“‘Outlander’ Triggered Me: I Completely Lost It When Jamie and Claire Dined with George Washington and Lafayette”

I really enjoy watching Outlander, but sometimes I feel like the show asks for a lot from me. In the past, this meant showing too much sexual violence or testing my patience with boring subplots in colonial settings. However, in Season 7 Episode 14 titled “Ye Dinna Get Used to It,” a simple dinner scene left me completely shocked. The moment when Jamie and Claire hosted General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette for dinner in 1778 Philadelphia made me lose my mind. I was beyond amazed and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

The idea of a World War II nurse time-traveling after touching stones in Scotland and finding her true love in an 18th-century Highlander seems believable. But when Jamie Fraser raises a toast to “the United States of America” in front of George Washington in 1778, it just felt too unrealistic. It was a moment that truly caught me off guard.

Sorry, but the George Washington dinner scene in this week’s Outlander completely shattered my suspension of disbelief and I don’t care who knows it!

One of the aspects that has always drawn me to Outlander is its respect for history. Diana Gabaldon’s books are meticulously researched, filled with intricate details about the clothing, battles, and plants of the time. The Starz adaptation is equally well-researched, giving the show a sense of historical accuracy that makes you feel like you’re actually living in that era with Claire. The use of historical documents and events has been crucial to the storyline throughout the show’s seven seasons.

So it’s always fun when Outlander finds a way to merge Jamie and Claire’s soap opera-esque saga with real world events. When Claire met Benedict Arnold (Rod Hallett) at Fort Ticonderoga in Season 7 Part 1, that made total sense! He was a key player in that Revolutionary War campaign and Jamie and Claire would have been affected by his actions, inadvertently or otherwise. However, when Jamie gets to meet George Washington in Season 7 Part 2, and the General promptly heaps our hero with praise, I have to chuckle.

Jamie Fraser fighting alongside a supporting character in the Revolutionary War? I buy it. Jamie Fraser earning the notice, respect, and admiration from George Washington? If that happened, it would be in history books, folks! Not just in our world, but Claire’s, thus negating that whole Season 3 subplot where Roger (Richard Rankin) had to go digging deep in the archives for Jamie’s fate.

Which brings me to the very important dinner that Jamie and Claire host — in Lord John Grey’s (David Berry) commandeered Philadelphia home — in Outlander Season 7 Episode 14 “Ye Dinna Get Used To It.” Claire’s early interactions with Lafayette might have been charmingly goofy, but that dinner scene was insane. Even if I could get over Claire’s verklempt reaction to getting one of the first American flags designed by Betsy Ross, nothing will erase how cringe it was to hear Jamie raise a toast to “the United States of America”…in 1778.

I understand that Claire has given her 18th century husband a rundown of how the Revolutionary War will eventually lead to the birth of the USA, but “the United States of America” was not a “thing” in 1778. At this point, the colonies were simply fighting for their independence. What came next wasn’t still up for debate. In fact, our new nation would first launch as a failed Confederacy before pivoting to our present three-branch system of “United States.” For Jamie to end a dinner at this time with this present company is literally insane. He would come across as a lunatic muttering random nonsense words.

What’s crazier to me is the knowledge that this episode is attributed to Diana Gabaldon. If so, is the great architect of all things Outlander suggesting that the “United States of America” is a phrase, an idea, a dream gifted to our first President by James Fraser? Stranger things have happened on Outlander, after all. We’re actually in the middle of a subplot where professional engineer Brianna (Sophie Skelton) is using her toddler’s mysterious psychic powers to track down her kidnapped son.

If Outlander is nothing else, it is an entertaining yarn that constantly asks us to suspend our disbelief. In return, we get to experience the intoxicating highs of Claire and Jamie’s eternal love. We get to visit places and moments otherwise lost to the haze of time. We get to escape. The only problem is sometimes our disbelief takes over and, sadly, that happened to me when Jamie raised that toast to the good ole US of A.