Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter
There is a little foreshadowing in this chapter and elements that set up future storylines. One thing that’s clear is that Jenny doesn’t forgive Claire. Right now, Claire hasn’t really given Jenny a reason to forgive her. There’s been no apology, really. Not a real one that I read in the chapter.
It’s all leading to a certain person coming back into Claire’s life; someone Claire really isn’t going to be happy to see. It all connects back to Yi Tien Cho calling Claire the “honorable First Wife.”
Then there’s the foreshadowing of Rollo. Young Ian has a dog. He loves dogs. It’s really not that surprising that he ends up with a dog (of sorts) when he ends up in the Colonies. Something that I love is that Rollo is able to travel everywhere with Young Ian. This chapter brought up Young Ian’s dog not going with him to Edinburgh, setting up Young Ian taking Rollo everywhere because Rollo is ready for the wild.
I think there’s also some foreshadowing of Young Ian growing up in the Colonies. During the chapter, Jenny tells Jamie that Young Ian isn’t a man yet. Jamie is protective of his nephew because, deep down, he agrees with Jenny. Young Ian is still a boy, and there’s nothing wrong with that right now.
In the Colonies, Young Ian will need to grow up fast. He’ll not just become a man, but a man of worth.
Adapting the Voyager chapter
Okay, we get into the adaptation. The first part of Voyager Chapter 32 wasn’t used. We didn’t see the journey back.
In fact, the bits about Bonnie Prince Charlie were quickly added in during Episode 6. Claire told Jamie what happened to Charles as they headed out to meet with Fergus and Yi Tien Cho. It was just a bit of filler to catch Jamie up to speed and show Claire looked into what happened to him—although in the book, she didn’t care about him.
The journey back to Lallybroch wasn’t really needed. We didn’t have the dogs, and that’s likely because working with animals is usually a bad idea. It takes a lot of training. Rollo was the first member of Outlander Season 4 cast, a long time before filming because they needed to train him. Could you imagine getting dogs just for the sake of this greeting?
Janet was still included, though. She was just in a different way. We saw her making fun of Young Ian while he received his punishment. The punishment wasn’t the same. It was messy labor instead of a beating.
I’m not sure why the show opted not to have the beating at all. Maybe it’s because there would have been complaints from those who wouldn’t be able to separate the 21st-century views from something happening in the 18th-century. It could also be because of timing. It would have taken much longer than a quick scene with Young Ian carrying out his punishment.
While this chapter is a big one for the story, there was so much more to fit into Outlander Season 3, Episode 8. Cutting out the beating for the sake of time would make sense. There was another way to deal with it that was quicker, and it meant we could return to Claire and Jenny—and see the cold shoulder Jenny was giving her sister-in-law.
I would have loved to see Jamie’s unique form of punishment, but I don’t mind not having it in the show. It’s something that’s special to the book.
What did you spot while reading Voyager Chapter 32? Let us know in the comments below.
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