Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 47 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

The foreshadowing comes from all the mentions of Roger and whether he would be willing to raise a child that may not be his. Claire knows that there’s a chance Roger is the father. At this point, Jamie doesn’t realize that.

We know how it all plays out, but it’s understandable that Roger would initially have some doubts. He needs to think things through, and while that may not be the “done thing” in Jamie’s eyes, it’s a smart thing. If Roger could never get past this, it would cause a world of resentment and pain.

However, there’s more than that to come. All these secrets (and I don’t blame anyone for keeping secrets right now) are leading to a bigger problem. Jamie thinks he’s beaten up the rapist but has instead beaten up Roger. Again, it’s no wonder Roger had to think things through first!

Meanwhile, Bree and Claire are worried that Roger is somewhere out there hurt or may have even been arrested and hanged for stealing. There is a lot of anger and drama to come.

There’s also a hint of the argument coming up. Claire knows that Brianna has a temper just like her father.

Adapting the Drums of Autumn chapter

As I said, this chapter wasn’t used. There were some of the conversations used in various parts of the episode, like bringing up Frank, but the chapter itself was avoided.

Outlander Season 4 jumped straight to the big reveal about what happened to Roger. It has led to a lot of heated debates among the fans, but the biggest question is why the show would do this. Part of it is definitely time constraints.

It’s also a TV thing. Books have the ability to have a slower section as characters work through their thoughts. A TV show doesn’t have that liberty. Things have to build up to a climax in a chapter, and that’s what the writers did with this.

From a TV viewpoint, there’s nothing wrong with this. Had it not been a book first, there would likely be fewer complaints about the way the writers handled it.

The writers are always in a hard place trying to create scenes that will work for the book-first fans while writing something that works for show-only fans. I feel for the writers with all the hate that gets thrown their way. There’s one thing disagreeing with them, but it’s another thing when they’re called names by people who don’t even know them.

What did you spot while reading Drums of Autumn Chapter 47? Let us know in the comments below.

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