‘The Traitors’ season 3 finale review: The Seer uncovers a dull ending

What started as a thunderous and thrilling season has ended on a dull whimper. Peacock’s The Traitors Season 3 walked to the Fire of Truth with a mellow endgame that failed to live up to the build-up before it. “The Day of Reckoning Is Upon Us” could’ve been an explosive finale, but this ending proves how important the earlier gameplay rounds are for what becomes of the finale. If certain decisions are made at the wrong time, the consequences will collect on their payments eventually.

Et tu, Britney?

Heading into The Traitors Season 3 finale, the big cliffhanger on everyone’s lips was whether Britney would force a tie or vote Danielle out. From a narrative standpoint, the editors did an amazing job building the tension to this climactic moment. Much of The Traitors Season 3 focused on Danielle’s goal of making Britney a Traitor (much to her detriment). So, for one of the final round tables to end with Britney determining Danielle’s fate, it was a bittersweet poetic moment. The Traitors still have a few areas to grow and develop, but one of their strengths is how they thread and build a narrative.

Did anyone seriously believe that Britney wouldn’t have voted for Danielle? Sure, her heart wanted to keep Danielle, but Britney is a survivalist through and through. Between her time on Big Brother and The Amazing Race, Britney is going to prioritize winning and saving herself. I don’t blame Britney for switching her vote; the pressure of doubling down on keeping Danielle could’ve made her endgame even worse if Danielle still left. However, this is a case of “in for a penny, in for a pound.” Britney should’ve stuck with her vote, feigned ignorance, and seen where the chips fell. It’s like a Survivor tied vote – her chances of winning were even better having the numbers at the end. If there was one gripe, it would be the editors including the shocked clip after Dolores revealed her vote. That felt too much like a spoiler that Britney had voted Danielle out.

Danielle has been a very divisive player on The Traitors. We’ve even critiqued in past reviews how some of her moves and acting gave her away as a Traitor. Let’s not forget the debacle with the church challenge! Danielle played it messy – this worked both for her and against her. She deserves a lot of kudos for making it far and fooling the Faithfuls; it’s a tough feat to make it close to the finals, even as a Faithful.

Though, Danielle’s biggest mistake had been keeping Dylan too long in the game. As Britney and everyone put it, he was “the Faithful of the Faithfuls.” No one believed he was a Traitor, and he fooled the Traitors into trusting and keeping him. Boston Rob went out thinking Dylan was on his side; same with Carolyn, and now Danielle. “The Day of Reckoning Is Upon Us” is a great lesson for future Traitors players: it’s important to keep Faithfuls who believe in you, but it’s more important to murder strong Faithfuls first.

The Seer sees all

The finale put into execution The Seer twist by having Britney learn Gabby’s identity. Based on the gameplay, Britney made the right move by not accusing Gabby of being a Traitor. If she had, the group would’ve easily voted Gabby out first, then Britney second, as a safety measure. There were too many doubts about Britney for anyone not to take her campaigning with some level of suspicion. However, Britney should’ve kept pushing Gabby and Dolores a little harder to suspect the men. Both were on the fence if they could trust the men, but the seeds she planted could’ve spread a bit further and taken down someone in the process.

The Seer twist should return again in the future. Granted, the power can be won by anyone, and in this case, we had both of the remaining Traitors secure the power. However, just imagine if it had been won by a Traitor, like Dolores or Gabby. The power could’ve created a layer of doubt where the Faithfuls would’ve begun doubting each other. The power has a lot of potential; we just need to see a different player combination of it being used.

The same goes for the final challenge. The season finale should always have one final competition to win money for the group pot. However, this final game of locating the money bags and throwing them into a ring of fire felt more like filler than fun. Did “The Day of Reckoning Is Upon Us” even care about the challenge? The set-up felt like the show slapped it together because they remembered that they needed a challenge. The final challenge is supposed to be the explosive change to win money; if not for that, The Traitors should look to other ways to fill the time with something more meaningful.

Rise of the Faithfuls

The finale round table and the Fire of Truth paled in comparison to the dynamic energy of The Traitors’ Season 2 finale. Whereas last season’s ending still had paranoia weaved through the cast, this group seemed a little too sure of their outcome. We need to give Britney her credit for fighting until the bitter end. The only reason that the final round table had any level of excitement was that Britney brought the receipts and tried to frame Dylan. She lobbied back each accusation he threw her way and raised an even bigger question that painted him in a suspicious light. Britney did a great job; it’s a shame that she wasn’t selected as a Traitor earlier in the season to see what she could do. This final round table gave us some energy to enjoy a possible outcome.

But the Fire of Truth? Lackluster. As mentioned above, this final decision came as a result of all the decisions that came before. For instance, Ivar and Dolores were obvious Faithfuls. No one left truly suspected them, and their decisions in the game reflected their Faithful mindsets. Dylan was too successful in voting out Traitors – he’s one of the only people to successfully vote out three Traitors at the round tables. And he was “the Faithful of the Faithfuls.” Gabby, on the other hand, got cleared by Britney with The Seer twist, so no one was going to doubt that outcome.

We had four people in the end with too much evidence in their favor to protect them. In future retrospectives and analyses, The Traitors Season 3 will become a story of how detrimental it is for the Traitors to turn on each other. Much of the season focused on the Traitors continually plotting each other’s demise instead of murdering and turning on the Faithfuls. When the targets are pointed too much within the Traitors’ turret, we end up with a situation like this where the most innocent Faithfuls have too much power at the end.

Dredging up the past

Comparatively, for the 2-episode finale, “Reunion” was an enjoyable and light-hearted hour. One of the positives was how self-reflective the players were of their gameplay and bad moves. For instance, Boston Rob acknowledging his decision to turn on Bob the Drag Queen was a huge detrimental move that poisoned the rest of the season for the Traitors. And how a level of peace was found between Carolyn vs. Danielle and Britney vs. Danielle. “Reunion” could’ve pushed a little harder to understand to spotlight other key moves, like Chrishell wanting Tom out or the focus on the many theories (e.g., the coffin theory). But overall, the reunion picked up a fun pace.

The Traitors Season 3 finale ended on a dull and expected note. The Faithfuls did a great job of flushing out the Traitors and securing one of the biggest team wins that The Traitors franchise has ever seen. Britney and Danielle fought to the bitter end to keep their place, but they couldn’t avoid the chess moves played earlier in the season. And to make matters worse, the finale dragged on to the end with a filler challenge and an anti-climactic vote. The season finale wasn’t terrible by any means; it had highlights and a heartwarming win for the Faithfuls. It’s just that it needed a jolt of energy to keep us on our toes for where the ending could go.

The Traitors Season 3 is available to stream now on Peacock.

Justin Carreiro

Justin is a fun-loving geek living in downtown Toronto, Canada. He’s an avid TV buff, movie fan, and gamer. He’s written for publications like Entertainment Weekly’s The Community, Virgin, TV Fanatic, FANDOM, The Young Folks, and his blog, City Boy Geekiness.