Outlander's Marsali Is Season 5's Unsung Hero — Here's Proof

Outlander has always had its healer heroine Claire and its strapping savior Jamie. But as the show's current run draws to a close, we'd like to nominate a stealth candidate for the honor of Season 5 MVP: Marsali MacKimmie Fraser, played by Lauren Lyle.

SHE'S A BEAST

THE WOMAN GAVE BIRTH ASSISTED ONLY BY A ONE-ARMED FRENCHMAN AND TWO TODDLERS GOOD GOD WHAT MORE DO YOU PEOPLE WANT?

SHE PROVIDES PERSPECTIVE

When Bree freaked out after thinking Stephen Bonnet had kidnapped Jem from the Ridge, Marsali poured her sibling a dram and talked her off the ledge by sharing some deeply personal thoughts about wanting (and getting) revenge.

SHE BRINGS HOME THE BACON

Never afraid to have blood on her hands or offal smeared on her apron, Marsali does the heavy lifting (and cutting, and scraping, and other butchering-related actions) in order to feed her family and the rest of the folks on Fraser's Ridge.

SHE LOVES HER MAN

Though they had precious little screentime together this season, Marsali is as great a support to her husband, Fergus, in the fields as she is in the home. (Now let's all collectively hope for more for both of them to do next season.)

SHE'S CLAIRE'S SURGICAL NURSE

Armed with nothing more than her considerable wits and a can-do attitude, Marsali went from thinking her stepmother truly was a witch to helping her set broken bones and excise abcessed tonsils. And if you don't think that's a huge leap, you try getting an 18th century housewife to buy into germ theory and the necessity of sterilization. Marsali's something special, is all we're saying.

SHE'S A BAIRN MACHINE

Sure, they had precious little screentime... but apparently plenty of offscreen alone time! If the crops at Fraser's Ridge are as fruitful as Marsali and Fergus' union has proven to be — three kiddos and one on the way! — its inhabitants will have nooooo worries in the coming years. 

SHE OFFERS UNWAVERING SUPPORT (EVEN WHEN IT'S ABOUT MOLD)

Claire's joy at finding penicillin spores among her moldy bread was matched only by Marsali's, the sign of a true scientist-in-the-making.

SHE KNOWS WHAT TO SAY, EVEN WHEN SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED

Marsali's stoop chat with her newly returned, very haunted cousin Ian provided a wee bit of emotional refuge for the quiet, hurting young man.