would it have been better for the series to keep it in?
Caution: There are spoilers from “The Fiery Cross” in this post. If you haven’t read the book yet and don’t want to be spoiled, you’ll want to check out our post on the biggest questions from the episode instead.
When the Frasers head to the Beardsley home, they’re faced with a horrific situation. It’s the one we watched play out in the season, and yes, Jamie carries out the mercy killing that he did in the episode. It was after this that changed.
In the novel, Jamie throws up outside. That doesn’t happen in the series. For some, it will be a reminder of the emotion Jamie showed when he looked at the photos of Brianna when Claire returned from the future. That emotion wasn’t included in the series, which many people complained about. However, it turns out that the writers kept that emotion in and it was Sam Heughan who chose not to go through with it.
In Outlander Season 5, Episode 3, it looks like it was a writer’s decision not to include Jamie throwing up. However, for some, this moment made Jamie far more human. After all, throwing up after that mercy killing would have been easy to understand. There would have been a lot of emotions going through his mind in that moment.
But was it right keeping that out of the TV show? In a way, it was better for time management to keep it out, but what about Jamie’s character? Isn’t that more important?
Personally, I keep the book characters separate from the show characters. I see them as two different versions, so I never expect something that the book version would do to happen in the show. And this is one of those cases. After the way things have changed with Jamie’s character development over the years, I don’t see this Jamie throwing up after carrying out the mercy killing on Mr. Beardsley.
Jamie did what he had to do. He gave Beardsley a choice, offering the free will that Beardsley had given nobody around him. In the end, Jamie wanted to offer a man peace instead of a grim end that could have seen him and Claire remain at the Beardsley house for much longer to look after him. After all, nobody else would have.
What did you think of the change to that ending? Would you have preferred more emotion from Jamie after the mercy killing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
