Netflix's The Circle, the streaming service's first attempt at a reality TV series, sounds like every other reality show out there. A group of young people enter an apartment and compete to be the last person standing. Except the premise, whereby each player lives on their own and can only communicate with one another via a virtual voice assistant and text messages, makes it totally unique. And it also allowed players to play as someone other than themselves.
Referred to as "Big Brother meets Catfish," the series has been surprisingly well-received. People are loving the show’s honest and simple nature, the diverse cast, and its ability to demonstrate exactly what is wrong with social media. The Circle provides lessons in not judging others, understanding context, and being true to yourself.
With that said, there are a few things about the show that totally don’t make sense. (Note: spoilers about the finale ahead.)
One Player Was Able To Come In With His Mom
The whole concept of the show is that each player lives on their own in an apartment and has to communicate with others only via a virtual voice assistant that turns the audio into text-based messages. The only other people they are allowed to speak to in person are producers.
So why was Ed allowed to come in with his mother? It made no sense. Not only was her presence puzzling, but he was able to bounce ideas off her and didn’t have to rely so much on chats with others for companionship since he had someone with him. This clearly impacted his game but was also an unfair advantage.
New Players Are At An Immediate Disadvantage
The way the show worked, eight people entered the apartments and began to form bonds with one another. As each person was voted out, someone new came in. This person was at an immediate disadvantage and was the obvious choice to rank last each week. This is exactly what happened unless one of the originals upset other players so much that they voted them last.
In the end, the final five were all original players. This comes as no surprise. In order to give replacement players a chance at all to win, the approach to the show needs to change.
The Show Itself Was Catfishing Viewers
Ironically, while the show was about exposing catfishers, the series itself was catfishing viewers the whole time. In every opening segment as well as occasionally in between, we saw cityscapes of the United States. But in actuality, the series was filmed in England, in the same building that will be used for the next season of the U.S. version of the series.
What’s more, the ‘80s music soundtrack in every episode was fantastic but didn’t exactly jibe with the series. No contestant, with the exception of Ed’s mother, was even alive in the ‘80s, nor were things like social media and voice assistants existent. So the music, while awesome, made no sense.
No Older Players Joined As Young People
While those who were catfishing played as people who were markedly different from themselves, it didn’t make sense that a show like this would only include 20-somethings, and a couple 30-somethings.
Sure, this is the demographic that spends most of their time online. But what might have been even more eye-opening was if someone even older — in their 50s or even 60s — came in playing as a much younger person. There was such a big missed opportunity to show young people the value of and the way they can relate to people much older (and wiser) than themselves.
The Voting And Ranking System
Each week, the players had to rank competitors in order of who they thought should be the “influencer,” i.e. who they liked the most. Was this a fair system? Not necessarily, though this was the point. Because social media in and of itself isn’t “fair.”
It became a popularity contest as well as a ranking based on strategy, which isn’t necessarily how the real world and social media might work outside of the game. What’s more, they flipped the script a few times, including when Joey won as influencer. And this had a major impact on the game.
They Weren’t More Suspicious of Seaburn
After the menstrual cramps talk, that was it. It should have raised red flags about Seaburn’s true identity. The man, who was playing as his girlfriend and using the name Rebecca, was doing a great job for a while. He even had Shubham fooled into thinking she was a close female confidant and Adam/Alex playing along with a virtual budding romance.
But when he found himself in a girls’ chat and the ladies began discussing their menstrual cycles and cramps, Seaburn’s weigh-ins made no sense. He talked about having pain on his left side which is not typical at all with menstrual cramps. They shrugged it off as weird, but in a show where you know people are catfishing you, this should have been a total tip-off.
A Second Place Prize Wasn’t Awarded
Given how lovely a bond/bromance Joey and Shubham developed, and the fact that both of them still ranked one another highly even though they knew it could cost them the win, it would have been nice to see them both walk away with prizes.
Joey emerged victorious as the winner, and while he was totally deserving and conducted himself with class and integrity throughout the entire game, so did Shubham. If they couldn’t have shared the win, at least Shubham could have received a second-place prize of some sort.
They Didn’t Have Air Conditioning
Producers confirmed that while filming took place during the summer, the cast members were not able to run the air conditioning because it interfered with the audio. And they couldn’t open the windows for fear, of course, of something being revealed, like their voices.
That explains why every room was equipped with a Dyson fan, visible in many shots in living area and bedroom scenes. (Wonder if this was paid placement?) At least that's better than filming in the winter without heat running!
Alcohol Consumption Was Limited
It does make sense, to a degree, to limit the contestants’ consumption of alcohol. After all, you don’t want people getting tired or being drunk while filming. With that said, it might have made sense to let them go wild at least one night to see what would happen. Could it have stirred up some drama?
Unlike similar reality series like Big Brother, however, this show was focused more on displaying how people are unfairly judged on social media than catfights, plotting, and scheming.
The Catfish People Didn’t Know Exactly How Their Pictures Would Be Used
While the people who appeared in the photos used by catfishers like Alex and Karyn willingly provided their images for use on TV, they didn’t necessarily know how the photos would be used.
The people who were shown as the faces of “Mercedeze” and “Adam” were actual models who provided their photos. But they didn’t know exactly the nature of the show and for what the pictures would be used. It doesn’t make sense that they weren’t told, and what’s more, it would have been enlightening to have them appear on the finale and show their real personalities. Or, even better, play the game as the people who were playing as them.