Countdown to ‘Outlander’ Day 4: Looking Back on Season 6’s Most Dramatic Moments
Hi there, Sassenachs! Join us in our 7-day countdown to the Season 7 premiere of Outlander, featuring a deep-dive into the seventh season, a chat with author Diana Gabaldon, as well as a look back at Jamie and Claire’s love story, and more.
Stay tuned and be sure to pick up TV Guide Magazine’s Outlander Deluxe Collector’s Edition, available for order online now at Outlander2023.com and for purchase on newsstands nationwide.
With 16 episodes (eight in 2023, eight in 2024), Outlander Season 7 will be the longest since Season 1. And as Caitríona Balfe promised in our Outlander Deluxe Collector’s Edition cover story, “Season 7 is the best since” Jamie and Claire Fraser first graced our screens.
The eight-episode sixth season was Outlander‘s shortest, but these shockers made long-lasting impressions. Here, we break down the most dramatic moments from each episode of Outlander Season 6.
Outlander, Season 7 Premiere, Friday, June 16, 8/7c, Starz
Episode 1: “Echoes”
Flashbacks reveal Jacobite Jamie (Sam Heughan, center) at Scotland’s Ardsmuir Prison. Incarcerated after the Battle of Culloden, he stoically takes lashes for a more vulnerable peacemaker, enduring the pain by envisioning angelic Claire (Caitríona Balfe). He also goes head-to-head with a pivotal new character at Fraser’s Ridge, the recently arrived
religious zealot Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones, right).
Episode 2: “Allegiance”
Woe to Bree (Sophie Skelton, above). When the brilliant 20th century engineer announces her “new invention”—quick-flaming matches—at dinner, the family doesn’t react as she expects. They were hoping for news of a pregnancy! Also in the packed episode: Two Cherokee women try to seduce Jamie, and Marsali (Lauren Lyle) gives birth. But time traveler Bree’s frustration hits hard.
Episode 3: “Temperance”
It’s witchcraft till you need it. In a scene that made us wince and wonder, Claire, whose healing skills have drawn accusations of dark-arts practices, performs surgery on Tom’s hand. He’s refused her offer to knock him out with ether—if it can temporarily “kill” someone, it’s the devil’s instrument. Jamie reads a Bible verse aloud to help his former foe stand the pain.
Episode 4: “Hour of the Wolf”
Revealing the events of Young Ian’s (John Bell, above right) mysterious time away with the Mohawk, this episode portrays his initiation into the tribe and marriage to a woman named Wahionhaweh (Morgan Holmstrom), whom he calls Emily. The loving couple try to have a child, but miscarriage and a baby dying are the tragic outcomes. The tribe, blaming Ian’s outsider roots for the losses, sends him away.
Episode 5: “Give Me Liberty”
Breathtaking in their finery at a party given by rich Aunt Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Claire and Jamie encounter Lord John Grey (David Berry), whose love for Jamie makes things awkward. But the best part? What happened after Claire ushered Jocasta and guest of honor Flora MacDonald (Shauna Macdonald) to a garden pavilion for hemp treatment. (It was for Jocasta’s glaucoma and Flora’s nerves, people!)
Episode 6: “The World Turned Upside Down”
Claire finds Tom’s daughter Malva (Jessica Reynolds) with her throat slit. The pregnant girl has lied, claiming Jamie is the child’s father. Claire, unable to revive her, performs a C-section, but Malva and the baby are past saving. Increasing the horror: Claire has an ether-induced vision—in it, she holds a scalpel to Malva’s throat.
Episode 7: “Sticks and Stones”
With all the insanity going on, we felt grateful for meek household helper Lizzie’s (Caitlin O’Ryan) humorous scandal. The young woman confesses to sleeping with the twin Beardsley boys, Josiah and Kezzie (both played by Paul Gorman), at the same time. The wild event leaves her pregnant, and then she follows up with not one but two Scottish “handfasting” ceremonies—marrying them both. Lizzie, we thought we knew ye!
Episode 8: “I Am Not Alone”
The Frasers get battered and bruised trying to keep the Committee of Safety from arresting Claire after she’s wrongly accused of murdering Malva. They defend Fraser’s Ridge spectacularly (fine shooting, Claire!) but, outnumbered, must surrender. On the way to the trial, the committee separates Jamie from Claire, and when the season ends, he and his squad are on the way to rescue her from prison.
