‘Outlander’ Season 5 Premiere: I Will Never Get Over That Sex Montage Needle Drop

The Outlander Season 5 premiere gives the fans what they want. It opens on a flashback in Scotland and pivots to Brianna’s (Sophie Skelton) wedding to Roger (Richard Rankin) in the New World. There’s romance, revelry, and a reveal where Jamie (Sam Heughan) suits back up in his kilt, like a sexy Scottish sex Avenger. Claire (Caitriona Balfe) gets to look radiant, Brianna gets to use her dad’s old catchphrase, “Je suis prest,” and there’s a swoon-worthy sex montage.

The only problem is that Outlander chose an absolutely insane needle drop to accompany that montage: an acoustic version of “L-O-V-E” that quickly transitions to a full bluegrass moment. It was corny, it was ahistorical, and it was not sexy. I literally thought Emmet Otter’s Jug Band* had busted into the world of Outlander Kool-Aid Man style. I will never, ever get over the song choice and how it sucked the eroticism out of Outlander for me hard core.

First of all, the initial idea of using the Nat King Cole song “L-O-V-E” in Outlander makes sense in the context of what’s happening. I have no problem believing that Roger would serenade Bri on their wedding night, nor that he would pick a sweet pop hit from the 1960s. Where the moment loses me is when it expands out to show us three separate couples canoodling, all while an instrumental blue grass band takes over from Roger. That, my friends, is where I lost it — or maybe, Outlander lost me.

As someone who loved how the first season of Outlander grappled with the contradictions of desire, I’ve found myself struggling to stay invested in the show’s more recent seasons. The show is an escapist fantasy, but as this sequence proves, eroticism isn’t the point. And so the juxtaposition of watching three separate couples doing it in the 1700s while random colonial people swayed offbeat at a wedding party was wildly unappealing to me. The upbeat bluegrass band playing “L-O-V-E” over this awkward montage made it worse. I was lost in cornball city, population everyone but me.

The Outlander Season 5 premiere gives fans a picture perfect wedding, a titular fiery cross, and tons of pretty people happily in love. However, it also drove me slightly insane with that bluegrass needle drop.

*There are no actual jugs or otters in Bear McCreary’s musical arrangement, but I kept thinking I would hear one and see the other.

Where to stream Outlander