THE TRAITORS EPISODE 9 - A GAME OF DEATH RECAP
Analyzing how a certain players managed to make a compelling season of a competition series with awful strategy.
Over the last week, the stars of this season of the Traitors have continued on their press tour. Peacock released a 2 minute video where Trishelle, CT, Kevin, Dan, MJ, Sheree and others all talk solely about one Ms. Phaedra Parks Esq. It’s fascinating to see how star power and it-factor can be so much more compelling than strategic gameplay. This week’s episode proved to me something I’d been suspicious of for weeks: Ms. Phaedra Parks Esq maybe isn’t actually good at this game.
Last week we all left aghast by the possibility of the motherquake when Kate Chastain was let out of the dungeon and into the turret. Strategically, this was Phaedra’s first fumble. I think she should have made either Castle Daddy CT or Sandra & Her Braces a traitor. I think both of them likely would have accepted. Neither of them have made any comments about wanting to play as faithfuls, especially if the offer was between that or getting murdered and thereby losing their appearance fee for future episodes.
Later, when we arrive at the Turret, Phaedra looks to Kate, bashes her falsies, and asks the newly turned Traitor who they should murder instead of taking the lead. They decide to go for either Trishelle or Kevin, the main people who’d gone after Phaedra at Round Table. I was…shocked and disappointed. I had been texting my friend Kevin abut the episode and speculated that they would decide on murdering MJ or Castle Daddy CT in order to throw the scent off Phaedra. The second stumble of the episode.
The next morning at breakfast, it’s revealed that Kevin has been murdered. Kate Chastain is oddly quiet as she bites on her nails. MJ seems to notice, but no one is suspicious if a Traitor had been recruited in the night. So she seems to be safe, for now.
After breakfast, Pilot Pete is moping around with his hoodie up, probably listening to Mockingbird by Eminem. Castle Daddy CT and Phaedra Parks Esq try to convince Trishelle that Peter’s acting sus. Trishelle feels torn between trusting Pilot Pete or Castle Daddy CT. After, she finds MP John to see where his head’s at. They more or less decide that they’re alliance is a sinking ship unless they can get CT and Sandra to vote on their side.
Pilot Pete brings Castle Daddy CT into the pool room for a discussion, hombre-to-hombre. CT tells Pilot that he’s thinking of voting him out, because he doesn’t like the incosistency of Peter’s game and finds it suspect. Pilot Pete tries to convince that the fact that he’s moving so aggressively should be taken as a sign that he is a Faithful. Peter’s starting to remind of a player from the Australian version of this game, who coined the term ‘traitor hunter’ for this kind of aggressive style. His season ended with a banishment for being so annoying. I don’t know if that’s what’s going to happen with Peter, I just don’t think he did the homework before deiciding on a strategy.
At the Challenge, they take turns shooting out each other’s names from glass windows until one name remains. That person gets the shield. They get deducted $250 every time they miss. They are really bad this game. Like really bad, But, eventually they come up with a strategy that works where they go in a relative order. But then, Phaedra takes a shot at Trishelle’s name, breaking the pattern they’d all gone in. The Peter Pals and even her Castle Daddy CT all take notice. Phaedra’s third mistake.
Back the castle, Phaedra Parks Esq and all the cast have bites about the dirty mac and cheese. I don’t know why they left this in, but Pilot Pete says he wishes he had sriracha for it. Just when I thought I was out, he pulls me back in… If women have a hot/crazy scale, there’s absolutely an annoying/hot scale for men.
Peter’s Pals are politicking around, Pilot Pete pulls Phaedra Parks Esq into another room to have a conversation and isolate her from the Bravo Bloc. MJ lets her know that she didn’t come to win a popularity contest with the Housewives and would be willing to turn on them if given enough evidence. Time will tell after this commercial break.
Going into the Round Table, Castle Daddy CT is conflicted as he becomes more convinced that his lover Phaedra Parks Esq is likely a traitor, and he suspects Sandra might be as well.
MP John starts off the night with a soliloquy on how Phaedra must be a Traitor and therefore must be banished until eternity. It’s a beautiful speech that he clearly wrote himself up in the little rooms they’re sequestered to. And then, Phaedra Parks Esq gives her opening statements.
“Phew. I’m glad you’re not God. Now you speak very eloquently, and unfortunately this is not Parliament, so you could just bring it down a notch and get to the point, we would really appreciate it.”
Phaedra then goes on to argue that both Parvati and Dan had made a deal with Pilot Pete prior to Banishment, and that is actually more suspciously traitorous behavior. Phaedra even says that Pilot Pete has tried to convince to start working with him. And then we get the line that will go on to be the defining read of the season: “What you might have forgotten Peter, is that this is not the Bachelor. And I don’t have to kiss your ass for a rose.”
You can see Pilot Pete is getting flustered and real-life mad by being called out in this way, which ironically just goes to prove Phaedra’s point. Pilot Pete has never been on a show like this, because now he’s saying that he liked her up until the moment that she came for his game play.
And then, in a heartbreaking backstab, Castle Daddy CT turns on the love of his life, Ms. Phaedra Parks Esq. He draws a diagram and asks her why she went for Trishelle when it was so out of the way. Phaedra stutters. I don’t think she was expecting that. Peter declares that if they make the wrong decision tonight, the Traitors will likely win the whole game.
It’s time to vote. They are split down the middle. Four votes for Pilot Pete. Four votes for Phaedra Parks Esq. The editing through the Round Table scene kept cutting to MJ’s eyes watching the back and forths like a ping pong match and now we see why. She’s the deiciding vote. But before she turns her chalkboard around, the credits begin to roll and we know a cliffhanger is coming. “You sly fox,” I smirk to the screen when the episode ends before we see MJ’s microscopic handwriting.
Notes & Quotes
“You sly fox.” Kate Chastain
“I think you’d make a crazy cool killer with me.” Phaedra Parks Esq
“It was like eating dry melba toast with no butter, no jam, no nothing.” Phaedra Parks Esq
“Peter puts the dick in dictator” Kate Chastain
“Throw your notebook away, with your little funny hats” Phaedra Parks Esq
Kate’s metallic pants.
"You okay? There's something amiss, because the light in Kate's face is not totally there." MJ
“Do I get to keep this?” Kevin asking production to keep his murder declaration.
I love that MP John refer to his those in his alliance as his colleagues.
Predictions
I think MJ votes for Phaedra and Phaedra gets the banishment. I think Kate is going to recruit Sandra. I don’t think there will be a murder and so everyone is going to be guessing the New Recruit. Sandra already has smoke from Castle Daddy CT and Trishelle so if she’s recruited, it might only last for an episode. Maybe two. I’m starting to think the Faithful might actually win. Has that ever happened? I’m not sure I’ve seen all the Traitors, but I do think it’s very damn near impossible for Faithfuls to win. Very curious to how this all shakes out.