‘The Traitors’ Season 4 Finale Recap: Bad Things Happen In The Dark
This season on The Traitors, we’ve endured a Secret Traitor, Michael Rapaport, savvy snakes and clueless skaters. And it’s all over now. And in the end, the one man we’ve all assumed would win took the whole damn thing home. Rob Rausch has played an incredible game this season, there’s no denying that, and while some would call him conniving and disloyal, in the end, he played to win.
The episode picks up with the final murder of the season. As the remaining cast members assemble around a coffin, they’re curious which of them will end up inside, the last Faithful to be eliminated by the Traitors. Mark Ballas, it turns out, is the Traitor’s latest (and final) victim, and he delivers what’s probably by favorite farewell speech of the season, telling everyone, “See ya in hell,” before climbing into the coffin that Alan Cumming slams shut before lighting a ring of fire around it. And that’s the least dramatic thing to happen this episode.
There are only five people left on the show at this point: Traitors Rob Rausch and Eric Nam, and Faithfuls Maura Higgins, Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski. Eric and Rob are clearly on the same side, as are Johnny and Tara, but the swing vote now and for this entire episode is Maura. In this election Maura is Michigan, and both pairs are trying to convince her to place her electors in their hands. Rob and Eric appeal to her to place a vote to banish Johnny, after convincing Maura that at least one of the two skaters is a Traitor. Johnny, however, has correctly sussed out that Eric and Rob are the Traitors and he and Tara then steal Maura for a sec to convince her that she should vote to banish Eric.
“My brain can’t handle much more,” Maura says as these potential votes rattle around her head as if someone dumped a case of Marty Supremes out inside her skull. With so few people in the house, it’s obvious and awkward for everyone to be lobbying so freely out in the open, but this end game calls for desperate measures.
But before we can banish, we mission! Alan reveals that two players will get in a helicopter (Rob and Maura call dibs), and they’re also given a box to take with them. The remaining three travel to the loch by car. As each group makes their way there, Maura tells Rob that she’s been persuaded by Tara and Johnny to cast her vote for Eric. Rob is displeased.
Once they arrive to the loch, the mission requires the three land-based players to take a boat out to four pontoons out on the water. On the pontoons are questions about dearly departed players from this season, and the box that Rob and Maura have in the helicopter has key cards with the faces of all this season’s competitors. As a team, they need to come up with the correct card in response to the questions and Rob and Maura then must drop the card, attached to a float with a denomination of money written on it, ranging from $500 to $9,000. The more certain they are that their answer is right, the higher the float value they can choose and the more they’ll win.
The questions are hard and depend on their memories in past challenges, i.e “Who was seated across from Yam Yam at the Black Banquet” and other “you had to be there” stuff. They get every question correct, and then Alan offers them a double-or-nothing twist… there’s one more locked chest filled with an additional $20,000, and if Rob can jump out of the helicopter, retrieve a key card attached to a buoy, swim to shore, then unlock the chest, all in under five minutes, they’ll earn that money, too.
Not only is the water freezing and the pouring rain is pelting Rob, but the swim itself is long. He has less than three minutes to get to shore and because he’s Rob, of course he makes it (with seconds to spare). The final prize pot stands at $220,800. BUT WHO WILL GET THAT MONEY? At this point, it’s still anybody’s game.
At the round table, Eric begins by making the solid point that of all the players left, he’s the only one without an obvious alliance. That’s because Maura and Rob are both Love Islanders, Tara and Johnny are not-so-secret Olympian besties, and Eric is the person I had never heard of before this season of The Traitors. But he doesn’t make a great case for banishing anyone, because even though he throws Johnny and Tara’s names out there, he has nothing to support his claims. Meanwhile, Johnny makes a stellar speech about how much he trusts Tara and Maura and it seems like that might sway Maura, ever the undecided voter, his way.
Rob interjects, addressing Johnny and Tara, saying, “Wouldn’t it be interesting if Alan had picked one of you and then you had to keep this big secret from one of your best friends? On top of that, if one of you were a Traitor and then did recruit, you’re gonna pick each other.” Its a smart way to take the heat off Eric, at this point, not even Nate Silver can predict which way this vote will go.
As they reveal their votes, Eric and Rob have voted for Johnny, while Tara and Johnny cast votes for Eric. When Maura reveals her vote, she chooses Johnny, citing her “gut feeling.” It’s like election night 2016 all over again, which is to say I’m distraught and stunned. And because this is the final episode, Johnny can’t reveal his Faithful status, so he triple toe loops out of sight.
As they prepare to go to the Fire of Truth, Rob and Maura convene so he can try to convince her to banish Tara. He’s such a smooth player, he giggles when he tells her “We’re gonna win this game!” and they pinky swear. THEY PINKY SWEAR. That’s a bridge too far. It’s not as bad as when Danielle swore on her grandchildren’s lives last season, but it makes me worry for his karma. At this stage, it’s purely a numbers game because all Eric and Rob need is to banish Tara, and then no matter what Maura does after that, they’ll outvote her.
They assemble at the fire (held in what looks like the same room as the Round Table, I assume the rain that pelted them during their mission at the loch has forced them inside, preventing them from using their typical fire pit) and they’re each given two bags. One bag will make the fire turn green. signaling that they’re ready to end the game. The other bag will make the fire glow red, signaling they still believe a Traitor is in their midst and they want to banish again. For their first vote, all four vote to banish again and once again, Maura holds the fate of the Faithfuls in her hands. And once again, she disappoints by casting the final vote to banish Tara. It’s election night 2024 all over again, which is to say, I’m distraught but now furious.
With just Rob, Maura and Eric left, Rob and Maura both vote to banish again, a move that confounds Eric. At this point he is crestfallen and he seems genuinely hurt, this sure seems like Rob’s attempt to be the sole winner. Rob confirms it when he tells Eric, “I made a pinky promise and I intend to keep it.” He’s going to banish Eric so he can win the game alone, thus betraying both Eric and Maura. Dammmn, Rob really did it. Eric can’t do anything at this point but cast a vote for Rob who he now sees as a snake, and Maura and Rob’s two votes for Eric eliminate him from the game.
Eric has always tried to come off as a good guy, dutiful and bound by loyalty, it’s sorta his brand, and even when he was recruited, it was a job he reluctantly accepted knowing the amount of deceit it would require. And now, he faces the ultimate betrayal at the hands of the one person he thought he could trust, the guy who brought him into this mess. You have to admit Rob has played a stellar game and was a better Traitor than Eric (and he was also, in fact, a better Faithful than many of the Faithfuls), but that’s really gotta hurt. “If I had done that, I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself,” Eric says. “Money’s great, but I think relationships are more important.” I mean, while I agree with that sentiment 99.99% of the time, the one exception to that is when you’re cast on a show called The Traitors.
All that’s left to do is for Rob and Maura to reveal their identities to each other. “I’m sorry,” Maura begins, in an attempt to misdirect Rob, before giggling, “I’m a Faithful!” It’s all fun and games for a few seconds, because Maura really thinks she’s about to win this thing.
When Rob reveals he’s a Traitor, Maura is stunned into silence before saying, “I am so stupid… You absolute asshole. You pinky promised.” See? What did I tell you, it is not good karma to go fake pinky promise.
Rob really wants to try and comfort Maura by commending her on how far she made it in the game and she shuts him down, saying, “Don’t speak.” Is this game still fun? I really don’t know anymore! People are getting hurt!
“You’re never gonna have a girlfriend after this, you’re such a good liar,” Maura tells Rob, before realizing that this is the entire premise of the game. “Fair play though… If I was a Traitor I would have done the same thing. No hard feelings.”
“He’s a bad man, but good for him,” Maura says. “Rob, you’re a fuckin’ snake, but well done.”
I’m not sure there’s a better way to sum it up this season than that.
Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.
