‘Full Circle’ Star Zazie Beetz Breaks Down Mel’s Final Message to Sam: ‘It Does Matter What You Do’

Note: This interview was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike. The following discusses spoilers through “Full Circle” Episode 6.

Max’s “Full Circle” finale closed out the limited series by tying up its complex web of deception into a neat bow, with investigator Mel Harmony (Zazie Beetz) delivering a devastating punchline to Sam (Claire Danes), prompting her to confront the demons of her past and her part in the tragedy that has played out between the two families.

Armed with a copy of the incriminating document laying out Sam’s involvement in the bribe dating twenty years back, the six-episode series culminates in a stripped-down conversation between Mel and Sam in a bar, during which Sam considers her what her sentence might look like should she turn herself in — a possibly that’s almost confirmed in the finale — in a surprisingly congenial exchange between the former opponents.

“Mel admires, in a way, Sam’s loyalty to her family and her duty as a daughter or parent … But there’s a difference between doing what’s best for the people just directly around you — or you — and doing just what’s best for the ecosystem at large,” Beetz told TheWrap. “Mel really wants to drive that home for Sam — it does matter what you do and it affects many people.”

For Mel — who stands on the perimeter of the case in a way even her boss, Manny (Jim Gaffigan), didn’t — privilege is at the heart of why the twisted situation escalated to such a fatal extent.

“Mel kind of scoffs a bit at Sam’s privilege, and that family’s privilege, and an assumption that they can do what they want to do without consequence,” Beetz said. “Only, I think, the privileged have an opportunity to imagine that their actions have no consequence and most other people can’t think that way — every decision you make does affect … whether or not you can put bread on the table and whether or not you can take care of your people and your family.”

Even amid losing her job, her boss and leaving her personal life in shambles, Mel continues to track down every loose end at the frays in what Beetz considers a personal victory for her character.

“It’s funny because, in some way, she gets what she wants by having finished … this case, and going through everything,” Beetz said, adding that her initial involvement in the case was not exactly aligned with proper procedure. “She still did a good job and figured it out, even though she’s lost her job. For her to be like, ‘I don’t need necessarily someone else to tell me what the right thing to do is,’ I think is important … To be able to tie it up is satisfying that that part of who she is.”

Keep on reading to find out what revelation surprised Mel the most and next steps Beetz expects Mel will take.

TheWrap: What first led you to want to be a part of “Full Circle?”

Zazie Beetz: I was contacted through my team by Steven. We had worked together before on a film … it’s always nice to be asked back in any kind of situation. He sent along the scripts, and I had an opportunity to read them, and I thought the story was really interesting … I was just pleased to a be working with Steven again, but also to be exploring this character that I thought was quite different from anyone I’ve played before. I thought she was quite funny and punchy and interesting, kinda unreliable canon.

When we first meet Mel, she’s already decided that she’s going to be on this case, even though she hasn’t formally been assigned to it. Why is she so initially intrigued by it?

She is overall in a place where she’s wanting to go further in her career. This is something that is sort of on the outskirts of what’s happening … now the story was intensifying. So she’s like, “I’m already invested in this, and here’s an opportunity for me to actually implement some change.” It’s sort of this perfect opportunity where she’s like, “I’m wanting to do more, I’m wanting to actually engage in maybe make change and do something that matters. I think she’s struggling with that of wanting to be validated in her work [and] wanting to be validated in her relationship, and so this is one way of doing that.

As more and more gets revealed, Mel almost guesses each twist as it comes. Are there any revelations that are especially surprising to her?

Ultimately, in the end, the involvement of the uncle and how he’s been protecting his niece, essentially, for all those years is interesting to Mel and how this deep family secret is what’s at the heart of this — and the thing that seemed so innocuous, in a way, sort of like white collar investment that ended up having all these real-world ripple effects. I’m sure we do those things all the time, and we don’t think about it at all.

Despite knowing that she’s about to get suspended, what leads Mel to keep tying up those loose ends in the case and seeking Sam and Melvin out on that last evening?

I think she has a good heart, and I think she can be self-serving sometimes, but I think as her life is sort of falling apart and she’s losing, touch or realizing that she can’t really control necessarily how people perceive her [or] if people are going to validate her or not, she’s moved to keep going for the right thing, in some ways.

One of her motivations is that she wants to do something that matters, and I think having the comeuppance of “here’s what you did, and here’s what you should do to karmically ‘fix things.'” I think it comes honestly from her heart.

Since Mel hesitates to give Sam an answer on what she’s going to do next, what do you think Mel will do next?

I think Mel will come back into this work again — she excels at it and wants to make a difference, but I think she does need to also take a step back with how her actions impact people and their lives. She can’t just be kind of giving everyone whiplash with her blunt way of going about her life … her boss dies in part because of her involvement. I think she also needs to take a step back and take stock in how her actions have consequences as well.

“Full Circle” is now streaming on Max.

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