The Traitors: New Blood Ep. 5 Recap: “Faithful Fools”
A poison apple leaves the Traitors scrambling to pull off a murder in plain sight as suspicion mounts and the clock ticks down.
Spoiler Alert: This recap reveals events from Episode 5 of The Traitors: New Blood.
When we last left off, Jay was about to do his big one, and by that I mean finally provide some sort of clarity as to where his boundless suspicion lies. He’s a body language expert after all, right? Don’t make me roll my eyes.
However, I’ll give credit where credit is due because his accusation did happen to be right on the money. Jay accuses Katie (and Kristie tangentially) at the roundtable. Now the problem is his evidence is a little weak, and considering the two people he’s accusing are some of the most vocal against his obnoxious Faithful antics, it’s not really a good look.
But have no fear, someone dumber is here! And by that, I mean Abby L.
After the group collectively decides to completely ignore Jay’s irrational (albeit correct) assumptions about Katie, Abby reveals herself to be a glutton for punishment. Was it bad enough how offensively off the mark she had been last week leading the charge against Arisa? Apparently not, because she’s back at it again with poor Sherry as her target.
Abby revives her observation from last week, wondering how Sherry could know for certain that there are three Traitors. When Sherry defends herself, citing that many in the game have openly speculated about the number of Traitors, one person even throwing out the number five (please never do this, Alan), Abby doubles down and says that it’s strange for Sherry to be speaking up all of a sudden when previously she’d been quiet in roundtable discussions.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Surely defending oneself at the roundtable is not enough evidence to banish someone. Right, guys? Right?
Sherry is banished with eleven votes. Here’s my problem — as Niyyah brings up in a really good point — Jay causes all this chaos, slinging mud every which way, and then votes for Sherry because (as he puts it later in the episode) “I had to go with the group think.”
Sherry said it best: Jay is a determinant to the Faithfuls and it was a grave mistake on their part to be once again swayed by Abby L. — Joe, Katie, and Tomica don’t even need to play the game anymore! They have Abby and Jay doing all the work for them.
This banishment really irks me. These Faithfuls truly have nothing to go off of. Sure, they got the dinky little clue in the challenge about two players battling in plain sight for the final Traitor spot, but what does that really tell us? Especially considering “the battle” was to pull a piece of paper out of a book. I’m thinking to myself, this show really needs to shake it up. Alan Cumming needs to demand something so tricky from the Traitors that the Faithful players might actually have a shot at spotting something truly out of the ordinary. Then, a light, and it was like Alan was listening to my prayers.
It is revealed to the Traitors that before the shortlisted players attend the wake of the next murder victim, one of the Traitors must get a Faithful to catch a “poison apple” before the final clock chime of the evening, all in plain sight, or the casket at this wake will be as empty as these player’s brains.
Joe takes charge at first but soon realizes that unless you’re a Looney Tunes character, it looks pretty strange to be walking around with uneaten fruit. He basically throws the apple at Morgan, but she simply could not be bothered to catch it, and it’s back to square one.
Much to Tomica’s horror, he starts to eat the apple, and at this point I’m wondering if it would have been a better twist to have the apple kill the Traitor holding it at the end of night. Come on, Alan! This is basic stuff!
Tomica makes a sad attempt at passing the apple to players in the kitchen to no avail. Katie isn’t even trying. This is what I like to see! The Traitors are actually struggling with a task. It reveals so much about their character. Joe is an obvious team player. He wants to be a leader in the turret and this could lead to his downfall if he isn’t careful.
Tomica is used to cleaning up people’s messes, but she’s smart, and she isn’t going to put herself out there if it isn’t necessary. Katie, a perfect representation of Gen Z. She’s going to sit back and let others do the work, though I will admit, she’s in the hottest water of the bunch, so I’ll give her a pass this week.
And then, a Traitors miracle!
Abby L makes an observation that might turn the tides of the game. “What if it’s a murder in plain sight tonight?” she asks Victor. Both her and Victor refuse the fruit offered by Tomica. “That was weird,” Victor says. Victor clocks Joe walking around with yet another apple. I’m grinning to myself because we are finally getting somewhere. Could the sweaty boy and Abby who cried wolf actually be onto something? Chaos ensues as the clock approaches its final chime. Joe makes the toss, though it is unclear to whom.
We get to the wake, and the players shortlisted for murder must bury themselves alive. It irks me that some of these players freak out. They do this every year. Get in the casket and pipe down! The living players give some nice words about the buried players — notably none about Victor — and Alan one by one reveals which players are safe from murder, allowing them to resurface and join the ranks of the living.
We’ll have to wait till next week to find out if Clyde, Mark, or Niyyah caught the poison apple, cementing an end to their game. I’m curious whether people will believe Abby L or Victor’s observations after this week. Could their work be all for naught?
The Traitors: New Blood airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and streams the next day on Peacock. Visit peacocktv.com.
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