Tom Christie is alive. His fast wits saved him in a lot the identical method they labored to free Claire Fraser, saving her life.
During a latest press day, we had the prospect to talk with Mark Lewis Jones about Tom’s motivations and what it was like enjoying the enigmatic character who has fallen deeply in love with Claire.
He shared many nice insights concerning the story and the complexities of Tom Christie. I hope you benefit from the dialog.
Tom Christie is a really complicated man with a really robust ethical code. How did that play into giving his life in alternate for Claire’s?
Yeah. It’s a giant journey, is not it?
It is.
From the place we first meet Tom to the place we find yourself. I assume you do it little by little, and it is a very sluggish reveal. Those scenes in Series Six are nice enjoyable to play, regardless that he comes throughout as a really unlikable character and no person can heat to him, and he is extremely strict and pious and self-willed and cussed and all that.
They’re really nice enjoyable to play these scenes.
Oh, certain.
Because the factor that I actually cherished about them was that the writers had at all times put factors of vulnerability in there, which after all, he tries to hide, however should you look again at even the primary time he meets Claire and when he reads the e book Tom Jones, and the operation and fainting and screaming with ache, and making an attempt to whip Malva, however his hand’s not working.
All that stuff was nice to play, and the payoff, I assume, is that you simply get to that place of vulnerability, real vulnerability.
By the time we get to the start of [Outlander Season 7], you get the true Tom, the weak Tom, the Tom that feels love, real love, and is ready to sacrifice himself on behalf of one other.
It’s nearly like he was dragged kicking and screaming into this new place in his life the place he is open to that vulnerability.
Oh, solely. This is all regardless of himself. He has no selection within the matter. He’s fought this tooth and nail — all his life most likely, however actually since he is met Claire. He did not wish to give in to any of this.
I feel Tom noticed his life as a single man making an attempt to maintain these two youngsters in some type of form and spending most of his life studying the Bible and going to church and making an attempt to ensure others did and maintaining the neighborhood as a God-fearing neighborhood round him.
That did not work in any respect. The ghosts of his previous come to revisit, and he finds himself on a journey with Claire as her protector. There’s a shift, is not there? There’s an actual transformation, an enormous transformation. We see the true Tom emerge by the point we get to the ship, and that reveal is the true Tom, however he is fought this tooth and nail.
This is in opposition to his greatest needs. I feel he genuinely thinks that one of the best factor for him is to stay a servant of God, a God-fearing individual, and he can’t do it. So for him to be, I assume, liberated from all of that’s actually type of touching. The actual Tom is an excellent factor, actually, and I assume it is the factor he most feared.
His ideas on Jamie and how he considered him as a person have been what introduced him to Fraser’s Ridge in Outlander Season 6, and he is now obtained this solely totally different view of Claire. How does he view these two as a pair, and how he then matches into their life in that framework?
Well, his relationship with Jamie, as we all know from the beginning, is antagonistic. Jamie appears to command all this respect. He has this pure means round males. If he performed a sport, he can be the pure captain, and these males really feel such respect for him.
So I assume when he involves Fraser’s Ridge for the primary time after we have seen him and seen the antagonism between them, it is no shock, I assume, to Tom that he has this extraordinary spouse. I feel the factor that basically throws Tom is for this man and girl to have an equal relationship. Tom’s by no means come throughout that.
He’s had tough relationships the place he is had a relationship with a witch that he believes to be an actual factor, and to see Jamie and Claire as utterly in love but additionally equal to one another is a rare factor. I do not suppose he is ever come throughout it.
So for Tom, that’s impenetrable, and when he is left alone with Claire, his emotions for her are past his management. In the top, he sacrifices himself in order that they are often collectively, which is a rare act of affection, is not it?
We additionally want to speak about Outlander Season 7 Episode 4, once we uncover he did not die, and then he runs into Claire, and they’ve this wonderful dialog, the phrases from Tom of that are the title of the episode, “A Most Uncomfortable Woman.”
What was it like making ready for that dialog and exhibiting this utterly totally different aspect now of just about a joy-filled Tom? It’s so totally different. You remodeled.
Yeah. He has remodeled, and he is gone by way of the fires of hell to be able to remodel, actually. He’s been solid. He’s been solid into one other individual — the true Tom. The actual Tom has emerged, however that second once they stumble upon one another on the street in Windsor was nice enjoyable.
It’s simply beautiful to have all that actual gentler aspect, the softer aspect. There’s not a lot enjoyable in Tom Christie in Series Six. Certainly not from his standpoint.
I imply, to see him screaming within the operation should be enjoyable for different individuals, particularly Jamie, however not for Tom himself. Tom would not have any pleasure in his life actually till we begin to see him now. He would not have any pleasure in any respect. It’s a joyless life, and it is type of designed to be such, however it would not work.
It would not work as a result of he has a chilly coronary heart, or at the very least that is how he presents himself. So having these lighter, extra intimate, extra weak scenes to play is fantastic. It’s a completely totally different side of the identical individual.
And then we additionally discover out that Tom is integral in a few of Outlander’s puzzles, comparable to inserting the obituary for his or her dying, which stunned me.
He felt so keenly that individuals wanted to know what occurred to those fantastic those who he positioned an obituary. What does that really feel prefer to have such a spot in Outlander historical past?
I do know. Oh, it is fantastic. I’m so thrilled to be a part of the entire Outlander household and story.
Tom would not come into it till Series Six, however he’s so integral to a giant chunk of it, is not he, because the Christies are generally. Yeah, to position that obituary, it is a rare factor to do, is not it?
It is.
Yeah. He type of tries to do, from the start, I feel, Tom tries to do the correct factor. For most of his time, he tries to do the correct factor. Jamie brings out the worst in him, however he does attempt to do the correct factor.
Building the church in Fraser’s Ridge is, for him, the correct factor to do. It’s the proper factor to do, and to put in writing that obituary, yeah, it is a rare factor. It’s a rare act.
How do you think about Tom Christie’s life continues after this?
Well, he says himself that whereas she’s alive, he’ll by no means be free, or phrases to that impact. Certainly, that’s an ongoing drawback for him, his timeless love for Claire. He can not help it, however I might say, regardless that he is type of misplaced every part, he is in a greater place in a method.
The indisputable fact that he is been capable of find these true emotions and be capable to voice them has to have some constructive impact on the remainder of his life. Tom has been trustworthy about what he actually feels, and he is additionally been capable of reveal the darkish bits of his historical past, so by being trustworthy, I feel he is been liberated.
Well, thanks a lot for speaking with me right now, Mark. I feel he was an exquisite character, and I noticed the nuances in the best way that you simply portrayed him. Well into Season 6, there was at all times that trace that one thing was going to occur that was going to show the tide. Oh, that is nice.
It was definitely worth the journey.
Thank you.
To catch up on all the most recent, try our Outlander episode information, and remember to return right here weekly for opinions after every new episode after airing on Starz on Fridays at 8/7c.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a employees author and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of tv and movie with anybody who will hear. Follow her on Twitter and e mail her right here at TV Fanatic.
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