Full Circle is a drama mini-series that follows a botched kidnapping that unravels a highly intricate mystery that involves many different individuals. The series is streaming on Max.
Episode 1 recap: Something Different
Quincy Mahabir is the head of a crime family who is killed by Edward Chung, a rival who also steals a ton of money from him. Quincy’s sister-in-law, Savitri, is the new head and she believes that the cause of his death is something else.
She heads back to her home in Georgetown, Guyana, and meets a holy man who says there is a curse on their family and that they must kidnap and kill someone else’s child to lift that curse.
Jared is a teenager whose parents Derek and Sam, handle PR for Sam’s celebrity father, Chef Jeff. Mel Harmony, a US Postal Inspector, approaches her boss, Manny, about joining the Guyana crime family case.
He brushes her off and tells her to work on the case that she’s already on. Mel calls her girlfriend and tells her that she’s going to work on the Guyana case on her own time.
Jared practices baseball with his dad after school and a boy watches on from the bushes. He grabs Jared’s stuff without anybody spotting him and Derek scolds his son for not being responsible enough.
The boy doesn’t have a home of his own and lives in an abandoned building situation. He also appears to be obsessed with Jared as he’s got tons of pictures of him.
He contacts Jared and says his name is Nicky before sharing that he knows how Jared can get his stuff back. Savitri tells her right hand, Garmen, that she needs two boys from Georgetown for a job.
Louis and Xavier are the two who head out to New York because Louis’ sister, Natalia, works as a masseuse for Savitri. They meet Aked, Savitri’s nephew, who explains the hierarchy of the family to them and what their next steps are going to be.
The boys are asked to kill a stranger in a wheelchair because the family uses the deaths of vagrants and bums to collect their insurance payouts. Xavier does the job but Louis freezes on the spot.
He goes back to Natalia to complain about what she is involved in and she says she’s been trying to get out for a long time. Savitri tells Garmen that Aked will be running their next job which involves kidnapping Jared.
Xavier goes out for a walk when he is approached by Mel who tries to convince him to be a snitch. Savitri sits with the holy man and another elderly gentleman named Clarence Richard.
Clarence is the one who placed the curse and for some reason, he also has a grudge against Chef Jeff. Natalia overhears that something will be taking place at Washington Square Park.
Xavier is sent there for a job and he calls Mel to inform her that the location is critical. Natalia pulls Louis aside and says that they’re going to save the boy from the kidnapping by throwing a decoy.
Xavier has second thoughts and tells Mel that nothing is happening so she gets even more suspicious. She calls her boss to get an official order so that she can check things out properly but only gets his answering machine.
Jared is at home with his grandmother and he tells her that he’s feeling unwell so he doesn’t want his tutor to come over. With her distracted, Jared sneaks out of the house.
Aked, Xavier, Louis, and a fourth guy named Keesen sit in a van and watch the entrance of Jared’s building. They panic when they see the tutor leave but see Jared heading out on his bicycle and try to follow.
Derek and Sam get home and soon after, get a call from Jared’s phone with Aked on the other side making demands. He gives them a specific amount of money as the ransom amount.
Jeff is in the park playing chess against Clarence when he gets the call about Jared going missing. He rushes home with Jared’s grandmother as Aked calls again with more instructions.
Jared returns home and tells them that Nicky had his stuff and wanted to meet. He was dressed exactly like Jared and while he was trying out Jared’s bike, the men picked him up.
Jeff calls his buddy Joey who is an ex-cop. Joey shows up and they go over what the plan is. Meanwhile, the holy man lines out a circle in the park with chalk for the ritual.
Episode 2 recap: Charger
Everyone tries to figure out whether they must pay the money to save Nicky, while Joey says he has a safe house where he can take Jared just to be safe.
Jeff and Derek leave to collect the ransom money for the ransom. Garmen interrupts Savitri to tell her that they found Mel’s card in the room where the boys stayed and she says there’s nothing to worry about.
Garmen calls up someone named Victor to help him with some cleanup. Aked sees that Louis brought his personal phone along and breaks it so Louis asks Xavier to text Natalia about their plan.
Jeff has trouble figuring out why someone would target him because he’s always doing nice things for people. Mel has an argument with her girlfriend and heads to Washington Square Park to check things out.
Derek and Jeff collect the money and Derek goes for the exchange by himself. Natalia prepares the decoy and goes to the park for the switch.
Aked begins freaking out because he doesn’t know anything about Washington Square Park. Garmen, Victor, and Paul Tranquada walk up to the van to take over things since Aked can’t do it anymore.
Victor kills Keesen as they suspect he’s the traitor. He then rides in the van as they head to the park for the exchange. Savitri is in her office conducting a ritual of her own and one of her men is following Derek and the money.
Derek gets the call with further instructions but he begins to panic because his phone is on low battery. He gets a charger but doesn’t plug it in properly.
Mel goes to the park but Manny begs her to leave for the sake of her career. Derek gets close to the park but doesn’t get an exact location as his phone dies.
Garmen is anxious because he still has no clear idea of what’s going on and Savitri tells him to relax until the party later. Victor takes Louis and Xavier to the park with Louis riding a bike with a container in the front where they stuffed Nicky.
He tells Louis to take a round and then come back to the circle that was drawn. Louis rides around till he finds his sister and makes the switch. Derek rushes around looking for someone with a charger.
Clarence calls Paul and reiterates that the deal must happen at the exact given time or else it won’t work. He then feels a tingle in his right arm.
Victor takes Louis and Xavier to the center of the circle and at the agreed time, shoots the decoy in the container signifying the end of the ritual.
Clarence is found dead in the park of a heart attack, while Derek sits down on a bench in defeat as he believes he couldn’t save Nicky. Sam finds him and ends up breaking the circle that was drawn.
They go to the police to inform them of everything that happened. Savitri has a party where she tells Garmen that their problems are over because the curse is lifted, unaware that it did not go according to plan.
Review
- Full Circle is a drama-filled series and the cast is stacked with well-known personalities who justify the genre tag it has been given. There are still many things left unclear in the first two episodes that will hopefully be explained later on.
- The pacing of the episodes is very slow and might not be agreeable to everyone. There are so many different arcs taking place and they are balanced well, even if the motives aren’t coherent.
- The Guyanese accents are admittedly tough to understand at times and subtitles are a huge help in this situation.
Full Circle season 1 episodes 1 and 2
Director:
Steven Soderbergh
Date Created:
2023-07-13 15:00
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