What to Remember Ahead of ‘Outlander’ Season 6
It’s been two years since the last new episode of ‘Outlander' on Starz. Here’s what you need to know before the new season begins.
The good news: “Droughtlander” is over on Sunday, March 6 when the sixth season of Outlander premieres on Starz. The bad news: It’s a truncated season with only eight episodes on the docket, but the premiere is supersized.
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Based on Diana Gabaldon’s A Breath of Snow and Ashes book, this season finds Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) loving and fighting their way through the prelude to the American Revolution. Still reeling and healing from the trauma they endured last season, Jamie and Claire welcome an old adversary named Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones) and family to settle in an ever-expanding Fraser’s Ridge, only to find his presence divides the loyalties of the community.
Here’s a recap of how our favorite characters fared in Season 5. To watch Season 6 of Outlander on Starz with Sling TV, use the link at the bottom of this page to start watching Sling with Orange + Blue.
Spoilers and trigger warning for content
Brianna and Roger
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The couple finally make it official in the eyes of God and the law in a rousing wedding ceremony and outdoor reception that gets mildly tarnished when Brianna (Sophie Skelton) finds out her rapist (and Jemmy’s potential birth father) Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speelers) is very much alive and on the prowl. When the scoundrel discovers Aunt Jocasta’s (Maria Doyle Kennedy) plans to leave her vast River Run estate to the young boy, he kidnaps both mother and son. He forces her to play house and she almost has him convinced they’ll live happily ever after together until a tepid kiss betrays her true feelings. Miffed, Bonnet tries to traffic her to a sea captain until Jamie and Roger (Richard Rankin) come to the rescue. Roger beats Bonnet to a bloody pulp, but ultimately it’s Brianna’s decision on how far to take it. She chooses justice over vengeance and Bonnet is tried and sentenced to death by drowning — his deepest, most secret fear. Just as he is tied to a post to wait for the tide to come in, Brianna puts a bullet in his brain to ensure he’s good and dead.
Conscripted into battle, Roger is by Jamie’s side at the Battle of Alamance, fighting against Murtagh’s Regulators and sent to warn the hunky Scotsman’s godfather about a chapter in future’s history books on his group’s impending loss. On his return to camp, Roger notices a long-lost relative, but when her husband spots the two chatting, he rounds up his bros and they beat and hang the once aspiring singer-songwriter — because a male and female merely talking out in the open must mean something perverse is taking place. Roger manages to hang on (pun intended) until Jamie, Claire and Brianna arrive, but his voice and psyche don’t make it through the season intact.
With all of the trauma they’ve endured since leaving the swinging ‘60s for the 1700s, Brianna and Roger decide for the sake of their son to go through the stones and return to their time. Tears erupt as they say their individual, irreversible goodbyes to basically every cast member. Armed with instructions to think of home and gemstones, the little family push through the magic only to find themselves right back in 1772 - seems home is where family resides.
Claire and Jamie
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As part of the bargain between Jamie and Governor Tryon (Tim Downie) for the land that encompasses Fraser’s Ridge, the Scottish warrior must fight for the Crown and build of a militia of his own. His latest assignment is to assassinate the leader of the Regulators – who just happens to be his godfather Murtagh (Duncan LaCroix). Jamie’s plan to play both sides grows harder as Murtagh stirs up trouble by stealthily attacking the British. Jamie even kills a man in cold blood after he uncovers the truth about Jamie’s duplicity! The Battle of Alamance pits the two against each other, when Murtagh refuses to adhere to Roger’s warning that the battle is his to lose in devestating fashion. Already half-broken by being forced to don a red coat, Jamie nearly loses his life until Murtagh swoops in to save him (as he promised Jamie’s mother he would always do), but gets shot in the chest in the process. And dies! Murtagh dies! Grief consumes them all - and us.
While Jamie is dealing with an impending revolution, Claire doesn’t just putt around Fraser’s Ridge aimlessly. Astounded by all the simple things that can kill a person in the 1700s, she sets out to reinvent penicillin with fierce determination, gobs of moldy bread and a trusted assistant in Marsali (Lauren Lyle). She also takes on a pseudonym to educate the locals and accidentally publishes a pamphlet filled with hygiene tips and medical knowledge F.A.Q.s we take for granted now, which riles up a conservative base that is definitely anti-“my body, my choice.”
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Granting women autonomy really irks the Brown family. Jamie and Claire spend the season having one-too-many run-ins with this clan. First, they are peeved when a member of Jamie’s militia impregnates one of their own out of wedlock. Then, they’re angry when Jamie refuses to lend his men to join their version of a neighborhood watch group. Finally, Lionel Brown (Ned Dennehy) realizes Claire is the voice behind the Dr. Rawlings tips circulating when he brings his wife in to see her about the broken wrist he obviously inflicted.
In retaliation, the Brown males kidnap Claire and brutally rape her. And that’s all we’re going say about that. If you watched the finale, the memories should be imprinted in your brain. If you haven’t, the fact that it happened should be enough. Jamie and the community of Fraser’s Ridge retrieve her and decimate the culprits - save for Lionel. Jamie brings the injured sociopath back for questioning, and Claire almost takes a scalpel to his throat as he lays in her makeshift clinic, but can’t due to her oath as a doctor. Marsali (Lauren Lyle) finishes the job, poisoning him with water hemlock.
Jamie returns Lionel’s body to his family. They admit he got what was coming to him, but not without calling dibs on a future comeuppance for the Frasers. The season ends with Jamie in bed with Claire, holding her and making her feel—as always—“safe.”
Odds and Sods
Ian (John Bell) returns from the Mohawk a changed man and very depressed over a woman, but is stingy on the details. Roger helps bring him back from the brink of suicide and is eventually clued into the family’s secret time-traveling gifts. Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy) marries someone not named Murtagh and narrowly avoids getting murdered. Marsali and the baby are fine. Fergus (Ceasar Domboy) and this surprise fan favorite deserve an episode devoted to the little family they’ve created.
Season 6 of Outlander premieres Sunday, March 6 at 9 pm ET on Starz.