‘Sirens’: Julianne Moore Leads a Cult of Wellness With Dark Charisma in a Getaway of Privileged Dysfunction

Alci Rengifo

Another week, another series about the rich bottled up with their own internal problems. Netflix’s “Sirens” is the latest variation of a repeat format in the world of television shows. Call it “The White Lotus Effect.” The ingredients are fairly simple. Cast a crop of attractive actors, give them money, some specific secrets or traumas, and gather them in a picturesque locale. This one follows another trend of placing a type of guru or all-powerful figure above the rest of the cast. Julianne Moore is more than apt for the part and like other actors of her caliber, ends up being the strongest element of this trippy series. 

“Sirens” has the very specific plot detail of taking place during Labor Day weekend on the fictional New England island of Port Haven. A charity gala becomes the meeting point for a group of wealthy visitors gathered at a beachside estate. The mansion belongs to Michaela Kell (Moore), a conservationist obsessed with raptor falcons, and her billionaire husband, Peter (Kevin Bacon). She is also a kind of wellness guru. Our initial guide into this strange locale is Devon (Meghann Fahy of “The White Lotus”), an alcoholic who works at a falafel joint and is definitely not rich. When her father is diagnosed with dementia, Devon sends an urgent letter to her younger sister, Simone (Milly Alcock), the assistant of Michaela. When Simone only sends back an edible arrangement, Devon decides to go see her sibling in person. What she finds has all the signs of a cult. 

Though “Sirens” is clearly chasing after shows like “The White Lotus” and “Nine Perfect Strangers,” it is actually adapted by Molly Smith Metzler from her play “Elemeno Pea.” To her credit and that of the directing team, this show never feels like a theatrical work. It is shot with style and edited with dreamlike pacing to music typical in these shows that sounds like some chorus from the beyond. The way the plot unfolds is so suited for TV that you wonder what the stage production was like. Devon, played with great dysfunctional urgency by Fahy, is a classic wreck hating her job while sleeping with her married boss. It is hardship that makes her more immune to Michaela’s shallow yet hypnotic rhetoric masking the eerie, authoritarian nature of her estate. Devon learns soon enough that this guru of sorts has pull with the local police department and keeps the estate’s staff under rigid discipline. 

The standoff between Fahy as the older sister and Moore’s icy matriarch does lend some difference to other similar shows. Though stretched out to series length, the plot grows thin and resorts to the endless parade of wealth porn we get in these types of series. Secondary characters feel like mere props to a larger picture, such as Kevin Bacon’s seemingly dutiful husband and his superficial best friend and neighbor, Ethan (Glenn Howerton), who happens to be dating Simone. Catherine Cohen makes a couple of fun appearances as a local drunken misfit, who first meets Devon in an overnight stay in jail, and shares about how she got out of a cult. Josh Segarra is buffoonish comic relief as Raymond, Devon’s boss who is left to watch over her father. Alcock brings a sort of bouncy tension as the younger sibling in the grip of Michaela’s aura, basking in the power she herself has over the estate workers.

“Sirens” gets off the ground in the most beguiling manner, but never sticks the landing. Instead it peppers the build-up to Michaela’s gala to raise funds for her bird sanctuary with expected turns into childhood traumas, relationship dramas, scandals and betrayals. Even with its final messages about privilege and entitlement, the story comes off jumbled and aimless beyond Julianne Moore, who gives much life to material that feels calculated. Plainly said, “Sirens” is a well-made factory product of a particular sort. It is following a trend and expecting you to binge every episode out of the sake of getting a fix now that the latest “The White Lotus” season has ended. Switch between this and the new outing of “Nine Perfect Strangers” and there is not much difference. It all melds together into the same, glittering yet twisted portrait of those comfortable enough to live with their demons in the lap of luxury.

“Sirens” begins streaming May 22 on Netflix.