‘The Traitors’ Season 3 Episode 9 Recap: Traitor Versus Traitor

“The Traitors” Season 3 has been unique for having particularly high tensions between its Traitors and with Episode 9: “A Silent Assassin,” they reach their critical point. The episode starts with a bang, as Traitors Danielle and Carolyn can’t seem to work together to answer host Alan Cumming’s latest ask. Episode 8 ended with the reveal that they can recruit someone new to be a Traitor or to murder as usual. Carolyn vetoes Danielle wanting to recruit Britney, citing that due to their rekindled friendship, the two of them together would throw her under the bus.

Without being able to agree on recruiting someone, the Traitors decide to murder. But even there, Danielle and Carolyn can’t seem to agree. Carolyn is quick to rebut every suggestion Danielle makes, leaving her frustrated and claiming that she is simply trying her hardest to keep their Traitorous team together. To Carolyn, Danielle is guilty until proven innocent, stating, “Danielle doesn’t trust me, and I don’t trust Danielle. It’s just a matter of who can get who first.” This quickly becomes the theme of Episode 9 as the tensions simmering in the turret boil over by the end of the episode for the most dramatic roundtable yet.

With the reveal at breakfast that Sam was murdered in the night, the players remaining at the beginning of the episode are:

• • Danielle – Traitor
  • Carolyn – Traitor
  • Dolores
  • Dylan
  • Gabby
  • Tom
  • Britney
  • Iver
  • Sam – Murdered

Lines Drawn Between Danielle and Carolyn

With trust between the Traitors at an “all-time-low,” Danielle and Carolyn go into breakfast looking for ways to “get” one another. Gabby confesses to Carolyn that she’s in on the Danielle theory that has been going around the house, giving Carolyn an “in.”

Danielle sees that Carolyn will be planning to make a move against her, claiming in her confessional that if she does, she’s “ready for her.” With battle plans in the Traitors’ minds, they set out to campaign for their innocence, and the other Traitor’s guilt.

Danielle and Britney’s bond that was reformed in the previous episode, cry together, with Britney claiming that she couldn’t play the game without Danielle. Danielle, who has gone through cycles of guilt surrounding playing against her friends, says that it would be “the best thing ever” if Carolyn was voted out, so that she and Britney could play on the same side.  With this wish, battle lines between Danielle and Carolyn are drawn.

Gabby’s Sharp Gab

In a conversation between Gabby and Tom, who is way off-base with another accusation against Dolores, Gabby rightfully predicts that the Traitors are going to start turning on each other. Gabby has been one to watch throughout the game and this episode continues to prove her sharpness. In a play for the endgame, Dylan goes to her to team-up despite having thrown her name out as a possible Traitor in the past, agreeing that Danielle is the most likely suspect. Dylan’s theory? That he was kept alive the night before due to a Traitor possibly being an ally of his, as Danielle is. Gabby is always quick with golden one-liners, saying in her confessional, “Ladies, they always come back.” Words to live by, Gabby.

A Game of Chess

This episode’s challenge takes the form of a chessboard on which the player’s names are written. To win prize money, the players must guess what the Traitors’ answers are to a series of questions, proving a challenge to the Traitors to not make it obvious that already know the answers. Their strategy? To have answers that are in line with the consensus of the house. Each question has a corresponding chess piece in the shape of an animal that ominously moves across the chess board to the player the Traitors picked.

The game starts with a surprise. Parvati and Kate from Season 2 come fabulously dressed in black and white as queens of the chessboard to entertain us with their comments. Also making a statement, as always, Alan wears a striking, campy crown of chess pieces.

Britney is the answer to the first two questions, “Who is slithering under the roundtable?” and “Who is the biggest threat to the Traitors?” to take heat off Danielle. To answer the latter, Tom Sandoval votes for himself and the players wrongfully choose him as the answer. This assertation proved predictable, as the Traitors chose him as the answer for the next question “Who is the leader of the pack?” stating, “He’s too arrogant not to say his name.” But as the players were wrong choosing Tom for the question before, their minds now go to Dylan, leaving Carolyn trying in vain to convince them to pick Tom, knowing full well what the correct answer is (and not thinking how suspicious being so vocal looks).

Kate and Parvati chime in from their thrones, saying that Dylan is “So Peter,” referring to Bachelor Franchise star Pilot Pete on the previous season of “The Traitors,” who played an aggressively Faithful game. Tom, in a peanut gallery of his own, says he has “always felt like a lone wolf,” referring to the question’s wolf-shaped chess piece.

For the last question, “Whose voice is the most irrelevant?” Carolyn puts herself down, leaving Danielle happy about her taking the spotlight, especially as Carolyn quickly volunteers herself during the game. She makes the argument that the Traitors would pick her because she is always loud about no one listening to her but when the other players don’t immediately agree, she realizes that she’s the only one saying that in the group. To her defensive response, Parvati and Kate call her out as a “True Traitor.” Despite the castle leaning towards voting for Danielle in the morning, Carolyn leaves the game with heads starting to turn towards her. She quickly sees that not only was she set up, she set herself up.

Dylan’s Dilemma 

Dylan was surprised to be kept around another night, as he has been vocal in the group and was also an ally to Boston Rob. We know as viewers that Sam was picked the night before because he had “people’s ears,” and Dylan rightfully suggests that “someone” is bringing him to the end because he has been loyal to them. This episode, he turns his suspicions toward his allies, and Danielle is the first one on his mind.

After the game of chess, however, his attention turns to Carolyn, as evidence grew against her when during the game, she was vocal and defensive to the point that Dolores had to say that they weren’t accusing her of being a Traitor. Carolyn’s saving grace is what Dylan calls her “uniqueness” — an oddball energy that has thrown people off her scent as they don’t believe she has it in her to be a Traitor, something outright stated by Iver and Tom as they discuss suspects.

But Dylan is starting to see past Carolyn’s quirkiness and confesses to her that it would “break his heart” if it’s between her and Danielle at the roundtable. As she makes a play for her innocence in a heartstring-pulling moment, Carolyn questions “If it were Boston Rob telling you this, would you listen differently?” The answer is obviously yes, given how Boston Rob played everyone, which makes Dylan feel like “s***.”  This conversation leaves him questioning everything, knowing he needs to “choose between two friends,” Carolyn and Danielle, because at least one is a Traitor. Sorry Dylan, both are!

Traitor Versus Traitor At The Roundtable

The roundtable finally arrives, and the plotting finally pays off, leaving us with the question, which Traitor goes home tonight? Ivar starts by putting out the now longstanding theory that the Traitors left must be “two girls” (Ahem, women, right, Ivar?).

Carolyn then takes over, guns blazing, putting Danielle’s name on the table first, citing that Danielle had lied to Britney and lying is, of course, a Traitorous thing to do. This episodes-ago blunder on Danielle’s part is largely why the Traitors fractured, though Danielle quickly turns it against her. She argues that Carolyn “Forrest Gumps,” saying that she acts “silly” and “dumb.” This, of course, doesn’t sit well with Carolyn, and the roundtable debate turns them airing out all of the tension that has been building between them for many, many episodes. Carolyn comes back with “who here can trust Danielle 100 percent?” Of course, the answer is no one.

But Danielle’s argument is strong after the day’s game. She argues that Carolyn is a “silent assassin,” which brings up the recurring theme of Carolyn’s perceived lack of a voice. The arguments feel personal, the roundtable ends in tears, and none of the other players give their input or put out other names. With that, it is time to vote.

• • Carolyn, of course, votes for Danielle
  • Ivar votes for Carolyn
  • Dolores votes for Tom
  • Danielle votes for Carolyn
  • Gabby votes for Danielle, citing that Carolyn’s tears read as “genuine”
  • Tom, sticking to his incorrect theory, votes for Dolores
  • Britney votes for Carolyn
  • Dylan, breaking his heart, votes for Carolyn

With the majority voting against her, Carolyn reveals that she’s a Traitor.

In her farewell confessional, Carolyn says that she is proud of herself for being true to herself, quirks and all, and she certainly fooled everyone up until the very last moment. Dylan says in his own confessional that Carolyn “Did so great, I didn’t suspect her until today,” as “She just lost the argument… so I had to side with Danielle.”

The roundtable leaves Danielle as the last Traitor standing but she is certainly not yet in the clear. If anything, the game just got a little harder for her. Gabby suggests to Britney and Tom that “it was a Traitor-on-Traitor fight tonight… it was giving Rob and Bob.” Right, again, Gabby.

That said, the episode ends with Danielle getting exactly what she wished for. Carolyn is gone and she and Britney could end up on the same team. In the last few minutes, Alan tells Danielle that she must tell a Faithful to join her or die. But would enlisting Britney to be her ally be too obvious? Danielle doesn’t think twice about it and sends Britney the offer. Britney’s response — “What the f***?” We are left with a cliffhanger, not knowing if she accepts or declines the offer, but she doesn’t seem too happy about it, as she says it is officially the “most dangerous time in the game to be a Traitor.” Good luck, Britney!

New episodes of “The Traitors” stream Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on Peacock.

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