French Traitors S2 Thoughts

LES TRAITRES (SEASON 2)

France, 2023

French Season 2 thoughts and contestant ranking (All Spoilers)

I was asked for my views on some of the Traitors series I've seen, so I'll start with the first non-English series I watched in its entirety. Thanks to the Traitor Archivist! The French second series is hosted by the chap who apparently hosted the first one, Eric Antoine. He takes a bit of adjusting to, as he plays the role of host in full vaudeville OTT manner. The subtitles actually read "Hahahahahahahahahaha" for twenty seconds straight at some points. But once you get used to his melodramatic presentation, he's a lot of fun - certainly better than the NZ host at least. Location is the French countryside so very aesthetic and lots of lovely scenery. The Missions are mostly what we've seen elsewhere. Yes, that damned Church one is back again. The Bank Job mission near the end was fun because it felt so different from other games at the time. Some of the games are given a nastier twist - the buried underground game includes cockroaches in the coffins. And one of the games includes snakes.

Best bit of the series?

The finale is one episode, one roundtable, seven players and 45 minutes. They need to debate that seven players down to three finalists. It's genuinely some of the most gripping TV the show has produced, as the two Traitors hang on for grim life against some quite intelligent Faithfuls.

Contestants, a quick Worst to Best

18. Kheiron - seriously, first rule of Traitors, don't tell everyone on Day 1 that you're writing all their mistakes down to spot Traitors. Then we got to hear some of his theories later, and they were rubbish.

 17. Kristofer - Had a meltdown over the Buried Alive cockroaches (fair enough tbh) and then accidentally misspoke, had a panic attack and then just self-destructed. He seemed like an intelligent young man overawed by the game. However, according to the Reunion show, he won Andy's heart, and they are now dating, so maybe he actually won this series after all?

16. Tibo - Completely outmanoeuvred by his own wife to be. Like Tom from the UK version, if his other half was an actual Traitor.

15. Claude and 14. Natasha and 13. Laura - People we didn't get to see much of before they were bumped off. Seemed amiable enough but didn't last in the memory.

12. Guillaume - one of the original Traitors, in a long line of male Traitors who think they can dominate the game, only for the game to get to them very quickly and they self-destruct. Was only narrowly voted out (including iirc by his own girlfriend) but was easily the third wheel in the Traitors Trio at that point, and was swiftly upgraded!

11. Gennifer - Made it to the final three, was sensible enough to buddy up with a Traitor which meant she survived long into the game, sometimes showed great nous, but was done in by that fatal flaw - the one person she trusted most was The Traitor!

10. Caroline - Booted out on Day 1 in a Fake Elimination just like Amos and Kieron. Came back on Day 2, and tried to lead the Faithfuls in a hunt against the Traitors. This bossy behaviour made the other Faithfuls think SHE was a Traitor, and she only realised this just before the crucial roundtable, when it was too late to alter her fate. Fun, but short-lived.

9. Nathalie - Swore on the grave of her recently deceased husband, which meant everyone knew she had to be faithful. Was blindly loyal to her own son, Tom, who luckily for her was Faithful. She had a good idea of where the danger was, but ignored it close to the end and it cost her. That final 6 vote which went 2-1-1-1-1 was the killer moment in the series for her.

8. Vincent D - The actor Vincent, involved in a mini-feud with the other Vincent, good friends with one of the Traitors, causing her to emotionally overload, and had such a laidback style which made others suspicious. The unwitting catalyst of many others downfall! And all this started because he decided he'd rather have a rest when one of the Missions required someone to opt out.

7. Jean - A politician, Jean Lassalle has run for French President a few times. He seemed quite popular with the other contestants, and I wont speak about his politics, more his gameplay. Falling asleep in the cars, random bits of philosophy, falling asleep with the cockroaches in the grave, his on-going stance about hoping the Faithfuls won as he "believed in morality", the moment he admitted even he couldn't convince the girls that the awful food in that gross mission tasted any good. He brought a lot of entertainment value to this season. And he was eliminated in a genuinely shocking moment in the finale. Not very good at the actual playing the game bits of the Traitors though.

6. Tom - Ah, the perils of youth. Tom was very good at the Traidar part of the game. Where he fell was in errors in his social game, and youthful inexperience. The moment where he sat down when there was 10 players left and pointed out exactly who the three Traitors were showed great reading of the game. The fact he said this aloud in a room where the only other contestant was a Traitor showed rather less successful game play. As a result, Juju gave Tom's name to her allies as a suspect, and they voted him out in the final 7. I believe he's one of the youngest players ever.

5. Charlotte - At first, she seemed to be the Boss Traitor of the series, the Mummy Traitor to little Juju, the friend of Norbert. She was popular with the group, especially her real life friend Vincent D. For half the series she looked a potential winner, and then, the two Vincents began to feud, and her name started to get dropped, and then, she had a complete emotional breakdown at the Traitors den and I legit thought she was going to walk out on the game. She held on, but she was clearly broken by then, and Juju and Norbert helped remove her at the next roundtable. She tried to do a Kieran, but it fell on deaf ears.

4. Vincent Cespedes. One of the celebrities is a philosopher. This is the most French thing ever, I love it. Vincent is godawful at the game. He picks the wrong choices, and he sticks to them. He is however wonderful entertainment. His moments of Zen, before he continues his attack on Vincent D, for example. Eventually the Traitors get rid of him on the Trial/Death Row because his is just absolute chaos to everyone around him. He hated his edit, thinking it made him look nuts. It does.

3. Andy - The best Faithful. Her Traidar works most of the time (with one blind spot), and her social game based around this keeps her in the game without being murdered. She spots Guillaume, leads the Charlotte charge, and had eyes on Norbert, before being caught off guard by Juju convincing Gennifer to vote her out. Which Gennifer did, even though it was the most suspicious double turn ever. Andy missed this U-turn as her back was to Juju at the time in the Finale though.

2. Norbert - Such an entertaining guy. From the Fake elimination at the start, to being recruited as a Traitor, Norbert brought the fun to this series. The number of times a Confessional was just him rolling his eyes at a daft thing a Faithful had said, made me laugh out loud. He was taking the pish out of everyone. He's also the most insanely faithful Traitor you'll ever see. As soon as he finds out Juju has recruited him, he is loyal to her at the expense of his own game. In the end, he jumps on an active grenade solely to save her own. "I'd have been eliminated long ago if it wasn't for you" he told her in a moment of great self-awareness. The anti-Kieran in the end.

And the best player was

Juju Fitcats. It had to be. She told us she would be a better Traitor than her husband to be, and then got him out of the game ASAP, and then ran the show from start to finish. Anytime people suspected her, she relied on their sympathy, or her friendship with others, to get the heat off her. She walked into a finale with 3 players suspicious of her, and managed to outplay all three of them. A deserving winner and a great player. And since she won, she's shared her winnings with Norbert and Charlotte, and gave her share of them as a donation to a domestic abuse charity in France. One of my favourite players in the entire Franchise, and the first time I realised I was actually rooting heavily for a Traitor to win, and getting worried when the Faithfuls were building momentum.

Final Thoughts

Loved it. The melodrama took a bit of getting used to, but the characters make a show and this one had enough of a mix of great Traitors, smart Faithfuls, and rubbish-but-great-entertainment Faithfuls that kept it going. Add in some nice ideas like the fact they keep some thing secret - like, we don't find out who won the Shield till the next episode, or even who the third Traitor was for most of Episode 1 - add to the must keep watching thrill. Add in a worthy winner of a thrilling end game, and yes, this was great.

Recommended?

Yes, absolutely.