Susan Granger’s review of “Sirens” (Netflix)
“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different. ”
? F. Scott Fitzgerald
Molly Smith Metzler must have been familiar with Fitzgerald’s description because it matches hers in in Netflix’s new, five-part miniseries “Sirens,” alluding to Greek mythology in which sea monsters/mermaids lured sailors to their death.
Her story begins with wealthy ethereal socialite Michaela “Kiki” Kell (Julianne Moore) standing on the edge of a cliff, releasing a falcon into freedom. At the same time, Devon DeWitt (Meghann Fahy) is getting out of jail in Buffalo, New York.
Devon is exhausted caring for her widower father Bruce (Bill Camp) who suffers from dementia. So she hops a ferry to an unnamed sanctuary off the coast of Rhode Island and makes her way to the palatial clapboard beachfront estate known as Cliff House where her estranged younger sister Simone (Milly Alcock) – having survived a traumatic childhood – now works as Kiki’s personal assistant.
Kiki lives a lavish life of luxury with a devoted staff catering to her every whim, and Simone is caught in her Lilly Pulitzer-pastel-clad web of seduction. While Devon attempts an intervention, she’s no match for manipulative Kiki, although she does befriend Peter (Kevin Bacon), Kiki’s hedge-fund billionaire husband.
It’s Labor Day weekend and the annual ‘raptor conservation’ charity Gala, so Simone is busy passing along controlling Kiki’s mercurial orders to the beleaguered servants (Felix Solis. Lauren Weedman, Britne Oxford).
Meanwhile, Devon discovers that Simone’s romantically involved with the playboy-next- door (Glenn Howerton) and ignites her own flirtation with a yacht captain – much to the chagrin of her married boss/lover who follows her to the island with perpetually confused Bruce in tow.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Sirens” is a satirical, suspenseful 7 – with a twist ending that may surprise you. All five episodes are now streaming on Netflix.
