This storyline is taken from the books. In
This is dysentery. Claire tells everyone that a contaminated water source most likely caused it, but after funeral upon funeral — the body count is high! — no one can seem to figure it out. And then Claire falls ill.
The good news was that Claire and her baby survived thanks to the poison being "bitter cascara," which appeared to be nonlethal. The bad news was the Comte totally throwing side-eye while Claire was semi-dying, and she became convinced he spiked her drink.
To be more specific, it is amoebic dysentery, which Claire (Caitriona Balfe) confirms with her makeshift microscope. The disease can be spread through contaminated food or water, and Jamie (Sam Heughan) eventually learns that it was a dead elk lying in the water that the fisherfolk use that caused the disease.
Colum suffers from a condition now known as Toulouse-Lautrec Syndrome, a degenerative disease that renders his legs immobile at times, and fills his days with great physical pain.
While they are getting ready to move on to the hotel room, Claire faints and they end up in the hospital instead. The diagnosis, Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, requires Claire to "take it easy".
It's kind of too early for Claire to discover Geillis, and in the books by the time they meet, Claire already knows that Mrs. Abernathy is responsible for Ian (and other boys) being kidnapped. Also, Geillis has definitely aged and is suffering from syphilis, so there's that as well.
Malva, before her death, tells him that she made them sick. She'd collected parts of the dead Sin Eater and poisoned Claire and Tom. She wanted to get to Jamie, and getting Claire out of the way was the only way to do that.
Jamie denies having slept with her, but the damage to his and to Claire's reputation is done—and the bond between the Frasers and Malva is severed, until just a few weeks later, when Claire finds Malva murdered in the garden.
Director Brendan Maher told Vulture that while both Menzies and Heughan had stunt doubles for the physically demanding sequence, neither used them much. “We had people for safety, just in case, but the nature of the work is that you want the actors to do as much as they possibly can,” Maher said.
In the sixth season of the television adaptation of Outlander, Claire Fraser temporarily develops an addiction to ether while self-medicating for her PTSD-induced insomnia and nightmares.
But then — BUT THEN! — Claire's necklace turns black, signaling that Master Raymond slipped real poison into the cup.
Later, after Claire has returned to the Ridge, she is confessor to Allan Christie, who explains that he was the one that fathered Malva's child, and then murdered her.
Jamie: "Claire, it was you. It's always been you, and it always will be. Get into bed and put the candle out.
Their Love Is Durable
They've even betrayed each other in different ways, but, no matter what they've gone through, their love has proven strong enough to survive. Claire and Jamie have forgiven each other for wrongdoings, searched for each other when one of them was lost, and waited 20 years to be together again.
Wigs, perms, and hot rollers help shape Claire's historically-accurate hairstyles. Regardless of Claire's on-screen age, wigs were incorporated into her hair and makeup protocol to achieve the character's look.
Claire eventually realizes that Malva is lying because she knows her husband well enough. Tom seems to question Malva's story.
The moment happened shortly after Mary had brought some supplies to Jamie and helped him to shave his beard off. He planned to turn himself in rather than continue with his isolated existence any longer. Before he did so, Jamie and Mary slept together after they found comfort in one another.
It helps to remember the whole timeline, which is easier when you read the books. When Jamie met /married Claire, he was a 23 year old virgin, and they were together three years before she went back through the stones pregnant with Brianna in 1746.
Malva was first introduced at the beginning of the season as a new resident of the Ridge who admired Claire's medical skills. Behind her admiration was a darker side of blackmail, betraying Claire's trust, and stalking. She falsely claimed Jamie was the father of her unborn child.
Tom and Claire unexpectedly meet each other with the preacher questioning whether Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) was aware of his feelings. In the book, Claire confirms Jamie is well aware of Tom's unrequited feelings towards her and understands them as someone who is in love with her.
She didn't seem to be doing it for “fun.” Malva just seemed curious, but why would she be curious about that? She's never seemed curious about the intimacies of a couple before. This suggests that she's up to something. Watching the two gives her information to use in the future.
William Buccleigh MacKenzie is the illegitimate son of Dougal MacKenzie and Geillis Duncan, and was raised by William John and Sarah MacKenzie.
"Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world." Geillis sure knows how to make an entrance. Finally we discover how she survived: Because she was pregnant, they didn't burn her straight away. Dougal, bless his foolish soul, came to get the baby and helped her escape.
Later, Geillis and Claire meet again, although Claire had believed Geillis to be dead. Geillis reveals that, since she was pregnant, her death sentence was postponed but after she gave birth, her lover Dougal MacKenzie arranged for her escape.