The Traitors Season 3 Episode 9 Recap
I’m going to need a drink after this latest banishment.
The heat is on in the turret as the latest episode of The Traitors puts Danielle Reyes and Carolyn Wiger’s long-simmering feud center stage, resulting in one of the most heated roundtables of the season. The installment also welcomes back Traitors alums Kate Chastain and Parvati Shallow for a revealing mission that unravels a Traitor’s game, and another Faithful is murdered for starting to put the pieces together.
Here’s what happened on the ninth episode of The Traitors Season 3, “A Silent Assassin.”
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
To Murder or to Seduce
The episode picks up where the last one left off. Do the Traitors go about their regular murder-y business, or do they invite another player into the turret? It’s not an easy question for Danielle or Carolyn to answer because they don’t trust each other, and they both want different things. Danielle continues to fight for her bestie Britney Haynes to be brought into the club, but Carolyn thinks it’s safer to murder a player — so, that’s what they do.
It’s revealed at breakfast the next morning that Danielle and Carolyn have murdered Sam Asghari. The reason Sam needed to go was because he was starting to speak up at the roundtable, earning people’s trust and having people’s ears. That made him a liability in Danielle and Carolyn’s eyes.
The Seed-Planting Goes on Overdrive
On the surface, it appears as though Danielle and Carolyn are on the same page. Behind the scenes, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. They’re both smart enough to know that they’re each other’s top targets. As Carolyn says, “It’s a matter of who can get who first, that’s really what it is.” Danielle starts planting seeds in the castle against Carolyn to grow suspicion on the Survivor alum, but everyone’s sus meter is already maxing out on Danielle.
Paranoia is running high in the castle. Dylan correctly observes that he’s still in the castle because someone he trusts (he’s close to Danielle and Carolyn) is stringing him along to the end – and one of them is likely a Traitor. He and Gabby compare notes, agreeing to work together (kind of) and concluding that Danielle is someone they’re very suspicious of. Later, Dylan goes to Carolyn to check whether it’s an appropriate time to target Danielle at the roundtable that evening since they both know the risk they’re taking if they don’t have the votes to take her out on the first try.
Meanwhile, Tom Sandoval is off pounding the pavement in his mission to get Dolores Catania out, still maintaining the belief that the Housewife is a Traitor – even though there’s no evidence backing it up.
The Chess Game Buries a Traitor
The mission, with Traitors queens Kate Chastain and Parvati Shallow watching from the sideline offering commentary, sets into motion the downfall of one of the Traitors. Four questions were answered by the Traitors about the group the night before. For each question, the players pick whose name they believe the Traitors gave as an answer, with the person moving the chess piece on the life-size game board to match their name. If they’re right, they add $5,000 to the pot.
The mission is revealing, offering the players a glimpse inside the Traitors’ thought process and who is reacting strangely throughout the game. The first question is about who is under the radar. Danielle and Carolyn choose Britney because of the previous roundtable and the players get the answer correct, too. The second question asks who the biggest threat to the Traitors is. At first, the Traitors want to pick Dylan, but they decide to go with Britney. Tom pipes up during the mission and says he thinks it’s him. When it’s revealed the Traitors chose Britney, the players are stunned.
The third question has to do with which player is the leader of the pack. The Traitors’ first choice is Dylan, but they ultimately choose Tom. As expected, the Vanderpump Rules star picks himself again, but he’s overruled with the majority picking Dylan. It’s around this time Dylan turns his suspicions on Carolyn due to her antics and comments during the mission, believing that she may be handpicking the answers. The last question — whose voice is most irrelevant — casts even more doubt on Carolyn, who argues to the group that she’s never listened to in the castle. When the group gets the answer right (the Traitors also pick her), Carolyn has a moment of regret, asking if she should have thrown her own name out there.
Traitor vs. Traitor
Carolyn has reason to be concerned. After largely skating through the season without so much as a sliver of suspicion on her, the spotlight is growing quickly. Dylan admits after the mission that this is the first time he’s considering Carolyn to be a possible Traitor.
At the roundtable, it becomes clear that it’s between Carolyn and Danielle. Carolyn takes the floor first and brings up Danielle’s past traitorous behavior to get a leg up on her fellow Traitor. She asks Danielle if they were Faithfuls, there is no point in having to lie, leading her to bring up the moment when Danielle told Britney that Carolyn had been saying Britney’s name. In Carolyn’s mind, she believed that to be enough evidence cementing Danielle as a Traitor.
However, Danielle has more ammo, observing that Carolyn “acts dumb” to gain favor with other players. She also offers key pieces of evidence to back her argument up that Carolyn is more likely a Traitor than she is. It proves to be too much for Carolyn, who begins tearing up as she defends herself, saying that her unique personality isn’t a farce. It’s easily the most intense roundtable of the season and the nail-biter vote proves it.
Here are how the votes go:
- Danielle - Carolyn, Gabby
- Carolyn - Ivar, Danielle, Britney, Dylan
- Tom - Dolores
- Dolores - Tom
And with four votes, Carolyn — who Britney credits as “the most entertaining and best Traitor to watch ever” — is banished from the castle. A teary-eyed Carolyn leaves with these final words: “It’s been so real. I am somebody who, every day of my life, I have been judged because of who I am, my differences, my quirks. I didn’t want to connect with a lot of you because I am an emotional person. Playing this game is not easy for me. I just wanted to have fun. But I have to be real with myself, being a Traitor isn’t fun.”
That doesn’t mean Danielle gets off scot-free. Instead, the attention continues to get bigger as the players clue in to her act. Gabby infers that the Carolyn vs. Danielle showdown may have been Traitor on Traitor fighting, comparing the intensity of it to Boston Rob vs. Bob the Drag Queen. Even Britney questions if her safety in the castle is due to Danielle being a Traitor and keeping her close.
A New Traitor... Maybe
As the lone remaining Traitor in the turret, Danielle must recruit a player to join her. If they don’t accept the invitation, the player will immediately die. If they do, the new duo can go about murdering another player. As expected, Danielle invites Britney to join the Traitor Club. Will Britney accept the invitation?
Stream new episodes of The Traitors every Thursday at 9p ET on Peacock.
