Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 18 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

This chapter makes it clear that Claire is going to head to the past. All she needs to do is find Jamie, but she knows that learning he’s alive will mean she wants to go back in time. Her heart is there.

We also get an element of foreshadowing in who Claire will trust when it comes to traveling through time. She needs someone to look out for Brianna in Boston, and there’s only Joe she can trust. Will she tell him the truth, though? We don’t get a sense of that in this chapter, but those who have read ahead will know the answer.

Adapting the Voyager chapter

This chapter wasn’t used in Outlander Season 3. While we saw Claire and Joe become friends on the first day of med school, we didn’t get to see how that bond grew. The next thing we saw was graduation when Claire and Joe were already the best of friends.

I’ve always felt a little cheated in seeing how Claire and Joe’s friendship grew. I loved this chapter because it made the point that they weren’t the best of friends right away. Just because they were both outcasts wouldn’t necessarily mean they trusted each other. We see that bond form in this flashback, and I would have loved to see that on the show. There just wasn’t the time for it.

Claire’s love of trashy romance novels also didn’t get included in the show. It wasn’t until a title card in Outlander Season 5 that we saw Claire pick up the novel in the doctor’s lounge for that connection, more of an Easter egg for the book fans.

After all, this chapter wasn’t overly important for the overall story of getting back to Jamie. It gave us a break from Jamie’s life and the search for him. It was all about Claire making a decision, and we didn’t really need that on the TV series when there were only so many episodes viewers would accept before Claire and Jamie reunited.

What did you spot while reading Outlander Book 3, Chapter 18? Share in the comments below.

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