Something that we have figured out while doing this job is that shows that are described as “dark comedies” are often more witty or sardonic than truly comedic. We don’t end up laughing all that much while watching many of these shows. But some dark comedies actually manage to make us laugh. Sirens is one of those shows.
Opening Shot: A woman in a flowing dress walks through a field with a covered bird cage. She takes the bird, whom she’s named Barnaby, out of the cage and lets him fly free.
The Gist: Devon DeWitt (Meghann Fahy) gets out of lockup at a Buffalo police station and texts the word “SIRENS” over and over, but doesn’t get a response. She comes home, where she’s taking care of her father Bruce (Bill Camp), who is starting to have memory issues due to dementia. When she sees a massive Edible Arrangement signed by her sister Simone (Milly Alcock), she gets enraged. She takes the arrangement and vows to go see Simone in person, even though she’s hours away.
In the meantime, Simone is in a relationship with Ethan Corbin III (Glenn Howerton), an neighbor of Kells, whom she works for. She thinks, with Labor Day coming, the “summer fling” is coming to an end, but Ethan wants to get serious, despite their age difference. We then see Simone sprinting up a massive staircase from the beach to the huge Kells mansion. She’s the personal assistant for Michaela Kells (Julianne Moore), and everything needs to be just right for her as she comes back from releasing Barnaby into the wild.
Simone and Michaela have a weirdly close relationship; Michaela acts like Simone is her best friend, even letting Simone call her “Kiki.” Simone is hosting society women from the island for Labor Day weekend, so things are especially tense. Simone knows that the staff — including head groundskeeper Jose (Felix Solis) — are on a text chain that essentially talks shit about her, but she just wants to make sure everything is in place.
As Simone takes a bus, then a ferry with the arrangement in tow, she tries to smoke and is rebuffed — though she does have a quick one with a staff member on the boat. She implores her boss/sometimes-boyfriend Raymond (Josh Segarra) to see to her father.
When Devon finally gets to the estate and finds Simone, she throws down the rotting fruit and chews her little sister out about sending it in response to the health news about their dad. They used to be close back in Buffalo; Simone was in foster care until Devon was old enough to be her guardian. But Simone has obscured most of her history to the society crowd, including lasering off her tattoos.
Simone is mortified by Devon’s sudden presence, and tries to hide her in a massive guest house that has a ton of cameras installed. Yet Devon still ends up meeting Michaela, and immediately wonders what kind of power she has over Simone, and just what in the heck is really going on this weekend.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Sirens, created by Molly Smith Metzler and based on her play Elemeno Pea, has a very White Lotus-ish feel, and not just because Fahy has starred on both shows. It also has the darkly comedic elements we saw in The Perfect Couple.
Our Take: It’s not a stretch to say that Sirens is firmly in the “rich people being terrible” genre that we can’t seem to shake. In general, shows in this genre have to go a long way to make their characters and story compelling enough to make the “working stiffs” among us not roll our eyes and throw up our hands at how annoying and unrelatable everyone is.
What Sirens manages to do is to skewer the annoying nature of these characters via Fahy’s character Devon. Devon’s life is a mess, no doubt; we don’t know exactly how she got arrested the night before she made her way to find Simone, but we suspect that it’s not the first time. She’s become a caretaker to her father. And she thinks of sex as more of a commodity than anything else.
But once she and Simone come face to face, we see that the two of them used to be close. But Simone has always taken on others’ personalities and expectations, something Devon never has. Simone runs away, Devon embraces. It’s the contrast between the two, and how Devon will dig into just who Michaela is and what she’s about, that will fuel this limited series, which takes place during that Labor Day weekend.
We also appreciated that the show not only doesn’t take itself seriously, but does so in a way that actually makes us laugh. For some reason, shows that are tagged as “dark comedies” tend to be more witty than actually funny. But it seems that Meltzer has a good handle on just how absurd the controlling Michaela and everyone around her is, which is why what they do can be played for real laughs, along with Devon’s sharply-honed disdain for all of it.
Sex and Skin: No real nudity, but it’s we don’t have to assume Devon and Simone are having sex during the first episode.
Parting Shot: After sleeping with Jordan (Trevor Salter), who works for Ethan, Devon looks through a telescope on Ethan’s yacht and sees into Michaela’s bedroom, where she’s holding Barnaby after the bird crashed through the window.
Sleeper Star: Kevin Bacon plays Michaela’s husband Peter, who seems to have a lot more influence over the goings on at the Kells estate than we’re initially led to think.
Most Pilot-y Line: After Simone asks Michaela to banish Devon to a local hotel, Devon buys some new clothes on Michaela’s dime. But it seems like she had a complete glow-up, including a blowout. We guess that was assumed and didn’t need to be shown.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Sirens works because it leans into the absurdity of the story and the awfulness of most of the characters, making the show a dark comedy that’s truly comedic.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.