The potential of The Traitors: New Blood’s poisoned chalice twist

The Traitors: New Blood is continuing to extend the inevitable, kicking the roundtable of Joe vs. Victor to next week. But at least episode 9 had an actual elimination, even if the implementation was far less creative than it could have been.

“Such a nice time for us to celebrate,” Abbey said as the players sat down in the banquet hall. “Having this, it’s perfect.”

Um, did no one notice the marks on the floor where Yam Yam was dragged away screaming? They’d all had a chance to see The Traitors US season four, so they must have known that a banquet without real food is something to panic about?

But no, they just all chatted and exchanged pleasantries. “I grew up a quiet, introverted kid,” Morgan said, which I guess is why she’s been hiding behind curtains all season and I don’t know who she is.

Another mysteriously absent player, Ben, told everyone, “This is not what I expected whatsoever” because “I don’t have a lot of guy friends.” He listed Wyatt, Victor, Jay, and Joe said, “Don’t forget me,” so he didn’t, calling Joe dad. Guy friends and a daddy: a winner already!

Joe played dad, proud of everyone. He told Katie, “you should let Victor take you out on a date,” which is the kind of thing that, considering Victor’s behavior toward Tomica and Joe, should have led Katie to throw a chalice at him.

“Nothing in our lives is ever going to be as hard as this,” Wyatt said while playing a game in a Scottish castle being filmed for television. I hope that’s true for you, Wyatt. And what a wild thing to say in a world where, for just one fucked-up example, a nonverbal American kid was attacked and tackled by masked adult thugs on his way to school because he has brown skin, and now needs surgery.

The banquet ended up being just chat time, which ordinarily I’d like, because it’d deepen the cast and their relationships. But it feels like we’re just retracing the same steps again and again this season.

And ultimately the producers just moved the murder part outside. We learned in a flashback that, while everyone was sequestered before the banquet, the traitors met in the library room to choose which player would receive a poisoned chalice.

The twist was that players could trade chalices. That opens up such a wonderful opportunity for debate, playing out scenarios, and trying to outsmart the traitors. Woo hoo!

Alas, this was underserved by the rules. The players had just two minutes to decide, which led to a kind of paralysis.

Well, for everyone except Victor, whose physical freak-outs make me think is about one episode away from just turning into an endless loop of the chicken dance from Arrested Development.

More time might have led them to work through scenarios. Were The Traitors playing 4-D chess? If Joe knows Victor thinks he’s a traitor and wants to murder him, what if he assigned his own chalice to have the poison, so Victor would swap with him? I was convinced that’s what Joe and Katie were going to do, rather than give Victor the glass outright. But nope.

Ultimately, the incentive to switch only lies with those who think they’re at risk. We have a bunch of players left who have been less well-developed than the ghosts in the mission’s haunted house, and none seemed concerned.

I’d have loved the producers to add one or two more chalices with special powers. What if the traitors had to assign a shield glass and a murder glass? Would more people be trying to figure out who got the shield and take it from them?

What if the traitors just assigned a murder glass, and a roundtable immunity potion was added in at random? That’d give the traitors incentive to try to swap with others to protect themselves—especially Joe, who’s walking around with Victor’s red laser sight on his forehead.

Kind of like with the core game itself, where I want The Traitors to give faithful roles like in werewolf/mafia, I just wanted a few more options in the mix.

All that ended up happening was Kriste earned some side-eye for just picking up her glass, saying, “There’s scarier shit than whatever this is.” (Don’t tell Wyatt!) And then Shane switched with Joe for a reason?

It was Morgan whose chalice was selected. Alan Cumming made a flawless guten morgen joke, and the players went off to the cabin in the woods for their mission.

Despite being a lot of chaos there, it had a few fun moments, like Alan Cumming saying, “Ah, the sounds of Americans screaming.” Or this:

Victor, tasting a beverage: “Dont’ swallow—spit it on the floor.” Spits liquid all over the set.

Clyde, in an interview later: “Ugh, boys, ugh.”

During one of the cabin searches, Victor found the shield and stuck it in his pocket quickly, which might be the most impactful thing he does for his game. Well, if he doesn’t get banished for a second time. “It’s me vs. Victor, and I’m gonna come out on top,” Joe said.

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