Woman of the Week

We may be heading into another Droughtlander period, but Outlander‘s Season Five finale certainly left us with one heck of a memorable performance and lots to talk about for our latest edition of Women of the Week!

Nominated by Rueben: Caitriona Balfe as Claire Fraser on Outlander (Starz)

The season finale of Outlander aired on Sunday, featuring a harrowing ordeal for Claire Fraser (series lead Caitriona Balfe). Claire was forcible taken by a group of men from her home on Fraser’s Ridge – while her husband and a few of the other men from the Ridge were distracted elsewhere on the property – because a leech of a man – Lionel Brown – wanted to teach her a lesson. You see Claire used the nom de plume of Dr. Rawlings to share medical recommendations with the people of the Ridge, but that list of “do’s and dont’s” inadvertently ended up being printed on the broadsheets (think of it as that time period’s newspaper), getting disseminated to most of the local settlements. Those recommendations, in short, pissed off the backwoods men of the area – as it taught women how to not only care for themselves (thanks to Claire’s 20th Century medical knowledge) but also “deny” their men “their God given rights” – at least in the eyes of that leering creep Lionel Brown. So, Claire was taken by him and his men where she endured being beaten, abused and raped (by more than one man within that group). It was a heart-wrenching episode to watch, and cleverly filmed – showing Claire escaping into a dreamscape where visions of her family, depicted as if they were in a 1960’s-like home celebrating Thanksgiving – except for Jamie who was dressed in his usual 1770’s garb – comforted her, wrapped her in their love and Jamie’s strong arms – as she was subjected to the cruel intentions of those lascivious brutes. Caitroina’s performance throughout the entire episode was revelatory, especially when Claire screamed that she would not be shattered by her experience and, even more so, when she finally broke down into uncontrollable sobs after confronting the man at the helm of her abusers. The final scene of her, lying naked in bed with her loving, supportive husband, telling him that she felt “safe” – wrapped in his arms – was palpable.

Honorable Mention: Lauren Lyle as Marsali on Outlander

While the season finale of Outlander was focused primarily on the heartbreaking experience of Claire, her daughter-in-law Marsali, as portrayed by recurring guest star Lauren Lyle, had the most memorable moment. Holding back a lot of rage against the man (Lionel Brown) who brutalized Claire, telling him how he hurt Claire, herself, her husband and the people of the Ridge, Marsali took a syringe filled with deadly water hemlock, jammed it into Lionel’s throat, and watched him die very quickly. Once the deed was done, what she did to him was revealed all over her face. She was relieved he was gone, but shocked and afraid of what she had done so much so that she broke down when Jamie discovered her sitting in shock on the floor, overcome with worry that Lionel would haunt her forever and that she would end up in hell for killing him. Lauren’s performance throughout these scenes was so moving and so visceral that she was clearly the MVP of that episode and storyline.

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