Outlander season 6 episode 7 review

Hello again, Outlander fans. We’ve got another weekly review. Somehow we’ve reached the penultimate episode before the finale on May 1. How we’ve already finished the season, I don’t know!

Outlander Season 6 episode 7 moved a bit slower in terms of plot, but we reached a heartbreaking but cathartic moment for Claire as she finally leans on Jamie for support. Unfortunately, things on the Ridge aren’t looking too good for the Frasers and I’m sure it’s only going to go even more downhill before there’s a possibility it will get better. Because in what other direction does the show take our poor Jamie and Claire?

Lizzie has a very unexpected secret that she reveals. I definitely did not see that coming! Let’s jump into our review of “Sticks and Stones.” You’ve got a show-only fan here, so I have absolutely no knowledge from the books!

Outlander season 6 episode 7 review

Claire’s fears and feelings of guilt

We’ve been slowly building up the ether storyline to get to this point. Claire unravels and can’t take it anymore. Malva’s murder and thinking she could have unconsciously done it has completely shaken up her mental state. We see the climax of all her fears, guilt, PTSD, and trauma she’s suffered since she came back to the 18th century come to a head. I love how the show used Lionel as the voice of all of her inner feelings. It was so spooky, and a good device for viewers.

No one knows who killed Malva, but all the indications are pointing to Claire. After all, she did have the means, motive, and opportunity after Malva’s accusation in episode 6. Even Claire is doubting herself because she’s been taking ether. Claire tells Jamie her fears that maybe she could have done it, but he reassures her and says there’s no way she could have. Claire isn’t so sure though. She casually tells him she put herself to sleep with the ether because she didn’t want to face Malva, and that catches Jamie’s attention.

After wrestling with her guilt, Claire finds out it was Lizzie knocking on the surgery door, not Malva. And Claire never answered the door. That means she didn’t go outside and accidentally kill Malva. Lizzie had some news to share (more on this later!). Claire thinks that’s the end of it and even puts her ether away, but her demons come to a head and the vision of Lionel is still there taunting her. And that’s how Jamie finds his wife.

Claire’s confession to Jamie that she’s been taking ether and visions of Lionel are haunting her all come pouring out. This is one of my favorite Outlander scenes, and most definitely a favorite Jamie and Claire scene. Caitríona Balfe is absolutely amazing. The emotional state she had to get to was not easy, and she did it so brilliantly. I love how Sam Heughan played Jamie’s reactions too. You can see the heartbreak he has for his wife, but he knows he needs to hold it together so he can stay strong for her.

Claire blames herself for things that have happened to the family like Brianna’s attack and Roger being sold into slavery in Season 4 because she’s in the past and changing things. She thinks she’s been selfish because she desperately wanted to be with Jamie. But Jamie reminds her that if she didn’t come to him, they wouldn’t have Brianna, Roger wouldn’t have a wife and son, and they would never have found Fergus in Season 2. Everything has a ripple effect and Jamie is 100% right!

Claire is scared that she won’t be able to get better, but Jamie reminds her how she was there for him after Wentworth in Season 1. He let her in, and now she needs to do the same. “If it’s a sin that you chose me then I will go the devil himself, bless him for tempting you to it.” And Claire tells him she would make the same choices again and more to be with her husband. She cries in his arms and finally leans on him. Literally one of the best scenes of the entire series!

This is probably the end of the ether storyline. And when things start to look up, of course, something else comes at the Frasers. Richard Brown and his Committee of Safety rear their ugly heads. We knew he’d be back this season. And now, they are at Frasers Ridge to arrest Claire for the murder of Malva Christie. And that’s where the episode ends. Such a cruel cliffhanger!

The Frasers vs The Christies

Ugh, the Christies. Absolutely nothing good has come from them. Or the fisherfolk. I want to give Jessica Reynolds who plays Malva a huge shout-out! This actress is absolutely amazing. The episode starts with Malva’s confession at the Meeting House. The way she’s crying and devastated, you can tell it’s because of the lies she’s had to concoct. There’s something big she’s hiding, but what is it?

Jamie, Claire, Tom, and Allan are standing at Malva’s body. It’s such a heavy scene and absolutely heartbreaking how with her baby resting on her chest. Allan immediately accuses Claire of killing her, she’s standing there with blood on her hands and was the only one near. It’s also very suspicious that she didn’t hear or see anything because Malva’s body is right outside of her surgery. But of course, Claire can’t say she was taking ether, and this plays more into the guilt Claire is feeling in the episode. It was so smart of the writers to tie in Malva’s death and the ether storylines together.

You can see how upset Tom really is. But I can’t tell if it’s more about losing his daughter or the fact that she wouldn’t have had time for a short prayer before she died. I mean, he calls her a whore and doesn’t want to give her or her “illegitimate child” a proper burial.

Thanks to Jamie they do have a funeral for Malva and the baby, and the feelings of resentment toward Jamie and Claire are clear. Can we just talk about how Ian runs up in front of Claire when Allan starts yelling at her? It was a small action but goes to show how much Ian cares about his family. And ok, Allan. I know you’re hurting for your sister. But you cannot tell the Frasers that they’re living their “perfect, happy little lives as if nothing’s happened.” Thanks to your sister and family, their lives have completely unraveled.

That’s evident when visitors like Hiram Crombie and Obadiah Henderson come to the Big House and start asking questions and throwing around accusations. The settlers on the Ridge are losing trust in Jamie and Claire, and it’s really sad to see. These two definitely don’t deserve it.

Lizzie and the Beardsley twins = Outlander’s throuple!

Throuple alert! Alright. Outlander has managed to shock us a number of times over the seasons. But I really did not see this one coming. I knew something with Lizzie and the Beardsley twins was building, but definitely not this! They are in a very happy and committed throuple. And not only that, Lizzie is pregnant! Lizzie, I love you. You can live whatever life you want. But the Frasers really do not need this right now. In that time, it’s absolutely scandalous to be pregnant out of wedlock, let alone being intimate with two men and not knowing who the father is!

Caitlin O’ Ryan played Lizzie’s scene explaining everything to Claire so beautifully. It’s comedic, but the more she explains the more you really feel for her. She’s so earnest and her emotions of love are true. But even though the three of them all feel that way, news of this can’t get out.

In a hilarious scene, Jamie has Josiah and Kezzie choose a straw and whoever picks the shorter one gets to marry Lizzie. Kezzie is the lucky winner. Since the Ridge doesn’t have a priest, he handfasts them, but Lizzie and the twins have another trick up their sleeve.

Roger finds his calling

It’s no surprise that Roger wants to be a minister. We’ve been building up to it all season. He and Brianna talk about what it would mean for their family. They’ve both grown up with working parents who would be called away at all times. But when she sees how much he wants this, she gives her husband her full support. They’re going away from the Ridge temporarily to Edenton so Roger can be ordained. It’s an interesting path for the former historian, but it really fits him.

Before they leave, Lizzie and the twins show up. Lizzie asks Roger to handfast her and Josiah, thinking she’s worked around the solution Jamie put in front of them. Of course, Roger doesn’t know about the throuple situation and happily agrees. As they’ve shown up in the middle of the night, he doesn’t have any pants on and hilariously tells them he’s going to get dressed first – “I’m not conducting my first wedding bare-arsed.” Ha!

Lizzie and the twins aren’t giving up that easily. Lizzie is committed to both twins, and they’re both committed to her. I just know the news is going to come out somehow because this is Outlander, and it is not going to be good for the Frasers.

The Outlander Season 6 finale airs this Sunday on STARZ.