The Circle: Season 1 Episode 4 “Planting Doubt” Recap/ Review

Chris and Miranda open up, and a new catfish joins “The Circle.”

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Directed By		Sam Campbell
Written By		Lee Gant
Aired (Netflix)		1/1/2020
Introduced This Episode
Himself	Alex (as Adam)

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Episode Recap

Coming Where I Come From: Chris, Miranda, Joey

Thanks to the drama, cattiness, and strategic planning, it can be easy to forget people got on this show for a reason. Chris, for example, is participating because his mom and him could use the money – for they are struggling a bit. Then with Miranda, to Joey, she pours out her life story when talking about families, making it clear that for someone who is a lone wolf who falls easily, anything which would solidify her independence would be ace.

It’s Hard To Say Goodbye, If You Actually Know The Person: Antonio, Shubham, Chris

Hence why Chris isn’t feeling that bad about Antonio going, nor Shubham, for neither know Antonio’s story. All they know is that he is a basketball player and possibly a catfish. Two things that don’t help him edge out Sammie, who Shubham recently had a nice chat with.

Eventually, Everyone Is Going To Be A Catfish: Alex, Karyn, Sammie, Chris, Antonio

Before Antonio left, he learned Karyn was catfishing everyone, and in his exit video, he reveals that he met someone who was a catfish. With that, Karyn gets to work to deflect any sort of attention that her previous connection to Antonio may draw. Thus leading to her creating doubt in Sammie and Chris’ mind, including making Joey seem like he is on the DL.

Plot Synopsis (The Too Long, Didn’t Read Recap)

1. Antonio is eliminated due to not reaching out to Chris and not forming a connection with Shubham.
2. Miranda opens up to Joey about her life struggles and makes up with Sammie.
3. Antonio’s video exposes there is a catfish amongst them, and Karyn scrambles to make it seem anyone but her could be a catfish.
4. A new person, Alex, joins “The Circle” and plans to catfish as someone named Adam – who is barely, if even remotely, like them.

Review/ Commentary

Highlights

Miranda and Chris Opening Up

While the drama is always appreciated, it is nice to also get a sense of these people being real. That they aren’t a bunch of paid actors we’ve never heard of given a basic storyline and then told to do improv. Which, considering there is a writer involved with the show, who knows if that may not be the case. However, it is nice to think you aren’t being conned like everyone else, and when Miranda talks about going into the foster system or Chris about financial struggles, you are seeing behind the curtain and viewing a person. That is as opposed to another room of smoke and mirrors.

On The Fence

Is There Such A Thing As Too Many People Catfishing?

As of the end of this episode, there will be 3 people who are catfishing, and that’s nearly half of the cast. Now, while watching people being catfished has its certain benefits, there is the need to ask if everyone is fake and lying, is the show still fun?

The Games

The whole cake competition thing was silly. I get the idea is to mirror social media, and they need to update their feed constantly, but surely they could have posted something personal right? Joey we see drawing a good portion of the time, a handful of people are reading, Miranda is doing a puzzle, surely they could have said something, shown something, to entrench this disguise or let us in more right? Not have them decorate a cake badly like this was “Nailed It!”

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