[Warning: The below and video above contain MAJOR spoilers for Outlander, Season 7, Episode 13, “Hello, Goodbye.”]
Outlander‘s latest episode made way for another wedding as Ian (John Bell) and Rachel (Izzy Meikle-Small) made the leap together in “Hello, Goodbye.”
It was a family affair as Ian’s aunt and uncle Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) helped host the event in Philadelphia, where Rachel’s brother Denzell (Joey Phillips) managed to arrive just in time for the nuptials. Holding a Quaker ceremony, the event wasn’t like other weddings viewers have seen on the show as participants and onlookers waited for the spirit to move them to speak.
While Jamie and Claire’s whispering leads to a metaphorical spotlight being shined on Jamie to speak, it is Denzell who steps in next to confess he didn’t imagine his sister going down this path, suggesting if he hadn’t led her into dangerous war zones, then perhaps she wouldn’t have found herself in love with someone who lives life dangerously. The comment stirs up some drama but is eventually settled, leaving Ian and Rachel to exchange vows.
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Much of the build-up towards their nuptials surrounds Ian’s concerns about being with Rachel, considering he has more romantic experience than her. His uncle Jamie had some encouraging words for him, supporting the young man on his big day. “Any of the Jamie – Young Ian scenes, they’re sort of a combination of a huge emotional obstacle that Ian usually needs to come across, and sometimes even Jamie has to come across too,” Bell tells TV Insider. “So filming that scene with Sam… it was kind of surreal because it sort of felt like how far we’ve come with our characters on their journey.”
No words Jamie could have shared with Ian would have prepared him for Rachel’s boldness as the pair spent their first night together as a married couple. When things begin taking a steamier turn, Ian is quite shocked to find Rachel taking the lead at times and being bold with her advances.
“I think it’s quite an exciting surprise for Ian,” Bell says. “There’s always been this fiery quality to Rachel, which I think is what’s attracted him from the very beginning to her energy… We started off that scene imagining it being a present being unwrapped, and there was an excitement of what were they going to see when they were totally vulnerable with each other,” he adds.
Meikle-Small found it equally as exciting, especially as a performer because, as she puts it, “Rachel’s a very devout Quaker, and this will be her first time with a man in that way, normally we see that storyline being a woman is very nervous and shy and worried it’s going to hurt. And I think she does have all those fears, but I think she loves Ian and she trusts him and they’ve had quite a prolonged engagement at this point. And I think that she has quietly been raring to go.”
That is certainly felt through the screen as Rachel operates in a different way than Ian would have expected, but it adds to the fun and fresh feeling their relationship dynamic brings to the screen. Along with taking their wedding vows, Ian also makes a promise to Rachel that he’ll do his best to refrain from killing as he knows her religious views are against it.
See what Bell and Meikle-Small have to say about Ian and Rachel’s new marriage, that promise, and hopes for the future in the full Inside Outlander Aftershow, above, and stay tuned for next week’s aftershow as Outlander Season 7 continues on Starz.
Outlander, Season 7B, Fridays, 8/7c, Starz (Midnight on the Starz App & On Demand)