‘Full Circle’ Review: Steven Soderbergh’s Crime Caper Is Too Dense to Fully Unpack

From the word go, Steven Soderbergh’s crime caper Full Circle works furiously to introduce us to all of its relevant players. Derek (Timothy Olyphant) and Sam (Claire Danes) are a wealthy couple who enjoy a life of luxury thanks to the success of Sam’s father, Jeff (Dennis Quaid), a famous chef. But while everything seems like the picture of perfection inside their lavishly remodeled New York apartment, dark family secrets are dragged, kicking and screaming, into the light when their teenage son, Jared (Ethan Stoddard), is kidnapped.

The abduction plan is put into motion by a Queens-based crime syndicate headed by CCH Pounder’s enigmatic matriarch Savitri Mahabir. She believes that the actions of her late husband have left her family cursed for years, and after consulting with a spiritual leader back in Guyana, she concludes that capturing young Jared is the only way to remove it.

Mahabir’s worldview might be the most fascinating aspect of Full Circle for the way it blends the brutal pragmatism of the crime world with a more mystical view of the universe. For her, the kidnapping isn’t just a book-balancing, eye-for-an-eye issue. It’s also a karmic ritual based on the idea that a past act can only be undone by performing another one.

Pounder’s character is rife with potential, but we’re never given a much deeper understanding of the woman, as we’re constantly whisked away to spend time with ancillary characters like Louis (Gerald Jones) and Xavier (Sheyi Cole), whom Mahabir traffics to the U.S. from Guyana to carry out her plan. As the two young men try to find their place in the underworld, they in turn lead us to several other key players in Mahabir’s organization, as well as those from rival families.

Amid its rich tapestry of crime alliances, double-crosses, and long-held grudges, the six-episode series also finds time to establish the characters on the other side of the law. Among them is the improbably named Melody Harmony (Zazie Beetz), a young detective who’s determined to crack Jared’s case no matter how many times she is, predictably, told to drop it. Beetz’s impudent performance is one of Full Circle’s highlights, especially as Melody unapologetically cajoles information out of colleagues and suspects alike. The rapport that the detective has with her boss, Manny Broward (Jim Gaffigan, excelling as a perpetually exhausted middle-management type), provides Beetz with an especially effective foil for her character’s salty barbs.

Full Circle is also buoyed by a sharp script from Soderbergh’s frequent collaborator Ed Solomon. Like No Sudden Move, the series is full of shrewd observations about the ways that money and power operate in the real world. At one point, Derek receives some sage advice from his attorney when the fallout from the kidnapping begins to threaten his home life: “Family law is just a cozy euphemism. What I’m really in is the marriage-ending business.”

Solomon’s original script was reportedly some 550 pages long, and Full Circle bears the marks of having been significantly condensed. The series places an enormous amount of trust in its audience, as each episode bombards us with new information about everything from age-old gang feuds to shady Guyanese real estate deals, as well as the hidden ways in which they’re all connected. But it can become a little exhausting to keep track of all of the characters and information, which prevents the series from developing a real sense of momentum.

From its title to its “what goes around” tagline, Full Circle is clearly concerned with retribution, redemption, and how the things we put out into the world come back to haunt us. But with all of its crisscrossing plot points and interconnected characters, the series rarely finds the time to sit with any of those ideas long enough to fully articulate what they really mean—or to whom.