When the last time we left Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) in the 18th century at the end of Outlander Season 5, things were in a precarious state. Claire thankfully survived a brutal kidnapping and rape from Lionel Brown (Ned Dennehy) and her crew and was safe - at least for the time being - back in Jamie's arms. However, Fraser Ridge and the area at large are on the verge of revolution, so it was clear in the Season 5 finale that security and relative peace were short-lived. Judging by the way "Echoes" begins, that's certainly what it sounds like.
The first 20 or so minutes of the episode take us back 20 years to 1753 when Jamie came to Ardsmuir prison after the Jacobite rebellion. There is a whole group of men who fought against the British but failed, but there is also a division among these men as some are Catholic and others are Protestant. On the Protestant side is Thomas Christie, who seems to have some understanding with Governor Harry Quarry (Jay Villiers), who runs the place. Quarry considers Christie to be a "more civilized type" than Jamie, but notices and acknowledges that Jamie wields power among prisoners. Jamie and Christie don't actually appear face-to-face, but appear to be somewhat mutual despite the respect between the men. In any case, Jamie's fortunes soon turn when Quarry grants his request to become a freemason and convert the prison into a lodge (though not before Jamie is a prisoner in Memoriam with a can of tartan gifted to him). Not before severe whipping for the piece). It seems that being Quarry Prison governor wasn't all that he was.
Flash forward to North Carolina in 1773. Claire is sleeping soundly, only to find Jamie incredibly difficult to wake her up. When she finally arrives, she is thrilled. She seems to have found a way to produce the ether, which she explains puts the user into something "deeper than sleep," which makes it much easier and less painful to perform surgery when needed. If you're thinking, "Hmm... Claire has a lot of unused trauma, this could be dangerous!" So you get a prize because you are 100% correct.
Jamie shares that Major McDonald, who took over as the old governor, wants him to come on board as an Indian agent to represent the Crown and improve relations with the Cherokee tribe. Claire wants him to say no and says he will, but spoiler alert: by the end of the episode, he'll change his mind. Meanwhile, Jamie insists on following Claire everywhere, clearly concerned about her safety and mental/emotional well-being since the kidnapping. She insists that she is fine, which can of course be translated in the exact opposite sense.
It soon becomes clear why we started the episode with an Ardsmuir flashback. It is only Thomas Christie who has come to find Jamie in Fraser Ridge! Jamie apparently sent a much-talked-about invite to anyone who came from his Ardsmuir days and joined the settlers at Fraser's Ridge and Christie decided to take him up on the offer. He brings with him his two children, Malva (Jessica Reynolds) and Alan (Alexander Vlahos) (who are really like young adults). His mother is dead, and while the cause is never explicitly discussed, anyone who reads the books will know that he was hanged for the murder of Christie's brother, Edgar.
Now seems like an equally good time to mention that Roger (Richard Rankin) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton) are still around, though there's only a quick glimpse of Jamie in this episode. Brianna has been working around on her designs, but she's a bit hesitant to over-publicize it, given what happened to her mother for being "ahead of her time". It's hard to say what Roger is up to these days, although he is the one who welcomes Christie to Fraser Ridge as Jamie and Claire are walking outside when they arrive at their camp.
At one point, Young Ian (John Bell) decides to hunt Allen down and notices and admires his gun powder horn. It's nothing visual, or will it be if it doesn't serve two different purposes: showing us that Richard Brown (Chris Larkin), brother of the terrifying Lionel, is still around to ridicule and Allen's sticky fingers seem to be usually the worst and it's also showing.
Richard brings his entire persuasive crew of self-proclaimed law enforcement officers to Fraser Ridge later that day and tells him to arrest Allen for stealing a powder horn with his brother's initials. Christie asks Richard to allow her to personally discipline her son, but Richard thinks that Jamie should do the same, and that a reasonable punishment would be 10 koshas. As basically the entire settlement of Fraser Ridge looks like, that's exactly what Jamie does. The sense of foreboding is very powerful here. Things are not going to end well with Richard Brown.
By the end of the episode, we get a glimpse of Claire's current state of mind. Seeing Richard triggers terrible nightmares for her, although it is likely that she already had them. She wakes up hyperventilating but insists she is fine and all she needs is a cup of tea. However, she instead indulges herself in a dose of ether and knocks herself on the bed in another room. It's going to be a rough ride for Claire this season, that's for sure. Caitriona Balfe has said a lot in recent interviews, so it will be interesting to see.