In Homer’s famous poem The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus traveling home to his wife Penelope after many years away fighting the Trojan War, is frequently distracted and delayed by the people and creatures he encounters. During this journey, Odysseus was famously tempted by The Sirens, the beautiful half-woman, half-bird beings that lured sailors to their deaths with “their honeyed song.” Just as Odysseus and his men had to tie themselves up and plug their ears with beeswax to avoid succumbing to the Sirens’ song, Netflix’s latest series Sirens has a similar gravitational pull over its viewers.
‘Sirens’ is an incredibly engrossing series…. It unfolds in such a way that it is difficult to differentiate the heroes from the villains.
We find its story of Machiavellian social climbing, told with satirical undertones, difficult to resist. Its beautiful scenery and talented cast — including Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon, Meghann Fahy, Milly Alcock, and Bill Camp — and beautiful scenery are similarly alluring. Yet, in plunging into the dark underworld of these characters, we become deeply disturbed and unable to sleep soundly.
Sirens concerns two sisters Devon (Meghann Fahy, White Lotus) and Simone (Milly Alcock, House of the Dragon) whose mother died tragically during their childhood. Their father Bruce (Bill Camp) subsequently lapsed into alcoholism, creating a dysfunctional home environment.
Devon, who is five years older than Simone, eventually drops out of college to raise Simone and later works multiple jobs to support Simone while she pursues a degree at Yale. When the series opens, we see Devon leaving a Buffalo, N.Y. jail for reasons that will be explained later. When she returns to the home she shares with Bruce, she is greeted by an edible fruit basket, a gift from Simone who now works on a fictional N.Y. island as the personal assistant to Michaela (Julianne Moore), a former lawyer now married to a billionaire Peter (Kevin Bacon) who also runs a foundation which treats rescue birds.
The fruit basket was Simone’s response to a message from Devon that Bruce had been recently diagnosed with dementia. Devon decides to address what she sees as a lame response from her sister by traveling to the island (fruit basket in hand) to entreat her sister to return home to help take care of Bruce.
The series title is a double-entendre. Devon and Simone are modern-day incarnations of the singing temptresses depicted in Homer’s poem beguiling men with their beauty and sexuality. The word “sirens” is also used in the modern definition of an alert system, referencing a special pact between the two sisters enjoining both of them to message “sirens” whenever they were in trouble.
While Devon and Simone are both beautiful and intelligent, their lives could not be more different, at least on paper. Devon is living with her father Bruce in Buffalo and working a dead-end job at a falafel restaurant. Simone, who graduated Yale but dropped out of law school, is residing in a private suite in Peter and Michaela’s island mansion. Both women are engaged in secret affairs: Devon with her married boss Raymond (Josh Segarra) and Simone with Ethan (Glenn Howerton), who is Peter and Michaela’s next door neighbor and one of Peter’s closest friends.
Sirens is an engaging series which juxtaposes Simone’s laser-focused social climbing agenda with Devon’s perceived lack of ambition. The characters are very well drawn, and Simone and Devon are more emotionally complex than they appear at first blush.
When Devon first arrives at the mansion, she is concerned about Simone’s overly close relationship with Michaela and her refusal to take any responsibility for their father. Simone is equally concerned about Devon’s failed career and futile romantic relationships. It becomes increasingly difficult to tell who is the stronger of the two sisters. Michaela, as played by the wonderful Julianne Moore, is also a nuanced character endowed with a fragile cruelty. When she is feeling confident in herself and her circumstances, she exudes warmth and compassion, but the moment she experiences the slightest tingle of vulnerability, her manner turns to frost as she desperately clings to her terrain.
The series functions as a dark comedy as it paints a credible, unsettling portrait of elites while also satirizing them. The writers lampoon Michaela’s new ageism philosophies such as her forbidding the presence of carbohydrates in her home. There is a humorous scene where bread is smuggled into the mansion.
The series also includes a scene where Michaela holds a formal funeral for one of her rescue birds. While her sadness at the bird’s death is understandable, a funeral with a procession and a eulogy is laughable. Sirens also plays homage to the film The Stepford Wives with Michaela’s chorus of pastel clad friends who look beautiful but deliver robotic-like responses to questions.
Sirens is an incredibly engrossing series with several surprise twists. It unfolds in such a way that it is difficult to differentiate the heroes from the villains. While at times the Odyssey analogies may appear at little forced, the series’ intriguing story, well defined characters, and excellent acting performances make it worth watching. However, viewers beware, Sirens has a dark intensity that is difficult to shake off.
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