In the prologue of Netflix’s Sirens, Julianne Moore’s Michaela Kell walks out at dawn carrying a covered birdcage. As the morning welcomes her, she traipses through tall grass, her emerald green dress trailing behind her, before she reaches a cliffside and removes the cage’s mask. Michaela is about to perform an act of release, of merciful, confident goodbye, as the bird, with its yellow eyes and questionable glance lifts off into the sky. “I love you,” she says before her feathery ward takes flight. There is something dramatic and campy at play from the very beginning, but Molly Smith Metzler’s limited series also weighs the complicated, thorny mechanics of destabilized family with dark, bristling comedy. It’s like if Wicker Man hosted the event of the summer.
The complete opposite of Michaela’s release-at-dawn bubble comes crashing in when we meet Meghann Fahy’s Devon. Newly released from an overnight stay at a Buffalo police station, she is greeted on her doorstep by an obscenely large Edible Arrangement from his sister, Simone, played by Milly Alcock. No amount of honeydew and melon will distract Devon from the fact that Simone won’t answer any of her SOS texts (they exchange the phrase SIRENS as a calling card for the other to respond), so she boards a Greyhound and heads to the coastal estate where Simone responds to Michealea’s every beck and call.
Stepping onto the Kell property is like walking into a fuzzy, pastel daydream, and Devon’s presence, sweaty and clad in black, feels like a heated up dagger slicing into an ostentatious dessert that no one will actually eat. Michaela and her husband, Peter, are hosting their annual weekend gala to help raise money for Michaela’s bird sanctuary, and Simone is given the chance to prove herself as Michaela’s assistant. Is it a way of continuing large amounts of wealth or are Michaela’s followers in deeper than they know or care about? Simone bosses around the staff, guides the guests in the right direction, and even helps Michaela hoist up her breasts so she can sext with her husband and keep their marriage fresh. Simone tells her sister that she has even been dubbed the honor of calling Michaela by her given nickname, Kiki.
Simone is knocked off kilter by her sister’s presence, and her demeanor cracks. You remember that feeling of being in your early twenties and trying to impress new friends or colleagues? Sirens makes show of pointing out the differences of “who you always were” with the ambitions of “who you could be” as Simone struggles to keep smiling and guide her life in a direction away from her tragic past. Fahy is remarkable, tapping into Devon’s frustrations, rage, and hurt. She needs help taking care of her and Simone’s ailing father, played by Bill Camp, but Simone refuses to entertain the idea of going home. “I don’t do Dad,” she says plainly before Michaela interrupts and Simone giggles at her artificial, airy tone. Simone isn’t just running from her family, but she had her matching sister tattoo removed and had a nose job much to Devon’s horror. Some birds do, in fact, try to fly as far, far away from the nest as possible.
Moore literally glows in the first few scenes we see her, as he house is turned upside down by the Labor Day festivities. Her Michaela keeps a cool head, but listen to how Moore modulates her voice. She can be needy and infantile but also cool and steady. Kevin Bacon plays Peter with a detached distance, smoking pot with Devon in scenes and joining in on making fun of how ridiculous this weekend becomes. Bacon and Liev Schrieber, from Netflix’s popular The Perfect Couple, should be smoke buddies in a spin-off if Netflix feels like expanding. Alcock’s Simone flew the coop to stay away from pain and plastered on a wide grin, but her sister’s presence disrupts her perfect plan. Alcock plays the push and pull with a expert ease. Costume designer Caroline Duncan has a blast coating these characters in pinks, greens, blues and whites, and John Paino’s production design is expansive and luxurious.
In Sirens brisk five episides (holy crap, could other shows take notes about brevity), we slowly shift from a glossy, summer obsession to an even deeper, meaningful drama about family, the dangers of chosen family, and a cheeky wink of how even a cult leader could have marital problems. While some might assume that Sirens is an extension of Couple, The White Lotus, or Nine Perfect Strangers, this series is more concerned with the deep relationships at its center, and how they are rocked when forced with the truth. You can try to fly the coop, but your flock will always know where to find you.
Sirens is streaming now on Netflix.
