Lionel Brown wanted to take Claire to Brownsville so she could tell everyone she is Dr. Rawlings. Will the people there ever learn the truth on Outlander?
During the Outlander Season 5 finale, Lionel Brown took Claire so she could reveal the truth. He wanted everyone to know that she was Dr. Rawlings. Is there a reason for the people of Brownsville to find out the truth on Season 6?
I will say now that this isn’t going to look at the books for a potential storyline. However, I’ll also point out that the abduction storyline is under slightly different circumstances in the book. The use of Dr. Rawlings is a show plot to give Lionel a reason to abduct Claire.
It did seem short-sighted of Lionel to want to take Claire to Brownsville just so she could tell the women that she had been giving the contraception advice. However, he was angry about the entire situation. In his view, Claire was helping women to prevent a man’s “God-given right” of having sex and having children. He wanted someone to blame and Claire was the perfect person—someone he already disliked for her attitude towards him.
While the other men had heard that Claire was Dr. Rawlings, there’s no indication anyone else knew. And those men who had been with Lionel had been killed. We only know that Donner escaped, and he’s not exactly going to head to Brownsville with the story of Claire being Dr. Rawlings without proof.
In all honesty, this plotline should have died with Lionel Brown. It’s unlikely for it to come up again on Outlander Season 6 unless it can somehow connect to the Malva Christie storyline. That’s something we’ll have to wait to see if it even happens. Overall, there’s just no need for the Dr. Rawlings storyline to be brought back up with Lionel Brown out of the way.
Do you think the women at Brownsville could eventually learn the truth? Should this be a storyline abandoned on future seasons? Share your thoughts in the comments below.