CIRCLING THE PLOT HOLES

Circle has a very interesting plot and premise. I love sci-fi shows, but many a times there are always plot holes (no pun intended) and inconsistencies in these types of media and this series is not exempt from it.

One glaring flaw, I think, was how Jung yeon or Byul's origin of species was never expanded or explored on further. Her existence is supposedly a crucial part of the story, and while I understand people were busy trying to save their own loved ones from a heinous neurological experiment, or stopping a corporate entity from taking control of other people's memories noone bothered to ask questions or try to jog her memory about life as a humanoid alien. They just accused her of it, and that was that. Because noone tried to pry into Jung Yeon further I assumed that it would be revealed that she was a clone like Woo Jin in 2037, and that they would operate on the time loop theory which would have made further sense with their title, Circle.

Perhaps they were looking forward to the renewal of a season 2, but knowing how they are aware of their situation and how novel the genre theyre working on is they should have modified the story as such. Following this line of thought, I do agree with a user on here that said they tried to tackle too many genres and too many line of events in 12 episodes.

After finishing the last episode today, I vaguely remember the murder that happened in Smart Earth and Bum Gyun's enemy turned side kick. They all seemed to be so widely dispersed, different adventures within the timeline leading up to the discovery of Woo jin or Circulate 3. Again, I do understand the intent of exploring metaphysical, and moral questions within the show but just like the broadness of philosophy it can be overwhelming without the proper organization of thought and reasoning.

This may also be a personal squick, but it's very funny to me how Jung yeon suddenly turns emo and has the time to put on eyeshadow and lipstick. Her hacking skills came out of nowhere, and was never explained; unless this is stemming from her alien nature? On the topic of character, I believe that many of them are not able to express the sentiment of their younger selves. Min young seemed to shed everything that made her annoying self her, Dong Soo was just a loud mouthed hacker who acted childishly, the Human B sub director was a little off as well. Perhaps it could be a message about growing up in comparison to Woojin or circulate 3 in the latter half, but they did not seem to be themselves. Bum Gyun being a little different made sense because he lost his memories, and its a psychologically valid circumstance; but everything else is telling me that the casting for the older actors isnt as spot on as it was hoped to be.

For what my mind can conjure up, I would like to very much complain about how INFURIATING it is that the show tried to pit familial versus romantic relationships. It may have been all implied, or maybe im just not a fan of having unecessary romantic relationships pop out of nowhere, but there were two instances that pissed me off and implied the aforementioned.

Bum Gyun and Jung Yeon discuss the possibility of Woojin being the chairman. In the middle of the argument Jung Yeon starts out with the phrase "What about me." Woojin and Min young argue on Bum gyun losing his memories, and she says "Do you really know him?" Two instances where twins who have known each other for almost all their lives are undermined in their importance. You can say the girls were only trying to fight some sense into their decisions or thoughts, but if you watched both scenes and copped a feel of their arguments and reasoning it might be more obvious how the show seemingly implies a higher value on romantic relationships and that in itself is fucking ludicrous and just plain nonsensical; especially when the whole plot is hinged on the love and care of two brothers.

With that, I would like to say Jung yeon and Woojin's romantic sense of a relationship was unecessary. This could have been a story about two twin brothers, and an alien they have come to consider as family. Minyeong and Bum Gyun's hint of romance was also veeeeery unecessary and quite frankly just annoying on Min yeong's part.

Lastly, the professor turned chairman villain. While im ok with the decision of him betraying Professor Han and showcasing how greed can turn humans into vile little things, his acting was a little wonky in my opinion. Wonky in the sense that even as the chairman he still hadn't shaken off his nerdy professor vibe. On his character, he also didn't show up as much as his "importance" as the main villain. It would have been good to have him be more exposed since the beginning. The Human B organization was also out of nowhere. The hunky dude in glasses was intimidating and seemed to hold power even over the researchers and yet they easily "submit" to mr professor chairman's orders, then they never apepar again in the "brave new world" segments. The corruption in the police force never even resurfaces or manifests itself in normal earth, and neither even in Smart Earth. So many plot holes, just like what I mentioned before.

In any case.. I came for Yeo Jingoo. Again. And he did really well in my opinion, probably very biased about it but since he had to portray Woojin as his time flows accordingly, there wasn't a problem with his characterization; no gaps to address in his acting. He very much understood what was driving his character, and that was to keep his brother safe, find his brother, protect his brother, and sacrifice for his brother — by the end, this was in extension towards Byul. Funny enough, in one scene where Jung Yeon was attempting to calm Woojin down by grabbing his face, I was expecting him to caress her fingers longer but ended up removing it from his face with a slightly exasperated vibe even (must be me projecting) and perhaps yeo jingoo is also tired of being pushed into nonsensical and unecessary romances? LOL

I like the music very much though! I think it's distinct and very much in theme with the genre of science fiction and adventure.

Overall, I would say that there are many imrpovements that need to be made; Many plot holes to circle about, but it's a fun story you can watch to unwind and have a philosophical crash course on; and if you dont mind inconsistencies and unecessary romance, and you just want an interesting plot to get immersed in I would still recommend this show to others, enough to give it an "Its okay" rating.

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UNINTERTWINED

While the individual stories are worthy of a family (for the sole plot focusing on a mother and her son) or romance anthology itself, I don't think they were all that intertwined. Perhaps Hwi-chan and the Separation agency man could have worked in another movie where different relationships were explored and not just the rest being about romantic relationships; It would have also been good if all stories ended up being connected one way or another, directly or even indirectly.

The story about Hwi-chan and her mother then felt very separate and disconnected from the majority theme of which tackled romantic relationships, and yet it was the the story that made me cry the most.

I might be biased because stories about family hit me hard, and little Yeo Jingoo has such natural talent for acting and crying with such genuine emotion; but it was definitely the scenes I was looking forward to because it really tackled an interesting premise wherein the parents were broken and struggling to understand each other, the mom herself was giving up on her own child because of her own problems, then all these were slowly being mended when she ended up in the hospital and Hwi-chan yearned to understand her mom more as his mom became more open in her state of bed riddeness. This whole plot had been told in its whimsical and simple way of storytelling and yet it conveyed the message very clearly, and without sparing emotion. It also stands out from all of the stories because it had an open ending, so while obviously sad it gave a hint of hope and supported the story's message.

The story about the fireman, his girlfriend, and her sister is not even entirely interconnected. You can say that yes, the fireman did save the sister and that's how they met each other but that is where the connection ends. You cannot call that interconnection in terms of cinematic flow and plotline. They both focused on their own "love stories" separately. Again, I would have loved to see this in an anthology movie about romantic relationships alas it was written in the wrong movie.

The Separation agency man had a very interesting storyline as well, and I think it would have been good if it had been expanded in a stand alone movie along with the man, and his ex girlfriend's background. The connection it makes with Hwi-chan and his mom may have been a little flimsy in my opinion, but I guess it's good enough that it took a turn where separation is defined between familial relationships as well.

In any case, while I did rate story, and casting as an 8 they are more for the individual stories rather than as a whole. I think the OST they chose for the movie was actually a good fit for the sentimentally simple vibes it was trying to portray. Rewatch value is a 5 because the interconnectedness it promises does not deliver, hence it isn't much fun to expect the turn of separate events. Overall I came for Yeo Jingoo, ended up still coming for Yeo Jingoo and a couple other characters; wasn't satisfied with the composition and thematic balance of the stories included in the movie, but still liked the plotline of the stories enough to give it an "I like it" rating.

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