'Inside The Circle' Full Recap (Episodes 1-8): Who Was Responsible For Nico’s Death?

Inside the Circle revolves around four best friends who think that they know each other completely, only to realize that they couldn’t have been more wrong. Amelia, Tomas, Jaime, and Mario have been friends since their childhood days, they have gone through challenging times but they choose to never let go of each other. The series closely observes how the friends react when their friendship is put to the test. Will they continue to blindly trust one another? Or will they follow their instincts and do what they believe in? After everything they’ve been through, does anything exist that can tear them apart?

Spoiler Alert

Why did Amelia feel betrayed?

As a teen, Amelia considered herself mature beyond her years. Unlike her friends, who were busy indulging in their childish recreations, Amelia craved to be treated like an adult, and that’s when she found a friend in Jaime’s father, Carlos Lemus. Carlos was the only adult who treated Amelia like a grown-up; he considered her worthy of discussing complex ideas, he listened to her opinions, and shared his knowledge with her. They talked about politics, history, philosophy, and he made her feel seen and heard, something that she’d never felt before. He soon became her guide, her teacher, her mentor, and eventually, her lover. According to Amelia, they kept their affair a secret because they didn’t think the world was mature enough to understand what they shared. Eventually, they parted ways, but Amelia was still emotionally attached to Carlos, even though he’d given her enough reason to hate him. While going through the video recordings that Mario had found in Carmen’s house (discussed in detail in the next section), Amelia stumbled upon an intimate video of Pamela (the actress who’d recently been murdered) and Carlos. She felt deeply disturbed and she noticed that he used the same charming words that he once used on her even with Pamela. Amelia always knew that she wasn’t the only one who’d fallen victim to Carlos Lemus, but seeing the video confirmed her suspicions. She realized he used the same trick on every other young woman he managed to captivate. Amelia decided to confront him after seeing the video. When she asked him about Pamela, he initially denied it, but when she explained that she’d seen their video, he figured there was no point in lying to her. Amelia accused him of grooming her, but he defended himself stating that their relationship began only after she became an adult. She couldn’t believe that Carlos had the audacity to try to claim that he was innocent and the accusations she was making were baseless. Amelia made it very clear that Carlos had manipulated her, and while she’d been blindly in love with him for years, when he forced her to get an abortion even after knowing the risks involved, she realized he never really cared about her. The abortion had left Amelia sterile, and she obviously blamed Carlos, who repeatedly tried to emphasize that the decision was mutual. Amelia warned Carlos that if he had anything to do with Pamela’s murder then she would make sure he paid the price for it. She broke down after she left his office; she must have wanted to confront him for years but she never had the courage to do it. Even after the mental, physical and emotional damage that he’d caused her, deep down, she perhaps still convinced herself that what they shared was real. But after seeing the video, she realized that she wasn’t exceptional, she was molded to believe that she was special when indeed she was one of Carlos’ many victims. 

How did Carmen help them solve the mystery?

One of Pamela’s ardent fans had told Tomas, the journalist investigating Pamela’s murder, that if he wanted to find out who was behind Pamela’s murder, then he must talk to her stylist, Carmen. She knew all of Pamela’s secrets, and he believed that she might even have had something to do with the murder. Since Tomas had become a well-known face, he decided to send Mario to gather information on Carmen. Mario managed to strike up a conversation with Carmen, and he realized that she was genuinely attached to Pamela and they shared a beautiful friendship. Mario was convinced that Carmen didn’t have anything to do with Pamela’s murder, but he figured she might know crucial details that could help them find the killer. To impress her, Mario stole a doll from Pamela’s house, dressed in the last costume Pamela had worn. Carmen was happy that Mario went to such great lengths to bring her the doll, and when he mentioned that an armed man was lurking inside the house, Carmen decided to come clean to him. She told him that before Pamela was killed, she had given her a suitcase full of cassettes and videotapes to protect. Carmen believed that Pamela had figured out by then that she was running out of time, which was why she wanted someone she could trust to keep the tapes. Mario convinced Carmen to hand the tapes over to him; he promised to go over them and figure out if there was anything substantial that they could use to find the murderer. Since it was impossible for Carmen to watch all the tapes, she decided to take Mario’s help. Now, Mario hadn’t been entirely honest with Carmen, he lied about not knowing Tomas to win her trust, and he also hadn’t revealed that he was a married man. Rather, he implied that he had separated from his wife and was currently single. Mario had taken a liking to Carmen, and he preferred hanging out with her to spending time at home. He felt a growing distance between him and his wife, Olga, and when he met Carmen, he saw a ray of hope. But quite expectedly, it was short-lived, because she eventually found out that Mario was Tomas’ friend, and she couldn’t trust him anymore. Although Mario tried to explain himself, Carmen wasn’t interested. The tapes ultimately helped Tomas and his friends find out about Salazar’s involvement with Pamela. Although the videos didn’t prove that Minister of National Security, Salazar, was responsible for Pamela’s death, considering she was last seen leaving from his house and also had an intimate relationship with him, he was a prime suspect. 

Who was responsible for Nico’s death?

Tomas wasn’t the only one desperately trying to get to the bottom of the truth; his daughter, Jimena, and Mario’s daughter, Viridiana, were equally invested. They had even roped in Nico, Jimena’s hacker friend, to find out who was behind Pamela’s death. The trio had recently visited a restaurant where they were surprised to find framed pictures of a man with Pamela on the wall, and they were curious to find out who the man was. The owner soon showed up and the three friends freaked out and left without ordering anything. This was enough reason for the owner (who was in the picture) to ask his men to follow the kids. While Jimena, Viridiana, and Nico thought they’d managed to get away, that wasn’t the case. Armed men entered Nico’s house at night and shot him and his parents. Jimena and Viridiana were also at Nico’s place that night, but thankfully they were on the rooftop, and the armed men didn’t find them. So, why would these thugs be so bothered about what a couple of kids found out? Well, turns out, Pamela was a spy for the Northern Cartel, and the owner of the restaurant, along with the other men in the framed pictures, were all part of the gang. They had previously tried to kill Jaime at the restaurant, and they were the ones responsible for Nico’s death. The Northern Cartel wanted to seek revenge on Jaime because he was behind Pamela’s murder. Jaime ran a security firm, and his business involved working for whoever paid him the highest price. So, he killed Pamela because his client wanted her dead, and he genuinely believed that she was a threat to Mexico. The Northern Cartel wanted Jaime and his friends to be terrified, and that was the reason they killed Nico and his parents. They didn’t want Pamela’s secret to come to light, and the more people dug into the mystery behind her murder, the more the chances of them drawing a connection between her and the cartel. They wanted to put an end to it by killing Jaime, but they hadn’t been successful. Meanwhile, Jaime tried to come up with a business deal that he believed the Northern Cartel wouldn’t be able to reject. He knew he had to mend his relationship with them after the damage that he’d caused if he wanted to operate in Mexico. The Northern Cartel didn’t forgive their enemies, and Jaime knew he would be a dead man soon if he couldn’t find a way to make up for what he’d done. 

Was Jaime involved in the kidnapping of the girls?

Jaime didn’t want Tomas to investigate Pamela’s murder, because he feared that he would soon find out the uncomfortable truth behind it, and that wouldn’t really serve his purpose. Jaime wanted Tomas to publicly reveal the connection between the late actress and Salazar, which is why he’d sent him the video pretending to be his informant. He didn’t expect Tomas to become so obsessed with finding out who the murderer was. He thought Tomas would assume that it was Salazar who’d killed Pamela, but Tomas wanted evidence to back his theory, which meant he had to continue with his investigation. Jaime repeatedly asked Tomas to give up on the case, citing that he would put himself and his family in danger, since the people involved were clearly dangerous and influential. But Tomas didn’t listen, so Jaime had his men follow Tomas randomly, just to scare him, but even that wasn’t enough. When Jaime discovered that the kids (Jimena, Viridiana and Nico) had consulted a hacker, Mictlan, to solve Pamela’s murder case, he was genuinely terrified. So, he had his men kidnap Mictlan, beat him up, and leave him so scared that he wouldn’t dare investigate the case. While his plan had worked to an extent, when Mictlan discovered that Nico was killed, he assumed that the killers must have been the same people who’d kidnapped him, and he felt the urgency to bring justice to his friend. So, he traced back his every step and gathered information against his kidnappers. He found out that one of the kidnappers was named Restrepo, and he decided to drain all his money from his bank accounts. This left Restrepo furious, and he decided to abduct Mictlan again. He also managed to lure Jimena and Viridiana to the location and held them captive. This time, Restrepo had decided to act on his own, he hadn’t consulted Jaime. He simply wanted his money back, and he tortured Mictlan to get it. When he threatened to cut off Mictlan’s tongue, the young man stated that he’d donated all his money to the foundation that Pamela had founded. Meanwhile, Tomas and Mario realized that their girls had gone missing, and they told Jaime about it. Now, Jaime knew Restrepo very well, and he had a fair idea where he could’ve taken the girls. So, it didn’t take him too long to find the safe house, and the moment he entered the place, he shot down Restrepo and his assistant. Restrepo was surprised when he saw Jaime arrive; they’d been working together all this time, but since Restrepo had decided to act on his own and had put the lives of the girls at risk, Jaime decided to put a bullet in his head. 

Eventually Tomas figured out that Jaime was involved in Pamela’s murder (discussed in detail in the ending article), and that he’d used him to publish the explosive piece on Salazar that completely destroyed his reputation and made him one of the prime suspects in Pamela’s murder. Salazar ultimately killed himself, he knew his career was over and he decided to die respectfully, in his military uniform. Before ending his life, he told his trusted commander to seek revenge on the people who’d wronged him, particularly Tomas and Amelia. Amelia was against Salazar’s decision to introduce the C5 contract, and he had enough reason to believe that she’d played a decisive role in getting the article published. Jaime had orchestrated the whole plan to get rid of Salazar because he didn’t want his father to get the C5 contract. He knew the presence of constant surveillance could affect his business, and he was also aware that the cartel didn’t want the C5 contract to be implemented, since it would harm their business as well, and by stopping Salazar, he was doing them a favor. He knew that Amelia didn’t support Salazar’s vision and she was quite against the implementation of the C5 contract, which meant that if he could remove Salazar then Amelia would stand a chance to become a more prominent voice in the government. Jaime’s plan worked to an extent, but ultimately, he was still in danger because his effort to build a professional relationship with the Northern Cartel failed. They weren’t interested in his deal, which meant that they wanted him dead, and he could either try escaping from the country or live in Mexico knowing that his days were numbered. The series comes to an end after these imminent threats are introduced, suggesting that Inside the Circle might return with a season 2. 

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