The Traitors: New Blood Recap: Follow the Teeny Traitor

The Traitors New Blood
The Sun, the Moon, and the Truth
Season 1 Episode 10
Editor’s Rating ★★★
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They got a Traitor at the last roundtable, and now the players are riding that high. It only took them weeks and weeks of blindly groping in the dark before chance finally gave them a win. That, and Victor’s incessant harping. Now we’re at the next roundtable, and Victor is coming for Joe. Oh, Joe. You seem pretty good. I’m sorry about your fate. 

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Kriste kicks things off by accusing Wyatt. She thinks there’s someone young in the turret. Shane thinks it’s too on the nose for Abbey to have accused Wyatt and then get murdered, and Kriste calls out the men’s clique at the table. Yeah! How many women are left now? Three. Three women and seven men, and of the ten people left at the start of the episode, eight are white. Were players commenting on this and we’re just not seeing it? This is seriously so egregious and so embarrassing for the players. Now there’s a clique of men who sway all the votes, and no thanks, everyone can experience that in real life readily enough. 

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It’s not just that they’re a clique; it’s how they revel in both their in-group status and their voting power. You are grown men. Grow the fuck up, stop fawning over Victor, and stop acting like you’re in a fraternity. You’re making me prefer Jay. JAY.

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At the roundtable, Victor starts coming after Joe. Joe doesn’t think he has anything but the fruit idea, which seems right? When Joe asks if anyone saw him interacting strongly with Tomica, no one has anything to say. And this is yet another reason this season is so infuriating. Based on this discussion, it seems really weird for people to vote for Joe, other than Victor having been right before. But when it comes time to vote, it goes: Joe (Wyatt), Wyatt (Joe), Jay (Joe), Shane (Kriste), Kriste (Wyatt), Katie (Wyatt), Victor (Joe), Abby (Joe), Clyde (Joe), Ben (Joe). So clearly, the men’s clique (plus Jay and Abby) agreed to vote for Joe beforehand, and/or there was more compelling evidence presented that we did not see. These votes are baffling because we’re missing so much context. Also, Jay cries when he votes for Joe, and everyone is suspicious of this.

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Joe has the most votes, so he stands before them all and says, “My headstone will read: Here lies Joe, proud father, beloved husband, trrrrrrruly a great friend, and Traitor.” That “truly” was very fun, Joe. True dad energy.

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So now it’s just Katie holding things down for the Traitors. She pulls Victor to chat since he has this huge voting bloc, and we learn that he is leaning toward Kriste or Jay. Wyatt and Ben are also thinking Jay, due to the crying. Okay, guys. With Katie right there, everyone speculates about her being a Traitor, just in case the Traitors have someone young. Ben asks Katie not to kill him tonight, which is kind of a joke, but also not, since Ben thinks it’s Katie. Before everyone leaves for the night, Victor pulls Shane aside and tells him he has a shield and he’s going to spread the rumor that Shane has one so Shane won’t get murdered. That’s a solid move, Victor. 

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Unfortunately, it’s recruitment night, and Katie has picked Shane. She debated choosing Victor, but there’s like a 90 percent possibility that Victor would turn on her. When Shane sees it’s Katie, he laughs really hard. He was totally set on Kriste and Jay! The visual of Shane and Katie as Traitors is excellent. They should cast more things by height difference. He’s so tall and she’s so wee! Shane accepts Katie’s offer and becomes a Traitor, making them (per Katie) the teeny Traitor and the mega Traitor. “Let’s hood up,” she says. I don’t know about that phrase, Katie. 

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Shane immediately has to help murder someone that night. He discloses that Victor has a shield (so much for trust, am I right, Victor?), and they decide that it’s between Ben, Clyde, and Abbey. I really thought Ben was out of the running since he’s been saying Katie’s name, but the next morning, who has been murdered but our Ben Platt look-alike, Rodeo Ben. Should I even mention the continued idiocy of trying to guess whether a knock is a “girl knock” or a “boy knock,” per Victor and Wyatt? And how they are consistently wrong about this? Players have also done this in previous seasons, and they were almost always wrong.

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The mission today involves puzzle building. It’s a little Survivor-y, but with a Traitors twist. Every player has to search a trough for puzzle pieces to complete their own three-dimensional shield puzzle. If their shield puzzle is complete by the end of the mission, they are protected from that night’s murder. But the Traitors will also be completing a shield puzzle, only using pieces from other players’ puzzles. If their puzzle is completed, $26,000 will be added to the prize total. When the castle bells chime, everyone must pause, put on a visor, and the Traitors have one minute to steal pieces from other players’ puzzles. The mission ends when the Traitors’ shield is completed, or after four rounds.

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Shane is rightfully concerned about stealthiness, as he is a friendly giant with a size-16 shoe. Victor hears floorboards creaking by him and tells us it can only be one person: Kriste. Amazing. Shout-out to Alan’s Victor/Victoria headpiece. Teeny Traitor and Mega Traitor creep around as best they can, trying to complete their puzzle. Clyde is getting suspicious. He was already suspicious of Katie, but he hears heavy footsteps, so he knows if Katie is a Traitor, there’s one more. When you look at the people remaining, he says, there are only a couple of people who could have such heavy footsteps. He hears Shane’s puzzle fall and now is considering Shane for the very first time.

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It feels like the players are being given more opportunities to identify Traitors than in other seasons. Or maybe the Traitors aren’t great at this, but are saved by the players also being terrible at guessing. Except for Victor. Somehow. Can you imagine Lisa Rinna being given the fruit task? She would have crushed it. 

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Next week is the finale, if you can believe it. Really rooting for Katie and Shane, or at least Shane, if Katie can’t make it. Shane wants to support his family and provide some more financial stability for them! Which, again, should be a function of our government and not an NBC game show, but this is the society in which we live. 

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You Have My Vote

Who would I vote for on Traitors? It’s hard to judge what one would do without having the insider knowledge, because who knows the full context of what’s happening in that castle, but based on what’s presented, here are my picks:

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No Insider Knowledge: I think I would have voted for Wyatt, but I’m interested in why Jay voted for Joe. We don’t really know why, which, again, is something aggravating about this season and its shortened format. If something compelling were brought up about Joe, then maybe! But Wyatt’s name has been thrown around long enough that I think I would go with Wyatt, due to building suspicions.

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Yes Insider Knowledge: Victor has a shield, so I’m gonna also pick Wyatt here, if only because of him saying, “They’re clocking cliques. They know we’re boys.” How would anyone not know that, Wyatt?

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