Sirens on Netflix, inspired from Greek mythology, is on everybody’s screens right now. Adapted from Molly Smith Metzler’s play Elemeno Pea, this miniseries draws on the myth of the siren to explore our own programmed perceptions of women, interrogating who holds power and who merely appears to. (Contains spoilers.)
Devan DeWitt (Meghann Fahy), a semi-alcoholic, working a dead-end job at a falafel joint, travels to a secluded island for the ultra-rich in search of her sister, Simone (Milly Alcock). A Peter Pan bus and a ferry ride later, she finds herself in the pastel-drenched playground of the 0.1%, on an island where taxi rates start at $75. There, she finds Simone dressed like an “Easter egg,” working as a personal assistant for an ultra-wealthy socialite, Mikaela Kell (Julianne Moore), a former high-powered lawyer.
At first, the series introduces these three women as the modern day sirens. But as the story progresses, the metaphor unravels. Who are the real monsters here? Who can lead others to their demise just by opening their mouth?
Sirens were half-woman, half-bird creatures in Greek mythology that were thought to be dangerous and seductive. According to the myth, they would lure sailors out to sea to drown using their beautiful voices. By the Middle Ages, sirens came to be associated with lust and the danger of temptation. The show explores the nature of this mythological tale but through the female lens.
Mikaela Kell is framed as the primary siren with the strongest gravitational pull. From her personal assistant, Simone, to the local Sheriff, we see how she charms the island and commands attention, When we find out that Mikaela met her billionaire husband, Peter Kell, during his first marriage, we see her as the archetypal “other woman”, with powers so seductive she was able to coerce a married man into leaving his wife for her.
Later, we see that Devan and Simone also have their own orbits of men, circling around them. Devan self medicates through sex with men, including with her married boss and ad-hoc nurse, Raymond (Josh Segarra). Whilst Simone is in a secret relationship with Ethan Corbin – The Second, a 40 something year old bachelor with a tech empire and best friend of the Kells. Unlike his previous summer flings, he finds Simone ‘special’ and hastily proposes to her, but is sorely rejected. Eventually, Simone even attracts the likes of Peter, Mikaela’s husband, as the ultimate assertion of her seductive abilities. The show makes clear, however, that this power is not power in itself, but merely proximity to it.
Sirens holds up a mirror to the sexist double standards that still define women’s roles in tales, modern and mythological. Yes, the women’s actions are questionable, but as the story unfolds, we are finally offered the reasons behind them. Not to excuse them but contextualise these difficult decisions that they face. Why does Devan sleep with a married man? Why has Simone abandoned her family? Why does Mikaela do everything in her power to maintain her status as Mrs Kell?
The most well-known origin story of the sirens is their birth from the blood of the river god Achelous after he battled Heracles. In Sirens, trauma serves as the metaphorical blood from which these women emerge. Simone and Devan’s father suffered from chronic depression whilst their mother descended into mania and eventually died by suicide, nearly taking Simone with her. Mikaela lost her own mother in a car crash at age seven. The show presents this so-called ‘dangerous’ nature as a result of pain and survival.
Sirens also unpacks how men’s actions, by contrast, are largely unaccounted for. For example, when it is revealed that Mikaela and Pete met while he was married to his first wife, the affair is overshadowed by the persistent but false rumor that Mikaela killed his first wife by pushing her off the cliff, a myth that the whole town cannot stop talking about.
We as the audience also feed into these narrative arcs too. When Mikaela asks Ethan to walk with her toward the cliff edge after finding out he was dating Simone and he goes missing, we instinctively assume that she’s killed him. In reality, she confronted him, warning him not to treat Simone the way he has treated his previous conquests, and he has flown over to Buffalo to ask for her father’s blessing. As her character unfolds, especially in the last episode, she becomes deeply human, a woman navigating survival in a gilded cage. Her supposed intimidation is revealed to be a form of soft power required to survive in Pete’s world.
Later, when Ethan drunkenly falls off the cliff in front of Simone after being rejected by her, the audience is offered a neutral, objective lens. When Ethan wakes up in hospital, he falsely accuses Simone of pushing her and through this, we see how such rumors can formulate, in part due to men’s incompetency. And how all of the men absolve themselves of their wrongdoings by scapegoating the women, something that men have been doing for millenia.
We also see that actually, Peter may actually be the show’s most dangerous siren of all, luring women to the island and their ultimate demise. Born into wealth, with all of the estate on his payroll, he can say and do anything he wants, typically coated in charm and charisma. While Mikaela appears to be a dominant force, she is ultimately at Peter’s mercy, and always has been. Much like a siren, Peter love bombed Mikaela away from her high paying attorney job in New York and onto the island. Now, her financial survival is entirely dependent on him due to a prenuptial agreement he drew up which would leave her penniless if he divorced her. As she puts it “We all work for Peter.” Peter’s wealth keeps him in power whilst those close to him, like his wives and children, suffer the consequences of his actions.
In the end, we see how these women are victims to the siren trope rather than the sole perpetrators. Instead, Sirens subverts this Greek tale to expose how wealth, privilege and misogyny hold the real power.
Sirens is available to watch on Netflix now.
