At this point, watching Meghann Fahy spiral emotionally on a beach is becoming its own genre — and with Netflix’s Sirens, she’s once again helping turn seaside chaos into must-see TV.
The limited series, which just hit #1 on Netflix in the US, throws viewers headfirst into a world of wealth, manipulation, and mythic undertones, all wrapped in pastel sundresses and passive-aggressive brunches. If The White Lotus cracked open the dark comedy of resort life among the elite, Sirens dives deeper into the stormy waters of female power dynamics and sibling dysfunction while also daring you to look away.
Set over the course of a single Labor Day weekend, Sirens follows Fahy’s character Devon, a sharp, self-aware woman from Buffalo who arrives on a lavish private island convinced her younger sister Simone (played by House of the Dragon’s Milly Alcock) is caught up in something cultish. The object of Simone’s obsession is Michaela Kell, a mysterious and eerily regal socialite played by Julianne Moore, who floats through her Cliff House estate with the detached elegance of someone who’s forgotten what it’s like to be questioned.
Devon is here to stage a kind of emotional intervention, but she quickly finds herself outmaneuvered in a setting where surface-level civility masks something much more predatory. Think Succession meets Big Little Lies, but on a beach where the water sparkles and every compliment feels like a veiled threat.
The show’s creator, Molly Smith Metzler (Maid), has described it in a Netflix promotional interview as “operatic” and “uncomfortable” — a dark comedy that draws as much from Greek mythology as it does from today’s obsession with the ultra-rich. Michaela and her inner circle begin to resemble the sirens of ancient legend: Beautiful, irresistible, and dangerous. Cliff House itself, with its sweeping grounds and polished interiors, isn’t just a setting; it’s practically a character in its own right that stands in contrast to Devon and Simone’s blue-collar roots.
That tension between old money elegance and Buffalo bluntness is the engine that powers the story. Flashbacks to the sisters’ humble upbringing make clear that Devon’s unease isn’t just about Simone’s new friends. It’s about class, identity, and the slippery illusion of transformation. Can you really leave your past behind just by upgrading your ZIP code and wardrobe? Or are the people sipping rosé at Michaela’s table just as trapped as the guests at The White Lotus without realizing it yet?
With an A-list cast that also includes Kevin Bacon and a visual palette dripping with coastal privilege, Sirens is equal parts seductive and unsettling. It might look like a breezy summer binge on the surface, but dive a little deeper and you’ll find something a whole lot murkier lurking beneath the waves.
