Outlander Season 5, Episode 8: Inside the World of Famous Last Words

Matt B. Roberts and Maril Davis take us Inside the World of Outlander Season 5, Episode 8. What were the reasons for the silent movie flashbacks?

Matt B. Roberts and Maril Davis knew that using the silent movie flashbacks was a risk on Outlander Season 5, Episode 8. But it is one they were willing to take—and one I fully appreciated throughout. In the Inside the World segment for “Famous Last Words,” the EPs don’t just discuss the silent movie parts, but also the flashback to start the episode and bringing Young Ian back earlier than expected.

Let’s start with the silent movie flashbacks, though. It turns out that the flashbacks were filmed in two formats. The first was as the silent movie, but the second was in a conventional way. In the end, those in the editing room decided that the format we got was the best. They wanted this to be different, to show Roger’s trauma in a different way to Brianna’s.

It was also important to have that gradual use of color in the final flashback. This gave us the fight Roger put up in his mind, bringing him back to life and bringing him back to Brianna.

Then there was another flashback. We got Roger and Brianna in the 1960s, showing Roger teaching a class. Not only was it important to remind us of the two characters in their own time, but to show Roger using his voice. The use of the famous last words essay was also extremely poetic, connecting us at the end of the episode as Roger realized that words didn’t matter.

The Inside the World segment for Outlander Season 5, Episode 8 also gave us a look at Young Ian’s return. This is certainly earlier than the books and in a different way, but it’s important for the connection to Roger. There was a conversation about the return and how the two men are going through something similar.

Inside the World is an important look at decisions made. Telling a story through the written word is vastly different to telling it through moving pictures. Different cinematic approaches or methods of storytelling sometimes need to be used, and there are risks that need to be taken. Roberts and Davis explain that during the segment for “Famous Last Words.”

Outlander Season 5 continues on Sundays at 8/7c on STARZ.