The Circle season 3: We need to talk about Michelle

At this point, we probably shouldn’t be surprised by the crazy twists on Netflix’s social media reality competition, but the first four episodes of The Circle season 3 contain a moment that many viewers’ jaws are likely still on the floor about.

Yes, I’m talking about what happened to Michelle. And, granted, we should always expect the unexpected in a show like this, that’s constantly changing the challenges its contestants must face, but wow, this specific move seemed nothing but cruel.

Though Michelle did land at the bottom of the first round of The Circle season 3 ratings, she was not the first contestant blocked from the game. That honor went to Ava, who, unbeknownst to everyone was playing the game with the help of her sister, Chanel. But rather than immediately eject them from the building, the duo was given a chance to stay – but they had to do so by cloning the identity of another player, and convincing the rest of the group they were the real deal.

Since Michelle had also been received low ratings after her comments about not kissing her person the mouth caused several people (namely Kai) to suspect she was a catfish, Ava and Chanel assumed she had not made many deep connections among the group and decided to target her, reentering the game as a Michelle profile with a blue circle around its avatar. (Versus the orange circle given to the other, original profile.)

Was Michelle’s The Circle season 3 fate fair?

All’s fair in love and social media, but the ensuing Blue Michelle versus Orange Michelle face-off was wildly uncomfortable to watch. Michelle clearly felt attacked by the idea that someone had chosen to clone her, and furious that this stranger was trying to steal her online persona. And, to be fair, some of Ava/Chanel’s decisions – most notably claiming Michelle’s dead grandmother had made the dress she wore in a  profile photo in an attempt to make their answers to a quiz game feel more authentic – were pretty terrible. (And, if it were me, I’d have been livid about that too.)

But what was almost worse was watching the other players convince themselves that detailed, specific answers were evidence that Orange Michelle was lying and subsequently embrace Blue Michelle’s empty platitudes about family and beauty as truth. (Maybe this is some sort of a meta-commentary about how social media has made us incapable of appreciating or sharing anything beyond the blandest, most generic details of our lives, I don’t know.)

But it’s honestly more than a little bit upsetting that Michelle was ultimately booted from the game – when she wasn’t actually voted out!  And, thanks to this twist, the first contestant(s) who were really ejected got to keep playing anyway, despite the fact that they were blocked? (Way to nullify Kai’s first influencer reign, I guess?)

Then again, real Michelle didn’t choose to visit another player after she was blocked in order to arm them with the information that the Blue Michelle profile was a fake, instead choosing to go find out who had been impersonating her. So maybe she wouldn’t have been a terribly good The Circle player in the end after all – but she still should have gotten a real chance to try.

New episodes of The Circle stream Wednesdays on Netflix.