My Thoughts - The Traitors, Season 4

After a couple weeks' worth of binge watching, we are finally caught up on all four seasons of The Traitors. Here are my thoughts about this past season:

I still am not a fan of the contestants all being celebrities. There are two reasons for this. One of them is there are times when it seems a bit too scripted - whether it's the eloquent speeches they give when they are banished (or believe they are going to be murdered) or their personalities seem a bit character-like, especially Michael Rapaport, who felt more like he was auditioning for a movie role than competing in a contest.

The biggest part of it though is how familiarity with the various contestants makes some of the Traitor reveals way too easy. Real Housewives alum Lisa Rinna, for example, was outed because she wasn't acting "housewife enough" which, in turn, led to Candiace Dillard Bassett being banished the next night. Having random people with maybe a small mix of celebrities would correct this.

I liked the secret traitor twist. I was disappointed to hear it isn't coming back for Season 5 and was equally disappointed when this season seemed ready to give up on it so soon, even before Donna Kelce was outed as the secret Traitor.

This twist added an element of mystery for those of us watching and supports my previously spoken belief the show would be considerably better if the Traitors identities were kept secret from us to.

Of all the blind-faith alliances I've seen on this show, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir was easily the most genuine. Their long-time business relationship and friendship made it easy to believe their loyalty to each other, even when Johnny became suspect #1. It certainly made a lot more sense than Maura Higgins being so convinced Rob Rausch was a Faithful, even as others were beginning to question it (more on that in a bit).

Ironically though, I think Tara and Johnny would have been perfect choices for Traitors. For one, you'd have the "too obvious" answer whenever someone questioned it. Their long friendship also wouldn't arouse suspicion if they were seen together. Most importantly though, they wouldn't betray each other, and I have a hard time believing, even as a team, they'd betray another Traitor.

I hated the Jack in the Box challenge. I try to give the show the benefit of the doubt as far as the game itself is concerned. Yes, as I mentioned, some of it is clearly scripted but I want to believe it is restricted only to the things that don't impact the outcome of the actual game. This challenge really tested that for me.

The reason I say that is those boxes didn't seem to be soundproof and the lids made noise when they opened. I have a hard time believing one of the Faithful didn't hear the box next to them opening and immediately think "hey, that's Rob/Eric Nam's box, he must be the Traitor."  

I also thought the dinner party murder in plain sight was flawed. As soon as Yam Yam Arocho was "murdered" he shouldn't have been allowed to say anything instead of being able to point a finger at Lisa that ultimately resulted in her being banished, even as he got the method of the murder wrong.

Maura deserves any criticism she received for her trust in Rob, but I think Eric was much more foolish. He watched Rob lead the charge against Candiace and make an argument against Lisa that put the final nail in her banishment. Why would he, even for a split second, trust Rob to not backstab him at the last second and keep all the money for himself?

Final Opinion: Despite Rob's betrayal of his fellow Traitors, this was one of the better seasons of the show, especially the short-lived mystery about who the secret Traitor was. I would like to see Season 5 get a bit more back to the basics however, because some of the theatrics in this season did detract from it a bit.

My Grade: B

_____________________________________________________________________

Here are my thoughts from the first three seasons of The Traitors:

My Thoughts - Season 1 of The Traitors

My Thoughts - The Traitors, Season 2

My Thoughts - The Traitors, Season 3