Outlander's Final Seasons Can't Afford To Repeat The Show's Most Disturbing Trend

Outlander is in the home stretch, and repeating a disturbing trend that has persisted throughout the series could be detrimental to the franchise. The upcoming second half of season 7 and season 8 will mean the end of the fantasy time-travel series, but the franchise itself will continue with the prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood. This fact puts additional pressure on the final episodes of the parent series since letting audiences down could carry over into the success of the new show. To give the spinoff its best chance, Outlander must avoid its most frustrating continuous mistake.

Claire and Jamie have come a long way throughout the six-and-a-half seasons of Outlander, and the next steps in their story will surely come with more trials and tribulations. Season 7, part 2, will see the lovers again separated, which lines up with the events of author Diana Gabaldon's seventh Outlander book, An Echo in the Bone. Season 8, on the other hand, will be on its own since Gabaldon's book series won't conclude until after the TV show's big finale. This means writers will have to forge their own path, but it's essential that they don't fall back on old trends.

Outlander Season 7, Part 2, & Season 8 Must Avoid Sexual Assault Stories

Outlander Leaned Repeatedly Into This Same Conflict

Outlander has developed a reputation for overusing sexual assault in its stories. There are very few characters in the series who haven't experienced this type of violence, and this has been identified as a frustrating problem. Other fantasy TV shows like Game of Thrones have fallen into the same trend, and Outlander has been an improvement in that the writers have attempted to use sexual assault plotlines to spread awareness and dismantle harmful assumptions about victims and perpetrators. However, the time for such a statement came and went a long time ago.

Going into the final couple of installments, it's essential that Outlander focus its efforts on providing Claire and Jamie with a satisfying resolution. Of course, they will have to confront some conflicts in the meantime, and a final rise and fall is a necessity. However, once again, depending on the same disturbing form of conflict that nearly every season prior has relied on would be a severe disappointment since it brings nothing new to the story and results in only severe pity for the characters. Unfortunately, Claire and Jamie's teased story in Outlander season 7, part 2, may have tempted writers to bring back this trend.

Claire & Jamie Being Separated In Outlander Often Leads To Sexual Violence

Outlander Season 7 Is Separating Claire & Jamie Again

Custom Image by Kate Bove

The trailer for Outlander season 7, part 2, reveals that Claire and Jamie will again be separated since Claire will return to the American colonies alone to care for Lord John Grey's nephew. This is already a tad frustrating since Outlander has relied a little too much on splitting these lovers up to introduce conflict. However, it's all the more concerning since such separations are often the first step to one of these characters being the subject of sexual violence.

Throughout Outlander, Claire, especially, has been the victim of sexual assault when she is left alone since she has no man there to protect her. Other times, Jamie or Claire have had to offer up their bodies to a perpetrator in an attempt to protect the other or else earn their freedom. Even Brianna and Roger have been through a similar plotline in Outlander since Jamie and Claire's daughter were assaulted after she and Roger parted ways. It's an exhausting story that Outlander has shamelessly repeated again and again, which is why Claire and Jamie's separation in season 7, part 2, has become all the more alarming.

Outlander Repeating This Trend Would Be Bad News For The Prequel Series

Outlander's Final Seasons Should Establish Confidence In The New Spinoff

Outlander coming to a close is a bit of a relief, specifically because of the frustrating repetition of the same old stories. If things were to carry on much longer, it's hard to imagine that Claire and Jamie could be given a satisfying resolution. Still, this isn't to say that the franchise as a whole must end. The upcoming prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood is an exciting chance to expand this universe with a fresh start. However, if Outlander's ending still depends on sexual assault as a central conflict, it could bode poorly for the spinoff.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood can be free of the same old trends and tropes in which Outlander has gotten itself tangled up. However, if the parent series continues to depend on the same tired-out and disturbing stories up to the very end, it would imply that audiences can expect something similar from the prequel spinoff. The final installments of Outlander need to subtly reveal what can be expected from Outlander: Blood of My Blood, allowing audiences to get excited about a fresh story with a small taste of the new story's tone. The spinoff's success depends on Outlander's ability to make a change.

Based on the novel series, Outlander follows combat nurse Claire Randall from the year 1945, who is mysteriously transported back to 1743, where she is immediately thrown into an unknown world and sees her life threatened. However, when Claire is forced to marry Jamie Fraser, a genuine and passionate relationship is ignited that tears Claire's heart between two different men from two clashing lives.

Release Date August 9, 2014

Seasons 7

Writers Ronald D. Moore , Matthew B. Roberts

Directors Metin Hüseyin , Jamie Payne

Showrunner Matthew B. Roberts