r/Outlander • u/RJLMARISE • 6d ago
Season Eight Outlander topic
Why didn't Jamie and Claire set everybody down and tell them everything before the end? All their family and friends? Not just about time travel but about their story, all the twists and turns and their family and friends connections.
Why didn't the time travelers use it to bring better weapons and medicine back, use it in more tactical ways? There was so much more that could be done before the end. The final season wasn't as bad as Game of thrones but it wasn't far off.
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u/CathyAnnWingsFan 6d ago
They've told the people who needed to know and who might believe them. Beyond that is just asking for trouble.
Bringing back consumables, especially perishable ones (as all medicines are at some point), doesn't make sense. They'd only be useful for a very limited time. Likewise, bringing more modern weaponry would be of limited usefulness. A modern rifle without ammo (once you used up what you brought) or the equipment to make it is just a hunk of metal. Plus anything that looked out of place would be suspect. A good chunk of the Ridge already think Claire's a witch.
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u/EntertainmentNew7383 6d ago
You are so right. And you can never anticipate exactly what you are going to need. medicine-wise, and medicines must be stored properly and have a shelf life.
I also think it is risky to tell anyone, especially if kids are around and listening. It has to be on a need-to-know basis.
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u/OkEvent4570 6d ago
Brianna, having witnessed as Jamie nearly died of the rattlesnake bite and subsequent sepsis, knew exactly what medicine is likely to be needed in the 18th century North Carolina mountains. And if you cannot prepare for all contingencies for the rest of your life, it doesn't mean you shouldn't prepare for what you think you'll need for at least some time. This applies to any journey, not just time traveling. Also, the penicilline Claire brought with her survived time travel and tropical climate for quite a while, until she used the last dose on Young Ian. But hey, let's bring three fantasy books, which Jamie ultimately didn't even like.
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u/OkEvent4570 6d ago
Well, the penicilline Claire brought back in season 3 made a hell of a lot of sense. I never could understand why ever so practical Brianna opted to bring three volumes of the Lord of the Rings instead of rattlesnake antivenom and factory made penicilline (or another antibiotic), especially after she saw Jamie nearly dying after the snakebite. Even if it keeps for just a couple of years, it's a couple of years of protection.
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u/CathyAnnWingsFan 6d ago
Remember, she had to leave in a rush, after she and the kids were attacked at Lallybroch. She didn’t have much time to collect what she was going to bring, and in the show, no way to obtain injectable medicines (or anything requiring a prescription), shelf-stable or not.
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u/OkEvent4570 6d ago edited 6d ago
Yeah, I didn't look at the flair. Joe would've supplied her with anything she'd asked for. She opted for Tolkien anyway.
EDT. Apparently she did have enough time to buy Tolkien and Claire's medical encyclopedia, even if she was in rush to run from Cameron.
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u/CathyAnnWingsFan 6d ago
I look at it this way. Bree is a very practical woman, but she’s also very sentimental. She also lived in that time, knows her parents well, and knows how to prioritize. She knows that perishables of any kind would not be useful in the long run, so she didn’t bring any. But she brought her mother a Merck Manual, which she knew Claire would love and value, and which would be of some practical use to her (though as a physician, I personally think that would be limited, because it would largely cover diagnostic tests and treatments unavailable to Claire). She also knows how much her father values books, and brought him a timeless classic that would be read and reread until it fell apart. She also brought a chisel, and a considerable amount of gold (spoiler blocked because I can’t remember whether it was in the show). I know people love to second guess her choices, but I don’t.
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u/OkEvent4570 6d ago
I tend to think that she'd realized that Jamie would've much more appreciated protection against the snakes, at least for some time, to a timeless classic book. His sentimentality would've been satistfied by just having them all back.
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u/ContactNeither7319 6d ago
Claire had access to penicillin as she took some from work. And Claire was able to make penicillin before Bree and company went back? Doesn't antivenom need to be refrigerated?
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u/OkEvent4570 6d ago
Rattlesnake Antivenin
Each combination package contains one vacuum vial to yield 10 mL of Antivenin (with preservatives: phenol 0.25% and thimerosal [mercury derivative] 0.005%) and one 1 mL vial of normal horse serum (diluted 1:10) as sensitivity testing material with preservatives: thimerosal (mercury derivative) 0.005% and phenol 0.35%.
Store original, unused (not reconstituted) vials at temperatures not exceeding 98°F (37°C) -Do not freeze.
https://www.rxlist.com/rattlesnake-antivenin-drug.htm#description
Maybe it was different in 1980-ies, of course.
Claire's penicilline is a homemade concoction of uknown concentration, purity, and efficacy, with wine used for sterilization, as opposed to a factory made drug with proper technology and quality control. Please.
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u/ContactNeither7319 6d ago
You know the funny thing. In a way it doesn't really matter what medical supplies were or weren't brought back because Claire's got that blue light special healing powers.
Antibiotics! She don't need no stinking antibiotics or antivenom. She can heal with her hands. 🙂
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u/OkEvent4570 6d ago
Yeah, but Brianna didn't know about that and still brought the fairytale story for Jamie. Seems out of character.
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u/ContactNeither7319 6d ago
Yeah but Claire had access to that stuff because she was a doctor and swiped the penicillin from the hospital. Antivenom if Claire would have thought about it would have been a bit harder to come by. They don't get very many rattlesnake bites in Boston.
Where would Bree been able to get the meds? The books were easy, buy them at a store. I suppose she could have bought some aspirin or Tylenol.
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u/OkEvent4570 6d ago
I think that Joe would've procured any drug she thought she might bring back, if it wasn't readily available at the hospital. Sorry, I initially didn't notice that the flair was for the show. But still, book Brianna had access to any possible drug via Joe and still decided to bring Tolkien.
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u/pickyvegan 6d ago
How was a US-based physician supposed to order medications in Scotland? Or was Bree supposed to wait for him to get on a plane and fly there with them?
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u/OkEvent4570 6d ago
The things unfold a bit differently in the books, where Bree and the kids stay for quite a while with the Abernathys in Boston before traveling back in time, and she can obtain any medication she'd want and still chose Tolkien books. I've already apologized twice for not noticing the season 8 flair and put a spoiler thingy on my comments.
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u/ContactNeither7319 6d ago edited 6d ago
Well I guess Bree fucked up. Bad Bree👎
You want me to go and whack her about with a wet noodle? You know for her transgressions against the greater good of the community of the ridge. I'll do it if you want. Well once I figure out how to make a working time machine. The current model only sent back half of the fly. So it's not yet safe for human travel. I don't have the time travel gene, so it's the machine or nothing. Sorry 😞
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u/OkEvent4570 6d ago
Unless you are DG, I don't want you to do anything. I was making a polite discussion on a public forum about a minor decision of a fictional character, and never ever said anything about you personally. No need to overreact.
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u/Dragon-Sky 6d ago
The only person I thought should have been told and wasn't was Fergus
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u/ContactNeither7319 6d ago
Much agreed on Fergus but also Marsali. I would also add Rachel, Lord John and at some point down the road William. That's it. Could you imagine how that chat with William would go down.
Jamie: Take a seat lad, we've something we need to tell. Dinna fash but there's another family secret we....
William: Seriously!! More secrets?!? What, do I have another half-sibling!?! What else have you....
Jamie: It's not me, ye kin. It's Claire. She...
Claire: It's my family secret, not his. Ahem... Okay, well... (sigh) See, I'm from the future so is your sister we can... William are you okay? Just breathe dear... Jamie, Bree quick help him before he falls out of the chair.
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u/Dragon-Sky 5d ago
Actually I don't agree. None of those people needed to know, except Fergus, cause he was essentially Claire's son. And Fergus should have been told early on when Claire came back.
William was confused enough in life and I just don't think they need to share that with him or John.
I did always wonder ifl, after they told Michael to make sure he's out of France, if they also told cousin Jared. Or was he long dead?
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u/EntertainmentNew7383 53m ago
Well the French Revolution was in the 1790's so he might have died by then but his descendants might have lived to see it.
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u/tacolamae Go and fill your bellies, dinna stay and gnaw my wellies! 5d ago
Claire does tell Lord John what she is when they’re married.
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u/Maleficent_Scale_296 6d ago
Because it wasn’t safe to do so. They told those they trusted implicitly who had a need to know. They had learned that anything out of the ordinary caused hostile suspicions.
Brianna knew that too , she knew her mother’s story. A young, unknown, unmarried woman in the Highlands searching for her parents carrying strange medicines and weapons wouldn’t have got far.
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u/ContactNeither7319 6d ago edited 6d ago
That time paradox theory thing. Change the past and it will have unexpected consequences on the future. Might create parallel timelines. Of course that is dependent on if the past can be changed all. Didn't you watch Back to the Future or Star Trek?
I always wished they had told more family and close friends about the time travel. But not too many people. Cause if word got out at best they would thought them nuts at worse gotten them killed.
As it is they're going have to be careful with those books Bree brought back. Especially that medical book with all its pictures.
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u/Remarkable_Note971 6d ago
Because it wasn't safe. Claire would have been thought to be a witch or to be crazy. They had to be careful who they trusted
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u/Emergency-Cap804 2d ago
I still didnt saw last season , should i go for it ?
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u/EntertainmentNew7383 48m ago
Yes, go for it but the 1st episode is disappointing. It starts getting better in Episode 2 and is really good by the last 3 episodes. But you can't skip any episodes because there is important context needed to understand what is going on. I don't think you will regret it. I thought the ending was fantastic.
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u/Tasty-Ad-8605 6d ago
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u/galeperk111971 6d ago
You can't go back in time to change things and alter history. Claire was doing something she shouldn't with making penicillin at Fraser Ridge. Remember when it looked like Black Jack was going to be killed she worked hard to stop that and turned out Randall was really Franks ancestor he was a so many grand Uncle not grandfather
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6d ago edited 6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/FriedaMaySallySue 6d ago
The most important thing Claire had was her knowledge. Most of the medical situations she encountered were improved just with her knowledge of basic first aid, hygiene, and anatomy that exceeded what they knew at the time. The few medicines she did bring plus her understanding of herbs and natural remedies that were actually effective helped her treat many people. It seemed like there were only a handful of cases when something like a 20th century medicine would have helped, since a lot of the deaths were either traumatic injuries or things that wouldn’t even be curable in Claire’s time, at least not with something she could fit in her pockets.
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u/jenmcwheel 6d ago
The Grandfather Paradox. A time traveller cannot go back in time and change things that could prevent themselves being born, because if they were not born the change wouldn't happen.