Stealing Her Power: The Problem with Claire’s Trauma in Outlander Season 6
I have had an issue all season with the way they're portraying Claire's trauma, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what was going wrong. The ether issue was part of it, but here, in the episode 6.07, I finally realized what was wrong.
It's Lionel. Every time Claire starts to spiral, it's not the assault she relives (sometimes that's one part), but she's haunted by Lionel. Why?
The best part about that storyline in S5 was that he wasn't some half-romanticized villain like BJR or Bonnet. And don’t get me wrong, I love to romanticize a villain, to call them love to hate characters, to delve into their psychological damage. To idolize their villainy. And that’s good at times. Having a complex villain who you understand, even when you don’t want to, or can empathize with, that’s good storytelling. But that can’t be every bad guy, and it shouldn’t be Lionel because it directly contradicts the theme of that storyline. He was a misogynistic asshole, but that’s indicative of the times they’re in. He absolutely did a very bad thing, things in fact, but he's not some mastermind. That was good, and different. And that story was powerful partially because it showed the mob mentality, the way many, many of the men around them are capable of being that kind of monster. Lionel was just like the rest of them. Maybe a little worse, but it was making a point about the way society at large viewed a woman who was willing to upset the status quo and stand up for herself.
Claire, in the aftermath, took back her power, had a badass "I've lived through two wars" speech, reclaimed herself and her body with her husband, and went on.
I am absolutely not saying she should feel the after effects of that trauma; she should. Strong does not mean unaffected. But the trauma suddenly centers on this one person, and that utterly negates the emotional power of the previous season. It gives Lionel way more importance in the narrative, and in Claire's life, than he ever had. It gives him the power, which is the exact opposite of what made the storyline in season 5 so good. It elevates him, when the point the previous season was just how commonplace his actions were. Yeah, he was terrible, and we’re glad he got what he got, but within the narrative of the story (and I’m talking about storytelling here, not how trauma works in real life), he doesn’t deserve to haunt Claire. He didn’t earn that as a villain.
I'm glad they're showing Claire struggling, and maybe season 6 is a good time for a reckoning where she has to come face to face will all the trauma and guilt over a quarter century. I'm all for that. Lionel could even be the catalyst, along with Malva, for everything she’s been through to come crashing down around her ears. But he isn't the centerpiece, and I hate that they've made him that. He's not the boogeyman; he's just some asshole like a bunch of other assholes who thought she was uppity and used and abused her as they saw fit. He's a worm, and he doesn't deserve to made into some nightmarish villain figure.
Show her trauma. Show her coping poorly (within her character, though). But quit giving away her power as a narrative character in an effort to make a dramatic story style. And quit undermining the beautiful work done at the end of season five. She conquered this demon already. That doesn't mean she can't still face the repercussions, but it shouldn't be dredged up just for drama's sake.
It seems like they had a few nods to all the trauma she’s been through in this season, including the flashback to getting raped by King Louis. But it just feels like nods rather than actual trauma that’s being dealt with in any meaningful way. The ether again sort of nods that direction, but it’s not coming through. We need words. We need actions, not just the same emotional beat over and over again for seven episodes.
Moreover, especially with Malva as they are plainly connecting it to guilt and her own insecurities about her place as a healer, why is it not Geillis who’s haunting her? Isn’t that the obvious connection. A young woman, full of life, a bit of the “devil” in her? A friend and confidante? A woman whose throat Claire actually did slash? How is that trauma not the one being dredged up? And Geillis, as a villain, deserves to haunt to Claire, and being that Claire actually is the one who killed her when Claire didn’t kill Malva, the guilt storyline makes significantly more sense with Geillis as the centerpiece.
As a viewer who understands that not everything is as easy as writing it on a page, maybe Lotte Verbeek wouldn’t have been available or or wanted to come back. But regardless, Claire could have heard lines Geillis said in her head. We catch a small glimpse of that, so why couldn’t it be the main thrust of the storyline. It wouldn’t be about a power as it is inherently with Lionel, but instead about the guilt and the fear that Claire is truly dealing with after Malva. Just as easily, she could be haunted by many ghosts inside her mind. After all, “we haunt ourselves.”
In any case, I want Claire’s trauma. I loved her “boxes” speech and I appreciate that they aren’t brushing things aside. But the way they’ve done it is frustrating and robs Claire of her power, and that I just can’t forgive.