The game’s afoot on a new season of Peacock’s The Traitors (US), but an attempt to shake up the proceedings with a twist from the UK series doesn’t produce the same high drama.
Spoilers ahead for episodes 1-3…
Welcome back to Scotland as the latest (celebrity) season of The Traitors tries to shake up the game a little with the introduction of the “Secret Traitor” – an individual who creates a murder shortlist for the other Traitors, all while keeping their identity a secret.
In the UK version, this produced endless hand wringing from the traitors in the turret, who felt like they were being middle managed by someone who may – or may not – have had their best interests at heart. In this iteration, the secret traitor hardly makes a blip until their discovery in episode 3, “Show Me Your Faces” when the new wrinkle kinda/sorta pays off.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Initially it seems like there are plenty of format changes when the guests arrive in the Scottish highlands in the middle of the night. There are no lights except for the flames lining the road, but (as expected) this is merely a preamble to an overly theatrical welcome from host Alan Cumming, who kicks off the game immediately by publicly selecting the Secret Traitor in front of everyone before they even get inside.
This is undeniably fun, though because several of the players don’t know each other, it’s hard to gauge the reaction as Alan opens a box to reveal either a) nothing (meaning they’re Faithfuls for now) or b) the Traitor Tarot Card. The most amusing part of this is that the Secret Traitor’s identity is kept hidden from the audience as well, so we’re left guessing, too.
The episodes then proceed to unfold in mostly the usual fashion. As I mentioned in last year’s review of S03, my preference leans towards the normies version of the show (ie: the UK format) as opposed to the celebrity version (US; New Zealand), which tends to focus too much on big personalities and pre-existing rivalries/alliances.
This is always most evident in the faction blocks that immediately develop around the Housewives and the Gamers. In this season, those groups are populated by:
- Housewives: Porsha Williams (Atlanta), Lisa Rinna (Beverly Hills), Dorinda Medley* (New York City), Candiace Dillard Bassett (Potomac), and – to a lesser extent – Caroline Stanbury (Ladies of London)
- Gamers: Big Brother‘s Ian Terry and Tiffany Mitchell, as well as Survivor‘s Yam Yam, Rob Cesternino and Natalie Anderson
The remaining players include Love Island contestants Rob Rausch and Maura Higgins, The Bachelor‘s Colton Underwood, Dancing with the Stars‘s Mark Ballas, RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Monét X Change, Top Chef host Kristen Kish, comedian Ron Funches, musician Eric Nam, actors Stephen Colletti and Michael Rapaport, figure skaters Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir, and Donna Kelce (mother of Travis Kelce)
*Dorinda is the sole returning player; she was the first murder of S03
Of these, several fail to make much of an impression in the first few episodes outside of a fleeting moment (Weir fails spectacularly during the Mission in episode 3, which is where Ballas has a heartbreaking near success, etc)
The ones who make waves are, of course, either Traitors (Candiace, Lisa & Rob R), bad Faithfuls (Rapaport), or individuals caught in the crossfire (Ron, who presents the closest thing to concrete “evidence” against Porscha and becomes a pariah when it is revealed she isn’t a Traitor).
So what of the Secret Traitor? Aside from never fully coming together as a threat against the other three, the identity of the mysterious fourth one comes to a crashing halt in episode 3 when it is revealed to be Donna after she is banished from a post-breakfast Roundtable. It’s a fun moment because I was genuinely surprised (the Faithful had *zero* evidence against her aside from the usual “You would make a great traitor” argument), but it’s a fun moment early on in the season.
Missions
My enthusiasm for the missions tends to fall into the “meh” category, which is definitely the case with all three (coffin boats in episode 1; thrones in episode 2; and skull collection in episode 3). Of the trio, the last one is arguably the best because there’s a direct correlation between which people don’t complete and who is eligible for murder, thereby creating the most drama.
With that said, however: the first two missions cement that Michael Rapaport is the most unhinged player of the season as he flies off the handle when he discovers his grave has been filled and he’s unable to plead his case to ride in a throne. It’s extremely over the top behaviour that carries over into the Roundtables, as well as breakfast (!), when he and Yam Yam go after each other.
You can definitely sense everyone’s frustration, particularly by the third episode.
Traitor Behaviour
It’s interesting to see how well the three regular Traitors play together. Sure they do the traditional Let’s not stab each other in the back/”Traitors for life!” pledge, but everyone does that and it always falls apart. For now, however, the trio looks rock solid, even as Candiace can’t stop inserting herself into conversations that she would be better staying out of (the Porscha/Michael “kitch-incident” could have very easily gone another way that would have been very bad for Candiace).
Banishments and Murders
For now, none of the murders have proven surprising: Ian (an overly confident Gamer), then the murder in plain sight of Rob C, which is exciting and timely given that he noticed who started the Conga line AKA Candiace’s blatant distraction attempt.
We end on a cliffhanger that leaves Eric, Caroline, and Kristen tied to trees for a face-to-face murder. My bet? Caroline, because they want to eliminate a Housewife to shake things up
As for banishments, Porscha was deserved considering she slipped up no less than THREE times, followed by Donna, who confirms her Secret Traitor identity. So far so good.
My predictions: Michael and Ron seem likely to go next.
Other Observations:
- Alan’s coffin outfit at the first Mission is everything. His yellow bird breakfast outfit, on the other hand? Horrible.
- Speaking of wardrobes, you know it’s an all-celebrity edition of The Traitors based on how many enormous hats and tank top/mid-drift baring outfits you see.
- Best Lines:
- Rob R, upon exiting the cars at the start of the game: “It’s weird to be wearing clothes. I haven’t made out with anybody”
- Alan, elaborating on the Traitors’ first meeting: “No murder. Meet and greet, maybe some finger food”
- Monet (after Colton lifts a whole coffin into their boat): “You could do that the whole time? Hot”
- Alan, teasing the forthcoming Roundtable, after the throne Mission: “All of you will be guaranteed a seat”
- Lisa, after someone feels bad for the players left in cages: “I know” (a beat as she considers a jug of pop) “I wonder if this is diet or not?”
- Candiace may be doing too much, but she also has nearly all the good zingers.
- Re: Donna: “She’s America’s mom…she might need to die.”
- Reacting to the murder in plain sight: “I’ve had a whole glass of wine and now I need to turn on my bad bitch and serve”
- And finally, Lisa Rinna’s epic response when Alan asks during the sit down why she’s a threat in the game: “Well, because I’m Lisa fucking Rinna”
The Traitors US airs on Peacock every Thursday