Starz’s Outlander season six episode six ended with Claire (Caitriona Balfe) discovering Malva dead in the Frasers’ garden. Episode seven, “Sticks and Stones,” opens with a flashback to Malva confessing her sins during a church service. She claims her innocence was stolen by someone she trusted.
“The Skye Boat Song” plays and then fades into Claire and Jamie (Sam Heughan) with Malva’s dad and brother in the garden standing over Malva’s dead body. Claire explains she never saw anyone other than Malva, but Allan (Alexander Vlahos) doesn’t believe her. Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones) points out Claire’s soaked in blood and Claire says it’s from attempting to save the baby.
Claire assures Tom that Malva’s death was quick.
Tom will not allow his whore daughter to be buried in the cemetery and instead will dig a grave in the woods. Jamie objects to the location and to Tom calling the deceased baby his bastard son.
Tom refuses to budge and Jamie’s had enough. Malva and her unborn child will be buried in a consecrated grave. There will be no further argument.
Tom wonders what will be said at Malva’s funeral and Claire replies, “That Malva Christie was full of life and light, and that there was a fire in her eyes. And when I held her tiny baby, I felt that same light in him.”
Claire will see to making Malva’s body presentable for the funeral.
As she sets to work on stitching up Malva, Claire hallucinates a disturbing visit from Lionel Brown. She pours herself two stiff drinks to settle her nerves.
Jamie confirms he’s sent Ian out to warn Roger and Bree, and to search for the killer. He expects the Beardsley twins will join Ian in the hunt. Mrs. Bug interrupts, unable to find Lizzie and with news Hiram Crombie’s here to see Jamie.
Mrs. Bug, never one to shy away from gossip, reveals the settlers have been asking what happened. Mrs. Bug continues to talk about the scandal and Malva’s confession in church that she was carrying Jamie’s baby. She’s sure Jamie must have hated Malva.
Jamie speaks with Hiram and it’s obvious Hiram believes Claire killed Malva. Hiram insists everyone on the Ridge will suffer because Jamie slept with Malva and Claire sliced her throat. Jamie, shooting daggers with his eyes, warns Hiram to choose his next words wisely. Hiram does the smart thing and walks away.
Claire gets back to work on Malva and Brown’s her unwanted companion. He wants her to confess she killed Malva and then taunts her about her past lies and her loveless marriage to Frank.
Roger (Richard Rankin) and Bree (Sophie Skelton) arrive, and Jamie tells Bree it’s her turn to pacify Mrs. Bug. Lizzie (Caitlin O’Ryan), no longer missing, delivers the news Obadiah Henderson wants to talk to Ian. Bree wonders why Lizzie has twigs in her hair and Jamie asks where she’s been. Lizzie claims she was just feeding the horses.
Jamie and Roger step outside and Henderson demands to know why Ian’s questioning everyone. Roger offers his condolences on the loss of Malva since he knows they were…well…friends. Obadiah insists there was nothing to their relationship.
“Everyone on the Ridge has questions about you and your wife. Is it true she cut the baby out of Malva’s belly before she slit her throat?” asks Obadiah.
Jamie’s hand twitches and his face hardens as he approaches Obadiah. Roger reminds Obadiah he saw him with Malva, but Henderson doesn’t back down.
That evening Ian (John Bell) finds Lizzie in the barn with the horses and wonders if she’s seen the Beardsleys. She’s acting weird and Ian knows she’s hiding something and insists she tell him the truth. He needs to know why the Beardsleys never showed up to help him search for the killer.
Over dinner, everyone – other than Claire who’s resting – tosses in ideas about what might have happened. Ian reveals the Sin Eater’s dead and his corpse is missing fingers. He also covers for the Beardsleys, saying they were conducting their own search. Bree points out the bones might have been used for the love spell and Ian thinks the killer could have been a jealous woman.
Bree jokes they need Perry Mason and offers a confused Ian the explanation he’s a lawyer from their time who defends the falsely accused. Roger knows Perry Mason would ask who had the means, motive, and opportunity to murder Malva.
Claire walks in just as Roger says that and acknowledges she’s the most obvious suspect.
Later, Claire confesses she’s worried she might have actually killed Malva. She took some ether and recalls having a nightmare about losing her temper and threatening Malva. She’s worried it wasn’t a dream, but Jamie insists it’s just her mind playing tricks on her.
Jamie swears they’ll find the real killer.
As the Christies prepare for Malva’s funeral, Ian breaks the news to Jamie and Claire that Lizzie is pregnant! (Just what the Frasers need…another scandal!) Jamie demands to know who debauched Lizzie and Ian quickly replies, “Beardsley.” He reveals Lizzie has no idea which one is the father – she slept with both.
Ian feels horrible about having to deliver this news.
Meanwhile, Roger works on the sermon and Bree tells him their son is worried Claire will turn him into a ghost. (The Bugs and the fisherfolk have been spreading gossip about Mrs. Fraser.)
Claire has a heart-to-heart with Lizzie, and Lizzie confesses the first time she slept with the twins was when she was sick and requested that they rub ointment all over her. Shirts were removed and one thing led to another. She confirms it was her choice and she wanted to have sex with Josiah and Keziah. They made her feel safe and as she describes the first experience, she reveals they are identical EVERYWHERE.
She confesses it’s continued to happen, and she loves the feeling of being with them. It doesn’t seem wrong at all…and she doesn’t want to stop. (Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie…what have you gotten yourself into?)
Claire points out that if anyone found out, she could be stoned for fornication. Lizzie’s shocked and doesn’t believe it’s anyone else’s business. (It’s not.)
Claire says Jamie will want her to marry one of them and Lizzie seems hurt and confused. She really doesn’t want to break up the happy threesome.
“Well, if both the Beardsleys are still alive after Mr. Fraser finds them, he may take matters into his own hands and solve that problem for you,” says Claire.
Roger has a word with Mr. Bug and asks him to be more careful about what he says around Jemmy. Mr. Bug suggests the lad doesn’t need to be shielded from such talk.
Roger and Jamie take a walk and chat about how in the future there will be vegetarians. Roger’s not one, but he has a hard time thinking about killing an animal. He’s worried about how he stands with God after killing a man. “It does no good to quote ‘thou shall not kill,’” advises Jamie. He points out that in Greek and Hebrew scriptures it specifically says “murder,” not kill.
Roger can’t believe he has become the Ridge’s preacher. He never thought that would happen growing up in a minister’s house. Roger worries about getting ordained quickly since the war’s already here. He’s also worried about telling Bree because she might think he’s a coward for choosing this path. He won’t fight with an army. However, he’s willing to take up arms to protect those in need.
“And that is enough for me,” says Jamie. “Yer wife…she has eyes too.”
Claire continues to be haunted by Lionel Brown and to escape his hateful words with the help of ether. But even that chemically-induced sleep is plagued by nightmares. She has flashes of moments from her past and hears Frank, Black Jack Randall, Dougal MacKenzie, and Geillis reminding her of her lies.
It’s a very sparse crowd gathered for Malva’s funeral and all eyes drift to Claire during Roger’s short sermon. The Christies and Hiram refuse to allow Jamie to help carry the coffin and Ian steps in to help lift it.
Claire spots the small coffin and, without thinking, walks over and picks it up. Allan reacts by letting go of his sister’s coffin, almost causing it to fall. He orders Claire to put the baby down, calls her a killer, and then snatches the coffin from her hands.
After returning home, Jamie tells Lizzie she needs to be wed immediately. He makes her choose, reminding her she must do right by her unborn child. Lizzie’s unwilling to pick just one, claiming they’re one soul in two bodies. Jamie demands she tell him where they’re hiding.
Lizzie realizes she has no choice and takes Jamie and Claire to the barn. Jamie holds two straws and says the one who draws the short straw will wed Lizzie. The winner is Keziah and he holds Lizzie’s hand and agrees to take her for his wife. Lizzie also agrees to wed Keziah. Jamie pronounces them handfast. They’ll have a real ceremony when they find a priest.
Jamie advises them they need to keep this a secret. Jamie then orders Josiah to leave Fraser’s Ridge until after the child is born.
That evening, Bree wonders if Malva’s baby is in Heaven since he wasn’t baptized. Roger wants to believe he is but, as a minister, he’s not certain. Roger finally confesses he wants to be a preacher and Bree understands but is worried about what that will mean for their family. Roger will be kept busy by his congregation and the kids might suffer from his absence. Roger swears he will be her husband and a father first. “Whatever I do will not be at the price of my family,” says Roger.
Roger’s thrilled Bree is on board with the idea, although she reminds him she’s Catholic. Roger won’t ask her to convert and anyone who questions her religion can go to hell.
Decision done – they will pack up and head to Edenton so he can become an ordained minister tomorrow.
Lizzie’s not taking Jamie’s decision to send Josiah away well, but Claire assures her it’s for the best. Lizzie apologizes for not telling Claire sooner and then reveals she’s the one who knocked on the door on the day Malva was murdered. Claire assumed it was Malva and realizes it was just a nightmare. She didn’t let Malva in that day and did not threaten to kill her.
She returns to her surgery and confronts Lionel Brown’s ghost. Claire knows she didn’t kill Malva but Brown assures her it was still her fault. Lionel claims she’s not absolved of her guilt.
Jamie catches Claire storming out of her surgery looking distressed. He enters her surgery after she warns him not to and, of course, he doesn’t see anything strange. Claire confesses she thinks she’s going crazy and doesn’t recognize herself. There’s a darkness inside her and she can’t bear for Jamie to see her this way.
“I didn’t kill Malva but what if I would have? For us?” asks a distraught Claire. She admits she wanted to and Jamie assures her they all have darkness inside them. Claire finally explains she’s hearing voices and seeing Lionel Brown. The only way to escape his taunts is taking ether.
She can no longer cope by compartmentalizing things. It’s all too much and she believes it’s all her fault for changing things by stepping through the stones. Bree’s attack, Roger being sold into slavery…it’s all because she came to this time because she’s selfish. She desperately wanted to be with Jamie.
Jamie tries to get Claire to see the real picture. Bree wouldn’t have been born, Roger wouldn’t have a wife and son, and Fergus wouldn’t have Marsali without Claire. There is pain, yes, but Claire’s actions have also brought joy and happiness. “Without you our whole world crumbles into dust,” says Jamie.
Claire’s worried nothing will make the voices stop and Jamie reminds her she found him in the dark after Wentworth. He wants her to let him into her mind and soul the same way she did for him in those horrible times. He asks that she stop with the ether and allow them to face this together. Claire confesses she’d do it all again to be with Jamie. (This scene is incredibly intense and brilliantly played by both Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan.)
Claire allows herself to be comforted in Jamie’s arms as she cries.
That evening Lizzie, Keziah, and Josiah show up at Roger and Bree’s. Lizzie asks Roger to marry her to Josiah, with Keziah as the witness. Lizzie admits she’s with child, very much in love, and wants the marriage done immediately. Bree believes Roger should perform the wedding but he explains it will only be a handfast ceremony.
Season six episode seven ends with Jamie and Claire helping Bree and Roger finish loading their wagon. Bree asks them to give Lizzie a present in honor of her marriage to Josiah, and Jamie’s stunned. He explains Lizzie’s already handfasted to Keziah, and Roger calls them the “unholy trinity” before adding that God works in mysterious ways.
Jamie and Claire return home and discuss Lizzie’s situation. Their conversation’s interrupted by Richard Brown and his Committee of Safety arriving to arrest Claire for Malva’s murder!
- Outlander Season 5 Episode 12 “Never My Love” Finale Recap
- Outlander Season 6 Episode 1 “Echoes” Recap
- Outlander Season 6 Episode 2 “Allegiance” Recap
- Outlander Season 6 Episode 3 “Temperance” Recap
- Outlander Season 6 Episode 4 “Hour of the Wolf” Recap
- Outlander Season 6 Episode 5 “Give Me Liberty” Recap
- Outlander Season 6 Episode 6 “The World Turned Upside Down” Recap
- Outlander Season 6 Episode 8 “I Am Not Alone” Finale Recap
