Outlander Season 8 Episode 5 “Send For the Devil” on Starz features one of the randiest marriage proposals we’ve ever seen. One that goes from floating an illicit love affair to al fresco finger-banging under a stately gazebo.
**Spoilers for Outlander Season 8 Episode 5 “Send For the Devil,” now streaming on Starz**
Late in this week’s Outlander, William Ransom (Charles Vandervaart) and Amaranthus Grey (Carla Woodcock) once again find themselves in the garden, sitting together under Lord John Grey’s (David Berry) ornate gazebo. Amaranthus kicks off the flirtation by bringing up the gorgeous embroidered waistcoat she gifted William a few weeks back. She explains there are some beetles — with provocative names like the “fiery searcher” and “twice-stabbed lady” — she hasn’t been able to “tell him about.”
William then gets serious. He awkwardly admits his feelings for her and points out that people can die suddenly in war. William then reminds Amaranthus of her cheeky suggestion that they marry so William can pass his title to their firstborn son.
Just last week, Outlander stars Charles Vandervaart and Carla Woodcock had teased to DECIDER that the “seed had been planted” for a potential engagement with this scene.
“I think she’s sort of like floating it out there to see a response. So she’s like, ‘Oh, you could…’ And then if William was like, ‘No’ she would be like, ‘Yeah, no, I’m joking, I’m joking,’” Woodcock said. “So she’s like, ‘I’m joking — unless?‘”
“I love that you’re doing the ‘JK, JK…unless?‘” Vandervaart said. “I think a lot of emotional turmoil for William to get over before that can be a serious consideration, but I think definitely the seed has been planted.”
However, this week, Amaranthus reveals she had been serious. She even goes further, hinting that she would prefer they simply become lovers and marry eventually if and when she conceives a child.
“Of course, I might not get with child at all,” Amaranthus says. “But we might just enjoy the try.”
As a widow, it is true that Amaranthus has more protections in place for this kind of arrangement. Nevertheless, William is William and William takes his honor seriously. After they kiss, he tells her it can’t be like that. She pulls his hand to her thigh and he says, “We will get married. That is what we’ll do.”
They kiss some more and then the camera pans out so we can see William lifting Amaranthus’s skirt. As he moves his hand up, we go back to close up and Amaranthus moans in ecstasy and accepts his proposal. Almost immediately, she is on his lap and they are having sex in the gazebo.
Now, in classic Outlander fashion, the best laid plans of mice and men (and William Ransom) oft go awry. Outlander Season 8 Episode 5 ends with William escorting his half-sister Brianna (Sophie Skelton) to the Continental Army camp to find out what happened to Roger (Richard Rankin). After Brianna is reunited with her husband, William discovers that his cousin Benjamin Grey (Alex Bhat) is actually alive and seemingly fully committed to the Revolutionary cause.
William goes from hugging Ben to slapping him. One has to wonder, is William more pissed that his cousin faked his death, joined the Rebels, or is still alive to hinder his plan to marry the pretty Amaranthus? Either way, William Ransom really needs to stop hooking up with people in his family tree.
“I think his dating pool is the family reunion,” Vandervaart joked with a hearty laugh. “You know, I try and get him some some slack because that was probably the status quo at that time period, especially for Lords. But it is a bit weird. Twice in a row, William? Two’s a pattern, William!”
The Outlander series finale airs May 8 on Starz.