Starved for human touch, the cave-dwelling fugitive took comfort in the arms of Mary MacNab (Emma Campbell-Jones) at his sister Jenny’s suggestion while visiting his Lallybroch home.

‘[It’s] something we both need, something to keep us whole,’ Jamie – still longing for Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe) – explained.

Fraser later turned himself into redcoats since a British jail has ‘little difference to the prison I live in now.’

Meanwhile in 1940s Boston, Claire seduced her husband Frank (Tobias Menzies) by saying, ‘I miss my husband.’

But the medical student – clearly fantasizing about Jamie – refused to open her eyes during the fireside sex session, even at Frank’s insistence.

‘Claire, when I’m with you, I’m with you. But you’re with him,’ Frank later said, defeated.

Elsewhere in the episode, Fergus Fraser (Romann Berrux) is brutally punished by redcoats for possessing a contraband pistol.

Jamie watched helplessly as the French pickpocket had his arm chopped off by sword in the woods.

The complicated special effect involved clever editing, a realistic prosthetic hand, lot’s of fake blood pumping, and a green sleeve over Roman’s real hand.

Fergus then made a crude gesture with his bloody stump at the British and later joked, ‘with one stroke, I’ve become a man of leisure.’

The gory scene got quite a reaction on social media, with one user called Rachel Luna exclaiming: ‘Yooooo wtf they cut his hand off!’

Another Twitter user called Kamrun shared a ‘heartbreaking’ snap of ‘the close up of Fergus’ severed hand abdanoned in the forest.’

And Bitz on Twitter wondered how ‘Fergus didnt scream like a banshee’ during the horrific scene.

User Mary Maxwell was surprised at Fergus’ steeliness, tweeting, ‘apparently in the 18th century, losing a hand wasn’t really that big of a deal.’

On Instagram, user Lorinda Cockrell admitted she wanted to ‘reach through the screen and strangle the imbecile’ that hurt Fergus.

And Insta user Mabel Vazquez remarked: ‘It’s all fun and games until someone loses a hand. Love wee Fergus.’

Fans can catch more heated sexual tension between the rebel Highlander and the WWII nurse in the 13-episode third season of Outlander, which continues Sundays on Starz.