The Circle season 3: Why the Vince twist was such a flop

As The Circle season 3 rockets toward an ending that feels pretty entertaining but fairly predictable — I mean, is there really any chance Daddy Nick isn’t going to be the player taking home the grand prize? — it’s time, again, to wonder why this show keeps introducing such weird, supposedly “outlandish” twists that don’t really end up impacting the game that much

There was last season’s “Joker” twist and this season’s decision to have a blocked player clone a fellow contestant for a shot at remaining in the game. And there’s “Vince” a secret second profile gifted to a contestant by a formerly blocked player on the way out the door.

On paper, the idea of an outgoing player gifting a remaining Circle season 3 member with a secret burner profile is pretty solid. The recipient would depend on who the Blocked player had strong relationships with, and the legacy impact they wanted to leave on the game in their wake. (Calvin, despite his insistence to Kai that he wanted her to win the whole thing, ultimately chose to give a popularity boost to his bro BFF Nick.)

And the prospect of a remaining player using the burner account to spy on their enemies or test the loyalties of their friends initially sounded intriguing. After all, the person catfishing as “Vince” could use his extra account to attack those he considered threats, make sure that the folks in his alliance were legit, or cast doubt on the authenticity of other players. Plus, there be sure to be drama when the group found out someone had been living a double Circle life.

And yet….there wasn’t, really. To his credit, Nick was pretty good at living a dual life as himself and the fake ghost hunter. But the brilliance of his catfishing shouldn’t have been enough to overcome group suspicion and anger about the revelation that Vince was, in fact, a fake wielded by someone who was still in the game.

Yet everyone really just moved on to the next thing almost immediately, and no one seemed terribly interested in figuring out who the burner account had belonged to. Much like the fake Michelle situation earlier in the season that burned hot but only lasted an episode, the Vince twist…sort of fizzled. Even the people who had direct conversatIons with Vince seemed uninterested in finding out who they’d really been talking to.

Perhaps The Circle should stop trying to manufacture drama with these external twists and just let the paranoia, drama, and legitimate relationships between the players carry the day.

The Circle season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.