The third season of Outlander has seen Claire (Caitriona Balfe) trying to make the best out of her life in Boston, America with her husband Frank (Tobias Menzies).
Frank has even agreed to raise Claire and Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) daughter Brianna (Sophie Skelton), as his own.
But, will Claire and Frank ever really work? And do we feel sorry for him?
Two TV WEEK-ers go head-to-head!
I DO
Tamara Cullen, writer
Poor Frank. He’s ready to raise baby Brianna as his own, even though he knows she’s the product of his wife Claire’s affair.
And when he looks at Brianna’s red locks, he’ll think of the man who stole her heart.
You could forgive Frank for feeling angry.
He should be seething his wife so readily forsake their vows and jumped into bed with another man; even a fine-looking Scot like Jamie.
Frank should be angry with Claire for her infidelity.
Why did she jump ship so quickly? Claire was getting busy with Jamie, while Frank was back in the present trying to figure out how his wife seemingly disappeared into thin air.
It wasn’t as though Claire was unhappy in her relationship with Frank before she went through the stones.
The two were in love, playfully intimate at the drop of a hat. Or any other item of clothing.
Frank truly loves Claire, which is why the knowledge that she will never love him as much as she does Jamie is so heartbreaking.
Claire will forever love Jamie.
I DON’T
Stephen Downie, assistant editor
Frank is a nerd. If he wasn’t so buried in his history books, maybe he would have been attuned to his wife’s desire for passion and adventure in the first place.
When Claire returned from Jamie, she vowed to make her life with Frank. It seems pretty clear from what we’ve seen that their relationship is strained, at best. At worst, it’s in the toilet.
He can never love Claire as Jamie did – and likely still does. And he will never know the depth of passion Claire and Jamie shared.
To his credit, Frank has tried to keep the home fires burning in Boston. A recent after-dinner moment found the two in each other’s arms.
But he put his foot in it when he suggested, mid-coitus, that while he was thinking of her, she on the other hand, was thinking of Jamie.
Poor Frank isn’t exciting enough for Claire.
He was probably right, but talk about a real mood-killer!
What Frank and Claire should probably do is separate. But those were different times, and such things were frowned on.
And Frank’s pride could never deal with the presumed scandal such a thing would cause in the community.
