‘Outlander’ Season 6 Episode 6 Recap: “The World Turned Upside Down”

By
Rebecca Murray
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Outlander Season 6 Episode 6 Recap
Caitlin O’Ryan, Caitriona Balfe, and Sophie Skelton in ‘Outlander’ season 6 episode 6 (Photo Credit: Starz)

Starz’s Outlander season six episode six finds Claire fighting for her life and Malva moving forward with her despicable plans. Book readers are fully aware of Malva’s motivations, but those who only know Outlander from the show get their first real taste of her evilness with episode six, “The World Turned Upside Down.”

Episode six opens with Roger (Richard Rankin) preaching and Malva (Jessica Reynolds) staring at Jamie and Claire’s backs. Is it jealousy we see in her eyes? Given the events that follow, the answer is a resounding yes.

Jamie (Sam Heughan) compliments Roger following the service, and Roger confirms the building’s being put to good use. Tom’s been teaching the children how to read.

No one has seen the MacNeills lately and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) volunteers to take Bree, Malva, and Lizzie to pay them a visit. The women approach their cabin and the stench is horrible. Crows gather around the house and no one answers Claire’s knock.

They discover the entire MacNeill family have taken ill and are in dire shape. Claire promises Mr. MacNeill she’ll take care of his children, but the baby and Mrs. MacNeill pass away within seconds of each other. The remaining MacNeills follow them in death.

Back in her surgery, Claire shows Malva the amoeba that causes dysentery (known back then as the flux). Penicillin won’t work but herbs will help. Claire believes a contaminated water source is the root cause of the outbreak which is now spreading throughout Fraser’s Ridge. Malva assists Claire as she tends to the sick while Jamie sets out to look for the source. He’ll also warn all the settlers to boil water and wash their hands.

The settlers bury their dead as Claire notes she’s tired of attending funerals. They haven’t found out what’s causing the flux yet, and now Claire appears to be feeling ill. After refusing Jamie’s offer to take her home Claire faints and Jamie catches her. Bree (Sophie Skelton) touches her forehead and realizes Claire’s got a fever.

They return home and Bree tends to her mom, attempting to bring down her fever. Claire’s face is shockingly drained of any color and she shivers uncontrollably.

Malva refuses to return home that night and stays up with Jamie as Claire battles the illness. Bree also remains at her mom’s side.

Days go by and clips are shown of Jamie praying and Lizzie, Malva, and Bree continuing to watch over and care for Claire.

One night when Lizzie (Caitlin O’Ryan) is with Claire, Malva brings Jamie tea and they have a pleasant chat. Talk turns to snakes and Malva reveals that Mr. Crombie was bit by one but wouldn’t ask Claire for help because he thinks she’s a witch. Malva assures Jamie she doesn’t feel that way. She respects Claire and wants to be just like her. (You can bet she does…in every way.)

While Malva and Jamie are chatting, Claire has a dream (or a delirious vision) of snakes and of holding her own heart in her hands. She also sees Malva comforting Jamie in her dream.

Roger’s by her side when Claire finally fully wakes up and speaks. She touches her head and is shocked to discover her gorgeous hair’s been butchered. Roger reveals Malva and Mrs. Bug cut it off without telling anyone, believing it helped those suffering from a fever. (Oh, and it also makes your romantic rival look less attractive. Right, Malva?)

Bree was furious when she discovered what they did, but Roger’s sure they thought they were saving her life. Claire doesn’t want Jamie to see her right now, and Roger’s forced to admit he’s already seen her new haircut. Claire asks what he said and Roger confesses Jamie didn’t say anything.

“He just cried,” says Roger.

Roger informs her no one’s gotten ill in a week, and Claire experiences her second big shock in a matter of minutes. She had no idea she’s been out of it for so long.

Bree arrives just as Roger tells Claire nothing could ever make her less beautiful. Bree kisses her mom and makes her promise she won’t die. “I love you. I can’t be without you,” says a tearful Bree.

Bree adds with a smile, “And neither can your new grandchild.”

Noting her mom looks ridiculous, Bree gets to work fixing Claire’s horrible haircut. Both women approve of the new cut, a vast improvement over the butchering at the hands of Malva and Mrs. Bug.

Jamie helps his temporarily frail wife to bed and teases she might think about wearing a cap. Claire thinks her new cut will be good for a laugh among the settlers.

Jamie provides an update on the illness, running down a list of those who were sick or passed away. He found a dead elk in the river that was the likely source of the outbreak.

Jamie explains Tom Christie’s still ill and delirious while confirming she was also delirious. Claire recalls she saw blue herons during her fever when they were in Paris and lost their first child, Faith. This time she saw storm clouds, her heart, and a snake. (We know just who that snake symbolizes!)

Jamie warns her he’ll be angry if she dies and leaves him. Claire promises she won’t.

Days later Claire asks Adso to keep the bed warm while she sneaks out to visit Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones). She’s wearing a wide-brimmed hat as she walks through the settlement and gets quite a few strange looks as she heads to Tom Christie’s door.

She removes the hat once inside and Tom’s flabbergasted by her short hair. She jokes she thought he’d be pleased since he recently pointed out she’s been brazenly displaying her flowing locks in public.

Claire asks Tom how he’s feeling and he calls her “unaccountable” since she just walked a good distance in a feeble condition. Tom admits he’s feeling better and Claire explains she didn’t have the flux. Her symptoms were nothing like the others who got sick. Tom also confirms he didn’t have symptoms of the flux. He had a headache, a fever, weakness, and bad dreams – just like Claire.

Claire deduces they both suffered from a bacterial infection, not the flux. Claire’s confused about how they wound up with the same illness and asks if she can have a sample of his stool. As expected, Tom is outraged and refuses. He quickly sends her on her way, although he does accompany her home to make sure she arrives safely.

Jamie’s upset with his wife for going out and wonders if she’s lost her mind. Claire’s definitely suffered a setback from going out too soon and Jamie warns her she’s not allowed to go anywhere. Claire explains she’s determined she and Tom suffered from the same disease.

Jamie points out she’s gotten extremely thin and her rings are now really loose. She nestles against his shoulder as he recalls watching the sun come up and go down while he was in the cave and in prison. He gets that same feeling of comfort – of the world going about its business – when she’s busy in her surgery. If she was gone, the sun would no longer rise.

Later that night, Jamie tells Claire that Cornelius Harnett has asked him to speak at the next Provincial Congress in New Bern. Claire believes Jamie’s powers of persuasion will win over supporters.

They continue their chat in the dead of night and Jamie says, “Your short hair is also very arousing.” Claire laughs and Jamie claims it’s just one of the things that draws him to her. They discuss her other virtues, and he calls her fierce, proud, and brave. (These tender, quiet moments are so touching.)

He teases that she’s not a good cook and when she suggests she’s patient and gentle, Jamie points out she’s ruthless and bloodthirsty. He adds that she’s not very patient, either. He lands on her faithfulness as her most endearing trait. “So are you,” says Claire, adding, “It’s quite a good thing, isn’t it?”

Outlander Season 6 Episode 6 Recap
Richard Rankin, Sam Heughan and Sophie Skelton in ‘Outlander’ season 6 episode 6 (Photo Credit: Starz)

Weeks pass and life gets back to normal on Fraser’s Ridge. Jamie and Roger get ready to travel to New Bern, and Roger admits that as a historian he’s excited to be able to sit in on the meeting.

They’re about to leave when Tom Christie rides up with Malva and Allan. He asks for a private chat, but Jamie assures him Claire can hear whatever it is he has to say.

Tom announces Malva is pregnant and won’t name the father. Jamie assures her she won’t be punished and Malva claims he’s the father. (That little twit is such a horrible person! And yes I realize she has a horrible backstory.) Jamie’s speechless and Claire’s shocked. Malva apologizes to Claire, saying they didn’t mean to hurt her.

Allan punches Jamie in the face and Tom tosses his son to the floor, warning him violence isn’t necessary. Allan attempts to hit Jamie again, insisting he’s made a whore of Malva.

Jamie, rightfully, denies everything while Malva continues to act hurt that he’s refusing to admit they slept together. She insists it happened when Claire was sick. She describes the event, saying she came into Claire’s room and saw Jamie by the window, grieving, with a whisky bottle in his hand. She felt sorry for him and asked if he needed anything. Jamie remembers he turned down her offer and sent her out of the room, but Malva lies that she remained there and comforted him.

Malva describes pitying him and touching his shoulder. “He took me against the wall whilst you lay sleeping, so great was his need,” says Malva.

Claire delivers a hard slap to Malva’s face and then rushes from the room.

Jamie asks Tom if Malva’s mad or just a clever liar, noting she didn’t try and say he raped her. (No one would have believed that.) Jamie demands to know who’s the father and Tom reveals Malva told him she’d slept with the man a dozen times or more.

“And she has lied a dozen times or more,” replies Jamie.

Malva insists she can prove it’s true because she’s seen the scars on his naked body. She describes a crescent mark across his ribs and the ugly one high on his leg. Jamie’s confused how she knows about either scar, but we know it’s because she’s read Claire’s journals with descriptions of Jamie’s injuries.

Tom suggests they draw up a contract naming the baby as one of his heirs, with payments to the child and Malva. Jamie demands Tom take Malva and leave his house.

Jamie finds Claire in the barn and won’t apologize. To do so would indicate he did something wrong. He didn’t do anything and Claire explains she was in shock – that’s why she ran off. She explains she saw him at the window and saw the way Malva touched him, but she thought that was a dream. However, she’s not about to admit that everything they’ve had together is a lie which is what would happen if she believed Jamie’s lying about sleeping with Malva now.

“I don’t belong here. Brianna, Roger, they don’t belong here. And Jemmy shouldn’t be here,” says Claire, voice dripping with emotion. “But yet here we all are – all of us – because I loved you more than the life that I had. And because I believed that you loved me in the same way. Cause you do. I know that.”

She demands to know if that’s not the truth. Jamie responds by saying he would never tell her that’s the truth.

The gut punches continue when Jamie confesses he has something to tell her. He apologizes and then reveals he slept with Mary McNab years ago when she was gone. Claire doesn’t recognize the name and Jamie explains Mary was Rabbie the stableboy at Lallybroch’s mother. He confesses it happened the night before he surrendered to the Redcoats. She brought him supper in the cave and stayed. Mary knew Claire was his true love and didn’t want to betray that. She just wanted to offer him a little tenderness.

Claire understands and isn’t upset, although she wishes he’d told her sooner.

Claire believes Malva is lying. If it were true, Jamie would never turn his back on his own child. Jamie thinks they need to find out the truth soon before everyone on the Ridge learns what happened.

Roger and Bree discuss the situation and Roger thinks there are two options: Malva doesn’t want to marry the real father or she’s just going after Jamie’s money/property. Neither believes Jamie cheated on Claire, but the whole situation’s bringing up memories of Frank cheating on her mom. Roger reminds her Claire loved Jamie for 20 years and Frank knew it. Plus, Jamie is an honorable man and loves Claire wholeheartedly.

Claire finds Malva working outside and asks if she’d like to talk. Malva reveals she was forced into confessing in front of the congregation, and Claire suggests maybe she’s just a young woman who made a mistake. Malva insists Jamie is the father and Claire confirms she believes her husband completely. She promises Malva this lie won’t destroy her marriage, assuring her they’ve been through harder times than this.

Malva cries as Claire calls her a clever, curious young woman she cares about and was proud to teach. Claire and Malva are about to hug when Allan emerges from the house and demands Claire get away from his sister.

Malva sides with Allan when he calls Claire a witch. Claire’s had enough and warns them to stay away from her family.

Ian (John Bell) uses his fists to shut up one of the men gossiping about Jamie. He then finds Claire gardening and after being assured she believes Jamie, Ian admits the baby could be his. They had sex just once so it’s possible. He apologized later and told her he still loves Emily.

He’s worried that by scorning her he forced her into naming Jamie as the father. Ian volunteers to do the honorable thing, but Claire explains the baby could be someone else’s. Roger saw her with Obadiah Henderson and there could be others.

“But it might be mine, and it isna Uncle Jamie’s. Would it help him, do you think?” asks Ian.

Claire believes she should talk to Jamie first and Ian agrees she can tell him what happened.

A voiceover by Claire explains the damage has already been done. The settlers won’t even meet her eyes, and she’s thankful she has Bree to talk to.

Jamie’s attendance at the meeting in New Bern leaves Claire to face the settlers alone, and she believes they’re mounting a rebellion against the Frasers.

Flash-forward two months and Jamie returns home. He tells Claire that Roger was surprised by the amount of alcohol consumed while business was conducted. Jamie begins listing off different alcohols and the scene cuts to Roger doing the same while describing the meeting to Bree.

Roger reveals Jamie declared they should be a free and independent people. However, Jamie wasn’t chosen as a delegate for Philadelphia because, apparently, the Malva scandal beat them to New Bern.

Bree reveals everyone’s turned on Claire and no one goes to her for medical help.

Time passes and another voiceover finds a weary Claire admitting she still believes people will eventually forget and forgive. She has yet another moment of panic as she thinks Brown has returned. She rushes to the door and spots Malva walking toward the house. Claire quickly locks the door and doses herself with ether and has a nightmare in which Malva taunts her, calling her “of the devil.” Malva insults her looks, in particular her hair, and says Claire’s dried up inside. The nightmare also finds the pregnant Malva claiming she’ll have Jamie and will take everything that’s Claire’s, including the house.

In her dream Claire threatens to kill Malva if she comes near them again.

Season six episode six ends with Claire waking up and heading outside to tend to her garden. She discovers Malva with her neck sliced lying dead nearby. Claire cuts open her abdomen and attempts to save the baby but it’s too late.




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