Outlander season 3 episode 9 ratings preview: ‘The Doldrums’ expectations

Will Outlander season 3 episode 9 lead to some ratings increases, or will it send the Starz series into … the doldrums? Okay, we had to use that terrible joke at some point since “The Doldrums” is the title of Sunday’s exciting episode.

Before getting too far into this, CarterMatt wants to take a look at the ratings for the past few weeks.

Episode 3×06, “A. Malcolm” – A series record 1.72 million.

Episode 3×07, “Creme de Menthe” – 1.52 million.

Episode 3×08, “First Wife” – 1.64 million.

Basically, you can see that the Outlander ratings themselves have been rather tempestuous the past several weeks, rising up and going back down like waves in the ocean. This puts “The Doldrums” in a fairly interesting spot.

The argument for higher ratings on Sunday night is that this episode is one that will feature Jamie and Claire at sea for the first time. While this has not been promoted as heavily as the Print Shop — and therefore may not have the same sort of casual viewer appeal — it’s certainly a part of the show that Outlander superfans have been excited to check out. Viewers for some shows do tend to fade out a little bit as the finale approaches, but we don’t think that this is necessarily the case for shows with this type of quality.

Meanwhile, there’s also an argument for the show’s ratings to just stay around where it is — the story at sea takes place for several episodes, and with that there may not be hype for this individual episode on the same level as the Print Shop. Viewers are going to have multiple opportunities to check this out over time.

Our Outlander season 3 episode 9 prediction

The ratings for “The Doldrums” are going to be strong, but our feeling is that it will finish with around 1.67 million. The appeal of Jamie and Claire at sea should be enough to pull more live viewers than the past two weeks, but it’s a little bit over-ambitious to think that this episode will set a record. We do think, however, that “A. Malcolm” will not finish the season as the most-watched installment in Starz history; one of the episodes at the end of the season will most likely break it since those are the episodes viewers often feel that they have to watch live. Otherwise, they run the risk of someone spoiling the show for them.

The saddest thing perhaps to think about at the moment is the mere fact that we are much into the Outlander home stretch now. There are only four more episodes to go this season after “The Doldrums” wraps, and then Droughtlander resumes again until fall 2018 at the earliest.

What are some of your Outlander season 3 episode 9 ratings expectations?

Share now in the attached comments below and be sure to visit the link here in the event that you do want some more news on tonight’s episode and beyond! Both our review of tonight’s episode and preview for what’s next will be published at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time tonight.

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