Outlander took a week off on this day in history to prepare for the Season 1 finale
It was time for Outlander fans to mentally prepare for the Season 1 finale. The show took a week’s break, which may have helped fans mentally.
Something that many Sassenachs questioned during Season 5 was the decision to take a week off between Episodes 7 and 8. It seemed like odd timing since Episode 8 would fall on Easter weekend. However, there is a pattern when you look back over episodes.
There was a week off between strategic episodes. The first of those was the week off before the Season 1 finale, which may have actually helped fans prepare. Many fans watching live were book-first fans, so they knew exactly what was coming. And it’s certainly the most graphic of traumatic episodes on the series.
Remembering Wentworth Prison
We didn’t get to see the events at Wentworth as they happened. Instead, Jamie slowly told the story to Claire—she’d given him some tough love to get him out of the suicidal mess that he was in. Talking was the only way out of it.
There was a break now and then from the trauma. There were moments where we saw other parts of the story progress. Claire had to figure out what she would do if Jamie didn’t live through this and she had to figure out how to save his hand assuming that he did fight through the darkness.
My favorite part was Murtagh and Jamie talking in Gaelic. We had no idea what they were saying to each other, but that didn’t matter. You could tell from the expressions, the sounds in their voices, and the weight of the scene what Jamie wanted to do.
The week off certainly helped many to mentally prepare. Plus, it gave fans time to rewatch the whole first season to remember some of the lighter moments throughout before getting into the heaviness of the finale.
Outlander Season 1 throwbacks continue weekly to mark the anniversary of each episode.