Forget Savannah And Terilisha, The Real Villain In ‘The Circle’ Is Courtney
Courtney really let Savannah dictate his whole game after knowing her for like three days.
We’ve now had eight episodes of The Circle to get to know the players in the game, and there are a few things that are abundantly clear: Mitchell apparently doesn’t own a shirt, Emily is a terrible catfish, Chloe is an icon, and Courtney is the worst.
While I’m sure that Courtney is a wonderful person in real life, his Circle persona has been extremely unlikable. And even though Season 2 has been all about ~strategy~ and ~gameplay~, Courtney’s approach to the people in the game has solidified his role as the true villain of The Circle.
the devil works hard but this mf works harder #TheCircle #TheCircleNetflix pic.twitter.com/ao6MMchrrW
— Allegra (@Allegra15374563) April 22, 2021
*spoilers for the first eight episodes of Season 2 of ‘The Circle’ ahead*
In the early episodes of Season 2, producers tried their hardest to paint Savannah and Terilisha out to be the show’s villains, who were hellbent on disturbing the peace with their petty drama. But as the fallen influencers were blocked second and third in the game, this made room for Courtney, the true Circle villain, to shine.
The biggest issue with Courtney is that he isn’t playing his own game. Courtney is playing Savannah’s game and is spending all his time trying to avenge his “Circle sister” instead of forming his own opinions on the people in the house or creating new alliances that will help him in the long run.
After Savannah spilled the lukewarm tea about how the first block was decided, Courtney believed the first person he spoke to and held onto the nugget of information that Terilisha tried to eliminate him in round one. Then when Savannah was rightfully eliminated, Courtney decided that Chloe and Emily were “snakes” and untrustworthy all based on Savannah’s feelings.
Despite Savannah actually being the one who went against the #GirlGang alliance in the first round of voting, Courtney became fixated on this idea that no girl in the game was trustworthy — of course except for Savannah, his bestie for all of three days. Even after Terilisha tried to explain why the vote went the way it did, Courtney refused to change his opinion on her because he was just blinded by Savannah’s views instead of using his own judgment.
Courtney is really stuck on the lies told by Savannah instead of playing the game off of his own opinion. #thecircle pic.twitter.com/KgyrfXws50
— KianeAshan 💜 (@WeaaTheHoesAt) April 21, 2021
I hope one day Courtney frees himself from the shackles of Savannah’s lies 😟#TheCircle pic.twitter.com/UDtvHM5T9Y
— Robyn :) (@RobynL8) April 21, 2021
My face when Courtney risks his entire game for a girl he’s known 3 days #thecircle #TheCircleNetflix pic.twitter.com/WqM2jDtamp
— realitygirllll (@01Loveisland) April 22, 2021
But this blind loyalty to Savannah is not only weird, it’s nonsensical and comes off a little misogynistic.
To have Courtney completely write off all the women in the house, based solely on the “truths” told by someone who has been eliminated seems like a terrible stance to take. And even worse is lying about “women empowerment” to convince two brand new players, who haven’t even met anyone else, that all the girls are terrible people.
Though it’s not all Courtney’s fault. The game has given Courtney far too much power with the role of the Joker in the Inner Circle, and he just used the opportunity in a pretty smart way by pretending to be Emily to sow these seeds of doubt. It is a game after all.
But Courtney could have easily used the Inner Circle opportunity as a way to further his game by forming a strong alliance before anyone else had a chance to talk to the new players. Instead, he chose drama, which is exactly why the producers would’ve given the Joker opportunity to Courtney.
Though it is pretty unfair for one player to be given such a huge upper hand, which, by no fault of Courtney, makes him all that much more unlikable to already frustrated viewers.
It’s very weird that Courtney is trying to turn the new players against the women all because of Savannah #thecircle #TheCircleNetflix
— Andrew Caldwell Stan Account (@sisteravanti_) April 21, 2021
Courtney is getting annoying acting like he’s Gossip Girl #TheCircle pic.twitter.com/G0Edh5Mtlv
— Kin la belle 🇨🇩 (@Elladekinshasa) April 21, 2021
While playing the game is natural and expected, it’s how you play it that’s important — and how Courtney has played his game has been quite rude, shady, and, above all, hypocritical.
Courtney has contradicted himself during his time in the game, and despite calling the women in the house fake, “snakes” and dishonest, Courtney is actually playing in the exact same way that supposedly angers him.
Take his new ‘Cardashian’ alliance with Chloe and River, for example. Even though Joker Courtney tried to turn Khat and Mitchell against Chloe, and has banged on and on about how Chloe can’t be trusted, Courtney was the first person to eat up the trio’s new alliance in a scramble to secure a safe rating.
Plus, when the team played the anonymous ‘Don’t @ Me’ game right after the Cardashian alliance chat, Courtney threw massive shade at Chloe about her relationship with Trevor under the protection of anonymity. Seems quite snake-like to me.
I’m not mad at Courtney for playing the game, I just hate his attitude and how he’s so angry and almost hateful towards Terelisha and Emily/Jack. #TheCircle
— maybe: mulan (@mubelafonte) April 21, 2021
Luckily, it’s not just viewers at home who are fed up. Other players in The Circle are also starting to notice Courtney’s inauthentic gameplay with each passing episode.
Not only has Mitchell figured out that Courtney was the Joker, but Courtney just narrowly escaped getting blocked in the last round, and Emily even used ‘Don’t @ Me’ to call out the “fake nice act” Courtney’s been pushing onto everyone in the game in an attempt to rock the boat.
My inkling is that Courtney’s time may be up sooner rather than later, but who knows what advantage or twist The Circle producers may throw in next.
Society if Courtney gets blocked #TheCircleNetflix #TheCircle pic.twitter.com/rMhAQy8rC3
— michelle:) (@rfl_michelle) April 22, 2021
You can stream Season 2 of The Circle on Netflix as new episodes drop each week until May 6.