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Episode Review
'Where's the jacks?' Fresh meat enter Slane Castle for new season of The Traitors
The second season of The Traitors Ireland kicked off on RTÉ tonight.
Spoiler warning: This article contains spoilers for season two, episode one of The Traitors Ireland.
THE TRAITORS FLAG has been raised over Slane Castle once more, ushered in by the squawking of crows, the unloading of coffins, and the promise of four weeks of delicious mind games and murder.
A fresh crop of 23 players have landed for season two of The Traitors Ireland. The first season was a hit, clocking up more than 800,000 viewers on its most-watched episode – successfully bringing to Ireland a format that has been adapted in more than 30 countries since its very first iteration (in the Netherlands, in 2021, as De Verraders).
On paper, the game is simple: a few players are secretly selected as ‘traitors’ and have the power to ‘murder’ one of the other players (known as ‘faithfuls’) every night. The faithfuls try to catch out the traitors to stop them from stealing the prize pot at the end of the game. (You can get a full debrief on the rules here.)
In practice, though, The Traitors is anything but straightforward, and the first episode of season two has already brought a new twist and intriguing gameplay manoeuvres.
The new batch of contestants arrive at Slane Castle, all still on a level playing field for the moment before any traitors are selected. They’re bricking it: this time last year, two players were sent home before even making it in the doors, and their nerves are written all over their faces.
Siobhán McSweeney lies in wait. She has returned as host for a second year (or as “queen of the castle, as one player describes her). She toys with them, counting down the line of contestants. Will she let them all enter? She does: “You can all go in… for now.”
As they file into the castle, we hear one player asking: “Where’s the jacks?” And we’re off.
Let the games begin
We quickly start to see the different strategies and personalities emerging.
61-year-old actor Fionula from Cork is passing herself off as a drama coach to keep the extent of her duplicitous abilities a secret, while 39-year-old Dennis from Cork won’t be revealing that he’s a psychotherapist. Laura, a regional sales manager (also 39, also from Cork), who seems whip smart, is “going for faithful Barbie vibes” and wants to lean into a “dumb blonde” archetype.
Kayleigh, a 33-year-old teacher from Dublin, tells the audience that her “strategy is not to make any friends and just to murder everyone off and skip away with the money”. The no-friends bit is an eyebrow-raising declaration in a game where earning trust and making alliances are imperative, but she says it with such confidence that you want to see her make it work.
All 23 scheming contestants are ushered into their first roundtable. It’s the last time they’re all just players. A select few will leave the room with the murderous powers of the traitors, and the rest will be faithfuls left to try to unearth the killers while avoiding a knife in the back.
Blindfolds on. Siobhán circles the room, and with a few taps on shoulders, the traitors are born. Fionula, who doesn’t move a muscle when Siobhán’s hand lands on her shoulder; Páraic K, a 33-year-old assistant professor from Kildare, who lets a bite of the lip slip through; and 27-year-old Carla, an early years educator from Dublin, who breaks out in a massive grin. In a VT interview, Carla says: “If I’m not murdering someone, someone would have to murder me, so I am happy to take that role.”
Everyone takes off their blindfolds and scans the room, grasping for any clues that could reveal a thread to pull on. “Can you see? Or are you more in the dark than ever? Who now is who?” Siobhan asks.
She reveals that the traitor selection process is not yet over. Ooh. Here’s something new. Everyone is intrigued. The faithfuls start to wonder whether anyone at all has been made a traitor yet – a handy bit of cover, potentially, for the three who have been.
Outside, the group gathers for their first mission. Siobhan’s outfit is giving pirate-queen couture in the best way. She explains their task, which is all a bit complicated, but involves lugging big stones around and some players having to ‘sacrifice’ themselves throughout. Sacrificed players who stay behind will be in line for murder tonight, while players who make it to the end can stay safe.
Everyone is trying to work their own angle for the bigger-picture game during the mission, but it’s all a bit haphazard. Carla volunteers early on to sacrifice herself, something she quickly realises was probably a mistake (what faithful would be so willing to give up their chance of being protected from murder?). Discord grows within the group over who should sacrifice themselves and when. Kayleigh is every bit the teacher of the gang as she tries to keep things moving. Most of the lads are clinging on to rocks for dear life in a bid to prove they should be kept in, leaving the sacrificing to be done mostly by the women. A tale as old as time.
The challenge is nearly done when Donal, a 24-year-old teacher from Leitrim, speaks up: Why don’t the remaining players stay out of the safety zone that would keep them protected from murder, and decide instead to be good sports and collectively ‘sacrifice’ themselves like the others had to?
Some people are absolutely – privately – fuming about this. Imagine thinking you were going to be safe from murder on the first night only for this idea to emerge. You would be raging. But everyone goes along with it, because they have to. Being a bad faithful can put you squarely in line for banishment just as much as being a suspected traitor.
As the episode hits its third act, there’s just one thing left: the first conclave, where the traitors will finally reveal themselves to each other. Fionula and Páraic are the first to arrive and Fionula is quick to raise the prospect of throwing the third traitor under the bus. Could that be a risky move with the potential to backfire, if Páraic’s takeaway is that Fionula isn’t trustworthy as a fellow traitor? Carla soon joins them to cement the trio – but, as Siobhán hinted earlier, the set of traitors isn’t yet complete.
Siobhán joins the traitors in the conclave to clue them in. Tonight, they won’t just be choosing a faithful to murder; they’ll also be selecting someone to join their ranks as a traitor. The episode ends with two cliffhangers: we don’t know who the fourth traitor will be, nor do we know who the contenders to be murdered are.
At least there none of the ‘no murders on the first night’s nonsense that sometimes gets pulled out on The Traitors. Let’s get straight to the bloodshed.
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