A look at the strongest Claire moments from Outlander Season 5
Claire had some standout moments throughout Outlander Season 5. This was a season that allowed her to be around all of those she cared about, offering us multiple sides to her personality at once.
The start of the season gave her some hope and happiness. She was able to enjoy her daughter’s wedding and ignore the threat of the war to come. However, the happiness didn’t last long, and she had to join Jamie on the search for the militia and face another war.
We know how the season ended. Claire faced the most traumatic moment of her life. She is a survivor. This isn’t going to define who she is, although it will affect her mentally moving forward—as long as the show sticks to the books when it comes to this. The abduction will be something she thinks of again. Yet, she is back with Jamie and is safe.
Now it’s time to look back throughout the season. Like I did with Jamie’s best moments, I’m looking at the 15 best Claire moments from Outlander Season 5. These moments certainly made the individual best moments but not in the same order. After all, with a full season, some moments now stand out more for the foreshadowing or for the happier moments that can often get overlooked.
Here are my 15 favorite Claire moments from Outlander Season 5.
15. Episode 12: Refusing to hurt Lionel Brown
At the end of the season, Claire was abducted by Lionel Brown and his band of vile and vicious men. He wasn’t afraid to treat Claire in the most awful ways possible, all because she wasn’t afraid to stand up to him and offer women advice to avoid pregnancy.
When it came to her chance to hurt Lionel Brown, she refused to take it. She held up her oath. By doing that, she was able to hold onto her pride.
While Lionel may have thought her weak or ridiculous, Claire was a strong woman in this moment. She made it clear that two wrongs didn’t make a right and she wasn’t going to destroy her dignity and her oath by killing him.
14. Episode 11: Saying goodbye to Brianna
Bree and Roger made the decision to head back to their own time. They had a story and they were set. For Claire, this was devastating. She thought she’d never see her daughter and her grandson again.
Of course, that’s not the way that it all worked out. However, it was important for Claire to say goodbye to her daughter. We got this moment of emotion and heartache.
We’d already seen Claire and Brianna do this once before. At that point, Claire was sad but there was so much hope of finding Jamie. Getting Brianna back was the best thing in the world, especially when it came with Roger and Jemmy eventually.
Many parents have had to say goodbye when children move out of the home, but most will know they will see their children again. This felt final for Claire and it showed.
13. Episode 5: Finding penicillin
I loved that Claire decided to change history. Of course, it follows the storyline in the books and the idea of searching for penicillin makes sense. She needed to stop the deaths that didn’t have to happen just because nobody had found the medicine that could help.
It was finding the penicillin that made me smile. She has the opportunity to share it with Marsali, teaching her the word “Eureka.” She doesn’t worry about what Marsali will say when Claire says such a modern word. After all this time, she knows that Marsali will accept Claire for who she is.
12. Episode 4: Just wanting the best for the baby
After Fanny Beardsley left her child behind, Claire had no choice but to take the baby with her to Brownsville. From there, she needed to figure out what to do.
There was always going to be the option of taking the child back to Fraser’s Ridge. With Marsali pregnant and with a newborn, another mouth to feed probably wouldn’t have made a difference. Someone would have cared for the baby because that’s the type of family the Frasers were.
Jamie even offered her the chance to raise the child together. However, in the end, Claire made it clear that all she cared about was the baby having a loving family. The Browns had two grieving parents and it made sense for them to raise this baby. They’d look after the child—and I still don’t believe there was any need to worry about the child with the parents she is now with.
11. Episode 3: Listening to Fanny
After everything that Fanny Beardsley had done to her husband, it would have been easy for Claire to turn away from Fanny. Claire could have focused on the man who needed medical attention. But Claire knew that Fanny’s actions were that of a broken woman.
Claire showed compassion and empathy. It’s not something we always get to see, especially with someone outside of the family. Claire has to be stoic and strong for her patients. But this this case, she’s like a mother towards Fanny, offering advice and hope.
Some of these quieter moments are the best. They give us a chance to get to know the characters better.
10. Episode 9: Encouraging Bree to make engineering work
Claire is a strong supporter of her daughter. All she wants is for Bree to have the best life possible, which is why she never wanted Bree in the past in the first place. While she loves her daughter being there, she knows the future is safer—not just medically but physically for women.
Yet, Claire can see that her daughter is unlikely to go back. Brianna was struggling to find her place in the past. There isn’t a term for engineers in this time period, and women would never be allowed to do such a thing. Yet, Claire makes it clear that her work isn’t exactly something women are meant to do, and it means sometimes she’s called a witch.
After all this support of finding a way to make engineering work, Brianna does just that. At the end of the episode, Claire is extremely proud of her daughter’s invention.
9. Episode 10: The walk on the beach
Before Brianna is taken by Bonnet, she and Claire have the chance to walk along the beach and talk on Outlander Season 5. There’s a moment that stands out well, especially for our climate at the time.
Claire and Bree see whales. They get to talk about how untouched the land is right now. Animals are in their natural habitat and not going extinct. People haven’t destroyed the world for the sake of growth. They are able to revel in the beauty of nature and wildlife.
What’s perfect is mother and daughter spending more time together. Outlander Season 5 makes up for the lack of development between the two of them in earlier seasons for me. It was very much needed.
8. Episode 2: Making Marsali her apprentice
I know many have expected Malva, but there’s still time for this character to show up. Instead, the writers went for the option of making Marsali Claire’s apprentice. After all, it was immediately clear that it wasn’t something for Brianna.
Marsali could handle blood, being used to butcher the animals. She wasn’t squeamish and she certainly has a good head on her shoulders.
The one thing I loved the most about Claire’s decision was the show of trust. Claire and Marsali didn’t initially like each other for understandable reasons. However, over the course of their time together, they have grown a bond that is very much like mother and daughter. Marsali has even called Claire “Ma.” Claire turning to Marsali for this showed the trust and respect that Claire has gained of her daughter-in-law.
7. Episode 4: Giving Roger a much needed boost of confidence
Roger was struggling with life in the past. Claire could understand that. After all, this wasn’t a man cut out for the 18th century and he only stayed for Bree and Jemmy. Jamie wasn’t Roger’s fan, so Claire had to be the one to help smooth things over.
At the end of Outlander Season 5, Episode 4, Claire had to go back to Fraser’s Ridge. She needed to make sure the penicillin was ready among other things. When Jamie told Roger to escort Claire back, Roger immediately thought that Jamie didn’t trust him.
Claire was able to give him a boost of confidence by telling him that Roger had been tasked with the most important thing to Jamie. Whether she meant it or not, it looked like she did.
6. Episode 5: Thinking about Graham Menzies
Episode five had some excellent moments. One of those was the use of the flashbacks.
We got moments from “Voyage” that had had to be skipped over. They were important moments in the books too. They managed to give Claire a reason to head back to the past. While we didn’t really need them on the show, they were a beautiful addition that managed to tie into the current day storyline.
Claire thought back to the man that reminded her of Scotland. It was after the death of Frank, and she was thinking more of Jamie by being around Graham Menzies. While she couldn’t save him in the end, she did take his advice.
5. Episode 12: Fighting to survive
Claire faced a terrible ordeal in the Outlander Season 5 finale, but she found a way to survive. Throughout the episode, we got a look at her safe place—a life in the 1960s surrounded by Jamie and her family.
Deep down, Claire knew that Jamie would come for her. All she had to do was hold onto some form of sanity. She just needed to fight mentally so she could survive for him to get there.
Yet, it wasn’t easy. There were moments we saw reality seeping in. Yet, she still tried her hardest to hold onto the safety of the world just to keep fighting internally.
4. Episode 5: Sharing her lack of regret
While Roger is trying to deal with everything he’s learned in the past about Bonnet, he starts to wonder whether Jemmy should learn the truth. That’s when Claire happens upon him.
Once again, she’s the one that Roger can talk to the most. We see that empathy as someone else who didn’t immediately fit in the past—someone who initially did want to get back to her own time. She understands Roger’s thoughts.
She can also understand his thoughts of telling Jemmy the truth. However, she makes it clear that she never regretted not telling Brianna about Jamie. She wouldn’t have understood as a child. While Bree was angry when she did find out, she was at an age where she could process it all.
3. Episode 7: Keeping the tartan
There is a lot I adore about Episode 7. It’s a heartbreaking episode but one that is so beautifully done. One of the moments that stands out is one of Claire’s moments.
After Murtagh’s death, Jamie gets his body to Claire. All Jamie wants is for Claire to save Murtagh, but she can’t do it. He’s already died. And as heartbroken as Jamie is, so is Claire. She holds back for Jamie, knowing that he will grieve harder for the loss of the man who has been by his side throughout his life.
While Jamie is away, Claire is able to mourn. While doing so, she takes the piece of tartan that Murtagh had kept with him from Culloden. It’s that last piece of Murtagh that she can pass onto Jamie.
2. Episode 7: Reaction to the uniform
Jamie had to wear a red coat to go into the Battle of Alamance. It was a test of Jamie’s loyalty to Governor Tryon, but he had to be forced into it.
While Jamie’s reaction sent shivers down our spines, Claire’s reaction sent them down again for me. She had this look of sadness, shock, and anger all mixed in one. She didn’t shout at Jamie or say anything against him wearing it, knowing exactly how he would have already felt.
Instead, she just knew that Jamie had no choice in the uniform he wore. She just looked at him with empathy, making it clear that she was there for him and understood.
1. Episode 9: Saving Jamie’s life
You didn’t think this wasn’t going to make it, did you? During Episode 9, Jamie was bitten by a snake. Everyone had a hand in saving him, from Roger’s actions in the woods to Bree making the syringe. Claire’s hand was a little more literal.
Jamie knew that only Claire would be able to save his life if he died. It was why he needed to be in their bed, knowing that Claire would do whatever it took to bring him back to life. And that she did.
When his breathing and heart rate slowed, Claire knew she had to do something that would get the blood pumping again. Why not revive him with her hand on a certain item below the waist? It definitely worked!
What were your favorite Claire moments on Outlander Season 5? Share them in the comments below.
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