Throw on your best tartan– it’s time to catch up with The Traitors.
On the last episode of this murder mystery masterpiece, Kate Chastain entered the house as a new player (and a Faithful), Janelle Marie Pierzina was banished (as a Faithful) and Peter Weber was attempting to pull one over on Traitors Dan Gheesling, Phaedra Parks and Parvati Shallow, by keeping the true identity of the two players with Shields (Bergie Bergersen and Trishelle Cannatella) under wraps.
This episode kicks off at the breakfast table as the remaining players start to trickle in to find out who was “murdered” the night before/collect on that free castle continental breakfast.
Sheree Whitfield, Parvati and Kate are the first to arrive, followed by CT Tamburello, Sandra Diaz-Twine and Dan. MJ Javid and Phaedra walk through the door next, and Phaedra is eager to tell viewers how frustrated she is that she and her fellow Traitors chose to murder Bergie, only because Dan knew Bergie was “hot on his trail.” Phaedra says she loves “Bergalicious” and thinks he’s a sweet guy– aka not a threat in this game, whatsoever– but at the end of the day, someone had to die, so whatev.
Kevin Kreider and Peter are the next to arrive at breakfast and Peter is anxious to find out if his plan fell into place and if the Traitors attempted to murder someone (Bergie) who secretly had a Shield. Peter says he hoping to see John Bercow walk through the door next, despite some of the other players (well, Kevin) deeming the former politician essentially a waste of space in the game.
Right on cue, John enters the room with Trishelle, confirming that the Traitors did, in fact, murder Bergie– or so they think.
Bergie then walks through the door, Shield in hand and smile on his face, much to the Traitor’s surprise. As Bergie makes his rounds greeting the room, Dan pretends he’s not on the verge of throwing a tray of croissants across the room, while Peter pats himself on the back for pulling off his plan. After a few moments, Peter reveals to the group what he did, noting that it confirms either CT, Dan or Parvati are Traitors, as they are the three to whom he revealed his sham Shield story.
After breakfast, Peter insists that CT was the only one of his three suspected Traitors who didn’t seem “squirmish” at the table, which whittles his own personal witch hunt down to just Dan and Parvati.
If Peter had a rose to give himself at this moment, he absolutely would.
In an effort to save herself/throw Dan under the bus, Parvati pulls Peter aside and proceeds to accuse him of being a Traitor, which does nothing but make her look more sus. Likewise, Dan sits down with Peter and tries to get himself out of the hot seat, but again, Peter isn’t budging.
Next we see the group gather with host Alan Cumming for the Daily Mission, which will involve launching cannons from a catapult, though the catapult pieces must first be collected and then constructed by the players. Alan tells the group that one Shield is up for grabs before sending them off into the wild to brave the elements and break a sweat in their athleisure.
Early into the mission, the group is forced to wade through rough waters, with many of the players being knocked over in the process. After enlisting Kevin’s help in getting across the rocky terrain, Trishelle spots an ammo box holding a Shield on the bank and nearly drowns Kevin while running to snag it.
Once everyone is back on dry land, the first piece of the catapult is collected and Peter finds the second ammo box holding a Shield, giving him a chance to be safe and giving Dan another reason to be highly annoyed. While collecting more pieces of the catapult, Sandra spots another ammo box, giving her a chance to win a Shield, too.
As part of the group struggles to pull a massive catapult up the side of seemingly the world’s largest hill, they’re informed by the others that there are more parts to be collected and that their Daily Mission is far from over.
Parvati also runs to grab an ammo box at this time, claiming her effort to do so will make the others believe she’s a Faithful.
With half of the group still pulling the catapult up the hill, those with ammo boxes– minus Peter, who is part of the catapult-pulling crew– line their ammo boxes up on bales of hay, as instructed by Alan. Kate takes Peter’s ammo box, seemingly to place it on the hay for him, though she ultimately decides to drop it on the ground, forcing Peter to run and place it onto the hay himself before someone else steals it.
Before the players can fight it out for the one and only Shield that’s up for grabs, the group must assemble their catapult and fire their cannon, which they surprisingly manage to do, adding $20,000 to the prize pot.
Alan then has each of the players with ammo boxes– Trishelle, Peter, Sandra, Sheree and Parvati– fling cannons at a target for their chance to win a Shield and be safe from the next murder.
Sheree ends up being the top flinger, earning her a Shield and another full-night of sleep in the big comfy castle.
Back at said-comfy castle, the group starts to plan and plot for the upcoming banishment, with Parvati starting to take Dan’s side on Operation Peace-Out Peter. Parvati says she’s convinced that Peter is on a moral crusade to take out a Traitor and she can’t let that happen– at least not while he thinks one of the Traitors is her, anyway.
Shortly after Parvati tries and fails (again) to convince Peter and his pals that she’s not a Traitor, Dan pulls Peter aside to tell him he’s pretty sure he knows who one of the Traitors is, and that he plans to reveal his theory at that night’s Roundtable. Dan reveals to viewers that it’s time for him to go after one of his fellow Traitors, because that’s the name of the game– literally. He then proceeds to hype up his soon-to-be revealed theory to Trishelle, CT and other members of the group, asking that they hear him out…and more importantly, not vote him out.
As the Roundtable deliberation begins, Dan speaks up first, telling the group that he’s been watching someone in the castle since day one and it’s time to call that person out. Dan goes on to name the five people who haven’t had their name written down for banishment– Bergie, Sheree, Phaedra, Parvati and Sandra– noting that this doesn’t confirm any of these people are Traitors (even though two of them happen to be), but that it’s a starting point to figuring it out.
Dan then mentions voting patterns, which he claims rule out the possibility of Sheree, Bergie and Sandra being Traitors, leaving Parvati and Phaedra as his remaining suspects. Dan goes on to make a case for Parvati being a Faithful, before calling out Phaedra for her random Roundtable vote of the now-murdered Ekin-su Cülcüloglu, as well as her breakfast reactions, which he claims have been a little too extra.
“I do too much because you do too little,” Phaedra tells Dan. “But right now, you’re doing too much, because you know you’re getting ready to get banished.”
Phaedra points out that Dan’s Big Brother experience makes him a perfect candidate to be a Traitor, adding that Bergie voted to banish Dan the previous day, only to end up being the person the Traitors attempted to murder later that night. Even Bergie chimes in on Phaedra’s behalf, telling the group that Phaedra wouldn’t want him out of the game because they trust each other. Parvati also throws a Hail Mary, telling the group she DID trust Dan, but isn’t so sure now that his plan is backfiring.
The Roundtable voting begins and once each player has written down who they believe is Traitor, they reveal their answer to the group. Phaedra is up first and she tells the group she believes Dan deserves to be banished, based solely on his question dodging and deflecting. Sandra also votes for Dan, while Peter votes for Parvati.
John votes for Dan– aka “the silent slaughterer”– with Parvati, Kevin and Trishelle voting the same way. Dan is up next and he votes to banish Phaedra, despite knowing that his plan to sacrifice her in lieu of himself is falling apart before his very eyes.
The Roundtable voting concludes with CT, Sheree, Bergie, Kate and MJ all voting for Dan, solidifying Dan’s banishment from the game.
Dan heads to the Circle of Truth to address the group one last time, tail between his legs and bank account less full than he anticipated.
“You know, I’ve been on ‘Big Brother’ twice, and, you know, I think I’m pretty good at that game,” he tells them. “No one’s ever written my name down once in two seasons, and a lot of people did here today. Unfortunately for me, I am a Traitor.”
The Roundtable erupts in cheers and applause– sans Peter, who is almost too busy being smug to celebrate.
After commending the group on bagging their first Traitor, Alan cautions them to beware of twists before leaving them to paint the town castle red.
Amid their celebration, Peter and his posse– Kevin, John, Trishelle and Bergie– head to the library where they decide Parvati will be the next suspected Traitor they go after. The group’s discussion on plan of attack is soon interrupted by some of the other castle-mate, including Parvati, who calls out Peter for being a “bloodhound.”
Later that night, remaining Traitors Parvati and Phaedra meet up in their matching wizard cloaks to get their murder on, only to be scared nearly to death surprised by a be-hatted Alan. Alan tells the Traitors they have the option to murder a Faithful tonight or attempt to recruit one to join them as a Traitor. If the Faithful refuses the offer, they will carry on in the game as a Faithful.
Parvati tells Phaedra she wants to “shake it up” by recruiting someone to join them– preferably Peter, as he’s been putting a lot of suspicion on her. Phaedra, on the other hand, says she isn’t sure she can trust Peter, though she acknowledges that Parvati is in a worse position in the game than she is.
“You’re on your deathbed,” she tells Parvati. “I’m walking into the hospital, but you’re in the ICU, baby. You’re about to flatline, so do what you want to do.”
Later on, Alan delivers the recruitment proposal to Peter– a move Peter claims is the smartest one the Traitors can make. Unfortunately, we have to wait until next week to find out if Peter the “crazy ‘Bachelor’ pilot” accepts the rose offer.
That’s all for this episode! To read The Ashley’s other recaps, click here.
(Photos: Peacock)
Kate looks like hell.
The traitors weren’t actually staying in that beautiful castle, it’s just for filming. They were actually staying in a less than luxurious airport hotel 40 mins away. According to hotel staff they were not impressed at the accommodation 😂😂