Shots fired! During the Sunday, March 22, episode of Outlander, not everyone was happy with a love scene between Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) — including the author of the books the series is based on.
“The stables scene was such a disappointment…what has happened to their chemistry? Everything looked so forced and unnatural,” one viewer tweeted.
Author Diana Gabaldon, who also serves as a consultant on the drama, retweeted the message and added a response.
Bad dialogue, bad direction, bad lighting, awkward set. Actors did their level best with what they were given to work with. https://t.co/YM2ESGgGSa
— Diana Gabaldon (@Writer_DG) March 22, 2020
“Bad dialogue, bad direction, bad lighting, awkward set,” the writer, 68, tweeted. “Actors did their level best with what they were given to work with.”
However, when one fan asked if she was unhappy with the writing this season, she said that wasn’t the case.
“I think the writing this season is _very_ good,” Gabaldon wrote. “Just that particular scene didn’t come off well — and I wouldn’t have commented on it, even so, had it not been a scene people were particularly waiting for. It’s what — about 45 seconds?”
She also noted that the episodes coming up later in season 5 are “spectacular,” and that she enjoyed “everything aside from those 45 seconds” during Sunday’s episode. “On the whole, it’s a very good adaptation, and I think this season in particular is excellent. I thought _one_ 45-second scene was not good. That’s it.”
Gabaldon also was sure to defend Heughan, 39, and Balfe, 40.
“I thought the acting was really good–and both the earlier leadup to and the reconciliation after were both very good,” the Lord John and the Hellfire Club author continued. “The dialogue leading up to the actual sex and the staging of said sex left something to be desired.”
Outlander airs on Starz Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
