The Circle Recap: A Winner is Crowned (Season 4 Episode 13)

Another exciting season comes to a close on The Circle Season 4 Episode 13. Final reveals, confessions, and the most delightful finalists’ roundtable lead up to one contestant being crowned the winner, walking away with 150k.

The only thing missing on this finale, really, is the Spice Girls.

Here are the Top Five Moments of The Circle Season 4 Finale.

ALERT! Spoilers ahead!

1. Boy, Bye

Finally! The big bad is vanquished from The Circle.

For Alex/Nathan to be the last blocking is so satisfying. He played the game ruthlessly: throwing people under the bus, turning on alliances, and spreading lies.

However annoying it was when he got to stay longer than other OG players, him getting his comeuppance literally in the final hour is brilliant. I love how it plays out dramatically—the conflict created by the villain brings delicious angst and tension.

Not many reality game shows could manage a three-act narrative structure like this. 

Another great thing about Alex getting the boot is the catfish explanation tour he has to go on afterward. I would not catfish in this game mostly just to avoid the awkward reveals.

His first victim was Bru on Episode 12. It was actually painful to watch Bru learn exactly how Alex did him dirty. “What is wrong with you?” Bru exclaims at one point. 

Alex chooses to visit Yu Ling, so another super cringey meeting takes place. It’s a different vibe, though, with Alex as the blocked party now. 

However, it is after Alex’s video message has been posted, revealing to the rest that he was a catfish all along, that his blocking becomes truly entertaining. Circle Chat is always coming in clutch.

Rachel: I can’t believe Yu Ling was flirting with him…[cackles]

Frank: Yu Ling told that man he could take her clothes off…[starts laughing hysterically]

Yu Ling: I think everyone experienced a secondhand embarrassment for me when they saw that.

Frank: Yu Ling, I know your jaw is on the floor right now because you wanted Nathan to take your clothes off and feed you grapes. Are you ok sis?

Yu Ling: When I tell you my eyebrows were incinerated when Nathan walked into my room.

2. Roundtable Realness

One of my favorite parts of The Circle is when people who really clicked online meet face to face. And the best example of this in four seasons is, by far, the #InnerTrustCircle with Frank, Yu Ling, and Rachel.

The order of contestants arriving at the pre-gaming roundtable is perfect.

Yu Ling is the first, and when she is told that Frank is coming to meet her, she hides.

Yu Ling: I’m going to scare the living bejesus out of him.

I just adore this friendship. There’s a lot of gleeful screaming when they meet and then more when Rachel arrives.

The finalists get to dish with each other on everything now—talking strategies and suspicions they had along the way and divulging things said in private chats. 

It’s a nice gossipy recap before they head up to the finale suite to crown the winner. 

3. Imani’s Reveal

Trevor is the only catfish in the final five, playing as a friend of his wife, DeLeesa, who also happens to be the winner of The Circle Season 2.

Trevor managed to fool everyone—nobody thought Imani would turn out to be a dude.

Rachel: The way that I was like, “I am so confident that this is a strong, smart woman.”
Trevor: Everything I am as a man, I am because of a woman.

If a catfish does end up making it to the finals, it’s nice when it’s a real one like Trevor.

Needless to say, they are all shook, but it’s Eversen’s reaction that they are dying to see.

Eversen is the last to arrive and Trevor’s presence doesn’t even register at first. There’s a hint of disappointment when he realizes, but he’s such a happy-go-lucky guy that it doesn’t seem to phase him beyond the initial shock.

Eversen: So, we got… Wait a minute. Hold on. Wait. I just had to realize…that little tiny lady, is that your sister?

He’s hoping that whoever Imani is, she is single.

4. Losers Lounge

It’s not just the finalists meeting each other that’s compelling to watch, but those who’ve been blocked, too. Some contestants had left The Circle before identities were revealed, so we get even more of that fun shock and awe. 

Mama Carol’s true identity surprises everyone even though most of the players suspected she was a catfish. And they are floored by Baby Nathan being a middle aged banker named Alex. 

Lovely host Michelle Buteau gives them all a chance to talk about the game and their time in The Circle. It is here where Alex sums up why playing as strategic as he did hurt him in the end. 

Michelle: Where do you think you tripped up?
Alex: I was so focused on the strategy and surviving another round that I maybe didn’t make as strong of connections with other players as I needed to. I was being fake. I was throwing shade where I could. I was lying a ton about everything, and that is probably what hindered me from making my way in.

I’ve been saying all along that you can be a catfish and still make real connections that help get you to the finals. Alex learns this lesson the hard way, and I am here for it. 

I’m also here for Bru and Alyssa looking pretty cozy in the back there. I’ve thought that they would make a good couple ever since the formation of their throuple. And there were sparks flying when she went to visit him after he chose Mama Carol over her.

These dorks were even wearing the same shoes and the same shade of pink not to mention the adorable height difference.

That’s a true Circle love match, if you ask me. 

5. And the Winner is…

This is the best bit of foreshadowing:

Bru: I really wanted to come into the game and prove that nice guys could finish first, but look where it got me. 
Rachel: Some nice guys finish first, but unfortunately, not Bru.

When Alex sabotaged Bru and succeeded in getting him blocked, I was so discouraged. For the lying catfish to be rewarded over someone as wholesome as Bru feels like a loss for basic human decency.

Frank being named the winner makes up for that and then some. The Circle Season 4 turns out to be a shining example that nice guys can finish first. 

Michelle: Frank, you went into The Circle and your vibe was positivity, and everybody felt that, and that’s how you wanted to play. Was that the move all the time?
Frank: Well, it’s not really the move, ’cause that is really, like, genuinely who I am at least 90% of the time.

In our reality today, with all the awful things happening in the world, it is wonderful to see someone deserving win by being kind, positive, genuine, and true to themself.

Frank: Just feeling that energy, and him [Bru] being able to be vulnerable, and see me for my full self regardless of the fact that I’m a Black, gay male, like, that meant a lot to me because it means that I’m connecting with more than just people that look like me, talk like me, and walk like me. 
Trevor: Take us to church, Frank!

The Circle Season 4 couldn’t have crowned a better winner.

Frank: I have won the show that I love. Years ago, I said, “Baby, The Circle needs me, and I need to go on there and win, and give them a little Frank, baby.” And I have given y’all all of me, and you all have given me so much more.

Amen, honey. 

What did you think of The Circle Season 4 finale? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Circle Seasons 1-4 are available to stream on Netlfix.

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