REVIEW: ‘Full Circle’ Episodes 5-6

Full Circle Episodes 5-6 wrap up the latest Ed Solomon and Steven Soderbergh HBO project.
Starting off as an intense and complicated noir drama, these last two episodes attempt to tie each string together. However, this Full Circle doesn’t find closure. Instead of feeling resolved, the finale feels like wasted potential to a genuinely intriguing premise with character endings feeling weak and the direction feeling lazy.

It cannot be understated how disappointing Full Circle Episodes 5-6 are when both the direction and performances were excellent in the previous episodes. Following up on the threads of Mrs. Mahabir’s broken ritual circle, the storytelling shifts back to exploring how each character is impacted. Misfortune begins to fall upon multiple people. Aked (Jharrel Jerome) suffers from following orders from his aunt.  Sam (Claire Danes) experiences mental strife over Derek’s (Timothy Olyphant) secret child. Special Detective Harmony (Zazie Beets) receives punishment for her unethical practices. Despite lots of characters experiencing an “end” to their respective arcs, the journey feels removed from these actions.

As mentioned previously, Detective Harmony serves as an audience stand-in to understand the plot. In Full Circle Episodes Five and Six, it’s obnoxious how events unfold and her character regurgitates everything that’s already happened. The show’s examination of how privilege and class struggles intertwine could have been fascinating to explore if not for an audience stand-in. A good noir drama lets characters reach their organic conclusions and plays them out in a way that holds weight. Melody being the only vehicle for those story beats not only diminishes any twists but also fails in letting the audience ponder how the narrative functions. It’s a shame given how some of the moving chess pieces within Full Circle Episodes Five and Six connect characters like Xavier (Sheyi Cole) to the Browne family or how Mrs. Mahabir’s ritual backfired on her family.

There’s no doubt that Solomon and Soderbergh wanted to explore their characters in depth. The smallest of invisible strings connects these seemingly unrelated people together. Derek’s secret son is still traveling around with Louie and Natalia with a focus on figuring out how to return to their home country of Guyana. Their realization of their mob work is a corrosive way to keep them indebted to Mrs. Mahabir, forcing them to figure out how to survive.

At a low point with no resources and no guide, Louis begs Sam to allow them to take a piece that would be able to pay for a way back to their homeland. While this may feel like a lot, it’s played out very well through Full Circle Episodes 5-6. An intense believability is captured in this show’s atmosphere when those particular characters interact together. Danes delivers a harrowing interaction that could have devolved into violence against Louis but instead almost moves you as she feels remorseful for the harm she’s done.

While Sam and Derek’s storylines wrap up with interest and care, secondary characters like Jim Gaffigan’s Detective Broward does not. Wanting to catch Mrs. Mahabir and all of her crime family, he leads a raid that goes wrong. With an informant infiltrating Mrs. Mahabir’s last attempt to finish her ritual, Detective Broward ends up having to chase one of her men on foot. This action sequence leads to the climax of the show but falls flat as the camera work doesn’t capture any dynamic action at all. This showdown makes it hard to believe that we are coming toward the end of the show.

With just a couple of gunshots, Detective Broward is dead. Once again, a pivotal moment that does not hold any weight and I’m left not really caring about their fate. This isn’t the only character who feels abandoned by the end of the show. Derek’s father-in-law remains one-note and is only there to further one twist in the narrative. Mrs. Mahabir’s takedown is a rather quiet affair with a close-up shot of her failure as a crime matriarchy. Even Jared, the son of Derek and Sam, makes an entrance back into his parent’s life, and he is barely acknowledged.

It’s a shame that this show falls flat at the end. Its previous shot composition and standout performances from Danes and Olyphant had the potential to be a new staple for the genre. However,  Full Circle Episodes 5-6 cannot hold up to their fascinating premise. With too many ideas attempting to be tackled into a six-part show, it loses momentum and clarity quickly. Despite these blunders, the show is still interesting enough to at least give it a try. This Full Circle may not ever feel complete, but it doesn’t take away how it’s a slice of noir fiction that had lots of potential.

Full Circle is now streaming on Max.