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Guardian

It was a tug on the string that connected their souls, whenever they said her name. It was, curiously, not unlike the tugging sense of urgency to go to them when one of her charges was in danger; in either case, she was powerless but to draw nearer to them.

Or, five times Jamie and Claire’s guardian angel tried to reach out and connect, and the one time she succeeded.

Fumi Kaneko and Vadim Muntagirov in Romeo and Juliet (Royal Ballet 2025)

I won’t go in to it too much as I've been largely offline and have no time to fully catch up, but what I will say is neither my husband nor I would find the other acting like that with a long-running co-star out of costume in a promo acceptable. It’s not normal, or necessary.

So while we’ve known everyone’s been lying for years, the question becomes which “option” is the lie, and how far would they go to sell it. How morally bankrupt are they, really?

Either they’re together and have - for years - consented to lie and hide it (**it could have been in that first, usually 6 season, contract) and on top of that take “the narrative” route, to further sell it. The problem is that at the same time they were claiming to be “like brother and sister”, they were not suppressing behaving in a way that suggested otherwise when they knew they were being watched. Saying one thing and blatantly doing another. “Look at us!” “WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT US” type stuff back and forth. Why not just…not comment on your personal life? Don’t be touchy-feely in interviews, act normally, and ignore it when people talk. Either of those two methods would be forgivable - for a while. But we’ve exceeded that time frame. Either sell what you’re saying, or fess up.

OR they’re not together, have never been, “the narrative” is true and they’ve been playing the “pretend to be secretly together to keep internet buzz going” game since 2012. This happens early on in shows, when buzz can make the difference between cancellation and renewal. But we’re a decade past that, so they keep saying “we’re not together stop speculating” while still acting like they are together well outside of playing Jamie and Claire. Moreover, there was zero off-set behavior change post husband, and that’s massively telling of both of their characters if in fact he is the husband. How disrespectful. Both options for “which is the lie” are bad, but this one is worse. One is making a friend look like a fool as he pretends to be a spouse, the other is actually disrespecting your spouse and setting a terrible example for what is appropriate off-set when in a marriage.

Lying to this degree in either direction is gross. But lying to fans, while professionally damaging, isn’t over the line like disrespecting a spouse, and an allegedly-in-the-church marriage, would be.

So again, how morally bankrupt are they?

Time will tell which it is, I guess. And as I’m the eternal optimist I’m still hoping for a third option that hasn’t been made apparent that'll make it OK.

Also I’m hoping to be able to enjoy the final season without the nonsense getting in the way, but for now this is where I am. We’ll see.

Anyway, real life calls, hope you’ve all been well :)

DOWNHILL was completed 5 years ago. wtf

Jamie ran for the stairs first. Claire wouldn’t have wasted time checking any of Adso’s first floor spots. No, she would have gone for that damned linen cupboard. But as he took the stairs two at a time, the heat in the stairwell became unbearable and Jamie’s heart plummeted to his stomach.

“Claire!”

The flames were at the landing and he fell back a step from the intensity of the fire. Up close, it was worse than he’d realized. “Claire!”

“Jamie?”

He couldn’t see her, but dread and relief battled within him at the sound of her voice. She was alright… and she wasn’t. She was on the other side of the flames and he couldn’t reach her. “Claire, I’m at the stairs. D’ye have the cat?”

“Yes, but the stairs are blocked.” He heard her coughing and instinctively took a step forward. “I’m going to find a window.”

“Come here! We’ll figure it out.”

“No!” She coughed again. “Go back down, I’ll find another way out.”

Clouds. Unkashū. v.2. 1903.