The Traitors (Season 1)
Introduction
I would be the first to admit that I have been a part of ‘Mafia’ game nights that would eventually result in a fight of sorts. The game is simple – a group of people are stacked into the game, with atleast two or more folks being elevated to the role of the Mafia, who in turn have the power to eliminate commoners from the game. And it is left upto the commoners to sniff out the mafia in order to ultimately win the game. But if you look closely, there is a psychological angle to the game – it is almost like an invisible chess board that hosts different personalities on it. One wrong move, and boom – you are ‘murdered’. The idea always remains to plan each move tactfully – you must pretend to be dumb, but not too dumb…..you mustn’t stand out but instead fit in, you must observe but never over-commit, all while never finding a moment to trust anyone. Clearly, everyone is a suspect and the moment you let your guard down, you are literally dinner for the other players. Amazon Prime’s new reality show The Traitors is a borrowed concept from Mafia, whilst premiering successfully in UK and US before finally making its way to India. And what felt like a frivolous ride based on my preconceived notion, turned out to be a stimulating game of deception that had me engrossed to the core!
What's Good
The concept of The Traitors isn’t drastically different from Mafia – 20 players kickstart the game. The Host (a wonderfully mysterious Karan Johar) handpicks three traitors known to the viewers but unknown to the remaining 17 contestants, who converge every night to single out and murder one of the innocents, in what is an overnight elimination. In turn, the innocents get their chance to sniff out the traitors at a late evening ‘circle of shaq’. But if they don’t, the cycle will continue.
It is always a 50-50 start pertaining to a new concept that is being executed. But the difference with The Traitors is the reverse psychology on the viewers that the show caters to. From the get go, you are aware of the identity of the traitors, that immediately allows the viewers to have an added advantage over the group of innocents, which in turn plays an important part in plugging them as virtual players. I for one, found myself thinking like a traitor at the start of an episode, almost indulging in mind-games just like the actual ‘traitors’ of the show who tactfully are shown to be constructing a ploy of ‘murder’. There is an irresistible quality of having an advantage, and watching the game unfold with that as a starting point. In a way, it is Squid Game from the other side of capitalism, wherein the viewers are in the box seat. And well, I was quite guilty of it!
One of the winning traits of the show remains on the infinite possibilities, and permutations and combinations that literally makes the proceedings unpredictable. It is almost like watching an episode of Game Of Thrones and placing your bets on a character to own the show, only for the fate to play its part by eliminating that character. With psychological angles or reverse psychological angles in play, it literally became a hunting ground for all the contestants, wherein the twist of fate often had its say by the end of every episode that housed an elimination. There were early signs of personalities who were potential ‘winners’ on paper, only for them to be ‘murdered’ early on. And the reverse remained true as well, even as I witnessed the game flip on its head multiple times.
What's Not So Good
There were momentary lapses on the show, that luckily did not have a bearing on the broader moments. And these lapses were majorly in the ‘prize money’ tasks that kind of came across as mildly amateurish, particularly at the start. This wasn’t much like the reality show Roadies wherein the tasks withheld an additional advantage in the larger context of the game. The bottom line remained just to fill the coffers as a part of the ultimate prize, as opposed to maybe handing over an advantage in ‘every’ task. Yes, I must agree that these tasks did get better when a psychological angle with respect to the dynamics of the show and its contestants was added. And almost immediately, you did see a few of them faltering in their ‘game’, even whilst they had put on a facade upto that point. It just further proved my point that the tasks needed to be crisper (particularly at the start) with a little more weightage tagged to them. On a side note, I wonder if the impact of the show would have been similar had the identity of the Traitors been kept a secret from the viewers too. Maybe, but for such a format, all episodes would need to be released in a single go, as opposed to the weekly format that worked beautifully with cliffhangers. Oh and by the way the finale – eavesdropping? Seriously? Are you kidding me??
The Contestants
Credit where due, the creative team of the show needs a shoutout for accurately handpicking a mix of influencers, actors, casting directors and other prominent figures of the industry, along with a spectacular host in the form of Karan Johar. And each one brought in a very different flavour with individual characteristics that further fuelled the show! And I have divided them on the basis on which the show eventually shaped up (and not necessarily clubbed them just on the basis of their elimination/survival or the eventual winner(s)):
The Not So Lucky Lot :
I did feel that each one of Sahil Salathia and Raj Kundra had the makings of an impact contestant that would unleash his skills at a latter point in the narrative. But such remained the format of the show that their individual abilities remained untapped.
The Fringe Favourites :
Each of these contestants namely Janvi Gaur, Lakshmi Manchu and Mukesh Chhabra were never the absolute favourites from the word go. Yet, each one had a distinct personality of being surviving the initial rounds and inflicting ‘artificial doubts’ in the minds of the other contestants. Their antics varied from being understated to mildly observant but even in this space, the impact was successfully created.
The HeartBreak Kids :
There were so many instances that resulted in surprise elimination – either due to a miscalculation or a planned strategic ouster. But either ways, these contestants definitely had a strong impact on the game that was woefully cut short due to ill-fated exits. The likes of Ashish Vidyarthi, Karan Kundra, Maheep Kapoor and majorly Raftaar all had their distinct moments in the game, while threatening to push their cases in the latter stages of the game. But in most cases, the heartbreaks were real!
The Underdogs :
This remained a relatively wider category of people who were always in the game, while muscling their way to the top. The individual journeys varied from being oblivious of the whereabouts of the traitors, to being right in the vicinity to track them down. It was a there and thereabouts kind of a scenario for each of them who either played beautifully or were at times just lucky, while often always being in the center of the game. The likes of Jannat Zubair, Jasmine Bhasin, Anshula Kapoor, Nikita Luther, Sufi Motiwala and even Sudhanshu Pandey fall in this category.
The Brains Of The Show :
This remained an elite category for contestants that stirred up a huge impact on the show. They either played dumb (even when they weren’t), or were literally in the firing line of accusations (only to survive; or not), while tactfully maneuvering the show in a rather psychological manner. The likes of Elnaaz Nourozi, Uorfi Javed, Purav Jha, Harsh Gujral and even Apurva Mukhija deserve a huge round of applause for adding the right levels of spice, and intensities that worked its magic on a psychological level.
Conclusion
The first season of The Traitors (India) is a mentally stimulating ‘murder’ mystery laced with chaos and betrayal that doubles up as an addictive guilty pleasure, thereby making it a brilliant watch. Available on Amazon Prime and Highly Recommended!
