Editor’s note: The following article contains spoilers for “Full Circle” Episodes 5 and 6.
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind — even if it brings things full circle. The final episodes of Max’s “Full Circle” from Steven Soderbergh and Ed Solomon reveal a broken cycle of violence, greed, and secrecy that does not ultimately heal from retaliation, but resolution/healing/absolution.
“Full Circle” stars a large ensemble, but the Mahabir side especially spotlights key players at different times. If Episodes 1 and 2 belonged to Aked (Jharrel Jerome), then 3 and 4 were focused on Louis (Gerald Jones) and 5 and 6 spotlight Xavier (Sheyi Cole). Each member of the young crew tasked with doing Savitri’s (CCH Pounder) bidding experiences degrees of panic, fear, and regret after the kidnapping, the specific cocktail of these determining their actions in the final hours. 3 and 4 depict Louis trying to right his wrongs, to return Nicky to his family and go back to Guyana instead of going back to work for the Mahabirs. In Episode 5, Aked chooses violence, and Episode 6 reveals Xavier’s decision to double-cross Garmen (Phaldut Sharma), save Louis and Natalia (Adia), and face the music himself. It’s one of the show’s most satisfying arcs and allows a secondary player to do something heroic.
For as much as “Full Circle” affords less attention to its Guyanese protagonists than its wealthy white ones, it’s impossible not to worry for Louis and Natalia throughout the series and hope against all odds that they survive this ordeal. The two of them — and Nicky (Lucian Zanes), and even Jared (Ethan Stoddard) up in his safe house — are just kids, embroiled in the mess of their elders and powerless to speak up or bow out. Savitri and Garmen may have forgotten or chosen to overlook that, but it’s something Derek (Timothy Olyphant)can’t ignore when they burst into his hotel room demanding money, when Aked’s arrival leads to bloodshed (Olyphant’s expression when he enters the bathroom is incredible, and would work as easily in a comedy environment). Saving Nicky, haphazard as it is, is an attempt to exercise agency while doing the right thing.
The same moral compass does not govern the adults, whose secrets and selfishness are what led to children suffering and dying. Clarence (Ted Sod) turns out to be an old colleague of Jeff’s (Dennis Quaid), one whose grandson was kidnapped and killed by Savitri’s husband 20 years ago when Clarence wouldn’t capitulate and move off his land. In Savi’s estimation, Clarence cursed the family, and perpetuating the same crimes on Jeff was her way of lifting the curse — completing the circle. It is somehow both neat and convoluted (why are the Mahabirs always the ones kidnapping and/or killing a child in this situation?), but clarifies Savitri’s motives at long last. This was never personal — except inasmuch as her family was cursed as a consequence of what happened in Essequibo — but the result of business gone especially awry. Turning on her husband’s former business partner is a display of commitment to lifting the curse and offering Clarence some closure of his own.
In her defense, Sam (Claire Danes) — a.k.a. Janelle Samantha McCusker a.k.a. JM — did not know about the dead child at Essequibo, only the shady rezoning and bribery that brought her to that land. Knowing what it cost — both then and now, after Manny (Jim Gaffigan) is killed in a raid at the Mahabirs — spurs her to revisit the entire episode, and maybe even to turn herself in, though the episode leaves both her and the audience with a question unanswered.
Though the JM reveal is satisfying and unexpected, the 20-year feud between Jeff and brother Gene (William Sadler) turning out to be a misunderstanding over paperwork does not land quite as well (we at least deserved Gene teasing his brother about that ponytail, which ultimately served no purpose except to discomfit the viewer). In similar fashion, Derek breezily overcomes 15 years of ignoring his Nicky and Charisse (Rachel Annette Helson), now apparently comfortable enough in that relationship to help them pack and move. In this case, there’s a trauma element at play; the fact that Nicky was almost killed (twice!) might reasonably have spurred Derek to want a relationship with his other son, and the fact that he and Jared have already met makes it easier for them to develop a bond as brothers.
What lingers after the final episodes is that “Full Circle,” for all the time it spent on other subjects, was not ultimately about crime, or business, or violence or innocence or the postal service; it was about family — families rent apart and relocated and recalibrated and reunited. The final shots are a homecoming of sorts, with the small relief of Louis and Natalia back in their country and by each other’s sides. But the colony at Essequibo’s barren landscape tells a story of its own; of broken circles, severed ties, and lost lives — none of which were worth it.
All six episodes of “Full Circle” are now streaming on Max.
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind — even if it brings things full circle. The final episodes of Max’s “Full Circle” from Steven Soderbergh and Ed Solomon reveal a broken cycle of violence, greed, and secrecy that does not ultimately heal from retaliation, but resolution/healing/absolution.
“Full Circle” stars a large ensemble, but the Mahabir side especially spotlights key players at different times. If Episodes 1 and 2 belonged to Aked (Jharrel Jerome), then 3 and 4 were focused on Louis (Gerald Jones) and 5 and 6 spotlight Xavier (Sheyi Cole). Each member of the young crew tasked with doing Savitri’s (CCH Pounder) bidding experiences degrees of panic, fear, and regret after the kidnapping, the specific cocktail of these determining their actions in the final hours. 3 and 4 depict Louis trying to right his wrongs, to return Nicky to his family and go back to Guyana instead of going back to work for the Mahabirs. In Episode 5, Aked chooses violence, and Episode 6 reveals Xavier’s decision to double-cross Garmen (Phaldut Sharma), save Louis and Natalia (Adia), and face the music himself. It’s one of the show’s most satisfying arcs and allows a secondary player to do something heroic.
For as much as “Full Circle” affords less attention to its Guyanese protagonists than its wealthy white ones, it’s impossible not to worry for Louis and Natalia throughout the series and hope against all odds that they survive this ordeal. The two of them — and Nicky (Lucian Zanes), and even Jared (Ethan Stoddard) up in his safe house — are just kids, embroiled in the mess of their elders and powerless to speak up or bow out. Savitri and Garmen may have forgotten or chosen to overlook that, but it’s something Derek (Timothy Olyphant)can’t ignore when they burst into his hotel room demanding money, when Aked’s arrival leads to bloodshed (Olyphant’s expression when he enters the bathroom is incredible, and would work as easily in a comedy environment). Saving Nicky, haphazard as it is, is an attempt to exercise agency while doing the right thing.
The same moral compass does not govern the adults, whose secrets and selfishness are what led to children suffering and dying. Clarence (Ted Sod) turns out to be an old colleague of Jeff’s (Dennis Quaid), one whose grandson was kidnapped and killed by Savitri’s husband 20 years ago when Clarence wouldn’t capitulate and move off his land. In Savi’s estimation, Clarence cursed the family, and perpetuating the same crimes on Jeff was her way of lifting the curse — completing the circle. It is somehow both neat and convoluted (why are the Mahabirs always the ones kidnapping and/or killing a child in this situation?), but clarifies Savitri’s motives at long last. This was never personal — except inasmuch as her family was cursed as a consequence of what happened in Essequibo — but the result of business gone especially awry. Turning on her husband’s former business partner is a display of commitment to lifting the curse and offering Clarence some closure of his own.
In her defense, Sam (Claire Danes) — a.k.a. Janelle Samantha McCusker a.k.a. JM — did not know about the dead child at Essequibo, only the shady rezoning and bribery that brought her to that land. Knowing what it cost — both then and now, after Manny (Jim Gaffigan) is killed in a raid at the Mahabirs — spurs her to revisit the entire episode, and maybe even to turn herself in, though the episode leaves both her and the audience with a question unanswered.
Though the JM reveal is satisfying and unexpected, the 20-year feud between Jeff and brother Gene (William Sadler) turning out to be a misunderstanding over paperwork does not land quite as well (we at least deserved Gene teasing his brother about that ponytail, which ultimately served no purpose except to discomfit the viewer). In similar fashion, Derek breezily overcomes 15 years of ignoring his Nicky and Charisse (Rachel Annette Helson), now apparently comfortable enough in that relationship to help them pack and move. In this case, there’s a trauma element at play; the fact that Nicky was almost killed (twice!) might reasonably have spurred Derek to want a relationship with his other son, and the fact that he and Jared have already met makes it easier for them to develop a bond as brothers.
What lingers after the final episodes is that “Full Circle,” for all the time it spent on other subjects, was not ultimately about crime, or business, or violence or innocence or the postal service; it was about family — families rent apart and relocated and recalibrated and reunited. The final shots are a homecoming of sorts, with the small relief of Louis and Natalia back in their country and by each other’s sides. But the colony at Essequibo’s barren landscape tells a story of its own; of broken circles, severed ties, and lost lives — none of which were worth it.
Grade: B
All six episodes of “Full Circle” are now streaming on Max.