That is because the scenes are in the second book Dragonfly in Amber. It is NOT ramped up.

i just re read Outlander- and every thing is certainly not ” virtually identical ” There is brief reference by Jamie to Claire as to what happened before , and descriptions of Jamie ‘s state of mind and suffering after the assault- but no lengthy descriptions of torture and rape as it happened, no nail in hand – that is what i mean by amped up – and more than that – total fabrication.

Kissing someone against their will or making them touch your genitals (even fi it’s over clothing) against their will is sexual assault, and coercion =/= consent, so yes, Randall sexually assault Jamie repeatedly. Also, while Claire has been saved before Randall rapes her, he has sexually assaulted her repeatedly. Sexual assault does not require penetration.

“He had a role in having his hand smashed,…” Had a role? Ummm, yeah he took the mallet and smashed the hell of of Jamie’s hand. That’s a little more than just having a role in it.

“…and sexually assaulted him in a variety of different ways…” No, no he didn’t. In this episode he did not sexually assault him at all. That came after the episode was over. It appears that we’ll see part of it in the next episode but you shouldn’t be reviewing that yet.

“… and completely spoiled any sort of reunion between himself and Claire,…” IMO, this wasn’t about a happy reunion. DGabaldon has said that if Jamie had been saved at the last minute it would have diminished the threat of Black Jack. They had been having encounters with BJ all thru the book with him physically assaulting one of them at every turn. C & J get married to protect her from BJ.

Claire was rescued each time BJ attempted to assault her, if Jamie had been rescued last minute it would have been really anti-climatic. Also, the rape of Jamie isn’t the focus. It’s really about Jamie’s sacrifice to save Claire and what they both go thru afterward to recover. This is an event that ripples thruout the entire rest of the series.

I’m confused about what happened that you felt was “amped up from the book”? Everything was virtually identical to what happened in the book. The only scene I can think you mean is the hangings at the start of the episode which I didn’t feel was especially graphic or traumatic. I thought it was a view into how Randall ended up at Wentworth. After all, he’s posted to Fort William and shouldn’t have been at Wentworth Prison at all.