Why do Roger and Buck end up in the wrong time in Outlander Season 7B?

Things aren't quite going the way Roger and Buck expected in Outlander Season 7B. They won't land in the time period they thought they would.

Caution: We're diving into spoilers from Written in My Own Heart's Blood in this post.

At the end of Outlander Season 7A, Roger and Buck realized they would need to travel to the past. Rob Cameron had taken Jemmy, and it's clear that Rob knows about the gold in the past. Roger and Buck found signs that Jemmy had been taken through the stones, and they believe Rob is taking Jemmy to 1778 to get the gold.

Roger immediately knew he would go through the stones to get his son. He's not the only one, though. This is Buck's time, and Jemmy is Buck's kin. He will go through the stones as well. Only, the two men aren't going to end up where they thought.

Jemmy isn't in the past in Outlander Season 7B

Written in My Own Heart's Blood tells us that Jemmy isn't in the past. Roger and everyone believe that's where he's been taken, but he's actually trapped at Bree's work. Jemmy is able to get out, but it's too late to stop Roger from going back in time.

With Roger and Buck thinking about Jemmy, you would think, then, that the stones kick them out to the current time. He's here, and the stones are good at kicking people out of then. Roger experienced that when he thought about his dad on his first trip through—the stones won't let someone go to a time where they already exist.

Yet, the stones allow the two men through. This is because they're not going to the Jeremiah MacKenzie they think they are.

The stones send Roger and Buck to another Jeremiah MacKenzie

There is another Jeremiah MacKenzie in the past. This time Roger will get to meet his dad. He heads through the stones to 1739, and it's necessary to help save a young Roger from death.

Roger always believed that his dad was killed during the Second World War. His plane was found but Jerry wasn't there. Well, it turns out that Jerry can time travel, and he ended up going through the stones close to where his plane landed.

He's stuck in 1739. It takes Roger going to save his dad to send his dad back to what would end up becoming his death. During World War II, Roger's mom threw Roger to someone as the London tube station collapsed during the London Blitz. That someone was Jerry, who caught Roger, but ended up dying. Without Roger going back in time, that can't happen, and it would mean Roger dies.

The stones work in mysterious ways, and it's something Roger and Buck will eventually learn in Outlander Season 7B.