The Traitors UK: Series 3 Episode 4 Breakdown

(BBC / Studio Lambert)

General Observations

That mission was absolutely brutal, echoing the original twist on the train. To have Alexander, Fozia and Jack basically plead for their lives one after the other and then watch as the other players chose between them. Then to have Jack still up there, having to listen to Claudia’s debrief and congratulations to the team, knowing he didn’t even get a chance to set foot in the castle. Brutal. It was necessary though, to show any future players that there will be consequences to these first episode twists where you ‘leave’ the game. You can’t have players thinking it’s just an easy way to skip the first few banishments and murders before coming back in with an easier path to the endgame, like Amos and Kieran in series 1. I imagine the first episode of series 4 is now going to be very interesting indeed if they pull a similar trick.

Linda, meanwhile, is starting to become someone I’m going to root for to get all the way. Not because she’s a good Traitor but for how funny she is, seeming to have very little clue what’s going on but also hamming up her acting to campy B-movie levels. I love that she looked genuinely confused when Kasim started to suggest he was a Traitor, as though she was wracking her brains to see if she remembered him hiding in the corner of the Turret. It would be great if she somehow managed to bumble her way into the final and potentially won the whole thing, like a reverse Meryl from series 1.

Best Moment

Oh, so many to choose from! Jack’s speech! Dan’s eye roll! Fozia telling the Faithfuls off! Anna apologising for not being a sailor! Linda’s delivery of ‘you don’t have to be a sailor to know you have to tie a rope…sorry!’ However, the best moment is undoubtedly Kasim’s exit speech. Joe looked like the cat that got the cream, as Kasim made him think he’d caught a Traitor. The crashing disappointment as Kasim said Faithful before striding out of the room was pure TV gold and the look on Joe’s face at that moment will forever be immortalised as an iconic Traitors moment.

Joe: The cat that got the cream (BBC / Studio Lambert)

Dark Horse

Tyler massively screwed up this episode. I’m not sure what made him change his mind in one night from Kas 100% being a Traitor to not being a Traitor, but that was an acceptable play. What I can’t understand is why he spent all day targeting Freddie and telling Leanne and Livi to vote for Freddie, only to actually go back to Kas at the last minute. Now some of his core group distrust him and it’s possible he’ll find himself under the microscope soon. Lesson for future players — if you’ve spent all day saying you’re voting someone don’t change last minute without telling your allies.

Alexander being back in the game rockets him up to around the top of my list of players who can go far. It just depends how well he can walk that tightrope of good game strategy while being unthreatening enough the Traitors don’t murder him. It’ll definitely be made harder by him having to reveal his diplomat skills but on the other hand he seems fairly close with Minah which may keep him alive. I also noticed Francesca get slightly more screen time this episode. I don’t know exactly why but I’ve got a small niggling feeling she could go far.

Alexander: Walking that tightrope (BBC / Studio Lambert)

If I was a Traitor

I certainly wouldn’t have chosen any of those three players to recruit. It’s far too early in the game to need an immediate Traitor patsy to toss to the Faithfuls; there’s far too much risk in Freddie or Anna slipping up or throwing you under the bus in an attempt to save themselves. They’re both fighting for their lives after the last round table and if I was them I’d love to be given a lifeline by getting Linda or Minah banished. After all, both Freddie and Anna have so much heat on them it would be blindingly obvious you’ve only been recruited to be backstabbed and, in that case, why not try and go down fighting. Fozia is a better option and the one I’d go for out of those three but she seems like a very strong personality who might disrupt the well-working Minah-led hierarchy of the Traitors Turret.

If I was going to recruit, I definitely would’ve gone for Alexander; he already has rapport with Minah, seems more pliable than Fozia and also brings a great skill set that could make him useful as a Traitor. Plus, with that skill set and as one of the rail replacement returnees it would be quite easy to foster suspicion much further down the line if you did need to get rid of him, questioning why he hasn’t been murdered and suggesting he entered the game a Traitor. Part of me, however, think they might just have been better off murdering tonight. It seems like both of them, despite Linda’s best efforts to be conspicuous, are flying well under the radar and the confusion of a recruitment just seems like it might bring suspicion down on them.

If I was a Faithful

Based on the information the Faithfuls have I’d be pretty stumped at this point. Somehow everybody seems to have forgotten about Linda, so let’s assume I would have as well or at least pushed her to the back of mind, otherwise she’d be the obvious choice to go for. Freddie’s display of emotion would exonerate him for me, as well as the fact that I don’t think a Traitor would be so careless as to slag off their teammates, even in a moment of frustration, as Freddie did on the raft. That leaves Anna who I’m not sure I would think is definitely a Traitor but seems to be the way the table is leaning, with the rope tying thing the only evidence the group has, discounting everything about Linda. Longer term I’d definitely be looking at some of the stronger women driving the conversation at the round table, such as Leanne and Livi. Tyler, Jake, Joe and Leon would also be on my radar, even if it’s just to seize an opportunity to break up their factions.

Predictions

My prediction Kasim was going in the next episode ended up being correct but not quite in the way I’d expected. I thought it was going to be a slam dunk vote against him, or at least a good majority. I didn’t expect Freddie to gain so much traction just yet, nor Anna to be under such suspicion which seemed to come out of nowhere. So it’s always possible that someone completely left field will become the main character of the next episode, but based on this episode I’d expect Anna to be put under serious pressure at the next round table. Dan definitely doesn’t seem the type to let his hunches go. I think Freddie might receive some grace from the group after his breakdown. The most important thing however, is how the players interpret the absence of a murder. Will they assume the Traitors tried to kill a shielded player or will they assume a recruitment? If they guess there’s been a recruitment that pretty much resets the game and opens up anybody and everybody to be a suspect again.

In terms of recruitment, I think the Traitors will have chosen Anna. I’d expect her to say yes, just as I would if it was either of the other two. The example of Alex in series 1 shows that if you say no to a recruitment your game is probably over as the Traitors murder you in revenge.