The Traitors: New Blood Premiere Recap: Familiar Treachery
Alan Cumming welcomes 22 everyday Americans to Ardross Castle for a premiere filled with alliances, accusations, and a deadly new twist.
Spoiler Alert: This recap reveals events from the two-episode premiere of The Traitors: New Blood.
Last night, NBC’s The Traitors: New Blood premiered, with the delightfully devilish Alan Cumming returning as host. This time, the 22 residents of Ardross Castle aren’t the usual assortment of reality TV stars and professional entertainers. Instead, they’re regular people from across America, attempting to lie, sleuth, and murder their way to $250,000.
We open on a train winding through the gorgeous Scottish Highlands as the contestants introduce themselves. The players come from all walks of life. Kim is a lawyer who notes that “people think attorneys are dishonest and manipulative,” so she poses as a college basketball coach. Funeral director Joe says, “it’s like we’re going to Hogwarts, but everyone wants to murder each other.”
We also meet Tomica, a pilot who cites her competitive nature as her reason for joining the show, and Xavier, an MLB analyst who believes his “lifetime of studying body language and movements” will prove useful in the game.
Soon, the players arrive at the castle, where a small army of golden-masked guards and Cumming, sporting a fantastic Scottish cloak, greet them. Cumming reviews the rules: The Faithful must sniff out and banish the hidden Traitors while trying to remain in the game. Both groups can add money to the prize pot through missions, but this time, the Faithful can earn an extra $15,000 for each Traitor they banish.
After more introductions, the players are brought to the roundtable and blindfolded, allowing Cumming to select Joe and Tomica as the game’s first Traitors. He then reveals that the selection is not over and that another player soon “will join this cutthroat cabal.”
As the players trade first impressions, several reveal their strategies in confessionals. Ben plans to become “the girls’ gay best friend” to win their trust. Meanwhile, Niyyah is suspicious of Logan’s quiet nature, which he attributes to his polite Tennessee temperament. Before long, it’s time for the first mission.
For their first mission, the players must search the remnants of a shipwreck in the nearby loch for chests of gold, with as much as $50,000 at stake. They can also recover three shields — which protect their holders from murder by the Traitors — from the wreckage. The group completes the mission, but Victor, Abby L., and Madeline draw suspicion after each collects a shield.
The first day comes to a close, and in the torchlit darkness of the Traitors’ Turret, Joe and Tomica reveal themselves to each other. Cumming explains that, in addition to murdering a Faithful, the Traitors must choose two accomplices to battle for the third spot in the turret, with the loser facing murder. They select Xavier and Katie, a marketing manager and the youngest player in the game.
The next morning, the surviving players gather for breakfast and learn that fake basketball coach Kim has heard the final whistle. The game is finally on. But before they can process the loss, Cumming announces that the season’s first roundtable will convene shortly, giving them their first chance to banish a Traitor.
Xavier attempts to cast suspicion on Katie, hoping her banishment will secure him a spot as a Traitor. But Katie takes a different approach, deciding her best bet is to stay under the radar and “remain a friend to all.”
The first alliance emerges: a group of girls and gays calling themselves “the Dolls.” Their suspicion immediately falls on Victor, thanks to his nervous, sweaty energy and how quickly he secured a shield during the first mission. Then comes the moment that always happens in early episodes: the strange case of the bad ears.
During a conversation with Kriste and Victor, Madeline says, “I’d feel bad picking Kim,” referring to how difficult it must be for the Traitors to commit a murder so early in the game. Call it “wishful listening,” but Kriste misses the contraction and runs around telling the other players that Madeline instead said, “I feel bad picking Kim.” Two completely different statements. These kinds of claims will always annoy me. No one on these shows is ever that careless, yet every season we end up with the same narrative heading into the first roundtable.
At the roundtable, the interrogation begins with Victor, as Michael and “the Dolls” question why he was so quick to grab a shield during the mission. But Kriste has other plans and drops her bombshell on the group, much to Madeline’s surprise.
Victor defends Madeline, insisting she never said what Kriste claims. This only draws suspicion toward both of them, as the other players find it odd how much time Victor and Madeline have been spending together. (Spoiler: They both think the other one is really hot.) With 13 votes, Madeline becomes the first player banished from the castle. Before leaving, she steps onto the Circle of Truth and reveals that she is, in fact, a Faithful.
In the immediate aftermath, Victor calls Kriste a liar, bringing her to tears. She says she feels horrible and “full of regret.”
As the players disperse throughout the castle and react to Madeline’s banishment, Cumming reveals the final test awaiting the two accomplices. Hidden inside two copies of Crime and Punishment are blank death warrants that Katie and Xavier must retrieve in plain sight of the Faithful. Completing the task will earn one of them the coveted final spot in the Traitors’ Turret. Failure to secure a warrant before the evening’s final clock chime means one thing: murder at the hands of the Traitors.
The Traitors: New Blood airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and streams the following day on Peacock. Visit peacocktv.com.
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