Outlander Book Club: Voyager Chapter 21 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

There isn’t too much in the chapter that would be traditional foreshadowing. Maybe the comment about the zipper will come up. I can’t remember too much of Voyager and tend to mix it up a little with the TV show storyline at times, so I’m not going to say for certain right now. Maybe it’s a thing, further making people believe that Claire is a witch.

However, the main focus is on Claire returning to Jamie. This isn’t really foreshadowing. It’s more of the story just slowly developing to this reunion. After all, the Outlander series wouldn’t work with Claire and Jamie separated forever.

Adapting the Voyager chapter

Onto the adaptation from book to screen. This chapter was used but not in the same way.

By this point in the show, Claire and Bree returned to Boston. They ran into a dead end when it came to the ship manifests. They didn’t look further than that, believing that Jamie had been sent to the Colonies as an indentured servant.

Why did the show change this? Possibly to get Claire and Brianna back to Boston for a while. We needed to see a few things to get to see them grow and develop based on everything that had just happened. Plus, it gave us the chance to see the beautiful set of the house even more.

Roger came to Boston to share the news that he’d found Jamie. Claire had given up hope, and now she had to have the conversation with herself again. Did she return to the past and leave Brianna alone? It wasn’t an easy decision, which meant we got the bit of Bree and Claire bonding more. We saw the bit under the archway with Claire telling Bree how much she loved her, and then the moment on the couch of Bree saying she was giving Claire up for Jamie.

They were some beautiful moments, and I’m certainly glad we got them. It was certainly worth the change of this part of the storyline.

Plus, we got to see Roger and Brianna bond. There’s a lot more of the two of them in the books, but the series wouldn’t have time to fully flesh out their relationship before Outlander Season 4. Outlander Season 3, Episode 5 was necessary for that, although I still don’t think it was enough to really sell them as a couple. It was better than nothing.

And, of course, there’s the moment with the dress. Instead of the store, Claire makes her dress. First of all, the location had changed. It wouldn’t have been easy to find a dress suitable for the 18th century in 1968 Boston. So, Claire needed to make something. And I love that it gave us the chance for Claire to create hidden pockets. This suited Show Claire, and I’m actually a huge fan of the bat dress.

What did you think while reading Outlander Book 3, Chapter 21? Let us know in the comments below.

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