Netflix’s ‘Sirens’: a gritty, twisted tale of sisters, wealth, and cultish charisma

The waters may look pristine, but beneath the surface lurks something far darker in Netflix’s Sirens, a razor-sharp limited series that blends Greek mythology with White Lotus-esque decadence and a dash of Ryan Murphy’s signature camp. Starring Julianne Moore, Meghann Fahy, Milly Alcock, and Kevin Bacon, this isn’t just another glossy thriller — it’s a biting exploration of family, power, and the seductive pull of wealth. Such is the grip of the show that The Guardian is waiting for its next season.

At its core, Sirens is a story of two sisters fractured by class and circumstance. Devon (Meghann Fahy, shedding her White Lotus polish for something far messier) is a hard-drinking, barely-holding-it-together woman stuck caring for her ailing father and working a dead-end job—when she’s not sleeping with her married boss. Her younger sister, Simone (Milly Alcock, House of the Dragon’s breakout star), has escaped their grim reality, landing as the live-in assistant to the enigmatic Michaela Kell (Julianne Moore), a socialite with a cult leader’s charm and a raptor conservationist’s predatory instincts.

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When Devon reaches out for help after their father’s dementia diagnosis, Simone’s response—a dismissive edible arrangement—sends Devon storming to her sister’s gilded island prison. What she finds is worse than she imagined: Simone, once sharp and rebellious, is now a devoted acolyte, calling Michaela “Kiki” and basking in her reflected glamour. Michaela, married to hedge fund titan Peter (Kevin Bacon, oozing reptilian charm), rules her followers with a mix of benevolence and menace. Devon, smelling bullshit, launches a one-woman rescue mission—but the deeper she digs, the more she questions who’s really manipulating whom.

The series thrives in its contradictions — darkly funny yet unsettling, absurd yet eerily plausible. Moore is magnetic as Michaela, a woman who could be a benevolent mentor or a master manipulator. Fahy delivers a career-best performance as Devon, a woman oscillating between self-destruction and fierce protection. And Alcock, fresh from House of the Dragon, proves her range as Simone, a girl caught between loyalty and liberation.

Add in a local police force on Michaela’s payroll, a revolving door of drunk tank confidantes (including a scene-stealing Catherine Cohen), and simmering class warfare among the staff, and Sirens becomes a deliciously chaotic cocktail. By the midway point, the show pulls the rug out from under viewers, forcing them to question every assumption.

Is it over-the-top? Absolutely. But like the best dark comedies, Sirens uses its excess to expose uncomfortable truths — about family, power, and the lies we tell to survive. Dive in. Just don’t trust the water.