‘Outlander’ episode 11 reaction: Show boss on Claire’s choice between Frank, Jamie

One of the glorious things that can sometimes come out of watching a show blindly is that it gives you some of the freedom to craft your own interpretations on things. Such was the position we were in going into this weekend’s new episode of “Outlander.” We are not someone who has read a single page of the book, and we have deliberately stayed away from spoilers about for the sake of reviewing the series objectively.

When we watched the end of tonight’s episode “The Devil’s Mark”, we interpreted there as being some ambiguity as to whether or not Claire Fraser decided to touch those stones or not. The moment did not play out entirely for our eyes to see. For us, she could have either made that move, or tried it only to discover that the magic was no longer there. We enjoyed the mystery of it all, only to learn now that there is an answer that is somewhat more definitive. As executive producer Ronald D. Moore tells Entertainment Weekly tonight after the episode, there is one ultimate reading of this scene that matters:

“Claire has her chance. She could go back home and go back to Frank, but she walks away. She could go right to those stones. Jaime’s not there. It’s not like he’s begging her to stay. It’s completely in her lap, and she makes a conscious choices to stay.”

What we wonder now is this: If you wanted the choice to be definitive, why create any ambiguity at all? It does not take away from our enjoyment of the episode, but it does remain a question.

As for another important note from this interview, Moore claims that we will learn more about Geillis, who also seems to have come from the future, in upcoming seasons of the show.