Recap: The Traitors US 2, Episode 4 – “It’s me. They’ve poisoned me, innit?”

Recap: The Traitors US 2, Episode 4 – The Funeral

I was thinking about whether I should start posting my thoughts on The Traitors every week. And after this week’s Episode 4, it was a no-brainer.

How amazing was this hour of television? Hello?! Wow. I honestly have not had this much fun watching an episode of reality TV in a long time outside of last year’s Amazing Race Australia.

So much fun drama this week between the players. And the funeral procession challenge was just insanely overdramatic. In a good way!

First, the poisoned chalice task for the Traitors was another creative and genius twist to spice up the game. It threw everyone off. And not just the Faithful. The way that it rattled the Traitors as well was so good. The show definitely needs to keep everyone on their toes. And I think this was a fair way to do that without forcibly outing the Traitors.

The dynamics of the castle are also so fascinating. Imagine alliances being formed by network? An alliance of CBS alums vs an alliance of Bravo personalities vs the leftovers. Or as CT and Trishelle put it, “non-competitive” vs competitive reality show veterans. I think that is a very interesting dynamic that can only exist on a cast that is all reality people.

You definitely have the gamers with alums of Survivor and Big Brother, competitive people from The Challenge and then the more “structured” reality show people from Bravo. (“Structured” meaning semi-scripted of course lol)

Before anything else though, I have to applaud my MVP of this week’s episode. And that’s Kevin Kreider!

This was Kevin Kreider's breakout episode! I'm Team Kevin now on #TheTraitorsUS! I legit stood up and applauded this moment of him vs MJ. After I picked my jaw up off the floor first of course. 😂 pic.twitter.com/EPvzJNElDM

— DryedMangoez (@dryedmangoez) January 19, 2024

This was absolutely his breakout episode. Towards the beginning of the hour, I was satisfied with seeing him in this random, but hilarious rivalry with Tamra. And him being a more-aware version of Ryan Locthe. But then the round table!

I really did applaud that moment of him standing up for himself in the coldest way possible. MJ has been a good character so far. I honestly don’t get everyone’s antagonism toward her other than her potentially being quite clever. But them going after Kevin and then him delivering that ice cold mic drop was so awesome. Even more amazing when he delivered the decisive vote against Larsa! Absolutely perfect. I am definitely rooting for him now. Though I don’t know how long he can last with these “annoying” people lol

Before that standout moment, Janelle was my MVP this episode just for her commentary. And I definitely hope to see her mix it up with these Housewives. When they were saying Janelle was acting pretty traitorous, I yelled at the TV: “Keep Janelle’s name out of your mouths!” lolol

I enjoyed seeing the CBS4 together for, I think, the first time alone. I guess I’m rooting for them the most just because I know them the most out of everyone on the show. And also, similar to Kevin, #TeamBravo and the Housewives annoy me as well. I know them the least, so I could care less about whether they survive in the castle.lol

It’s exciting to see Traitors drama. I think it was missing from season one and it came too late to be most interesting. But it’s only episode four and we’re seeing scheming and ruffling of feathers between the Traitors. It’s great.

Phaedra is a big personality and I think the only Bravo person worthy of being a Traitor. But Dan and Parvati planning to team up and throw her under the bus first before they get outed at the round table is a good strategy. And definitely a plan that comes about thanks to their Big Brother and Survivor experience.

The cliffhanger was definitely nail-biting because I hope Parvati actually stands up for herself and not just take Phaedra’s sideeye. I expect a lot from Parvati. So her and Dan just gasping in response to Phaedra made me go like “Oh come on guys! You’re just going to stand there and take it?!” I hope we see the three of them hash it out a lot next week. Especially Parvati.

Now how about the challenge?! I like that it was much more of a thinking challenge and mind games. Not only was it a creative task, but it definitely fueled the fire of the drama inside the castle.

The idea of a funeral procession is so wild. I loved it. The over the top, yet cinematic visuals of the whole procession all the way to the burial. Just peak reality TV shenanigans.

So much going on and so much to absorb. But everything just simply fun and enjoyable. Everything from the unintentionally (or intentionally?) hilarious first question where people were apprehensive about revealing their age to Sandra’s comment about Larsa to the funeral choir to everyone’s all-black outfits.

And then the burial! The fact they were literally tossing black roses onto MJ lying inside a coffin while basically shading her was crazy!

The only way to have made the scene better was if they did a Days of our Lives-level buried alive deal. Where they voted for MJ and then they went ahead and buried her, but Alan reveals she’s still alive. So they have to dig her back up. Lol I was totally expecting that.

I think the only thing that I didn’t like was how they buried Ekin-Su where it was obvious they let her out first before resuming filming. So that took away from the atmosphere of the scene. But still, it was all an amazing sequence and challenge.

And finally the round table, I wish we saw them talk more. The show probably edited most of it out. But I would’ve loved to have seen them go back and forth more. If any episode deserved to go longer, it was this one. Especially when the drama was coming and going in all directions.

Overall, just an amazing episode this week! The Traitors deserves all the buzz it can get.