Now he’s not a dad yet. But this is where he shows he’s a feminist. Jamie and Claire get in a huge fight, he thinks it’s his job to punish her by spanking her with a belt (not cool), she fights back and then sexiles him. But he goes against the thinking of that time about what a man and woman’s roles should be, and on bended knee says to his wife, “Sorry I spanked you, please kill me with this knife if I ever do it again.” And then she says you’ll be sorry if you ever hit me again, and I’m going to hold this knife to your throat, mid-coitus so you really get my point, while I get yours.

This is what I like to call Drunk Pre-Dad Jamie. Who’s still a feminist when he’s drunk?! James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser, that’s who. When Jamie learns little Robby McNabb’s abusive dad is beating him up, he takes him out for a drink and lesson. “I tried to reason with him, but in the end I had to show him the difference between abuse and discipline.” And then he hits Claire on her bum for emphasis — which Claire “loves.” Okay dude, still too soon (hi, knife lesson, see above). Claire’s face in this scene is priceless and worth watching on loop. Important to note, she was fast asleep before drunk JAMMF rolled in like an elephant. But drunk Jamie was standing up for a kid against an abusive father, so wake up Claire!

When Claire tells him she can’t have children, Jamie’s reaction is human, vulnerable, and kind. He says, “Maybe it’s for the best, I wouldn’t want you to be in pain. I can bare pain myself, but not yours.” Claire tells him she wouldn’t mind the pain. When Claire leaves to help deliver Jenny’s baby, you can tell Jamie is heartbroken, but the sensitivity with which he reacts to this news cannot be matched. He was being a good dad before he even knew he was a dad. Pretty sure Claire was pregnant in this scene and did not know it. Also, Jamie was about 23 years old. What kind of 23-year-old man would think to understand the pain of childbirth?!

This is when Jamie learns he is going to be a father. It’s a surprise to both he and Claire, since they believed she couldn’t have children. After Jamie’s terrible sexual assault, Claire isn’t sure how he’ll take the news. When she asks him if he’s happy, he smiles and says he is “Verra happy.” That’s Jamie speak for very, very, very happy. And these two little to-be-parents sail off into the windy sunset.

Jamie and Claire have a fight when Claire starts working at a hospital. He reminds her she’s with child. Like she could forget? She’s wearing a corset whilst pregnant, and a bum roll, and has a baby bump, trust me, she knows! (Wait, did women have to wear corsets when they were pregnant?!) Jamie storms off, and then picks up a pickpocket named Fergus. Little did Jamie and Claire know but that little French mini-man would become their adopted son. Fergus’s first words to his would-be-mom, “Nice boobs” except in French. She was kind of flattered until she learned he said that to all the ladies.

In France, Claire was pregnant and Jamie was suffering from PTSD. Jamie wasn’t in dad mode, but he did learn a little something about feminism from Claire, again. Claire decides to surprise Jamie in bed one day. When he realizes she got some waxing done, he exclaims, “Claire! Your honeypot, it’s bare!” Jamie quickly gets through his initial shock and disappointment, “But to rid yourself of such a lovely forest!” LOL. “You’re a daring woman Sassenach, suppose that makes me a very lucky man.” The next morning, Jamie gets another fun feminist lesson, when he sees Claire in a revealing red dress. After calling her “mad” and telling her he can see every inch of her and suggesting she should change, she says, “Nope!” And he’s all, “Ok.” And that’s how pretty much all their feminist conversations went.

“Wee, it’s your father,” Jamie whispers in a Darth Vader voice, except Scottier, to Claire’s baby bump. This episode is peak Jamie being an almost dad! Claire is pregnant with Faith, and Jamie feels Faith moving, and gets super excited. After telling Faith he can’t wait to meet her, he gets even more excited and asks Claire if it’s okay if they get Frasery in the sheets. But first he says, “Is it ok, with a bairn?” Faith, your dad was super respectful of your apartment (aka your mom’s uterus), in utero, kid. He doesn’t want to be poking around without permission. *Poking, laughs to self. Claire tells him, “It’s fine you won’t hurt us.”

While giving Claire a much needed pregnancy foot rub, Jamie tells Claire the only reason he is not killing Blackjack is because he wants Frank to live, if Claire needs to go back to the future with their child. “I want it to be a man that loves you. Someone to care for you and our bairn.” Honestly, if Claire wasn’t already pregnant, she’d definitely get pregnant right there. But then this episode then takes an Outlander turn. When Jamie finds Blackjack sexually assaulting Fergus, he flips. Jamie ends up almost killing Blackjack Randall, but sadly, at the same time Claire miscarries. Claire and Jamie are devastated. He once again is set to prison and she goes through the aftermath alone.

Claire returns home without Faith and Jamie. The scene where Fergus holds Claire’s hand as she arrives home from the hospital will make you cry. If not, you might be a heartless monster. Possibly. Definitely. When Jamie is freed from prison, thanks to Claire, they’re both upset. He tells her what has happened here is too great for either of them to bear alone. And by the grace of God, they may be blessed with another child. And when Claire says, “Oh one more thing, I slept with the King” to save you. Jamie understands. And says, you did what you had to do. (Ahem, Claire was forced to have sex with the king, “slept with,” makes it sound like she wanted to). Okay? Thank you. They decide to head back home to Scotland but first make a stop at their daughter’s grave.

Jamie, Claire and Fergus go to war together. This is significant because Jamie declares Fergus as part of their family officially.

Jamie and Claire learn she’s pregnant again. With Brianna. Oh Bree, Jamie is so feminist that he tracked your mom’s period during a war! What a great da! Imagine if there was karaoke about Jamie as a dad? Let’s call it Daraoke! “Da you remember the very first time in September?” “Drop it like it’s Da.” “Da Greatest Love of All,” “Da Ba Dee Da Ba Dad- I’m Blue,” (and having sex with my pregnant wife in a blue room). I’m sorry I can’t not hear that song when I think of that scene. So Bree, he Marty McFlyed your mom and sent her back to the future because he loved you both the most and wanted you to be safe. Even if it meant he would never see either of you again.

So Jamie gives up Claire to make sure their daughter was born. Let’s talk about this. This might be Jamie and Claire’s Titanic wood board moment. Just like Rose could have scooched over to make room for Jack on that wood, Jamie and Claire could have come up with a Plan B instead of a Plan Frank. I blame Jamie for this. Claire looked like she could have figured it out. When Jamie tells Claire she must go home, she says, “You are my home.” “And you are mine. But this home is lost. But you and the bairn must go to safe place, to a man who could care for you both.” If Claire wasn’t pregnant already, she would have been, because they have some stone travel sex here before she sets off on her 200-year-long flight.

While Claire’s hanging in the future with Frank and her and Jamie’s daughter, Brianna, Jamie’s rocking some long locks and a bushy beard and is pretty depressed in the past. Fergus’s hand is cut off by the Red Coats, and Jamie tells him, “You remind me I have something to fight for.” Then Jamie makes the ultimate sacrifice for his family and gives himself up and goes to prison.

Jamie becomes a father again, when he’s forced into sleeping with a woman from a wealthy family. She died soon after. (I’m not saying that’s what happens when you force someone to sleep with you, but I’m not saying that it’s not either). But we did get to see Jamie being a part time Dad to little Willie, who is super cute, but he does look pretty angry at all times. I like to call it Resting Willie Face. This episode just shows us Jamie Fraser is not allowed to be happy when it comes to his kids. Jamie is sadly only able to help raise his son for a short time.

Jamie learns his daughter with Claire is safe and alive and sees her picture for the first time. He’s none too happy at the bikini pic of Brianna. But when Claire explains all the girls wear them in the 1960s, he and his wee tiny specs, let it go (or so we think).

After Claire and Jamie’s very naked reunion, Claire tells him, “I will never leave you again.” And he responds, “You had to go, for Brianna.” Jamie already knows parents have to sacrifice for their kids. Jamie and Claire spent most of this episode naked.  Because how do you think Brianna got here?! Her feminist parents like having sex!

Feminist dad morphs into sexist dad for a hot second when Jamie criticizes Claire for allowing Bree to wear a bikini. But he’s quickly called on his BS by his wife. Who points out, “Hey babe, don’t you live in a brothel?” So JAMMF zips it but is sad that he missed 20 years of his daughter’s life. We will let that bikini comment pass, James. This is also the first episode we see that Young Ian, Jamie’s nephew, is like a son to him. So when Claire and Jamie get into a fight when she sees Jamie lie to Ian, Young Ian’s actual father, and she says, “You have no idea what it’s like to be a worried parent.” Jamie is gutted.

This episode has a lot of drama, brought about by Jamie’s little omission that he married Claire’s evil arch enemy Laoghaire when he and Claire were separated for 20 years. (Somewhere Jamie is yelling, “We were on a break.”) Jamie gets shot, but this is also where he flexes his feminist dad muscles with Young Ian. Instead of punishing him with a beating, he makes Young Ian shovel actual sh*t. Now that’s the way to teach your nephew. Jamie also only married Laoghaire to be a dad to her two girls. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t love Laoghaire (because he says this very clearly in a raised voice to Claire, to which she responds with, “Oh so you can marry a woman you don’t love and then toss her aside.” Seriously don’t try and fight with Claire. She will crush you with facts, James).

Jamie continues his feminist dadding with Young Ian when he advocates for Ian to come with Claire and him to France. And also to swim pretty far for some box of jewels, so he can pay annoying Laoghaire alimony. What the what? (Jamie can’t swim because of his cuckolded arm injury. That’s just what we will call that particular injury from now on because Laoghaire was cuckolded she believed and shot him in the arm. And hence, he couldn’t swim).

Claire and Jamie look happy in this picture. But this episode begins with angry dad Jamie who learns Fergus and Marsali are married… ok handfast — which back then meant you could hold hands and declare you got married. It’s like eloping, with hands. Jamie is super pissed. Like in a way only a dad would be if he learned his step daughter was now engaged to his adopted son. Sounds creepier than it is. They are not related. But back to Dad JAMMF’s anger. He’s not having it. In fact, he tells Marsali and Fergus they will be sleeping separately, Fergus with him and Marsali with Claire. Claire and Marsali are not into this idea. “We’ve been apart for 20 years, and you want me to room with her?!” Claire says to Jamie. Jamie tells her he’s protecting Marsali’s virtue, Claire complains, “Clearly mine too.” Seems like Claire wants to have some boat sex with her husband, and Fergus and Marsali are um… boat-blocking them. Don’t worry, those little boat bunnies get some boat action in. (Hence the smiles in this photo). And how does Fergus react to his angry dad. He’s all, “Mon pere est mad.” (That’s a little something I like to call French English). Translation: “My Dad is mad.” (I was too lazy to look up the French word for mad).

Jamie officially declares Fergus a Fraser when Fergus and Marsali are married. The priest is super awkward and mocks Fergus for not having a hand, and then asks Marsali if he has a, um, little Fergus too. Except he says, “C*ck.” At a wedding! Marsali does a double take, then slams back, “Well if you’d speed it up, I could find out.” Yes, girl. You find out. What kind of crazy priest makes penis jokes at a wedding?! This coconut cockatatooo, who talked to a coconut. But he did save Claire (ish). Seeing Claire and Fergus’s face when Jamie announces that his name is Fergus Claudelle Fraser will make you tear up. That little French fam has come a long way from when he was a pickpocket complimenting Claire’s boobs.

To save Brianna in the future and free young Ian, Claire and Jamie go after Geillis, who not only has imprisoned Young Ian, but is also trying to make her way back to the future to murder Bree. Jamie tells Claire, “We lost Faith, we will not lose Brianna.” And then Jamie fights someone 100 times his size and Claire beheads Geillis. Brianna’s parents are super hot and super scary. Do not mess with them. They will actually cut your head off. And after they take care of Geillis and free young Ian, what does Jamie do? He calls for a group fam hug with Claire and Young Ian. Awww… Dad Jamie likes to group hug!

Young Ian has a breakdown about being sexually assaulted by Geillis, and Jamie consoles him in the middle of a cemetery. He also confides in Young Ian that he also was assaulted. Jamie Fraser is basically what all dads would be like if they went to therapy. It’s true. (Okay, this family has been hurt too much. Jamie, Ian, Fergus, Brianna, Claire have all been assaulted. Leave them alone. Protect these Fraser birds at all costs going forward).

Lord John brings Willie for a visit. But then LJ gets measles, and Claire stays with him while Jamie takes teen Willie camping. Willie still has Resting Willie Face, but he does smile a few times, like when Jamie catches a fish with his bare hands. I mean come on Dad, now you’re just showing off. He also teaches his son how to shoot without making animals suffer. Jamie does his selfless dad thing here: When it looks like Willie might have angered some people and be killed, Jamie offers his life up instead.

This is without a doubt, the best Jamie dad moment in the series — the moment he meets his and Claire’s daughter, Brianna. It’s one of those scenes that even if your heart is made of ice, it will melt. And you will cry. Go on watch it, try not to cry. Brianna finds Jamie relieving himself in an alley. Hi Dad! Did ya drink a lot of water? When he asks her who she’s looking for, she says, “You.” He politely tells her he’s married. Aww Bree, your dad thinks you’re hitting on him and doesn’t realize you’re his daughter. When Bree tells him that she’s his daughter, Sam Heughan and Sophie Skelton’s performances here cannot be matched. She falls into Jamie’s arms crying, he warmly says all Scottish, as he himself cries, “Dinna weep lass.” He then wipes her tears with his hand. (Try to ignore that 25 seconds prior he was peeing in the alley, it’s still a sweet moment). Unsanitary, but sweet. “Bree-united and it feels so good!”

Jamie takes Bree bee hunting. He tells her, “You’re my flesh and blood. Since you’ve returned to me, I’ve found that you’re my heart and soul as well.” Oh Jeez. You do have a way with words. The trip ends with Bree asking Jamie, “What should I call you?” To which he responds, “You can call me Da — it’s simple.”

When they return home, Jamie, Claire and Brianna eat some honey together. What a dad, he’ll hunt bees with you and make you fresh Honey Nut Cheerios sans nuts or cheerios. Super sweet scene, but because it’s Outlander it doesn’t last. Everything goes very, very, wrong. Thanks to Lizzy, whose misinformation (think of her as the 17th century’s fake news) leads Jamie down a bad dad path. But before that happens, later that night, Jamie can’t sleep and tells Claire he doesn’t want Bree to ever leave. He tells Claire, “She is a gift from me to you. And you to me.” And he dad brags, “She smiles in her sleep, as you say I do, I could watch her forever.”

So Jamie’s beaten the crap out of Roger, who he wrongly thinks, thanks to Miss Information Lizzy, is the man who raped Brianna. Poor Roger got beat bad. And then sold to the Mohawk, which was not a fun walking tour of the woods, like the brochure said. Cut to Jamie and Brianna walking through the woods where Jamie explains to Brianna that she couldn’t have stopped Bonnet from attacking her. They talk about his sexual assault. Jamie tells her he didn’t fight Blackjack, “I gave my word not to fight for your mother’s life, I would do the same again.” They then have the sweetest happiest family dinner, complete with bittersweet music. Jamie’s happy, Bree’s happy, Claire’s happy, Murtagh’s happy.

This is where we see Jamie at his weakest as a dad: Jamie makes a dad slip-up. A big one. When he learns Roger wasn’t the one who attacked Brianna, but she says they did sleep together, dad gets confused — and also maybe doesn’t process his daughter being sexually active as well as we might hope! He accuses Brianna of lying. And he gets slapped by his not so wee bairn. And then she slaps Young Ian too, and Claire is like “Whoa, kid.” (Where did Bree learn to slap like that? Wait a minute. Cues Claire slapping Jamie from Season 1 to Season 5. Ahhh. Like mother, like daughter. Apple, Tree, Claire, Bree…. )

This episode was rough for our favorite feminist dad. His wife was mad at him, his daughter was mad. His nephew felt bad for him. And you know who was most mad at our fave Dad? He was. He was mad at himself. He regretted what he said to Brianna, and even told Claire he couldn’t be a father to Brianna because she hates him. Claire gently said, “You both say things out of anger, and Frank made mistakes too.” Like the one where he knew Jamie was alive and kept that to himself? Sad JAMMF only gets un-sad when Claire tells him Brianna doesn’t hate him. Claire says she’s sorry, and Jamie says he’s sorry, and then they’re “sorry” together, naked. Dads need love, too! Even when they accidentally call their daughters harlots.

When Jamie and Claire finally find Roger, Jamie does the most selfless thing he can for his daughter. He tells the Mohawk he will take Roger’s place if they free him. Thankfully, Young Ian makes a deal that he will take Roger’s place. Jamie says goodbye to nephew-son, and he and Claire take a very wounded Roger back to their campsite. And here’s where feminist dad comes back. When Roger punches him in the face out of anger (we get it, Roger had a right to be super mad at his handfast Dad-in-law), Jamie tells Claire to let him Bree, er, be, and then lets Roger beat the crap out of him, which ends in a sort of man hug. But then Claire tells Roger that Brianna was raped and is pregnant, and the baby might not be his. Instead of saying, “I need to see Brianna,” he says, “I need time.” And that’s where Feminist Dad and I become mad at Roger for a year. Jamie can’t hide his disdain. Jamie and Claire return to Brianna and her new baby and have a bittersweet reunion without Roger. At the very last minute, Roger returns.

So if you shame his daughter, Jamie Fraser will shade you and funnily enough also shave you. On Bree and Roger’s wedding day, Jamie shaves Roger. Roger looks worried. He should be. Jamie was still not a fan. Even though he didn’t think Brianna’s husband-to-be was worthy, he morphed into a little wedding planner, and got together a tray with something old, something blue for Bree. It included his mother’s pearls which he gave to Claire on their wedding night. And he needed his tiny glasses just to put the pearls on. As Jamie walked Brianna down the aisle, he announced all sexy dad, “The Frasers of the Rrrrridge are Here!” (Seriously, Sam Heughan rolled that “R” rull good).

And we see Jamie and Claire as grandparents for the first time! They watch Jemmy on Bree and Roger’s wedding night. They are sort of like those babysitters who have sex when your kid goes to sleep. And when I say sort of like, I mean exactly like. But Jamie and Claire love a good wedding night. Let’s be honest, some things never change.

After ending up with an abandoned baby, Jamie tells Claire, “If you wanted another child, perhaps I might give you one, one that you wouldn’t have to suffer carrying.” He then asks her if she wants to keep “wee Bonnie.” JAMMF giving us a bad case of the swoons here. Throughout this episode, we see that Jamie deeply regrets that he and Claire were never parents together.

This episode was gutting. Jamie lost his father figure and godfather Murtagh. But still, he sees how distraught Brianna is that Roger hasn’t returned, so he, Claire and Bree set out to find him. Unfortunately, they find him after it seems like he has been hung. Jamie is sort of the hero and the villain in this. He kind of sent Roger on the errand of finding Murtagh. Though Roger volunteered to go.

Here we see Jamie as the Granda who makes a mistake. While watching Jemmy, Granda looks away and doesn’t see Jemmy about to touch a hot kettle. Luckily Roger sees, but he hadn’t spoken for a long time, and sounded like an angry frog and scared Jemmy, but thankfully saved his son’s hands! But if it weren’t for that, we might not have gotten this great Granda moment. Jamie and Claire playing “Hide and Seek” with their grandson. This cuteness ends with an inexplicably large horned pig popping out of the bushes! Don’t worry, granda’s got you covered. He whips out his knife and protects Jemmy and Grandma Claire. Multitasking with a knife, hmmm who did he learn that from? Hi, grandma! That is a story you will never hear Jemmy, but just know your grandmother has a way of teaching that’s extremely effective. And requires minimal clothing, and ends well. Maybe twice.

Jamie kicks off this episode heading over to his daughter’s cabin (yeah that cabin she slapped him in), to ask her to go hunting. He arrives at an awkward dad time, when he realizes she and Roger were about to do what he and Claire do ALL. THE. TIME. When Bree tells her dad she has other plans with Claire, Jamie is left to go hunting with Roger, his not so favorite son-in-law. Well, thanks to a snake, this is the episode where Roger and his FIL finally bond.  All it takes is for Jamie to be on his literal deathbed for him to finally give Roger a chance. Even as Roger was dragging his Dad-in-law on a twig stretcher, Jamie couldn’t resist jokes at Roger’s expense. Brianna saves the day, when she makes a syringe to save her Dad’s leg. Happy Father’s Day, Da, you get to keep your leg. In fact, both mother and daughter are very hands on in this episode, but in different ways. Wink. This season needed more Brianna and Jamie. But this episode was a nice dose of them and penicillin.

Jamie’s Bonnet capture plan goes awry when Bonnet knocks Claire out at the beach and kidnaps Bree. Bonnet: 1 Dad: 0. But thankfully, Jamie and Claire manage to rescue Bree in the nick of time. Bree says she wants the law to deal with Bonnet, so feminist dad and mom step back. And yes the Frasers look like they’re about to drop the sickest mix tape of the 17th Century, called “JAMMF.”

When everyone discovers Jemmy can travel through the stones, Brianna and Roger decide to leave and go back to the future. Jamie is heartbroken, as is Claire. Jamie tells Bree she has a brother, because he wants her to know there’s more than just her parents in this world. And we all know Jamie doesn’t like keeping secrets or lies. (Except that whole oops I married Laoghaire). Jamie tells Bree, “Even though I may never see any of you again, you have made my life whole.” Tears.

This episode contains two amazing Jamie Fraser da moments and quite frankly, one of Sam Heughan’s best performances in the entire series. We’ll call part one: The Father, the son and the holy sh*t Fergus. This scene will break your heart and make you weep. We all saw how Jamie and Claire fell in love with Fergus, the little French orphan who crept into their hearts as an 11 year old pick pocket. Sure, he started by weirdly complimenting his future mom’s boobs, but he was raised in a brothel, and Claire was pregnant when he met her. And also, facts. Fergus grew into a man and father himself in seasons 5 and 6. But season 6 brought a new darkness to Fergus triggered by the brutal attack on Marsali and Claire. In this episode Fergus feels useless because some kids almost drowned his newborn son Henri-Christian. Jamie sees Fergus in the woods as he slits his wrist. Jamie runs and saves him and tells him he is not useless to his family and that they all need him. “Tu comprend? Mon enfant? Mon fils?” “You understand, my child, my son?” Jamie tells him in French. Can’t type, crying. Bye.

When Jamie’s grandson Germain and his wee cronies try to test to see if Marsali and Fergus’s newborn son, Germain’s brother, can float by putting him in a basket and almost drowning him, Granda Jamie proves what a legend he is. And reminds us we deserved to see Jamie Fraser as a young dad to Faith (sorry! but it’s true) and Brianna. But this scene sort of makes up for the 20 years we missed. Germain is in deep trouble. Marsali gives him the worst mom look in history (sorry wee man, you deserved it). Granda Jamie tells Germain to round up his accomplices and be in his office before dinner. This scene is adorably funny and Jamie Fraser teaches his grandson and his friends a lesson with the mild threat of fire, but mostly empathy when he gives each of them the choice of touching a hot poker or Henri-Christian. (He’s trying to prove to them Henri-Christian is not the devil). Point made Granda! Then Jamie explains to Germain, it’s his responsibility to protect his brother. Seriously, Granda of the year, Fraser.

And that, in conclusion, is why Jamie Fraser is our favorite dad in any century. Happy Father’s Day, Da. Da End.