Sirens review: Julianne Moore leads a possible wellness cult in campy new Netflix show | Web Series

Sirens web series review

Cast: Julianne Moore, Milly Alcock, Meghann Fahy, Bill Camp, Kevin Bacon, Trevor Salter

Showrunner: Molly Smith Metzler

Directors: Nicole Kassell, Quyen Tran and Lila Neugebauer

Star rating: ★★★1/2

The impact of Succession and The White Lotus cannot be more palpable in the new Netflix show Sirens, created by Molly Smith Metzler (who helmed another Netflix show- Maid). Here, the tone is thornier and more campy, dealing with class identity and trauma in shades of luxurious pastels. In 5 episodes, this new show starts off woozy and a little undeterred, until it gradually reveals a more chaotic and twisty logic to confront uncomfortable truths. (Also read: The White Lotus Season 3 review: A brutal finale caps off the show’s weakest season yet)

The premise

Sirens, based on Metzler’s play Elemeno Pea, begins with Meghann Fahy’s Devon, who is just out of her DUI, disgruntled with the arrival of an edible arrangement. True, it is perhaps the worst time for that gift over the Labor Day weekend, given by her sister Labor Simone (Milly Alcock), who has left home (and their dementia-ridden father) to figure out her life.

Soon, Devon will make her way to the faraway island to set things straight with Simone, only to discover how she has been brainwashed to work as a live-in personal assistant for her boss, a high-flung socialite named Michaela Kell (Julianne Moore). Michela might just be running a wellness cult. Devon is a mess, and wants to extract Simone out of this mess, but little does she know that things are not simple or straightforward as it seems.

What works and what doesn’t

The siren call of what seems like a luxurious getaway hides past secrets and rumours that will come ashore one way or another. Who is Michaela, and what is the reason she is doing all this? Can’t Simone see through this all? Or is she in some danger? The more Devon tries to seek the answers to these questions, the more cruelly funny it gets.

Sirens slips from comedy to drama and even to mystery within a breath. Michaela treats Simone like a best friend one moment- asking her to help her sexting with her millionaire husband Peter (Kevin Bacon)- and nothing more than a house help the other. It is strange and hilarious, although the writing never really digs deep into the ways in which Simone’s disillusionment transforms into something more essential.

Sirens works majorly because of the trio of Meghann Fahy, Julianne Moore and Milly Alcock. The White Lotus Season 2 alumni have been on an excellent run so far, and in Sirens, she continues that streak to great impact. Fahy swings between the tonal shifts like a seasoned pro and makes Devon utterly grounded in her reasons. The always fantastic Moore finds just the right amount of friskiness and mystery in the woman who knows how to take control. The way she modulates her voice in some of the later key scenes are tremendous. She is matched brilliantly by Alcock- in what is inarguably the standout performance of the show. Her Simone might seem like under the spell at first, but Alcock manages to unlock a fierceness as the show progresses. By that sharply judged denouement, Simone is the one character who sticks out the most.

Final thoughts

Sirens has a restless, unpredictable energy which largely works in its favour. This is a show that begins on a begrudgingly satirical tone, and then suddenly wants the viewer to take these characters seriously. The cynicism disappears. Here, at these narrative beats in the show, the satire does not hold itself steady, and the tonal shift begins to feel a little too jarring. The campiness works until it doesn’t. The past catches hold soon enough,h and not so much can be giddy or playful about the way trauma emboldens one person.

There’s a lot to like and admire about a show like Sirens, even when it comes so close to losing its balance. Given the choices, a little daring hurt nobody, is what this dramedy believes. Take a risk and fall rather than not moving at all. Intelligently directed by a trio of directors (particularly Nicole Kassell), Sirens is daring and weird and unexpectedly poignant. The top of the cliff is always better than the rock bottom at the end of the day, howsoever one gets there.