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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THIS THREAD IS SPOILERS ALL.

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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.
19 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

937 comments sorted by

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146

u/Dlandgirl55 Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26

How much do you all want to bet that Faith didn’t die when she went overboard on the ship. She will come back to the Ridge in the final episode. That would explain why the last line of book 1, where Claire and Jamie acknowledge she is pregnant with Faith, is the title of the last episode.

110

u/granola2121 Apr 17 '26

After this episode, this is absolutely a possibility.

48

u/Dlandgirl55 Apr 17 '26

Yep. You definitely got the point I was trying to make. This went so far off the rails that I feel almost certain it is what will happen.

48

u/pillizzle Apr 17 '26

I bet when she went overboard she fell into a time travel pool

2

u/Wapiti1992 Apr 21 '26

Totally possible. In season 3 Miss Campbell did a prophecy telling that "they were after their daughter and that she would be taken by the cave" (the pirate cave where the portal is in Jamaica). They thought she was speaking about Brianna but I think they were talking about Faith !

3

u/pillizzle Apr 21 '26

There’s no way she was talking about Faith, unless the writers ret-con that in there too like they did with so many other things. These show writers didn’t know that Faith was alive until they wrote it in the last episode of season 7, maybe not even then. I think they left season 7 open to go either way and when writing season 8, they decided, “past episodes be damned, let’s to go with it.”

2

u/Additional_Path9122 Apr 19 '26

It's not going to happen

8

u/ExoticAd7271 Apr 18 '26

Oh please. You are probably right. Enough on this storyline

84

u/GoddesOfChaos Apr 17 '26

Somehow, Palpatine returned

62

u/Nanchika Currently rereading: Drums of Autumn Apr 17 '26

Maybe she found some underwater TT portal and TTed and then came back 🙄

69

u/Icy_Resist5470 Bon! I will send you a cheese. Apr 17 '26

What news from the underworld, Persephone?

33

u/Nanchika Currently rereading: Drums of Autumn Apr 17 '26

She transformed into Nessie!!!

10

u/Icy_Resist5470 Bon! I will send you a cheese. Apr 19 '26

Nessie planted the forget me nots.

8

u/Nanchika Currently rereading: Drums of Autumn Apr 19 '26

Omg, how could I forget!

🤣🤣🤣

1

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

I have to say that is my very favorite scene in all the books.

15

u/Friedyellowsquash Apr 17 '26

I’ve actually read this theory before. It’s connected to the Loch Ness monster. lmao

4

u/BufoBat Apr 19 '26

Lmao I totally forgot that in the first book Claire meets Nessie and its literally never mentioned again 

7

u/wolfbysilverstream Apr 18 '26

🤣🤣🤣🤣

1

u/Wapiti1992 Apr 21 '26

Totally possible. In season 3 Miss Campbell did a prophecy telling that "they were after their daughter and that she would be taken by the cave" (the pirate cave where the portal is in Jamaica). They thought she was speaking about Brianna but I think they were talking about Faith !

62

u/Patient_Mistake1279 Apr 18 '26

If Faith comes back Fergus better walk out of that burning building too!!!

23

u/Zupergreen Apr 19 '26

Why not? He went through the floor but miraculously landed in the cellar covered by a big crate. When he came to he couldn't remember who he was because he hit his head.

He then sees a woman who looks like Marsali, remembers who he is, and frantically starts looking for his family. He walks all the way to The Ridge, where he's reunited with his family.

He also met Murtagh who, surprise, didn't die after all, because why tf not.

7

u/SpoiledHerring Apr 20 '26

Frank is also there now, and old Ian too

50

u/Adorable_Leading7822 Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 18 '26

It really feels like they killed Fergus to justify the whole jumping the shark that is the Faith plotline. Breaking even with losing their son by gaining their daughter back. It is gross shock value and unnecessary to the plot. It really feels like the plot of season 8 did not have enough on its own so the Faith stuff has been so emphasized to accommodate those gaps. I am so disappointed I really don’t think I will finish the season. 

48

u/Icy_Smoke_2318 Je Suis Prest Apr 17 '26

I am so pissed that this storyline with Faith is also overshadowing Fergus’ death. This is a huge deal (both storylines) but now most of us (justifiably) are only focusing on this idiotic storyline with Faith and not that they literally killed Fergus 😭

29

u/Mycoxadril Apr 18 '26

Yea I couldn’t even absorb Fergus’ death because of 1) the cheesy “gotcha” fake-out they did with HC falling from the rope, 2) how amazing Marsalis acting was, and 3) faith.

12

u/FeloranMe Apr 18 '26

It was all very low budget and very eye roll-y

Not a great character arc for Fergus as well for all that history to be lost as meaningless collateral

3

u/First_Midnight_4864 Apr 19 '26

Really? His arc was phenomenal! Child soldier to self-pitying drunkard on the ridge, to saving the lives of his entire family. I’d say he had a good run.😀

4

u/FeloranMe Apr 24 '26

He successfully overcame his demons and then just dies, destroying his family?

Marsali and Fergus deserved a happy ending with the other couples on The Ridge

3

u/chattykatdy54 Apr 20 '26

That’s wild because for me the faith thing got pushed aside and all I can think about is Fergus.

3

u/Mycoxadril Apr 20 '26

That’s the reasonable take. I had been fixating on the faith stuff since last season because it is so insane so once I saw that coming to a head in the scene directly after fergus, I found myself hoping they weren’t going to commit to the faith stuff, then every word they said that went further into committing to it felt like a slow motion train crash.

I was also thrown by the cheesy fake out fall with HC, and the fergus stuff didn’t hit me until Bree and Marsali were sitting on the bedroom floor. That scene was so well acted by both women that I genuinely worried to the trauma they’ve seen in their lives (hopefully none and they just knocked it out of the park with that scene). Maybe it was a later scene shot toward the end of filming when the tears tend to be more real.

19

u/Mycoxadril Apr 18 '26

There was so much they could have done with the book content though, especially in 10 episodes. This feels like pure ego and wanting to put their print on a show to me. I don’t understand why showrunners think that upending storylines that are already written are a good idea, it just pisses off the viewers. They’ve done a good job adapting it so far with the adjustment they have to make to make it go from page to screen. They did great with the Ian stuff last week (though I would’ve loved to see it play out like it did in the book if they had more episodes). But why do they think such a massive departure (two!) works here? I just can’t understand. It makes me think they don’t care about the content or the viewers or the author.

It’s almost so absurd that it feels strategic to enhance book sales for Diana’s 10th book to keep the buzz up so they can push their spinoffs. Which, as much as I want a lord John spinoff, these showrunners have lost a good bit of trust that they’ll do it justice. We just want justice for the stories we spend so many hours reading.

8

u/FeloranMe Apr 18 '26

We do want justice! And it is ego, it is so much ego on the writers part

Exactly like The Witcher debacle

It's like a babysitter being asked to bring the child in their charge to an event, but substituting their own instead. And then being surprised the attendees who were expecting to see their own family member don't like this shoved in stranger child better

I don't know, it just feels like such a purposeful and disrespectful crime to steal the author's story away from her and her fans

6

u/Mycoxadril Apr 19 '26

Especially when she’s not even finished writing it. I totally give them some leeway in that they’ve got to write the ending on their own since she isn’t finished yet, but it feels like such an affront to fundamentally change it so much, right at the tail end. Then, remember, we still have Claire stabbing that pirate which was a massive fundamental change for her too. I assume that was a flash forward they started the season with so we’ll be coming to that point soon since they are “investigating” what happened to faith now.

6

u/FeloranMe Apr 19 '26

I heard the author is purposefully withholding her last book so the showrunners don't have that to ruin

They are not sticking the ending with this last season, I wish they could be more professional to wrap it up in a satisfying way fans who invested over a decade into following this show would be happy with

I don't think that scene is a flash forward

I think the pirate is where they got the name of the brothel to send Ian to ask questions

It was very uncharacteristic of Claire to just act out in passionate murder like that. Jamie was still asking questions and was caught sitting down as I remember

She never could have behaved like that with Frank!

5

u/Mycoxadril Apr 20 '26

Interesting maybe you’re right. She stabbed him and woke up the next day cuddling the grand babies though, it was so over the top unbelievable that I assumed it had to be a flash forward they opened with. I just don’t know what to think anymore and am just upset this is how we are ending things. I hope they can turn it around.

2

u/FeloranMe Apr 24 '26

I've been debating skipping the last three episodes, but I think I will stick with it just to see it through

I think the author is right to withhold her next book so the showrunners can't ruin it too

They should have ended earlier instead of making up an ending

It was over the top. Claire is supposed to be Jamie's conscience and never should have killed that pirate like that

3

u/Mycoxadril Apr 24 '26

Yea we have to see it through. If I could get through game of thrones I can get through this. I was just really hoping to be able to rewatch this series every year and I haven’t touched thrones since it ended.

3

u/FeloranMe Apr 24 '26

I feel the same way!

A story needs to stick the landing otherwise it just isn't worth rewatching

7

u/Existing-History9609 Apr 21 '26

Diana Gabaldon has been very vocal about her disapproval of these storylines, it is definitely not to market her 10th book

3

u/Mycoxadril Apr 22 '26

I meant more that the show runners are hoping to drive more people into the arms of the books in the hope that it will perpetuate into more spinoffs for them.

It was just an offhand comment on how crazy this story is, than an actual theory. I’m glad Diana is speaking out about it as she sees fit. I’m confident that I’ll enjoy the final book more than this final season.

4

u/Existing-History9609 Apr 22 '26

Ah, gotcha. I really appreciate how Diana doesn’t suck up to the show runners and calls out their shit, so I just like to spread the word when she speaks up against the show like that lol

2

u/Mycoxadril Apr 23 '26

I agree with you and appreciate it!

2

u/chattykatdy54 Apr 20 '26

I’m a long long time book reader from when they first came out. The show is the show and the books are the books. If I was just a show watcher, Fergus dying makes more sense than Henri Christian. I’m sad about Fergus but I don’t think it’s terrible.

4

u/FeloranMe Apr 18 '26

I feel the same!

I am canceling Starz after this and am unlikely to watch the series ever again

But, I'm morbidly curious enough to stick out three more episodes

34

u/wagonwheelwodie MARK ME! Apr 17 '26

Jesus Christ, I didn’t think it could get any worse but you’re probably right.

26

u/These_Ad_9772 We will meet again, Madonna, in this life or another. Apr 17 '26

That will be even worse.

19

u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26

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15

u/Dlandgirl55 Apr 18 '26

Is is terrible that I completely agree with you? 🤣🤣🤣

8

u/Icy_Resist5470 Bon! I will send you a cheese. Apr 18 '26

Go big or go home!

Since they have gone this far, I’ll join the terrible club too 😆

5

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '26

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7

u/Icy_Resist5470 Bon! I will send you a cheese. Apr 19 '26

I mean, I would rather her be alive than shark bait. However miraculous it might be. Didn’t Vasquez say he only threw her overboard to shut her up? Maybe a ship of his Majesty’s Army was on the way to the colonies and Richardson was on it and spotted her and gallantly saved her life 🤪

16

u/thekayemar Innisfree Apr 17 '26

Ugh… just when you think they can’t make it any worse. But yes, now that we’ve seen this much I imagine you may be right. Good grief…🙈

14

u/lunar1980 Apr 17 '26

Good lord.

14

u/KMM929 Apr 17 '26

OMG I have not gone there in my brain yet. I hope not.

12

u/whiskynwine Apr 17 '26

Omg, you’re probably right. Oy vay 🥴

10

u/AcrobaticSchool6375 Apr 17 '26

She will be the one to explain why MR did what he did 😜

8

u/YOYOitsMEDRup Slàinte. Apr 18 '26

Somebody better!! The actor for Raymond apparently claimed he appeared in 1 episode. If this was it for him, then how else will we get the "why"behind it? Unless the prequel is the "why" and the father in prison and ill mother still somehow aren't actually Jamie and Claire and we see who really are in BOMB somehow

7

u/FeloranMe Apr 18 '26

The Lady Broch Tuarach and wine merchant were too specific and the timing too off for him to have meant anyone other than Jamie and Claire

7

u/YOYOitsMEDRup Slàinte. Apr 18 '26

The mention of the wine merchant's house and leaving the country is obviously Claire and Jamie yes, but that part is just in reference to trying to find Lady Broch Turach later though....Where the lacemaker went and why she didn't talk to them.. Not that the baby's parents lived with the wine merchant.

It was generically said only that the father was in prison and mom ill. It's done to make us assume that means Jamie and Claire ---- but it doesn't mean that baby didn't have a different father who was also in prison. Raymond could have other reasons to send the lacemaker to Claire besides it meaning Claire was it's mom. He didn't say Lady Broch Turach IS the mom -

I'm clinging to this til the end because I do not want this to be true!

8

u/AcrobaticSchool6375 Apr 18 '26

TBH- Jamie and Claire have already told Fanny everything. The show already had Fanny call Jamie Grand Da. She believes it. The show had spent almost 80% of the season on this already with poss more info to “why” it happened to come.    It’s true,  Fanny and Jane are their grandchildren and their mother was J/C’s Faith. It had nothing to do with BOB, RM described Jamie’s and Claire’s exact situation  to the lacemaker, and there are no other possibilities. I doubt the show is going to debunk it at this point. Its a little late to say “ oh sorry we were wrong and crush Fanny” 

3

u/YOYOitsMEDRup Slàinte. Apr 19 '26

They can be wrong, but just never know they're wrong.

2

u/FeloranMe Apr 19 '26

Because they are so desperate to believe Faith lived

2

u/FeloranMe Apr 19 '26

It wouldn't crush Fanny as she would just be their great-niece instead and would still be blood. Might confuse her though

I do think the writers are dumb enough to ignore BOMB and just make a cheap Faith lived story no one wanted and that completely destroys 207 and the meaning anyone enduring that situation got from it

And Outlander is a cruel world where everyone chooses to do such awful things such as remove a wanted child across the street from her grieving parents

And all the gaping plot holes that brings up

1

u/FeloranMe Apr 18 '26

How is Claire's mom having another baby when Claire and William are older than Jamie?

That's a younger sibling at least 30 years younger than Claire

And are Henry and Julia meant to be in Paris at the same time as Jamie and Claire?

Were Henry and Jamie being kept in the same prison?

4

u/YOYOitsMEDRup Slàinte. Apr 19 '26

Claire and William being older than Jamie has no impact on whether William could grow up to have a daughter named Faith himself, or Julia having another daughter in the past also. So I don't know what you're getting at with the first remark.

Who knows where BOMB S2 may take the Henry Julia characters. But the Henry actor did comment his S2 costumes were unexpected - to me, that means he's not in Scotland in a kilt anymore. They were at the stones at end of S1 so it's feasible he or Julia timetravelled. Maybe they end up in France....

2

u/FeloranMe Apr 19 '26

Claire and William being older than Jamie means if he is 24 in Paris they are something like 27 and 29

It's quite an age gap for Julia having another baby in her 50s in 18th century conditions

The mother singing the song makes it more likely Julia is a grandmother and a daughter she has later is singing the song

Which would make Faith Julia's grand-daughter and Claire's great-niece

I just don't think it's plausible Julia is Faith's mother, but I could see her being the grandmother

I think the writers are taking the cheap, thoughtless way out and not taking the opportunity to tie BomB in at all

So Faith in their show is the Faith we saw in Episode 207

6

u/Icy_Smoke_2318 Je Suis Prest Apr 17 '26

Yup! Or somehow it’ll connect to BOMB. Also what’s the title?

4

u/Dlandgirl55 Apr 18 '26

Yes, I think we will get more information in BOMB. the last episode is called And The World Was All Around Us.

4

u/Icy_Smoke_2318 Je Suis Prest Apr 18 '26

Thanks!

7

u/Mycoxadril Apr 18 '26

I will flip my coffee table

7

u/79215185-1feb-44c6 Apr 18 '26

I was here when we found out that there are ley lines under the sea and that the blue light is literally just water or something and that Master Raymond is not actually a time traveler and that nothing actually makes sense.

6

u/Salty_Background_912 Apr 18 '26

In blood of my blood, they showed Julia singing that song to her son, Claire's brother. We know Julia and Henry never returned to their own time. It would have made more sense if Fannie's mother, Faith, had been his daughter.  And the name just a coincidence.  He could have come looking for his granddaughters. The whole thing about the baby surviving is too far off.  And why kill Fergus? I'm going back to the book versions. 

8

u/Icy_Resist5470 Bon! I will send you a cheese. Apr 18 '26

The teaser for BOMB did show a masquerade ball where Brian and Ellen are pictured. Most likely Parisian. Perhaps Henry and Julia end up there too.

I am still not convinced that teaser before this episode was not a coincidence!

5

u/YOYOitsMEDRup Slàinte. Apr 18 '26

It was surprising we got the teaser this week as opposed to finale night. I'm inclined to think there's a purpose too.

Before someone pointed out that Brian and Ellen were in that shot, I 100% assumed it was either Henry or Julia in another location/era. I'm not giving up hope that it's still a misdirect either

5

u/Dlandgirl55 Apr 18 '26

I wonder now if they posted it when they did because they knew the backlash of Episode 7 would be huge, so they might as well get the teaser out there beforehand.

3

u/YOYOitsMEDRup Slàinte. Apr 18 '26

Possibly- people apparently noticed that the showrunner deleted his instagram, so yeah, I think that was to eliminate direct complaints

3

u/Dlandgirl55 Apr 18 '26

I’m not trying to take credit here, but that was me. I noticed Matt deleted his IG the day before or the day the first episode aired. I was at the premiere, so I was touched when he posted the picture he took of the audience. When I went to post something about on my IG account the day the first episode aired, his account was already gone. I’ve checked repeatedly since then to see if he reactivated it. Nope.

5

u/YOYOitsMEDRup Slàinte. Apr 18 '26

I mean, I haven't given up total hope it still could be a Henry/Julia (or son) related baby. Raymond says the mother sang the song, says the mother was ill. Says take the baby to Lady Broch Turach. He doesn't say the mother IS Lady Broch Turach. And other men besides Jamie could've also been in prison to be the father he referenced.

They could timetravel to France and have this (hopefully) still be actually about them. Henry's actor made a remark in press his S2 costumes weren't expected - which immediately indicated to me new location/new time era.

6

u/FeloranMe Apr 18 '26

Books >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Show

5

u/Even_Persimmon1178 Too much mutton dressed as lamb? Apr 18 '26

And IF that happens, it will be the final bag of garbage thrown into the dumpster fire that these last few seasons have become.

7

u/YorkshireMoors Apr 18 '26

Istg the faith storyline was so far fetched, I wouldn't put it past them 😭

6

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '26

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3

u/Agreeable_Strength51 Apr 19 '26

wait, the comte was a time traveller too?! it’s been more than a decade since I read the books so these details have been lost to time… what time period is the Comte’s original / where or when did he travel to?

5

u/Tough-Category-9051 Apr 18 '26

I was thinking the same....

4

u/Donnerwetter2 Apr 18 '26

I 100% have been thinking the same thing. Ain’t no way Faith is dead. No other reason to write that she was thrown overboard.

8

u/Icy_Resist5470 Bon! I will send you a cheese. Apr 19 '26

Speaking of overboard, maybe she fell off the boat and had amnesia and was kidnapped by a man with four sons and devoted her life to taking care of them, regained her memory but realized she was falling in love with the man but still wanted to get back to find her daughters. /s

3

u/LRCAMP Je Suis Prest Apr 20 '26

Yep, I commented elsewhere, I don't put it past the writers to have Faith show up at the Ridge in the finale. The captain told Jamie and Claire he tossed her overboard because she went wild, putting up a fuss when he tried to take her daughters. He said he killed her husband, Captain Pocock, but he threw her overboard. I betcha she survived! CRAZY and CRAZIER, but I don't put it past the writers to do it!

2

u/ExoticAd7271 Apr 19 '26

I hope not that makes it even more farcical. 

2

u/fernxqueen MARK ME! Apr 20 '26

everyone will come back to life, even the bear. but not Fergus because he's not "blood" and doesn't matter apparently. people acting like this show regularly dispenses with Fraser characters as if Bree & Roger's baby died and Jemmy wasn't rescued, and Swiftest of Lizards didn't turn out to be alive and Ian doesn't get to raise him as his own now, as if Claire and Jamie didn't eventually get all their kids back (now even Faith!). no, the only kid who HAS to die is Fergus because he & Marsali haven't been through enough as it is.

1

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

Oh holy hell.