The screenplay and the execution of the HBO miniseries Full Circle is quite chaotic, to say the least, but Soderbergh includes certain twists and turns that are so unique that they immediately amp up the thrill and the suspense. There is a scene in the second episode where Derek, while on his way to meet the kidnappers, realizes that his phone’s battery is low and it could die any moment. He buys a charger but doesn’t plug it in properly, and once he reaches his destination, he loses contact with them as his phone gets switched off. This entire sequence is so nuanced and realistic that it instantly hooks you up. Although we did get the hang of the situation at the end of the first episode, there were a lot of things that were left unexplained, and additionally, we didn’t have any clue about the motives and intentions of a few characters.
We got to know that Mrs. Mahabir, through the kidnapping of Jared, was partaking in some ritual, as she had been told by that mysterious old man that an imaginary circle of sorts had to be completed. We don’t know what event she was referring to when she said that it all started a long time ago or what she aimed to achieve by carrying out this irreligious ritual. We didn’t know what the rationale behind selecting Chef Jeff’s family as the target was when it became clear that a crime boss named Edward Chung was behind the death of Mrs. Mahabir’s brother-in-law. So, let’s find out in this recap of episode 2 if we get some clarity about the motives of the characters and what the McCusker family had to do with Mrs. Mahabir.
Spoilers Alert
Why Did Garmen Have To Resort To A Backup Plan?
Aked, Louis, Xavier, and Keesen were getting paranoid in the van, as they didn’t have an idea about what their bosses were trying to achieve. Mrs. Mahabir had felt that it was safer if she didn’t reveal everything and she asked Garmen and Paul to keep an eye on them. Garmen found the visiting card of an agent named Harmony from USPIS in the room where Xavier, Louis and Keesen were staying. He suspected that one of them was giving all the information to Harmony, so he went to Mrs. Mahabir immediately to inform her about this development. When he entered Mrs. Mahabir’s room, he saw her sitting with a chart on which a circle was drawn, and there were a few annotations next to it, probably stating the events that needed to take place.
Garmen told Mrs. Mahabir that the entire crew was getting frustrated because they only knew about the plan in bits and pieces, and nobody had any idea what the bigger picture was. Also, since Garmen had found the visiting card, he was of the opinion that they should call off the entire mission, but Mrs. Mahabir told him that the preparations had been done and they had no choice but to carry on doing as they were told. Keesen was the only guy who had been picked up by Aked, and Garmen believed that he was the snitch who was going behind their backs and informing Harmony about everything that had been happening. Garmen contacted a guy named Viktor, and together with him, he went to meet Aked in his van. Viktor killed Keesen, and Garmen told them to go to Washington Park and meet Derek, and take the ransom money from him. Aked got a bit agitated when he saw that Xavier was asked to take the lead and he wasn’t even told anything about the Washington Sqaure Park plan.
Was Natalia Able To Save Nicky?
In the first episode of Full Circle, we saw that Natalie had a plan in her mind and wanted to save the kidnapped boy as she felt guilty of helping the perpetrators. She had arranged for a mannequin and had asked Louis to keep her in the loop about what was happening. Natalia knew that even if Jared’s family gave Mrs. Mahabir the money, she was going to kill the boy, and that is why she devised a plan to save the boy without anybody getting to know about her involvement.
Meanwhile, Jeff McCusker didn’t understand how somebody could hold an enmity against him when he neeve wronged anybody, never took advantage of his position and also worked for the cause of the downtrodden in society. Jeff arranged the money, and Derek took it to Washington Sqaure Park. Derek’s phone got discharged, and he lost touch with Aked. After reaching the parking lot, he had no clue where to find the kidnappers. Harmony was also at the park, but since Xavier had stopped responding to her, she was left stranded in the dark, and she wasn’t able to catch the perpetrators.
Meanwhile, Natalia was able to replace Nicky, who was lying unconscious in a box, with the mannequin before Viktor arrived at the scene. Viktor arrived just seconds after that, and though he checked the box, he was not able to decipher that it was not the real boy but a mannequin. Viktor, as ordered, shot at the boy and believed his work was done. Derek arrived at the scene, but he couldn’t find anybody there, so he sat there in despair, praying and hoping that Nicky was still alive. Mrs. Mahabir thought that her ritual was complete, and she believed the curse on her family had been lifted. But obviously, she was unaware of what had really happened. Firstly, the ritual had gone wrong the moment Nicky got kidnapped instead of Jared, and secondly, even Nicky was still alive as Viktor had no clue till the very end of Full Circle episode 2 that he had shot at a mannequin. Clarence, the man on whose behalf the ritual was being conducted, was also present in Washington Park at that moment when the whole drama was unfolding. He suffered a heart attack, apparently, and he died at the scene. Clarence was the one who Jeff referred to as the fan who had come all the way to meet him. We don’t know if Mr. Willoughby told him to meet Jeff or if there was something that Clarence was hiding from everybody, but clearly, there is something more than what meets the eye.
In the end, Jared was shifted to Joey’s safehouse while Nicky was in Natalia’s custody and pretty much alive. Neither Mrs. Mahabir or anybody else had any clue about Natalia’s involvement in the scheme of things, and the girl had actually been able to defy the odds, put everything at stake, and save the boy because she believed it was the right thing to do. In the end, Mrs. Mahabir celebrated with her friends and family, while Derek felt lost in his own thoughts and was a bit traumatized about what exactly had happened to him. In the upcoming episodes we would get to know how the drama unfolds and what does Mrs Mahabir do once she figures out what had exactly happened.
