*SPOILERS FOR OUTLANDER SEASON 7 EPISODE 3 AHEAD!*
A lot happens in Outlander Season 7 Episode 3 “Death Be Not Proud,” but the quietly beautiful moment that might stick with you the most is when Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) tenderly sings “Ave Maria” at a funeral. It’s a moment that has been featured in trailers for the seventh season of the Starz hit and pushed Caitriona Balfe out of her comfort zone.
“Oh, well, I can’t say that it’s a natural thing for me to be singing,” Balfe told Decider, confirming that yes, she is really singing in Outlander Season 3 Episode 7. And it wasn’t necessarily her idea.
“You know, they suggested it and, you know, look, it’s always nice to have a new challenge,” she said. “They might have been able to pick an easier song, but they didn’t. They really threw me in there.”
Ironically, a lot gets thrown at Claire and her beloved Jamie (Sam Heughan) in Outlander Season 7 Episode 3 “Death Be Not Proud.” First, Wendigo Donner (Brennan Martin) causes their house to go up in flames with the help of Claire’s ether and Brianna’s (Sophie Skelton) matches. In the future, Brianna and Roger (Richard Rankin) are thrilled to discover via preserved 18th century missives that Jamie and Claire survived, but in the 1770s, all seems lost.
While the Frasers attempt to recover what they can from the ashes of their home, Jamie discovers that Mr. Bug (Hugh Ross) and his wife Mrs. Bug (Sarah Collier) have been sitting on a share of stolen Jacobite gold this whole damn time! When Jamie and Young Ian (John Bell) try to figure out where it’s hidden, they mistake Mrs. Bug for her husband and Young Ian kills her by accident. Mrs. Bug’s death hangs over Young Ian and inspires a creepy scene where Mr. Bug confronts the residents of Fraser’s Ridge during Mrs. Bug’s funeral. The old man swears vengeance on Ian and pressures Claire into honoring his dead wife with a song.
“Claire’s not a classically trained singer,” Balfe said, explaining that they decided to lean into imperfection. “So let’s just go and do it acapella and see what happens.”
“But you know, it’s it’s a beautiful scene. I think it’s always hard to say goodbye to certain characters. And it felt like a fitting send off for a beloved one that we have.”
However there was one more goodbye in this week’s episode that might hit Outlander fans even harder than Murdina Bug’s untimely death. Claire and Jamie decide to bid adieu to Fraser’s Ridge. The plan is to return to Scotland so Young Ian can be reunited with his parents in Lallybroch. Will Jamie, Claire, and Ian make it back to the Highlands? Or does fate have other plans?
Outlander Season 7 Episode 3 “Dead Be Not Proud” is now streaming on the Starz app. It will premiere on Starz tonight at 8 PM ET/PT.
