This post contains spoilers from Sirens episode 1 on Netflix from this point forward.
Everything is not what it seems in Netflix's new dark comedy limited series Sirens, which opens with Julianne Moore's character Michaela Kell saying "I love you" to a bird before releasing it while standing on a foggy bluff. Next up, Meghann Fahy makes a memorable introduction as her character Devon DeWitt. She lives in Buffalo, New York and rough around the edges. We know that immediate since when we first meet her, she's leaving the police station after spending the night in jail.
Sirens doesn't yet reveal what put Devon behind bars for the evening, but she's unconcerned with her latest brush with the law. She leaves her father, who she's caring for as he struggles with early symptoms of Alzheimer's, to track down her little sister. Simone (Milly Alcock) has been leaving Devon on read. No matter how many messages she sends, no response. A fruit basket on the stoop from Simone sends Devon over the edge. It's off to Simone's new life with Michaela Kell.
Carrying the arrangement of fruit with her on a bus ride, a ferry ride, and a miles-long jaunt to the Kell manor, Devon finally makes her way to find her sister. It's as if she's fallen down the rabbit hole and entered a wonderland she couldn't have ever pictured, with pastel ensembles and rich people gathering to give out money to birds. When Simone learns that Devon has landed to poke holes in her perfect new reality, she's horrified. But that's just the beginning.
Devon calls Simone's bluff
Within minutes of Devon and Simone reuniting, we learn a lot about Simone that she doesn't present as the refined new version of herself. After their mother died, Simone ended up moving through the foster system until Devon could get custody of her. Simone doesn't interact with their father and rebuffs Devon's pleas for help caring for him. Allowing her past into her present could bring it all crashing down, including her romance with much older businessman Ethan (Glenn Howerton).
Even though they seem to be the picture-perfect image of a couple in love, Simone hasn't shared any personal details about herself. She told him that she's from Upstate New York, making it sound more glamorous than Buffalo. She told him that she graduated from Yale University (jury's still out on whether that tidbit is true). She also didn't seem to tell anyone about Devon's existence, especially not Michaela. Simone fabricated a new persona, detaching herself completely from who she really is.
She tries to hide Devon away in the guest house, but Michael quickly sniffs them out. Michaela seems welcoming and cool-headed, but her kindness masks a subtle manipulation tactic to make people feel comfortable and seen while silently judging them on the inside. To support her assistant/bestie (it's an extremely unhealthy relationship Simone and "Kiki" have fostered), Michaela offers Simone $10k, a hotel stay, and plane ticket home. It's hurtful, but Devon has no choice.
Michaela could be hiding something sinister
Devon asks her friend and boss Raymond (Josh Segarra) to watch after her father while she continues her travels in wonderland. While trying to smoke on the property, Devon encounters staff, who have a secret area away from the prying eyes of the security cameras. Michaela runs a tight ship. No smoking, no carbs, everyone signs NDAs (even Devon when she's driven to her hotel). It all adds up to something not being quite right in this mansion.
Once she's checked into her hotel, Devon makes use of Michaela's credit card being on file to do a little shopping spree. She buys a dress, gets, dolled up, and meets and sleeps with Jordan (Trevor Salter) on a boat... Ethan's boat, who he happens to work for. Things just got even more complicated. Devon looks through the telescope on the boat to look at Michaela's house. She gasps when she sees Michaela holding a bloodied Barnaby, her bird who crashed through her window.
What's going on here? Is Michaela knowingly up to something sinister, or is it just a byproduct of how she is? Clearly, she has Simone wrapped around her finger, checking her breath and sending her husband sexts and running to her side whenever she says jump. There's a lot of fishy business happening under Michaela Kell's roof, and Simone has only just begun to unravel that uncanny spool of thread. By the end of the episode, Devon hasn't left, and she doesnt seem to intend to.
Watch Sirens only on Netflix.