‘Outlander’ Season 5: Here’s Why Claire’s Penicillin Idea Is A Bad One

SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses Season 5 of Starz’s Outlander. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid potential spoilers.

In the second episode of the fifth season of Outlander, Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) was attempting to make her own penicillin after the death of a character and had her questioning the dangerous medical practices of the time. However, this important drug was not yet to be officially invented for another 157 years and was actually done so by someone completely different, according to Decider. That means Claire would be changing history in a big way — which might not be the best idea.

Episode 2 saw Claire dealing with a patient who had been given mercury pills in order to fix an ailment. Horrified at the fact that this remedy was considered to be the current fix-it-all treatment, she set about trying to change people’s minds about the pills. Using pamphlets, she will try to discourage the use. However, she also secretly created some penicillin in order to combat the illnesses at the time.

The instant ramifications of Claire’s plan to invent penicillin are that if she does so, people who had previously died in that timeframe would now survive and likely create major drama for existing events.

As Inverse points out, this attempt at meddling with history by trying to alter the outcome at the Battle of Culloden proved that it could not be changed. So, going by that theory, it is likely that Claire’s attempt will somehow be thwarted.

However, that doesn’t mean that Claire won’t be able to change history. After all, even though her daughter, Brianna (Sophie Skelton), has warned her against doing this, it is something she has also done. Brianna originally tried to travel back through time in order to alert her parents about their imminent deaths. By doing so, she is also attempting to change history. However, as yet, it is unclear as to whether this has been thwarted or whether Claire and Jamie (Sam Heughan) will eventually perish in the same manner as described in the obituary that Brianna saw.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Episode 3 will deal with Claire’s treatment of a stroke victim. It is possible, then, that her penicillin project will also be explored further in the upcoming episode. However, viewers will just have to tune in on Sunday night to find out for sure.

Season 5 of Outlander will return to Starz on March 1 at 8 p.m. EST.