Review

The Netflix show “The Circle” is an American reality show where people of all ages can come in and compete for $100,000. The goal is to be voted as the favorite or most popular. The show starts with eight people coming and setting up a profile. They are allowed to put a picture and a bio; however, if players choose to catfish they may. You get to talk through private and group chats with people and you are watched every day, all day, everywhere. The only people who interact with you physically are staff members. Each player is in an individual apartment, and is isolated from everyone and everything outside. Every two-three days a player gets eliminated and then sometimes one-two new players enter. The players can play games and do challenges against each other in the efforts to rate and vote players in and out of the game. As starting the series, I expected a lot of drama, liars, mischief, and deceit; I was not wrong. However, the show had a very inspiring message and the ending of the series really proves that the show served its purpose. I will not spoil or hint to the winner or ending, but being real and honest always helps you get an upperhand in life for sure. The players did grow strong bonds and friendships with each other and a lot of them had more than just friendships. The series did not offer all the footage and every activity each player did, and by the clips and scenes us the viewers got to see, I believe they chose good picks. We get to see emotional, funny, serious, dramatic, and suspenseful scenes from each player that enters the circle. We get to know their reasons and their history, it helps the viewers connect a lot with the players and want to watch the show. The overall tone of the series is dramatic but comedic. They knew what viewers would like to watch and had no filters with their words. The overall mood and content put out was very enticing and entertaining. The mood of the players was usually bored, nervous, and excited. They never knew what could come on that day, getting eliminated, getting a new player, new challenge, new game, new features or new privileges? There were many twists and turns in every episode. I overall liked the way the editing was done and how each episode progressed. There were some predictable moments but overall the surprises left me wanting more and continuing watching to see what happens next. Compared to other reality shows like “Big Brother”, where players are put in a big house to live together and do challenges until one player lasts has similar qualities, “The Circle” decided to add more surprises and less physical features throughout the game. The show has less drama and less exaggeration than the reality show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”; yet they did keep viewers more entertained and anxious than the cooking show “Chopped”. There are varieties of reality shows and the content they put out, however, “The Circle” has a constant flow with surprises to bring suspense. “The Circle” has qualities other shows seem to share qualities and differ with other shows as well. For example, they do have conflict and predictability, however in “The Circle” their dialogue doesn’t seem artificial and planned out like in some other shows. I kept wanting to watch more and was disappointed there wasn’t more when it ended. I have to be frank that reality tv is not everyone’s cup of tea, so if fiction is more your style this series will not be much to your liking. However, giving it a try is 100% recommended, it was better than what I had expected. The quality in content and presentation was very good and shown well. I will wait for the second season of “The Circle”.

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