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Outlander‘s Season Finale Proves It Was All About Love, in Its Many Permutations

Outlander’s Season Three finale is here and I’m sad. Why is it over? I don’t want the Droughtlander!

We knew it couldn’t last forever, and this finale was a doozy. The episode opens with a beautiful shot of Claire.

Not a beautiful idea, because she’s dying, but still, beautifully crafted. And we realize it’s some kind of foreshadowing to this episode.

Claire is desperately looking for Ian while Jamie is imprisoned and she leaves a note for Fergus and Marsali so they know what is going on.

She has two slaves drive her down to the slave quarters, where she starts looking for Jamie. But she’s captured by a large man who takes her up to the main house, where she has a sit down with Geillis.

If you recall, Jamie said that Geillis is evil, and she proves him right. Claire and Geillis discuss things and she eventually tells her about Brianna and that it’s the reason she left Jamie at Culloden.

She even proves it by showing her the pictures of her daughter—and then Geillis steals one.

She’s really awful.

Geillis is now putting the pieces together, because Margaret gave her a prophecy about a 200 year old baby—and now Geillis thinks that baby is Bree.

Jamie is sitting in the office with the little weasley captain, but things aren’t a big deal because Lord John Grey is the governing ruler of the island and he takes the kid to task and Jamie is able to leave and find Claire.

Which he does, just in the knick of time.

Claire is locked in a building when she sees Geillis taking Young Ian out to use him as her sacrifice to use the portal. Now Claire knows that her goal is to find Brianna and kill her.

Claire and Jamie run to find them, but are waylaid by a tribal dance that is very intense. A guy kills a chicken with his bare teeth, then drains the blood. A guy wearing an alligator drinks it.

Glad I missed that party.

Jamie and Claire are almost in trouble, until Mr. Willoughby walks out and calms everything down.

He then explains how he is in love with Margaret and she loves him and that they are going to start a life together.

Hooray! He deserved his happy ending, both literally and figuratively.

Claire asks where Abandaway is, and she sees the stones and a cave.

When she goes in, she hears the hum and knows it’s the real deal.

She and Jamie discuss what will happen if it pulls her through, but both are determined to save their daughter no matter what… However, as they come in, the Hercules-like bodyguard grabs Claire then gets Jamie, and Claire tries to save Brianna from Geillis.

Claire ends up using a knife and slitting Geillis’ throat right before she jumps into the portal. There is a moment where it seems to be pulling Claire in, but one touch from Jamie and she is back with him completely.

The two have a romantic interlude on the Artemis heading for home, when a storm breaks out and Claire is thrown overboard—and then we are once again back to that first scene, where she is describing death.

Jamie jumps over to save her, and he does. Unlike Titanic, they are able to both stay afloat on one tiny board.

And wash ashore in Georgia. They have nothing, but they are together and they are alive.

This season was all about love, in its many permutations. Claire chooses her love for Jamie over all else, but that doesn’t make her love for her daughter or Frank any less real. Just as Jamie’s love for his son, young Ian, his sister, and even Lord John Grey remain important. Their love for each other comes first, but their love for others is strong.

Claire and Jamie maintained good lives without each other. Maybe not as great as they could have been for the 20 years they lost, but it wasn’t all empty.

Loving the ones you are with is never a waste. The true love of your heart will come back, and as Margaret pointed out with the bird and the rabbit, the love was always there.

That’s it, folks. Of course, you can read the third book while you wait for Season Four, and if you can’t wait to see what happens next, you can read The Drums of Autumn before it comes out.


Keri is a professional chatterbox who loves watching TV & movies, reading about pop culture, and gawking at any craziness on the internet. You can follow Keri on Twitter.

 
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