{"id":253521,"date":"2026-01-23T12:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T12:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/253521\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T12:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T12:22:07","slug":"season-4-episode-6-planning-a-coup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/253521\/","title":{"rendered":"season 4, episode 6, “Planning A Coup”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cA new dawn breaks over my castle,\u201d says Alan Cumming to introduce \u201cPlanning A Coup,\u201d the halfway point of this polarizing fourth season. And a new dawn it happily is\u2014the Rapaport Era is behind us, blessedly, though Lisa Rinna and her fellow Traitors are cursing the exit of that loudmouth distraction. And after some dark, discouraging weeks of Faithful-on-Faithful hostility, the Peacock competition is also finally tapping back into what so often makes The Traitors<\/a> peak reality entertainment: when those titular turncoats start twisting the knife on each other. It was only a matter of time before the kumbaya camaraderie between Rinna, Candiace Dillard Bassett, and Rob Rausch turned cutthroat, and I\u2019ve got to hand it to the castle\u2019s resident overalls-lover for bringing some much-needed drama to the turret.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m getting ahead of myself: First, we need to see if any of the Faithfuls claim that dangling shield to save themselves at the risk of sabotaging the group. Alas, the majority rules, with the entire remaining cast showing up to breakfast the next morning. Left with displaced murder energy, the Traitors quickly strategize that they\u2019ll follow the herd and get Ron Funches out at the next roundtable before murdering Colton Underwood, who\u2019s had his sights set on Rinna and is trying to rope in anyone who will listen against the Real Housewife.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rob isn\u2019t a fan of the group\u2019s plans to target Ron. He\u2019s sparked up an oddball friendship with the comedian over the past few episodes and doesn\u2019t want to see him banished from the castle grounds. Helpfully, he\u2019s pulled into a large alliance by Johnny Weir, who does the numbers and realizes the Faithfuls just need a majority of eight players to swing any vote, with \u201cringleader\u201d Colton on the top of their banishment wishlist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That strategizing is put on pause for the recurring haunted-cabin mission, in which the players have to decipher clues\u2014spelled out Ouija board-style across the table or splashed onto the walls in fake blood\u2014before rushing over to a corresponding grave for $3,000 a pop. Though there\u2019s a tempting two shields at one burial site, the group collectively decides to forgo individual protection in favor of prize money\u2014well, almost collectively, with Yam Yam Arocho putting up a bit of a fight and earning some suspicious side-eye from Maura Higgins in the process. Not only does the cast now have an extra $15,000 in the prize pool but \u201cwe can murder whoever we want!\u201d Rob cheers. \u201cThey\u2019re giving us a Faithful buffet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The banishment plan is split between Ron and Colton, a development that the latter is acutely aware of, so he makes a big swing: \u201cInstead of trying to banish a Traitor, I\u2019m gonna try to hold one hostage.\u201d And that double-crosser is none other than Lisa Rinna, who Underwood pointedly assures he\u2019ll protect at the roundtable moving forward if she protects him in the turret. He\u2019s right on the money, but Lisa does some A-plus Lifetime acting and asserts that he\u2019s barking up the wrong Traitor.<\/p>\n

At the roundtable that evening, things are eerily quiet until Ron prompts them to get the inevitable over with. He knows that he\u2019s a major target, though he rightfully points out that Colton has gotten things wrong in that very room more often than he has: \u201cBecause we don\u2019t like Michael, we don\u2019t count it; but because we love Porsha [Williams], we\u2019re still on me. I don\u2019t feel that\u2019s fair.\u201d (For his part, Colton acknowledges that he\u2019s been playing the game \u201crecklessly and boldly,\u201d sure, but he\u2019s not \u201cplaying it as a Traitor.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Ron starts individually saying his goodbyes, a sweet but savvy move as it gets Natalie Anderson, Tara Lipinski, and Mark Ballas all believing that he\u2019s maybe a Faithful after all. With the spotlight now shifting back toward Colton, Underwood desperately throws another name to the wolves: Rinna. \u201cYou don\u2019t go against a Housewife,\u201d he theorizes about her first-night vote for Porsha, but it\u2019s also a potent warning for his own gameplay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll no doubt be a harsh lesson for Rob to learn, too. During the roundtable, as votes start stacking up between Colton, Ron, and Lisa, Rob makes the shocking move of voting against Rinna. But with only one vote left, and Mark ultimately sending the ever-faithful Ron packing, Rob\u2019s big backstab doesn\u2019t end in a Traitor-on-Traitor death and he\u2019ll be left to feel the fires of Rinna\u2019s rage. \u201cThat was a huge risk. One vote?!\u201d Candiace says of Rob\u2019s betrayal. \u201cWatching him stab Lisa in the front like he did, I don\u2019t trust him.\u201d And Rob knows it:\u00a0\u201cThis is about to be baaaad for Robby Bobby.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least Rinna\u2019s wrath seems equally split between him and Colton. And the Traitors have to put that internal disloyalty temporarily to the wayside as Alan tasks them with yet another in-plain-sight murder, this time held at a grand banquet in the castle hall that evening in front of the rest of the Faithfuls. Festooned with a cursed amulette, Lisa will have to single out one Faithful to touch the shiny bauble and thus mark them for murder.But who will she choose?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stray observations<\/p>\n

\u2022 For entertainment value, I appreciate Rob being so bold to go against Rinna. But from a gameplay perspective, it admittedly was a big misstep, and I very much feel Candiace for chucking food at him in frustration.\u00a0
\n\u2022 Speaking of, both Johnny Weir and Kristen Kish clocked that surprisingly conspicuous kitchen meeting between the three Traitors. I\u2019d be very surprised if that doesn\u2019t come up next ep.\u00a0
\n\u2022 A love triangle between Rob Rausch, Maura Higgins, and Dorinda Medley? I\u2019m seated.\u00a0
\n\u2022 Alan Cumming\u2019s fashion inspirations this week: Tilda Swinton, Julius Caesar, Fran Drescher, and the Seinfeld puffy shirt. Incredible stuff, as usual.\u00a0
\n\u2022 Smoked salmon mentions: two.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Christina Izzo is a contributor to The A.V. Club.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cA new dawn breaks over my castle,\u201d says Alan Cumming to introduce \u201cPlanning A Coup,\u201d the halfway point…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,85,46,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-253521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}