Full Circle season 1 episodes 3 and 4 recaps & review

Open Go TV / July 20, 2023 / Reviews

In episodes 3 and 4 of Full Circle, the authorities get involved in the incident involving Jared, and everyone’s secrets are slowly brought out from the woodwork. The episodes are streaming on Max.

Episode 3 recap: Jared’s Body

Xavier, Louis, and Aked bury the bodies in the forest as Louis tries to ensure no one notices it is a dummy and not Jared. Manny and his boss call Mel in for a meeting to tell her that the botched kidnapping has drawn attention and a task force is being formed.

The FBI, the NYPD, and the USPIS will join forces with Mel on the case since she had an early connection before the case was even on the radar.

The Brownes are still trying to find out who might have targeted them and know about the exact limit that Jeff had at the casino for them to ask for that amount. Sam suspects Derek of hiding something and searches his phone for Charisse’s name.

That’s the name that Nicky mentioned on the phone but Derek brushed past it. Nicky wakes up in a motel room where Natalia cleans him up and says that they should call his parents, assuming that he’s Jared.

Nicky says that he doesn’t want to call them just yet because his parents don’t care for him very much and he wants them to suffer. Savitri tells Aked to find Natalia since she’s his fiance and has disappeared without a trace.

Garmen calls Xavier to his house to find out if he knows anything about Louis and Natalia since they cannot be located. Louis has met up with Natalia in the motel room.

Mel joins an FBI agent and an NYPD detective to question Derek and Sam and she immediately notices that the two of them are clearly hiding some things.

She goes back to her office and looks up any connections between Sam and Guyana and finds references to a case 20 years ago in which Sam’s uncle, Gene McCusker, was implicated and it involved something in Guyana.

Louis suggests that they collect the ransom themselves but Natalia has another idea. She’s friends with someone who works for Edward Chung and she believes he could help them.

Jeff goes to the park to play chess with Clarence as usual but someone tells him that he’s in the hospital recovering from a heart attack. A woman named Charisse goes to the police claiming that she’s Nicky’s mother.

She adds that Derek is the father and she signed an agreement that bought her silence in exchange for periodical payments. She tells them that Nicky is going through mental issues and might be obsessed with Derek even though he’s never met him.

The casino owner wants to know how someone found out about Jeff’s personal limit and learns that one of his idiot employees, Ron Cuneo, gave up that information for the promise of a fifty thousand dollar payment.

Ron is handed over to the authorities as an accessory. Sam tried to contact Manny earlier and he got back in touch with her to discuss the case. They keep referencing the issue with her uncle and how they did something they are worried might get out.

Derek visits a lawyer to find out whether Charisse could have orchestrated something to put pressure on him but in reality, he was just going through a personal crisis.

Same visits her uncle Gene but the meeting doesn’t help her one bit as she is asked to leave. He is still bitter about his brother and whatever happened in the case that led to his “retirement”.

With Natalia and Louis missing, Aked, Xavier, Paul, and Len meet to discuss where they might be and why they must have disappeared. Aked remembers that Louis was being weird about Jared’s body and uncovers the truth.

Episode 4 recap: Safe in the Circle

Savitri is informed that Jared was never killed and she believes something went wrong with the ritual. Aked finds out where Natalia and Louis are hiding but by the time he gets there, she has left to meet Edward Chung.

Savitri calls Aked and tells him that they’re having a gathering and he has to attend after punishing Natalia and Louis for their actions. Natalia meets Edward Chung hoping that he’ll help but he calls Garmen to give her up.

He tells Garmen that he’s also got the money that he got from Quincy, and reveals that Quincy was stealing from both of them. Natalia’s friend who got her to the meeting tells her to run so she does.

Mel visits Sam to talk about the Colony of Essequibo, an industrial complex in Guyana that her family was involved with, and got Gene an early retirement. She mentions Charisse’s full name and asks her if she knew who that was.

Sam doesn’t want to answer her questions and asks her to leave. On her way out, she meets Derek and tells him about Essequibo and that his wife is hiding secrets as well.

Louis and Natalia have no other options so they decide to call Jared’s parents. Sam finally admits that they have the wrong person and Nicky has to tell them the truth about who he is.

Derek finally tells Sam that Nicky is his son when he had a brief affair during a break in their engagement. She goes to her parents’ house for some space. She also asks Joey to stay in the cabin with Jared and not head back yet.

Louis says that they can still get some money since Derek paid to have his secret kept before, and he might be willing to do it again. Garmen’s wife asks him where their savings are gone and he tells her that he’s working on solving that issue.

He calls Len, Paul, Aked, and Xavier to his house to discuss how to find Natalia. Aked tells Xavier to stay in the car and Mel sneaks up on him to arrest him.

Manny and the NYPD detective tell Ron that he’ll be wearing a wire when he attends the gathering with the Mahabir organization. Manny calls Mel to tell her to back off from Sam but this convinces her even further that something suspicious is afoot.

He ends up sharing her psych evaluation that he kept hidden initially with their boss. The evaluation states that Mel is most likely suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder and lacks impulse control.

Aked calls Natalia’s phone and Edward Chung answers. He tells Aked that he’s willing to meet to hand over the money and Natalia’s phone as a peace offering.

Mel takes Xavier to a hotel room and sticks an ankle monitor on him to keep track of his movements. Xavier tells Mel that Savitri believes a curse was placed on their family many years ago and she’s trying to get that curse lifted.

Derek looks into the company’s financials and finds some irregularities from around the time that the Essequibo case happened. He meets his lawyer and discusses these things but the lawyer says that he’s actually looking for other stuff because his marriage is in trouble.

Mel meets Sam’s parents and gets Gene’s contact so that she can visit him. She tells Manny that she’s going to expose him as soon as she gets the evidence.

Her conversation with Gene is enlightening because even though he doesn’t reveal anything concrete, he points her in the right direction. Manny sends a message to Sam asking for them to meet urgently.

They talk about how back then, Sam’s family was involved in bribes that were handed out to government officials and that Manny helped Sam and Jeff escape by having her bury evidence.

Xavier calls his girlfriend to the hotel room but Paul and Len follow her and show up soon after. They threaten to kill him but he insists on being taken to Garmen so he can talk.

Review

This mystery is far too convoluted and hard to follow. The drama isn’t engaging enough despite the best efforts of a talented cast as there are simply too many threads to look at.
Zazie Beetz’s character Mel is a very frustrating character who is later diagnosed with BPD. However, Beetz appears to be overcompensating in the role and that’s why she comes across as grating.
This whole “curse” aspect of the series feels very ridiculous and diminishes the serious tone of Full Circle. It might draw laughs or contempt from viewers for its inclusion.