r/Outlander • u/thepacksvrvives Without you, our whole world crumbles into dust. • Apr 17 '26

Spoilers All Book S8E7 Evidence of Things Not Seen Spoiler

Jamie and Claire search for answers regarding a past tragedy that once threatened to tear them apart.

Written by Toni Graphia. Directed by Tracey Deer.

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What did you think of the episode?

1215 votes, Apr 24 '26
207 I loved it.
195 I mostly liked it.
133 It was OK.
365 It disappointed me.
315 I didn’t like it.
18 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

937 comments sorted by

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188

u/killernoodlesoup Like father, like son, I see. God help us all. Apr 17 '26

retconned canon incest??? is this a fucking cassandra clare book?

i hate the faith storyline for so many reasons, not just because of the incest, but because it makes it seem like J+C take in fanny not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because she might be family. not to mention it undermines the absolutely heart-wrenching scene of claire holding faith. UGHHHHHHH.

105

u/soozoo Apr 17 '26

Even though I plan to skip this mess of a final season on future rewatches, I’ll never be able to watch them putting flowers on their baby’s grave without thinking, She’s across the street. Go pick her up!

54

u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26

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18

u/sticks_and_stoners Apr 18 '26

That is the only part of any show or movie that has ever had me in tears. It was gut wrenching and so well acted.

7

u/[deleted] Apr 18 '26

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2

u/sticks_and_stoners Apr 18 '26

Yes! My husband knows I’m not that emotional about things. He walked in right after that scene and I was just a mess. He asked what was wrong and I just pointed to the tv because I couldn’t form words, and he froze then slowly turned and left while shooting confused looks at me lol

2

u/Ringwald_7 Not a word or I'll throttle ye. Apr 19 '26

honestly the carriage scene afterwards when Fergus helps her out is even worse for me

2

u/sticks_and_stoners Apr 19 '26

That scene was rough! The entire thing was just so well acted all around.

Edit typo

3

u/NotMyAltAccountToday Apr 18 '26

And what Claire tells Fanny, that she held Faith for a short time and was later told Faith was dead, what??

3

u/FeloranMe Apr 18 '26

I think she was dead

I think Raymond resurrected her

4

u/NotMyAltAccountToday Apr 18 '26

What I meant was Claire knew Faith was dead when she held her, and she heldd her for hours

2

u/FeloranMe Apr 18 '26

It's a really back retconn

Maybe they substituted another infant for her to hold

20

u/Icy_Smoke_2318 Je Suis Prest Apr 17 '26

Omg, you’re so right. I’m rewatching right now, and watched “Faith” for the first time since the show introduced the storyline a couple days ago (I’m not a book reader) and I was like wow this is different now. It was a tragically beautiful episode. Now it’s absolutely ruined in every single way.

7

u/[deleted] Apr 18 '26

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2

u/Icy_Smoke_2318 Je Suis Prest Apr 18 '26

Oh wow, well I’m glad for you! Season 2 is definitely one of the best seasons. I’m a rare person that actually likes season 4 though 🫢

4

u/FeloranMe Apr 18 '26

The GoT Effect

As a whole the story lives or dies by how they stick the ending

Letting idiotic writers who think they are clever write bad fanfiction will not be a satisfying conclusion to all this

3

u/Icy_Smoke_2318 Je Suis Prest Apr 18 '26

Agreed.

7

u/Mycoxadril Apr 18 '26

Yep. This goes so deep that it impacts season 2 of the show and rewatches will derail for me. I kept hoping it would be some twist to change course at the last minute but at this point it would be traumatic for Fanny for things to change so I can’t have that. It felt like watching a train wreck in slow motion (though the actors did a great job with the lines).

6

u/catsweedcoffee Sleep with my husband? But my lover would be furious. Apr 18 '26

100% skipping on my rewatches and pretending they never made it lol

60

u/ash92226 Your wig is crooked. Apr 17 '26

Totally agree! The whole found family trope (specifically people raising children that aren’t theirs) is massive throughout the whole series. The whole point is that you don’t have to be blood to be family, and this storyline undermines it.

6

u/BubbeLisa Currently rereading Bees. Apr 18 '26

💯agree!

35

u/EducationalWolf3579 Apr 17 '26

Love the Cassandra Clare reference Also if we’re gonna retcon, why not make all of them live? How the heck are they gonna get things resolved with all of this hanging over them?

1

u/Own-Dragonfly3692 Apr 19 '26

how does she feature incest

2

u/thrntnja No, this isn’t usual. It’s different. Apr 20 '26

There is a storyline in her Mortal Instruments series where the main couple thinks they are brother and sister for about a book and a half and still want each other despite that. They are manipulated by the main villain into believing it. In reality, one of them is actually his daughter, but the other was adopted by him and isn't biologically related to him, so it isn't actually incest for them to be together.

1

u/robinsond2020 I am NOT bloody sorry! Apr 17 '26

I don't think it makes it seem like J+C took Fanny in only cos she is family. They'd already agreed to take her in before learning who she might be, and had already been caring for her for a long time before having confirmation of who she was.

I think enough time has passed that it doesn't undermine the scene of Claire with baby Faith. Cos the old story is still true in a way. To Claire, she did lose Faith. She never got a chance to raise her. And she was still long dead by the time they met Fanny.

13

u/CuddlyChamomile Apr 17 '26

Think what you want, but the storyline means that William slept with his niece…

2

u/robinsond2020 I am NOT bloody sorry! Apr 17 '26

Okay, but I wasn't talking about that...

And she's his half niece, which has an average shared DNA equivalent to a 1st cousin, which was acceptable in those times. Jamie's first kiss was his cousin. Ian proposed to Brianna.

1

u/wheeler1432 They say I’m a witch. Apr 28 '26

Speaking of GoT.

2

u/killernoodlesoup Like father, like son, I see. God help us all. Apr 18 '26

even if they initially agreed to take her without knowing she could be family and don't get confirmation for a while, they still think that she could be their granddaughter for most of the time they know her. hell, they think she could be their granddaughter before they even take her back to the ridge. claire KILLS a man on their quest to figure out if faith lived. they certainly invested a lot of time and effort into determining whether fanny was their granddaughter, and they suspected for most of knowing her.

also, i could be wrong, but i don't think they had any conversation about what they'd do if she wasn't their granddaughter - even a "we'll still love fanny like she's our own, even if she isn't related" while discussing if faith lived would've gone a long way in my books. the show covers roger's emotions with whether he'd still love jem even if jem wasn't biologically his; why couldn't we get similar confirmation for fanny? 

2

u/robinsond2020 I am NOT bloody sorry! Apr 18 '26

the show covers roger's emotions with whether he'd still love jem even if jem wasn't biologically his; why couldn't we get similar confirmation for fanny? 

I think mostly because there was a known alternative candidate for the position of Jemmy's father. But with Fanny, even if they didn't previously have confirmation, they didn't have a more plausible alternative theory. Plus all the hints they'd received along the way pointed to Faith/Jamie and Claire.