The Circle is a new Netflix original series everyone has been talking about. The general buzz and 98% match made me press the play as well. I have completely fallen for The Circle and I was through with it in like a day. I must admit, it took me embarrassingly long to actually realize it’s a reality show.
Spoilers alert!
The Circle is a series about what would happen if you took a bunch of people, give them really cool apartments and make them socialize on the internet with each other. Sounds super lame. Why the hell would someone watch that when that’s what most of us are doing anyway, minus the cool apartment.
Well, let me tell you it’s way better than that.
First of all, you have a bunch of different personalities. I personally enjoyed the great diversity of the players. Diversity of races, sexual orientation, or religions.
Yes, players. Not actors as I originally thought through like the first 4 episodes. I was all like, wow they are nailing the parts. Such good actors.
Well, they were not acting. They were all-natural. For the most part.
The beauty of social media is still the fact that you can be whoever you want to be.
Some of the players took it too literally.
Catfishing is a beautiful thing. Truthfully, who actually never catfished or been catfished? I, for example, both.
There’s an incredible amount of manipulation and effort that goes to catfishing. The anticipation. The calculation. A rush of adrenaline. The inevitable betrayal. And for what? For the desperate need for affection.
Some of the players pretended to be the opposite gender to become more popular. Some were unhappy with their looks so they played themselves as much much hotter versions. There were even players who were being themselves but their own self was so perfect everyone thought they were made up catfish anyway.
What they all had in common were the excuses. Once the rest of the players of The Circle found out they are catfishes, they all came up with deep meaningful excuses.
I wanted to prove you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.
All I wanted to do was point to the sexism. To the absurdity of judging people. False connections. Self-righteousness.
I wanted to encourage plus size girls.
I mean, thanks, that’s nice, but it’s not that deep. You don’t need to justify yourself to me. I would totally pretend to be much hotter to win some money. No shame in that. Just own your shit honey.
You might be confused by how did they manage to be someone else.
Well, all of the players were supposed to choose their profile picture to represent them. None of them actually met each other in real life. It was all just virtual. All they had to do was make themselves the most likable so they get the votes and win 100000$.
Everyone who works with social media knows how terribly stressful the virtual world became.
What are you gonna say? What photo should you share? Isn’t that hashtag too risky? Is it too popular? Is it unpopular enough to rank higher? Am I posting enough? Too much? Am I being problematic? What fact about me should I share so I come out looking like a big shot? Do I want to be seen as the soft girl next door or a bad bitch? What sort of filter is gonna help me reach my goal?
The great messed up process that goes to the social media nowadays is what the circle is all about.
In the end, it was about being authentic. True to yourself. Honest.
Those were the virtues that won the show.
I still can’t believe that I was at the edge of my seat over something someone somewhere in America is gonna text someone else.
That’s one powerful show.
The characters of the players were what made The Circle so incredible.
Let’s talk about the final 5 that left the biggest impression on me.
For example, we have the Joey guy. He’s the typical frat boy and I was super annoyed with him from the first moment I saw him on the screen.
He’s the type of guy who sends dick pics for sure.
I was done with him with the first few minutes in.
But by the end of The Circle, Joey turned out to be one of my favorites. The jerk from before turned out to be the sweetest, most generous, loyal, and kind person who loves his friends with all of his big ass heart.
Then there was Chris, the queer gay man with more sass than anyone else ever. His spirit was something else. I was laughing with every single sentence he said/typed.
Another great player was Shubbam. Social media is the devil according to him. He’s the sweet guy who logged in for the first time and thinks everyone on the internet is being genuine, just because he is. So naive you just got to care for his pure soul.
And finally my favorite girl Sammie. Sammie is me. Every time someone tried to flirt with her she gaged and honestly, same. On the other hand, she knew what strings to pull to get where she wanted to be. Her witty comments were everything. I just love the way she was questioning everything. She could see through most of them. No one could fuck with her. She was funny, smart and so sweet. Her rationality and purest aromatic soul was what got her so far in the circle. I liked her very much.
The last one of the top 5 was Seaburn who came in as his own girlfriend Rebecca and made everyone fall for her sweet, shy personality. Seaburn pretending to be Rebecca having a date with a guy named Alex playing hot guy Adam lead to a conversation no 2 regular people would ever have.
What’s gonna happen if 2 catfishes meet?
Seaburn has no idea how periods work and it almost leads to his dramatic uncover during girls chat. It was incredible.
Turning texting and millennials need for affection into a reality shows was a great call from Netflix.
I loved every second of it.
Every time someone typed LOL with a blank expression, I felt called out. Each time someone deleted the whole message because it didn’t vibe well, I felt that. Every time someone used flirtation or sexuality for personal gain while everyone else knew what was going on, I was soaring. Each time they spend a fair amount of time deciding on the best emoji to make them the most popular of them all, I felt so valid.
That’s what’s like being young and trying to master social media.
9/10
I love this show! Look forward to it every year!!