Recap of Season 3 Episode 4 of ‘The Traitors’: Showdown Between Betrayers

Last week on The Traitors, I talked about Danielle Reyes and how her suspicious behavior could be risky. This week, more people are starting to suspect her, but due to the dramatic acts and betrayal of other Traitors, the attention is diverted from her, at least for now.

The new episode continues where we left off, with Gabby Windey walking into a room at the bar and overhearing a sinister conversation. Gabby confirms she heard voices behind a secret bookcase, recognizing Danielle’s voice along with Boston Rob, Bob the Drag Queen, and Carolyn Wiger. The four Traitors were deliberating on who to target next, settling on Nikki Garcia, Ciara Miller, and Jeremy Collins.

As the Traitors operated in plain sight, the atmosphere in the castle felt uneasy. People sensed something was amiss, prompting Zac’s Brother Dylan Efron to inspect and find the open secret bookcase. Danielle interrupts his investigation along with Ciara, leading to a moment of confusion. Dylan states they are too late to find whatever they were searching for.

Alan then gathers everyone outside for the coffin ceremony, in which the three shortlisted players will be forced into coffins, and one of them will be nailed in, effectively killing them off. Alan explains to everyone that three names were given, but that the names may include Faithfuls and Traitors, just to throw everyone off. There are varying degrees of shock among the players. Gabby’s mouth hangs open, Dylan sniffs the air, disappointed he couldn’t figure this out sooner. Boston Rob stands there with the semi-attentive look of the uncle at the funeral who’s secretly listening to a Patriots game in one earbud.

“Please step forward and lie down in one of these coffins,” Alan instructs Jeremy, Ciara and Nikki. And Ciara Miller is not happy about this. “I want to find you and fucking hunt you down,” she says to the Traitors before the lid of the coffin is lowered on her. “Thank you, Ciara, eloquent as ever,” Alan replies.Later, in her confessional, she adds, “If I survive this, I am coming full force and I will not stop until I find a Traitor. Fuck you. Respectfully.”

Jeremy tries a different tactic, appealing to the Traitors and telling them, “If you keep me, I’ll work with you.” It’s a desperate move for a desperate man.

Alan excuses everyone and tells them to go get sleep, but a dumbfounded Tom Sandoval doesn’t move. “Go, Tom, go!” Alan Seuss commands his underling. When Tom walks in the house, it’s clear his wheels have been spinning, and he explains to Robyn Dixon, “There could be a Traitor in one of those coffins!”

“Or two,” she replies.

The Traitors are counting on the fact that the Faithfuls will believe that, because later Boston Rob points out, “Whoevah we kill, one of the othah two are gonna have sus on them.”

The Traitors nail a coffin, and the next morning at breakfast, everyone is indeed sus. Robyn is positive that Ciara is a Traitor, while Gabby tries to explain that she heard Danielle behind the bookcase and that makes her wary, but Robyn is sure Danielle can’t be a Traitor.

Just to keep things direct and straightforward, Robyn and Gabby address this right away, asking everyone at breakfast, “Who was in the bookcase last night?” Danielle is surprised but immediately admits she went in – with Dylan! – to investigate. “That’s annoying. I thought I had a clue. Debunked immediately,” Gabby says dejectedly.

When Nikki and Ciara walk into breakfast and it becomes clear that Jeremy was murdered, everyone is shocked and sad. (Perhaps no one is sadder than Carolyn, who had a lot of guilt about killing off a member of the Survivor family. “I didn’t want to murder Jeremy,” she cries. “Why did I allow Danielle to do that?” I appreciate her empathy, but this is a whole other show, babe.) Jeremy takes it equally hard, crying as he wonders what he did wrong, but of course, he was killed because he was doing everything right, correctly guessing that Danielle is a Traitor.

Half of the castle has absolutely fallen for the misdirect that one of the other coffin-dwellers was a Traitor, and Nikki and Ciara’s names are both thrown out as suspects, while other folks, notably Dylan and Nikki, are on the right path in correctly sniffing out the real Traitors. Dylan is building a case against Bob the Drag Queen, while Nikki is picking up where Jeremy left off and looking into Danielle. But before they can banish anyone at the Round Table, they have to get through the day’s mission first, which is to carry enormous pieces of Easter Island-looking statues up a hill, attaching a large body to an even larger base. But while there are 18 heads, one for each contestant, there are only 10 bases, and the ones who are fast enough to carry both the head and body up the hill and assemble them will receive an immunity shield, leaving 8 players susceptible to murder.

Big Brother Britney, who has become the true comic relief of the show, explains, “I come into this frickin’ game all like, ‘Yeah, I’m ready, I’m in the best shape of my life because I Peloton!’ Guess what Peloton didn’t have me doing? Carrying things up a hill. Should this have been a cycling competition set to early-2000s pop, yes, I would have been a great competitor for that.” She’s not the only one to struggle, and Bob Harper admits that the challenge is especially hard on him after having a heart attack several years before. Ultimately, the first six heads are claimed by men (Is it editing, or are all men on the show terrible? Combination of both?) and that’s when, for some reason, Bob the Drag Queen says, “I did think that one of the new guys needs a head up there because we all think that one of them might be a Traitor,” thus setting him up for what will become his downfall.

Rob, one of the most manipulative players on all of TV, is one of the new guys, and he is not going to let that little quip go and despite the fact that he supposed to show solidarity with his fellow Traitors. He suggests to fellow new guys Wes and Derrick that they try to eliminate Bob. But Rob isn’t going to call Bob out himself, instead, he says he’s just going to plant seeds and let the Faithfuls take it from there. He recruits Dylan, the one other person who already has eyes on Bob, to start spreading the word.

At the Round Table, after Wes accuses Nikki of being a Traitor and then Derrick accuses Ciara, we get treated to the full Boston Rob Experience, as he then accuses Bob the Drag Queen of being a Traitor. It is unheard of tell sell out one of your own on this show (and for it to come to this so early in the game!). Adrenaline courses through my veins as Rob makes his big announcement, and it pours out of my palms as a gallon of sweat. Bob is gutted, shocked, and appalled, as is everyone else.

But Boston Rob doesn’t back off. “The gig’s up, bud. I got ya,” Rob says, and Bob is clearly getting angrier at his fellow Traitor by the second. But I have to think that he’s angry not just to be sold out, but because up till now, he has had most of the players in the palm of his hand and he has often been the most persuasive person in the room. And now Rob is about to take that all away. “Everything he said about me is actually true about him,” Bob tells the room.

With the Round Table devolving into a shouting match between Bob and Rob, this places Danielle and Carolyn in a terrible predicament, because if they vote for Bob, sure, they will look faithful, but if they vote against him, it means that maybe Rob will come for them. Danielle keeps saying there’s no way she can vote for Bob because he’s her “ride and die,” and I’m just sad that no one has corrected her on this yet. Ultimately, all three Traitors vote against their own, and after a majority votes against him, Bob is banished. In the Circle of Truth, he dramatically declares that he has never lied to the group. “I never lied. Guys, I said I swear to God. GOD! And that was a lie because I don’t believe in God, I’m a Traitor,” he says in one swoop, and of all the people who have had to admit that, Bob can rest well knowing he was the best to do it. Chairs are flipped, jackets are ripped off, hug all around, the remaining player at the Round Table erupt in celebration. And even though Bob is disappointed, in his confessional he seems to have a healthy perspective.

This seriously changes the dynamic of the game though, as far as the Traitors are concerned. Now, instead of a united front, it’s clear that it’s every person for themselves. “I’m going to have to give him a taste of his own medicine,” Danielle says as she enters the turret to face the man who betrayed all of their trust.

But his fellow Traitors aren’t the only ones who are out to get Rob. “How do you know 100% that someone’s a Traitor?” Wes asks a group of Faithfuls who are all showering Rob with praise for being so certain about Bob. “If you’re a Traitor,” Tom says, piecing things together in the string-covered bulletin board of his mind. And just like that, the power might have just changed hands.