‘The Traitors’ Recap: The Housewives Are Going to War

(Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Traitors Season 2, Episode 4.)

Parvati Shallow might be a Survivor legend, but if she keeps playing this foolishly on Peacock’s The Traitors, she might not be long for this treacherous world.

At the start of this week’s episode, Parvati was flying high: As we saw last week, it was her who took on the Traitors’ mission to “poison” a fellow player, and Thursday’s episode revealed that she succeeded in tricking Love Island alum Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu into drinking the tainted wine. After that, however, Parvati’s decision-making skills apparently went off the rails. Does she really think she can take on Real Housewives of Atlanta alum Phaedra Parks, who’s got a whole squadron of Housewives in the castle to back her up?

For those who’ve never visited the Traitors’ castle, the rules of the game are simple: A bunch of celebrities compete in a social strategy game in the hopes of sharing a $250,000 cash prize. Among them, however, are an undisclosed number of Traitors, who will take the money and run if even one of them remains after the final elimination. Each week, the Traitors choose a Faithful to “murder,” while the Faithfuls vote to banish one player whom they suspect to be a saboteur.

So far, all three of our Traitors—Parvati, Phaedra, and Big Brother champ Dan Gheesling—have managed to fly under the radar. But the walls are closing in on Dan, who’s managed to spark suspicion among some of the Housewives—especially Larsa Pippen. To save his own skin, Dan hatches a plan: What if he can convince Parvati to take a shot at Phaedra for him?

“I don't wanna be the first to shoot,” Dan whispers to Parvati, “but we’ve gotta give ’em some blood.”

It’s a brilliant move on Dan’s part, but as someone who would never want to go toe-to-toe with a Housewife, let alone a Housewife who also happens to be an attorney, I’m struggling to fathom what the hell Parvati is thinking in going along with it. Did she drink a little bit too much of that poison wine herself? Is her headband on just a little too tight? Whatever the reason for her cooperation, it seems bound to blow up in her face.

Parvati makes two moves this week that alienate Phaedra, but the first seemed genuinely unintentional. When Phaedra finds out that Parvati murdered Ekin-Su, she immediately goes on high alert. “Not Ekin-su,” she groans, fanning herself at the table while waiting for the Faithfuls with her fellow Traitors. At our previous roundtable, Phaedra (and only Phaedra) voted to cast Ekin-su out, so her death could naturally arouse suspicion.

On one hand, Phaedra’s stress is understandable; on the other, I think we can all agree that those who refuse to get their hands dirty by helping out with the poisoning cede their right to complain about whoever gets the goblet.

An ordinary social strategy show might immediately reveal whoever got killed at the breakfast table, but this is The Traitors—so, of course, the reveal had to be extra. While our immaculate host Alan Cumming does show up at the breakfast table to inform everyone someone’s been murdered, he neglects to specify whom. Instead, the players must form a funeral procession—all dressed in black—and complete a challenge to find out the answer.

It must be said, Cumming’s funereal attire could gag even a long-dead corpse. From the billowing black robe, to the black kilt and bedazzled pussy-bow blouse, to the black beret that comes complete with a mesh veil, it’s giving pure black widow supreme.

The players receive clues along their long walk, designed to help them narrow down who’s been killed. In the end, it comes down to Ekin-Su, Shahs of Sunset star Mercedes “MJ” Javid, and Parvati. The group votes MJ—even the Traitors, who know she’s the wrong pick but don’t want to reveal themselves—and so, the group loses out on a $20,000 prize.

This is where things get ugly.

The shock of getting the murder victim wrong sends a shockwave through the group, as everyone scrambled to figure out what it all means. Is MJ a traitor, working with her fellow Bravo-lebrities? Larsa, who’d previously been right on the money in suspecting Dan, has now decided that the Traitor must be an “alpha male” like Chris “C.T.” Tamburello, seen previously on MTV’s The Challenge. It’s an unfortunate pivot that backfires at the roundtable, drawing heat on her instead.

Even more stunning, however, is Parvati’s decision to take a shot at the Housewives. Given their numbers in this game, this is not a shot anyone would want to take unless they’re sure it would land. And to put it bluntly, does Parvati really have any friends in this game?

After the challenge, Parvati decides to sow suspicion among a small group of players: “The only reason to not murder MJ is if you’re working with her or you think she’s got your back,” she murmurs. “...They perform every day on Housewives.”

At the roundtable, Parvati gets even bolder, telling it directly to the Housewives’ faces. The performance aspect has been on my mind for a while,” she says, “... Who has the capacity to perform this part? It’s actors and I think Housewives as well.”

At this point, Phaedra is not having it. “Don’t come for the Housewives, honey,” she warns. “We are not a gang.”

In the end, it is a Housewife who takes the fall when the group decides to banish Larsa. More and more, the chatter in the house seems to be converging around a “gamers vs. Housewives” narrative, but Phaedra is clearly determined to put a stop to Parvati’s shenanigans. (And if I were Parvati, I’d listen.)

You can feel the chill in the air the moment the Traitors take off their cloaks in the castle tower when it comes time to choose a murder victim. “That wasn’t cool,” she says, “for you to go in there and try to throw me under the bus.”

Then, it gets personal: “No one likes you, Parvati,” Phaedra taunts. “Everyone says you’re a fucking Traitor.” And then, finally, the ultimatum: “We can be in this game together, but you’re gonna play fair. And if you don’t, you’re gonna have more problems than the faithfuls... Both of you.”