‘The Circle’ Season 4: Every Single Alliance Is Doomed

If players have learned anything from watching every season of The Circle, it’s this: they gotta form alliances. That wasn’t so much the case with Season 1, back before players had ever watched the show. But as soon as Season 2 dropped and people know the score, the gameplay got way more intense. If you wanted to make it to the end, you needed to get with a crew like The Cardashians in Season 2 or The Band in Season 3. And then… there’s Season 4.
Don’t get me wrong — this season has been incredibly entertaining and every player already feels like one of my #CircleBesties. But where alliances are concerned, this season has been total #CircleChaos.
There’s the way an alliance is supposed to work, wherein a group of players — ideally three — all agree to rank each other first and second, ensuring that one or two members will become influencers. Look at how #TheCardashians — Courtney, Chloe, and Lee/”River” — ran the game in Season 2. Chloe was ranked 1st almost every time, Lee was the Super Secret Influencer, Courtney got to be an influencer, they all made it to the finale, etc. They didn’t win, but they made it all the way. That alliance formed early, in Episode 4, and they rode it out until the very end.

We aren’t at the end of Season 4 just yet, but oh man, no alliance has even come close to dominating this game.

The alliances formed in Episode 1 were to be expected: there was a guys’ alliance (#TheThreeMusketeers between Frank, Bru, and Parker/”Paul”) and a girls’ alliance (Momma Bear and the Girls between John/”Carol”, Crissa, Yu Ling, and Alyssa). Those Episode 1 alliances are never strong, though, because Frank and Bru immediately knew something was up with “Paul” when he, a 56-year-old man, didn’t know what a memoir was. Frank, with the help of “Carol,” gave “Paul” the chop in the first blocking. #TheThreeMusketeers would be the first grave dug in this alliance graveyard.

Now more familiar with each other, the players formed what could have been rock solid alliances in Episode 2. Bru, Yu Ling, and Alyssa formed #TheHappyThrouple, and Jared got close to Frank and Crissa, forming #ThreeIsTheMagicNumber. That’s correct, as three is a magic number for alliances. Unfortunately there were four players involved, as “Jared” was actually two Spice Girls whose days in the game were numbered from the jump. No alliance has been more doomed than #ThreeIsTheMagicNumber, which fell apart in Episode 4 when the players learned they had a pair of pop icons hiding in their midst.
Frank joined his third alliance in Episode 3 with the arrival of Alex/”Nathan.” Newbie Alex, the player most likely to be #strategicAF, wisely sussed out Frank and Bru as popular players and quickly latched onto them (#ThreeAmigos). However, this alliance kept “Nathan” estranged from his #MoveInBuddy Rachel and ruined a potentially solid alliance. As for #ThreeAmigos, that alliance lasted until Episode 5 when Bru started to think Frank was playing the game too strategically. And #ThreeAmigos was long #DeadAndBuried by the time of the Cyber Attack in Episode 8, when Frank incorrectly thought Bru was shading him with an anonymous question (it was, in fact, “Carol” throwing the shade).
But what about the other OG alliance, Momma Bear and the Girls? Alyssa broke that alliance in Episode 3 the instant she thought “Carol’s” cake decorating skills lacked the finesse of a 56-year-old Italian mom.

Crissa put another nail in this alliance’s coffin when she too started to doubt “Carol” in Episode 4.
“Carol” didn’t need them anyway! Instead of three #CircleDaughters, “Carol” really just needed one #BabyBearBru. Bru and Carol have been a duo since Episode 4 and, unlike Alyssa, Bru’s not trying to out “Carol” as a catfish even though Bru knows that’s the case. This makes them the tightest alliance on the show… but it’s an alliance of two.
Alliances are incredibly important — and Crissa found that out in Episode 7 when she became the second player to get blocked. Even though Crissa was well-liked and highly-rated, her first alliance with Momma Bear “Carol” and the gals was hella unstable, and then she aligned herself with a couple of Spice Girls who each had one platform heel out the door. Yu Ling made a move to form an alliance with Crissa and Frank in Episode 6, but it was too little too late. Influencers Yu Ling and Alyssa weren’t gonna block their #HappyThrouple BF Bru. Alyssa had doubts about Crissa from way back, and Yu Ling’s bonds with Frank and “Carol” weren’t strong enough to negate Alyssa’s doubts. That’s how a frontrunner gets blocked.

But Crissa wasn’t gonna leave without taking down an alliance! You thought #TheHappyThrouple was solid? Crissa’s exit interview completely shook Yu Ling’s trust in “Carol” and Bru.

RIP #TheHappyThrouple
Episode 2 – Episode 7
Crissa’s blocking also acted as a catalyst for the creation of another alliance: the #InnerTrustCircle. Immediately after getting the tea from Crissa, Yu Ling and Frank solidified their alliance and recruited Rachel — who’d been adrift and alliance-free this entire time because Alex/”Nathan” ghosted her. Meanwhile, Alex has played a stealthily smart game by playing nice with everyone, but only forging two strong alliances: a friendship with Bru and a “flirtation” with Yu Ling. Then again, the most stressful moment of Alex’s entire game came because Bru tried to see if he was a catfish.

But at least Alex managed to patch things up with Rachel in some 1:1 chats.
All that leads us to the Cyber Attack in Episode 8, which is a challenge designed to expose, test, and break as many alliances as possible. In front of everyone in the main chat, each player has to pick one other person to save from elimination. Late-game additions Trevor/”Imani” and Eversen have it easy. Not only are they aligned with each other (that’s how it’s usually done, Alex!), but they quickly agreed to save Frank… thus setting off a revelatory chain reaction.
Frank saves Yu Ling, obviously. She’s who he formed the #InnerTrustCircle with.
Yu Ling then has a horrible choice: save Alyssa, who she’s still friends with even if #TheHappyThrouple is done; or she solidifies the #InnerTrustCircle by saving Rachel, who’s a newer player with fewer alliances. She saves Rachel.
Rachel only has two players she’s aligned with, and they’re both already safe. Her only other option is “Nathan,” who made the right call by finally getting close to Rachel.
“Nathan”/Alex has to choose between “Carol,” Alyssa, and Bru. It’s a no-brainer considering he’s been buds with Bru since he moved in (#ThreeAmigos was worth something).
And now Bru has the impossible choice: save Alyssa, who he’s been tight with since Episode 2; or save “Carol,” the other half of literally the only stable alliance in this whole game. And no matter who he chooses, it’s not gonna clear up the alliances any. If Bru blocks Carol, then his only solid alliance is with “Nathan,” who owes his game to Rachel and is “flirting” with Yu Ling. The #InnerTrustCircle ain’t gonna expand enough to encompass Alex and Bru! You can’t have an alliance of five. If Bru blocks Alyssa, then he has an even stronger alliance with Carol who… uh, has zero alliances or even friendships of her own. What’s gonna happen?! If the previous alliances have taught us anything, though, it’s to trust no one and expect chaos.