The Only 2 Episodes of Outlander Every Newbie's Allowed to Skip

Outlander tells the time-defying story of Claire, who accidentally travels back in time to Scotland in the 1700s, where she meets and falls in love with Scottish soldier Jamie. Their relationship is difficult for many reasons, and the brutal world Jamie lives in does not make it any easier.

There are depictions of graphic torture, war, sexual abuse and violence that will make any viewer squirm, but there are some moments where it becomes unbearable to watch.

Outlander can be confusing as it is, with the time jumps and storyline, and you’ll likely miss out on the action if you so much as blink, so why are there two episodes in the series that new viewers are allowed to skip?

Outlander is known for being graphic and pushing the boundaries of what is shown on screen, with countless instances of sexual assault, violence, blood and gore. There is an entire list made up of all the different triggering moments for sensitive viewers to skip.

Normally, we would never recommend skipping a whole episode, let alone two, but in Outlander’s case, there are two exceptionally painful episodes that even their fans cannot watch again. These same veteran fans have openly given any newbie starting the series a free pass to skip these two specific episodes:

Season 1, Episode 15 (Wentworth Prison) and 16 (To Ransom a Man’s Soul).

If you want to spare yourself from the intense and disturbing content, then you should skip these two episodes. Throughout half of episode 15 and for most of episode 16, Jamie is held against his will, and graphically sexually assaulted and tortured by another male character. It is dehumanizing, raw, and can be very triggering.

Even long-time fans have expressed their desire to never watch these scenes again, and will either skip the entire episode or fast-forward when they know a certain scene is coming.

Skipping these two episodes would save newbie fans from that distress, and would not affect their understanding of the storyline going forward. As long as newbie fans know what happened in those episodes, they can continue without them, and not experience plot holes of confusion in the episodes following.

Fans were rightfully outraged over the two episodes in question, with many feeling that Outlander had taken things too far. Whether or not everyone agrees, it is always good to forewarn newbies and give them the option to skip what many people feel are two episodes filled with unnecessarily graphic sexual violence.