‘Outlander’ Stars Sam Heughan And Caitriona Balfe Explain That Big Fight: ‘It Destroys Their Relationship’

Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire’s (Caitriona Balfe) relationship during the first season of Outlander was great. Not only was it full of passion and romance, but it resulted in a marriage and a future baby for Claire. However, their time in France in Season 2 has been anything but easy. With their relationship headed towards a breaking point, will Jamie and Claire remain together this season?

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Heughan and Balfe discussed the couple’s latest fight. While fans watched Jamie and Claire’s biggest argument ever, the actors revealed how the fight will affect their relationship moving forward.

At the end of the latest episode, Claire asked Jamie to spare Black Jack Randall’s (Tobias Menzies) life for another year. For Claire, the ensuing fight damaged their trust for each other in more ways than one. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t recover from the recent setback.

“Their bond is so strong that it hasn’t broken it completely, but this is probably one of the darkest moments in their relationship,” Balfe explained. “It’s a horrific thing to ask, but I also feel like, for Claire, she’s fighting for the survival of someone she loves and holds dear to her heart. She would do the same for Jamie and more, and does.”

Claire has good reasons to ask Jamie to spare Black Jack’s life. After all, Black Jack still needs to get together with Mary Hawkins (Rosie Day) to ensure Frank Randall’s (Claire’s husband in the 20th century) birth. Despite the reasons behind her request, Heughan revealed the epic fight put their relationship to the ultimate test.

“It’s the turning point for the whole season,” Heughan revealed in the interview. “It’s a huge ask of Jamie…Jamie agrees to it unwillingly and it really tests their relationship and has quite a detrimental effect.”

Before Claire and Jamie’s fight, Jamie came face to face with Black Jack for the first time since the end of last season. According to TV Guide, it took everything within Jamie — and the appearance of King Louis (Lionel Lingelser) — to prevent Jamie from killing Black Jack on the spot.

However, Jamie got his wish for revenge when he challenged Black Jack to a duel. Unfortunately, Claire’s request put an end to his desire to kill his tormentor, at least for the time being.

Although fans were looking forward to seeing Jamie put an end to Black Jack, Heughan went on to admit that Jamie’s relationship with Claire will be at a better, more mature place by the end of the season. While their relationship is in a dark place at the moment, fans can expect things to turn around in coming episodes.

“It was important for us to go somewhere else with it. Season one was the young love, the newlyweds and the honeymoon period. Season two is the more grown-up marriage. It’s more complex, more complicated, and there’s a lot of trauma that happens,” he stated. “A lot of conflict and challenges that they face in their marriage. But ultimately by the end of the season, it will make them a lot stronger because they’ll go through it together.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, Jamie and Claire’s plans to change the future might end up preserving it. Although Black Jack’s life is spared, their mission to prevent the Jacobite Rebellion and stop the Battle of Culloden is far from accomplished. Now that their relationship is in trouble, it is unclear if they will be able to go through with their plans without everything else falling apart.

The second season of Outlander continues Saturday nights on Starz.

Tell us! Do you think Jamie and Claire’s relationship will survive Season 2 of Outlander? Let us know in the comments, and check out a preview for Episode 6 below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlW5-w4F-RU

[Image via Starz]