Sirens on Netflix

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wanted to add that this show is what Your Friends and Neighbors pretends to be. That show is marquee names and expensive production but it’s idiotic and most of the acting blows and sucks, Amanda Peet and the Asian actor playing the money manager with the impossible in-laws excepted.

Thanks- was going to watch that before our free apple trial expired. Now I might have to hang on for the Stanley Tucci movie in Fall.

That show just isn’t fundamentally interesting, it has zero to say but the voiceover and credits are ponderous. The houses are huge and the lifestyles are DCUM rich but there’s no wit or visual interest, and there’s no one as amazing as Fahy or Moore in that show, doing their level of acting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the writing was banal and that the plot doesn’t even begin to warrant the detailed exegesis offered above, but it made me realize I’d watch Julianne Moore and Meghann Fahy is just about anything. They elevated the series into something that got far more attention than it would received in the hands of lesser actresses.

I thought the points about viewer expectations were dead on. The prestige tragicomedy demands deaths and a pretty straightforward story predicated on bad women. I thought this was way better than Big Little Lies and much of White Lotus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read the entire thread yet, but I just finished the series. Overall I really liked it, but one thing irked me 1 Kiki and Simone were SO close, once Kiki knew about the kiss, why didn’t she use that as leverage for the divorce? They mentioned the infidelity clause, I figured that would be a slam dunk. I was expecting the two women to work together and take him for everything 😂 I hated the ending, very cliche.

Because Simone was a repeat of young Kiki going mach 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wanted to add that this show is what Your Friends and Neighbors pretends to be. That show is marquee names and expensive production but it’s idiotic and most of the acting blows and sucks, Amanda Peet and the Asian actor playing the money manager with the impossible in-laws excepted.

Thanks- was going to watch that before our free apple trial expired. Now I might have to hang on for the Stanley Tucci movie in Fall.

That show just isn’t fundamentally interesting, it has zero to say but the voiceover and credits are ponderous. The houses are huge and the lifestyles are DCUM rich but there’s no wit or visual interest, and there’s no one as amazing as Fahy or Moore in that show, doing their level of acting.

It seems like you missed a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought this show was brilliant. It made me think a lot about how we (society) are so comfortable blaming women.

Sirens - mythological creatures who would hang out on the rocks and "lure" sailors to their doom because they would become enchanted by their beautiful singing ... and a metaphor for men acting on their sexual desires. (And then blaming the woman for doing so!)

For the person who mentioned the blue walls - that and also the "watery" look of the lighting ... that's to evoke the water. A nod to the mythological sirens.

Devon is a walking trauma response. I think a lot of her behavior is an attempt to avoid that trauma and possibly also to avoid becoming blackout drunk. So when she can't smoke on the boat she chooses to act in a sexually aggressive way.

The reason this show was so brilliant IMO is because it makes you as a viewer examine your own expectations and responses. It's become a pattern for this type of show to have a murder happen and then the rest of the series figuring out exactly how/why/who.

So we are all anticipating something big/murderous happening. Gossip around town tells us that maybe Kiki killed the first wife. We're waiting for that shoe to drop. When something significant does happen ... Ethan falling ... we see him blame Simone even though we *know* she did not do anything. We literally SAW Ethan fall off the cliff himself and still people here are trying to find a way to say that Simone pushed him off. No she didn't. If they had wanted us to wonder if she had they wouldn't have shown us her emotional state and concern for him, telling him to come away from the cliff.

We want to see Pete as a good guy, oh look he makes his coffee and is kind of charming and sweet. Oh but oops he sees his marriages as disposable and will get rid of a wife when she has a measure of power over him. The reason the photo was significant was because she would have been able to get a settlement that went beyond their prenuptial contract, this is spelled out in the facetime call with her attorney. We get the best measure of Pete's character when he so casually mentions to his wife that he might go on and have another baby. THAT is who he is. He let his kids 100 percent blame Kiki for the marriage vows he broke and then he sneaks off to be with them, again, not trying to take blame in any way but just to let his wife be the bad one. The ending is dark (and brilliant) because he has just seamlessly moved onto the next woman, and sent the other "siren" on her way.

At the end, Devon's realization of the future is so beautifully done. She sensed danger on the island and also blamed/feared Kiki--a woman. But Pete was the danger, and maybe just all the ways Simone had been shaped by trauma and made vulnerable to a man like Pete (and Ethan). Whoever said that she will help out with the kids in the future, no, that is 100 percent not happening. She lost her sister in that moment.

Agree, brilliant. But you had to pay attention to the signs. Generational trauma. People who love each other but who are damaged and defensive. Women as monsters/sirens who are to blame for men’s bad behavior… eg, Kiki kept Pete from his kids, not Pete (cheating on their mother, for one). Ethan didn’t fall off the cliff, Simone pushed him. Kiki was a cult leader and murderer, but actually the charity was initially Pete’s and it was his leaving his wife that likely led to the plastic surgery that disfigured her. Etc.


I thought it was beautifully done. The only one who I found slightly disappointing was kevin bacon. He seemed to be calling it in.

[Anonymous]

^ and the way he dismissed Kiki. ‘I’m letting you go’. As if she was his employee. Which was her earlier point to Simone. The marriage had made her tiny, and ultimately they all work for Peter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wanted to add that this show is what Your Friends and Neighbors pretends to be. That show is marquee names and expensive production but it’s idiotic and most of the acting blows and sucks, Amanda Peet and the Asian actor playing the money manager with the impossible in-laws excepted.

Thanks- was going to watch that before our free apple trial expired. Now I might have to hang on for the Stanley Tucci movie in Fall.

That show just isn’t fundamentally interesting, it has zero to say but the voiceover and credits are ponderous. The houses are huge and the lifestyles are DCUM rich but there’s no wit or visual interest, and there’s no one as amazing as Fahy or Moore in that show, doing their level of acting.

It seems like you missed a lot.

Nah. You don’t have much of a brain if you think that show is anything other than shiny expensively produced trash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this show was brilliant. It made me think a lot about how we (society) are so comfortable blaming women.

Sirens - mythological creatures who would hang out on the rocks and "lure" sailors to their doom because they would become enchanted by their beautiful singing ... and a metaphor for men acting on their sexual desires. (And then blaming the woman for doing so!)

For the person who mentioned the blue walls - that and also the "watery" look of the lighting ... that's to evoke the water. A nod to the mythological sirens.

Devon is a walking trauma response. I think a lot of her behavior is an attempt to avoid that trauma and possibly also to avoid becoming blackout drunk. So when she can't smoke on the boat she chooses to act in a sexually aggressive way.

The reason this show was so brilliant IMO is because it makes you as a viewer examine your own expectations and responses. It's become a pattern for this type of show to have a murder happen and then the rest of the series figuring out exactly how/why/who.

So we are all anticipating something big/murderous happening. Gossip around town tells us that maybe Kiki killed the first wife. We're waiting for that shoe to drop. When something significant does happen ... Ethan falling ... we see him blame Simone even though we *know* she did not do anything. We literally SAW Ethan fall off the cliff himself and still people here are trying to find a way to say that Simone pushed him off. No she didn't. If they had wanted us to wonder if she had they wouldn't have shown us her emotional state and concern for him, telling him to come away from the cliff.

We want to see Pete as a good guy, oh look he makes his coffee and is kind of charming and sweet. Oh but oops he sees his marriages as disposable and will get rid of a wife when she has a measure of power over him. The reason the photo was significant was because she would have been able to get a settlement that went beyond their prenuptial contract, this is spelled out in the facetime call with her attorney. We get the best measure of Pete's character when he so casually mentions to his wife that he might go on and have another baby. THAT is who he is. He let his kids 100 percent blame Kiki for the marriage vows he broke and then he sneaks off to be with them, again, not trying to take blame in any way but just to let his wife be the bad one. The ending is dark (and brilliant) because he has just seamlessly moved onto the next woman, and sent the other "siren" on her way.

At the end, Devon's realization of the future is so beautifully done. She sensed danger on the island and also blamed/feared Kiki--a woman. But Pete was the danger, and maybe just all the ways Simone had been shaped by trauma and made vulnerable to a man like Pete (and Ethan). Whoever said that she will help out with the kids in the future, no, that is 100 percent not happening. She lost her sister in that moment.

Agree, brilliant. But you had to pay attention to the signs. Generational trauma. People who love each other but who are damaged and defensive. Women as monsters/sirens who are to blame for men’s bad behavior… eg, Kiki kept Pete from his kids, not Pete (cheating on their mother, for one). Ethan didn’t fall off the cliff, Simone pushed him. Kiki was a cult leader and murderer, but actually the charity was initially Pete’s and it was his leaving his wife that likely led to the plastic surgery that disfigured her. Etc.


I thought it was beautifully done. The only one who I found slightly disappointing was kevin bacon. He seemed to be calling it in.

I agree with both of these analyses. Great show. Love how it shows the impact of trauma. Love how it look us in unexpected ways that were actually quite accurate for real
Life. I’m still roooting for Devon to put her dad in an institution or something but glad she made her choice.

One thing I did not get was the captain morgan character. He was charming and sweet and clingy but not too forceful unlike all the other men. Was he supposed to be a symbol of Alcoholism always following her around? Hm maybe I just answered my question…

[Anonymous]

I thought Morgan was just actually a good guy. For both Simone and Devon, their men didn’t LISTEN. Ray didn’t listen to Devon and was bad for her. Ethan didn’t listen to Simone and was bad for her. Dad was useless. He was the only one who listened, paid attention, did things that would be good for HER instead of just whatever benefits them (men).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole time I was watching it I couldn't get over Simone's "uncanny" face. Reminded me about that thread in Teens and Tweens about the orthodontia that make little kids look weird. I saw it!

I've never heard of orthodontia face, but as soon as I saw her, I was like 'oh, I wonder if she's from Australia" because there's a certain look that Aussies have.

Agree- Toni Collette and Melissa George have this look, too.

I think she looks like Will Poulter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole time I was watching it I couldn't get over Simone's "uncanny" face. Reminded me about that thread in Teens and Tweens about the orthodontia that make little kids look weird. I saw it!

I've never heard of orthodontia face, but as soon as I saw her, I was like 'oh, I wonder if she's from Australia" because there's a certain look that Aussies have.

Agree- Toni Collette and Melissa George have this look, too.

I think she looks like Will Poulter.

Ha. I see it

[Anonymous]

I'm the one who wrote the long post a page or two back, thanks to those who responded ... especially to the PP who recommended Better Sister, I started it on your recommendation and already have many thoughts!

So this is funny but PP who mentioned Captain Morgan, when I read your comment I forgot that the boat captain was Morgan and my mind went to Ray / the married Falafel restaurant manager who is Devon's F boy and also the person she sees "when she wants to feel bad about herself" ... when Ray gets out of jail I'm pretty certain he's wearing a tie-dyed Captain Morgan rum shirt from the jail's lost and found.

And then I remembered boat captain Morgan and I thought - huh. Maybe the show is trying to call out the similarities/differences between Ray/t-shirt Captain Morgan and boat Captain Morgan. Maybe Morgan exists because he's a "Captain Morgan" who represents another path for Devon ... vs. the Captain Morgan path she's been on (alcohol and sleeping with Ray and others who make her feel bad about herself.) Maybe he represents the fact that a person can know one path is better/healthier and even very much want to be on that path, but knowing that and making it happen are two different things.

Side observation: Morgan seems to be a decent guy, I would argue that Jose is also on that list (a very short list! maybe just those two.) You could argue that Jose is compromised because his job is to carry out Peter's wishes, no matter how iffy they may be. But Jose has a moral code. He is the only male character who refuses to engage with Devon sexually. He says "I have a wife, a son" when she licks his neck. So I find that interesting. Does it make him morally grey that he works for Peter? Or is he saved from that category because he's providing for his wife and son.

Side, side observation: Jose and Morgan both drive for a living - car and boat - so that could tie in with the whole sirens thing somehow. Or maybe just a coincidence! But maybe there's something to the idea of them steering their paths a little more than some of the other characters in the show. This idea doesn't necessarily hold up with the ferry boat captain who canoodles with Devon immediately, but I thought it was an interest parallel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole time I was watching it I couldn't get over Simone's "uncanny" face. Reminded me about that thread in Teens and Tweens about the orthodontia that make little kids look weird. I saw it!

I've never heard of orthodontia face, but as soon as I saw her, I was like 'oh, I wonder if she's from Australia" because there's a certain look that Aussies have.

Agree- Toni Collette and Melissa George have this look, too.

I think she looks like Will Poulter.

Ha. I see it

Totally see it. She has a face like Jerry's date from that Seinfeld episode where you see one shot and she looks gorgeous then the light and camera angle shifts and it's like...hmmmm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole time I was watching it I couldn't get over Simone's "uncanny" face. Reminded me about that thread in Teens and Tweens about the orthodontia that make little kids look weird. I saw it!

I've never heard of orthodontia face, but as soon as I saw her, I was like 'oh, I wonder if she's from Australia" because there's a certain look that Aussies have.

Agree- Toni Collette and Melissa George have this look, too.

I think she looks like Will Poulter.

Ha. I see it

Is that a really old photo of Will Poulter? I actually think she looks more like his more recent photos. Maybe it’s the blonde hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Liked it except for the dumb ending. I won't spoil it...

+1
Just finished. What a stupid, stupid ending.