Summary
Episode 6 brings everything to the surface; the exhaustion from the inhumane conditions at the detention facility and the tolls it’s taking on all the characters involved.
This recap of Netflix limited series Stateless Season 1 Episode 6, “The Seventh Circle,” contains spoilers, and explains the Ending.
Access all the episode recaps.
How does Stateless episode 6, “The Seventh Circle” open?
Episode 6 brings everything to the surface; the exhaustion from the inhumane conditions at the detention facility and the tolls it’s taking on all the characters involved. David Meakins asks Clare to take a day off work — you can still feel the exhaustion. Cam slept at his sister’s house and he’s clearly not doing well either. Margot continues to look for Sofie, checking out potential witnesses — she comes across the name Eva Hoffman. Before the day starts, Harriet is acting GM while they find a replacement for Brian. Harriet picks Cam for Acting Coordinator — this is the last thing Cam needed.
Trapped in her own mind
Sofie’s mind is trapped and she believes she’s at GOPA ready for a show. Javad tells one of the officers that Sofie needs help. Meanwhile, Margot asks a police officer for the location of Eva and finds out which Detention Facility she’s in. She’s getting closer to where her sister is.
Preparing for the Human Rights Commission
With the Human Rights Commission coming soon, Clare and Harriet want to ensure they present the detention facility as best as possible. Clare is still worried about Ameer’s daughter. This scene is wrong in many ways in that the detention facility needs to mask over the wrongdoings of their establishments to make it look okay.
The truth
Clare sits with Ameer and shows the video of him with the people smuggler Oshan in the “The Seventh Circle”. Ameer claims he was just translating for Oshan who stole from him but then Clare asks how did he get money for the boat. Ameer tells Clare he stole from the people smugglers; they beat him but he survived. With the extra money, he got his own boat. The final episode builds Ameer’s fate — it never feels good.
Suicide watch
Ameer tells his lawyer that he cannot go back to Afghanistan as there is no future for his daughter there. Afterward, he learns that his daughter has cut her hand and needs medical help. A nurse takes her away. Clare tells the director that she may believe Ameer’s story — the director tells her the department needs a good news story and that Ameer is a criminal. Clare then learns that Ameer’s daughter is on suicide watch and she is trying to find a way to getting her released. She tells David Meakins that she has an immigrant on suicide watch. David tells her that the only way to blow it all open is from the inside. Clare’s morality is being tested to the brim in the final episode — “The Seventh Circle” gives the opportunity for Clare to have her moment.
One chance of a future
Ameer apologizes to Moshin and asks him to verify his story. Moshin states he can’t because he stabbed a man and he has one chance of a future.
Protection visa
Ameer tells Clare that the women he was with for the boat were not his family — he was told that single men had little chance of getting visas in Australia: “Mina is not my daughter”. Clare states there must be another way because she understands what Ameer is trying to do. Ameer is lying to make sure Mina, his daughter, gets a protection visa and a foster home. This sacrifice shows the absurdity of the laws, splitting families apart.
A comparison of photos
Margot faxes the immigration department a photo of her sister to compare it with Eva. Meanwhile, Sofie believes she is in a show as she leaves isolation and enters the compound. While Cam tries to send one of the older men back in his room so the Human Rights Commission does not see him, Javad and other men try to stop him. The men from the roof urinate on him — in anger, Cam takes Javad to a spot with no cameras. Javad tells him to beat him and that one day Cam’s family will smell the man that he’s become. Both men collapse to the ground, mentally exhausted — this scene represents many things — both correctional officer and immigrant are suffering from the conditions of the detention facility. They are both pawns to a systematic problem.
Ameer’s lie worked
At the halfway point of Stateless episode 6, “The Seventh Circle”, Clare speaks to Ameer and explains that Mina will be issued a protection visa and sent to a foster family. Ameer hugs his daughter outside. There’s a sense of relief but it’s tragic and heartbreaking. Ameer tells her to pack her things but she’s angry at him. As she walks away, he cries, realizing he’s losing his daughter.
An Australian citizen in the facility
Clare gets a call from the director alerting her that one of the immigrants could be an Australian citizen. She’s flustered when she reads Sofie’s file and psychiatric report. The director tells Clare that if Sofie is Australian it will cause a storm. Clare is under pressure — she has the Human Rights Commission on the way as well. Clare rings David Meakins with a story.
Sofie is freed and Cam seeks forgiveness
Margot arrives at the facility. Sofie is doing a performance in the middle of the compound, fully believing she’s performing a show. In her head, she’s won the Trophy of Transformation. Clare walks towards Sofie and tells her she’s taking her to her family. Sofie doesn’t want to leave. The nurse sedates her. Meanwhile, Cam rings his wife and he’s crying. He tells her he is sorry and that he’s not okay — “Please forgive me”. He’s realized what he’s become.
Margot gets a call to say her sister is being admitted to hospital. Clare rings the director stating Sofie has been escorted out of the premises and no-one will know.
Cam leaves the compound and walks through the protests where his sister is. His sister walks with him, sensing that he’s done with the facility.
Doing the right thing
Finally, Clare does the right thing in “The Seventh Circle”. Clare walks out to the journalists and makes out the detention center treats asylum seekers fairly but then she admits that they had an Australian citizen inside who has been transferred to a hospital — it’s very likely she will lose her job. David Meakins smiles at her, happy that she’s finally doing the right thing.
The worst goodbye
Ameer says goodbye to his daughter. She tells him she will wait forever for her father and they tightly hug. As his daughter leaves, Ameer returns and the others embrace him as he sobs. This is a hard scene to take, especially when it sinks in that this happens in real life. Every. Single. Day. A father has lost his daughter indefinitely and his family is dead.
How does Stateless episode 6, “The Seventh Circle” end?
Janice drops Cam off at home so he can return to his wife. Meanwhile, Margot heads inside the hospital and sees her sister Sofie in a hospital bed. She hugs Sofie who seems slightly despondent but Margot is relieved. Ameer looks at a photo of his family and then looks up at the sky to see a flock of birds. His daughter Mina is on the beach taking in the bittersweet freedom and fresh air. It’s not a happy ending but that’s the reality for asylum seekers, refugees, immigrants, and stateless people every day.
