The Traitors Season 4, Episodes 4-5
"Cut the Head off the Snake" / "If You're Gonna Come for Me, I'll Finish You"
Host: Alan Cumming
Cast: Natalie Anderson, Yam Yam Arocho, Mark Ballas, Stephen Colletti, Candiace Dillard Bassett, Ron Funches, Maura Higgins, Kristen Kish, Tara Lipinski, Dorinda Medley, Tiffany Mitchell, Eric Nam, Michael Rapaport, Rob Rausch, Lisa Rinna, Colton Underwood, Johnny Weir, Monét X Change
Last week’s batch of episodes was a fun romp in the castle. This week was, at times, that, too, but it ended up being the most personal roundtable we’ve ever seen between Michael Rapaport throwing an underhanded blow at Colton Underwood, as well as Ron Funches telling the others that his personal life is none of their business.
We begin with the reveal of which Faithful was murdered in plain sight at night. While I thought Kristen was the most similar to the intellectual people the Traitors have been going after, it was ultimately a Housewife who ended up being taken out. Caroline Stanbury, of Real Housewives of Dubai, was killed to throw the scent off the fact that the other Housewives are all still alive.
At breakfast, the plan for the Faithfuls is simple: have last night's vulnerable players tell the story of what happened so they can spot if anyone is lying. Ron comes in first. He has a lot of heat on him for being a Traitor, so they try to find anything to catch him in a lie. We know he’s a Faithful and his story is true. But after Lisa Rhinna comes in and brings up the axe, people turn back to Ron’s story. Hilarious, since Lisa is a Traitor who wasn’t tied to a tree. Eric and Kristen arrive next, meaning Caroline was sent home.
The players head to the challenge. This is one of the show's best-designed challenges. Contestants can earn money, but in order to do so, they have to pick a player to be vulnerable for elimination that night. As people stand up and shout out players, the tension rises. Everyone is pissed when they lose their shield, and it’s great TV. The players mostly start by making sure the people they suspect of being Traitors can’t get protection. The players who earn protection are Candiace, Colton, Eric, Kristen, Mark, Natalie, and Rob.
Heading into the Round Table, Colton has a belief that Tiffany is a Traitor. She has a hit list and wants to run through it: Michael, Yam Yam, and Ron. He’s going after her and taking a big swing. Ron still has heat. So does Michael, but he always has heat. At the Round Table, Ron and Tiffany both get their names thrown out. Tiffany takes Colton's attack personally. It seems like it could go either way ... until Eric throws out that he heard a laugh while he was tied to the tree, and he knows whose voice it is. He calls out Tiffany. It’s the nail in the coffin for her. In an overwhelming vote, she is eliminated from the game and reveals herself as a Faithful.
At night, the Traitors eliminate another big personality, Monét. Stop killing my faves, folks!
We get another challenge. This time, it’s close to working, but ultimately, the end result is a bit of a fail. Players must retrieve statues and can secretly grab shields. If anybody grabs one, everyone is up for murder. If no one takes a shield, there is no murder tonight. While there is some teasing of it happening by placing four shields at a few locations, it seems no one took a shield.
Colton, despite missing his shot last night, is ready to take another one. He wants Michael gone. The chaos erupts before the Round Table can even begin. Ron has heat on him, but he calls out Dorina and Michael as potential Traitors.
The Round Table is heated and gets pretty nasty. While trying to forcibly rebuke Colton’s accusations, he says that the former Bachelor was responsible for sending home a great Faithful in Tiffany. He adds that “nobody in this room would be better at holding a secret” than Colton — who came out as gay after his season of The Bachelor, implying that Colton can hold a secret due to his time in the closet. It was gross and homophobic.
Several of the players call out Michael. Natalie, Kristen, Johnny, Maura, and Yam Yam all seem pretty repulsed by Michael’s choice of words. He tries to defend it as game talk, but it’s pretty obvious what he meant. It’s the way that gay people have been vilified for being conniving, deceptive and treacherous for many years. At least we get a moment of Rob calling out Michael for misusing the word "commiserating".
Lisa and Candiace vote for Ron (along with Dorina and Stephen), perhaps hoping to keep Michael’s horrific personality around as cover. Rob sees the writing on the wall and votes to send the actor home. The rest of the votes fall on Michael, and rightfully so. He reveals himself as a Faithful and is eliminated from the game. Good riddance!
With that, the Traitors head to the turret. While we don’t know for sure there won’t be a murder, they’ll have to make a choice of who they might try to murder. They seem to want Colton out, but there’s a chance that if anyone snagged a shield, it was him, so it’s a risk.
Ultimately, the episodes seemed like they would be another campy adventure with Alan Cumming, only to turn bitter and cold. The good news is that the main protagonist of that feeling has been eliminated from the game.
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