Foreshadowing within the Outlander chapter
There isn’t too much in the way of foreshadowing, except the reminder that Frank will still happen in some way. Claire brings up Black Jack Randall’s injury, but nothing else is said of it. However, it’s clear that somehow Frank will happen.
We start to get this sense of how it will all play out from this chapter. Alex Randall loves Mary. While she’s not mentioned at this point, would this sort of plot point really be forgotten about? It’s all going to come back into play, and Black Jack Randall is going to end up marrying Mary to legitimize her pregnancy by Alex.
There’s also an element of foreshadowing of Culloden being a failure. There are talks of the leaders of the clans not being able to agree. We know this is why the Jacobite cause fails in the end. This is just starting that downfall.
Adapting the Dragonfly in Amber chapter
While the storyline was used in the TV show, this chapter wasn’t quite adapted. Black Jack Randall never turned to Claire for help to treat Alex. Nobody turned to her for help.
Instead, Claire sees Mary at the apothecary and wants to help. That is when everything starts to fall into place.
This would have been due to time and to keep everything contained to one episode. There are still a few storylines that need to play out in the book, and yet, this particular storyline was kept for the penultimate episode of Outlander Season 2. Storylines do get moved around for TV shows, mostly so that they can flow properly for show-first or show-only viewers.
In a way, showing Black Jack Randall wasn’t scared of Claire because he believed in his death date could have been useful. However, it wasn’t necessary. It didn’t take away from the overall element to this storyline—connecting it all back to Frank’s lineage.
Jamie and Fergus having a cold also didn’t get used on the show. That would have most definitely been due to time. It wasn’t an important storyline since they both recover quickly and fully. The downside is that not including it was not getting Claire’s thoughts about not being ill. It’s, again, something not consequential to the overall series, but something I did find interesting while reading.
What did you get while reading Outlander Book 2, Chapter 38? Share in the comments below.
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