[Flux]

Throw every award going at it. It was incredible.

See, for all its success I think the Traitors is actually quite a… mediocre show. Individual elements are great - the round table is totally gripping TV, the missions are (mostly) large scale and visually strong, and the setting is fantastic. But the attempt to fully “gel” all those elements is missing: the missions are almost always irrelevant to the “main” traitor narrative, Claudia’s role swings from supporting the faithful to berating them, and - lets face it - for all the talk of working out who the Traitors are, there’s very little for the faithful to actually go on. When the elements are connected (for example the funeral march Mission - which was directly linked to something the Traitors had done, and forced the Traitors to lie in front of everyone) it totally shines. Unfortunately, that’s quite rare.

I also feel they’ve missed a lot of tricks with internal branding. Prime example: why are they called “murders”? No one dies, and the “murder” terminology itself has been watered down a lot in this second season with Traitors discussing “killing off” faithful, or even Claudia just announcing faithful have “gone”. A “murder” could have been given unique branding (e.g. to “otracise” or “eliminate”) which could have made that terminology synonymous with the format in the same way an “eviction”, for example, is so engrained and clear in Big Brother. Keeping the “murder” aspect just shines a light on the fact it’s been developed from a parlour game!

I’m not saying it’s a bad show - far from it - and it deserves the praise for the central narrative and casting, but for me many aspects of the “world” they’ve created feel unconnected and a little sloppy. As a programme maker, that frustrates me as it could have so easily been a brilliant and tight format. As it stands I often find my mind drifting for the bulk of the show and engaging again for the always watchable round table.