She Crawled Out of the Sea
SIREN – Season 1 Episodes 1 – SPOILERS ⁓
Ryn (Eline Powell)
A storm-tossed trawler in the Bering Strait finds a strange creature in its nets. After it attacks and wounds of the crew (Chris Mueller, played by Chad Rook), Captain Sean McClure (Brian Anthony Wilson) calls for medical assistance and gets more help than he bargained for. The American military shows up and not only medivacs the wounded crewman to hospital, but also confiscates their unusual catch. The trawler’s home port is Bristol Cove in the state of Washington, and the Bering Strait is about 2300 nautical miles northwest of Seattle. The fastest trawler might make that trip in a little over six days.
The Queen of Bristol Cove’s Mermaid Days (Georgia Bradner) in front of Helen’s curio shop
The fictional town of Bristol Cove calls itself the ‘mermaid capital of the world’ because circa 1860 a local fishing captain, Charles H Pownall, fell in love with a mermaid he met in nearby waters, and was enchanted by her siren song. One day his mermaid unexpectedly returned to the sea, and never came back. That’s what they tell the tourists and it is true to a point, but we soon learn that there is more to that tale.
Charles is the great-great-great grandfather of Ted Pownall (David Cubitt) who owns the local fish processing plant. Ted’s wife Elaine (Sarah-Jane Redmond) wheelchair-bound and doesn’t like her husband much but pretends to in public so she can use his money. His son Ben (Alex Roe) is a Marine Biologist and is dating Maddie (Fola Evans-Akingbola), the daughter of the town’s sheriff. Ben’s family approves neither of his career choice nor of his relationship with Maddie.
Elaine Pownall and her servant Anthony (Jason Asuncion)
At the local pub, Ben runs into the crew of the trawler mentioned earlier. Ben was once part of that vessel’s crew, and his friend Xander (Ian Verdun) tells him what happened, and also that Chris Mueller has disappeared completely. Ben is reluctant to believe in mermaids, and explains he’d have to see one to be convinced, so Xander decides the best thing is to go out and catch another one.
Strange things are happening in the waters around Bristol Cove. Sea Lions are venturing beyond their normal range, and something unknown rips the head off a mako shark.
Maddy and Ben
As Ben is driving home alone, he nearly runs over a nude woman (Eline Powell) who is walking (with difficulty) across the road. He takes the woman to his home and since she seems in distress, calls Dr. Abbott (Patrick Gallagher). The woman behaves strangely and does not speak, but she does sing briefly to Ben until the Doctor’s arrival interrupts her song. While Ben answers the door, she escapes through the open window. Wearing the clothes Ben provided, she walks into town and encounters Helen Hawkins (Rena Owen) who runs a curio shop. Ben is driving by and spots her with Helen, and the woman flees again. Helen says she saw no one, and seams afraid.
The mystery woman, who spent the night in an unoccupied dinghy and breakfasted on a live rat, takes more clothes from someone’s laundry line, then grabs some wellies to protect her feet. A young girl is watching a cartoon about a mermaid named Ryn, and the woman decides to call herself that. Ryn must have a strong sense of smell because she is drawn to Xander’s boat and its nets (the same nets that ensnared the sea creature in the arctic).
Helen Hawkins
Ryn accepts a ride with Donnie (Toby Levins) who tries to take advantage of her and is killed for his trouble. (She throws him through the windscreen.) After that, Ryn makes her way alone to the Marina where Ben works, and her arrival there upsets the sea lions. She involuntarily begins to change back to her aquatic form. She can no longer walk, and must crawl the few meters to the water.
Underwater cameras allow Ben to see her finish the transformation, and he can’t get her song out of his head. He dives in after her, but she attacks and wounds him, but not severely. After his wounds are treated, Ben visits the mysterious Helen and she reluctantly explains the true connection between Bristol Cove and merfolk. “In their natural state in the water, they see you as prey,” she tells Ben. “Their instinct is to kill. Humans never understood that. It caused a lot of misery. Your family’s history in this town is bloodier than you know. Your ancestor lost his mind, obsessed. He and his shipmates slaughtered those creatures in cold blood. Genocide.” Ask your family about that, she tells him.
The death of Donnie and the disappearance of Chris Mueller give Sheriff Dale Bishop (Gil Birmingham) two fresh mysteries to go with the mystery of his wife Susan, who is mentioned but will not appear on the show until “The Arrival” (Episode 2.1). Susan left town eight months ago and hasn’t been heard from since. Sheriff Bishop believes his wife is “being guided”. Maddie thinks her mother best forgotten.
The captive mermaid
Unknown to anyone in Bristol Cove, both the captured mermaid (Sibongile Mlambo) and Chris Mueller are being held by the American Navy, and are being studied by Professor Adon Decker (Ron Yuan). The purpose of their captivity is not explained. Decker tells Admiral Harrison (Anthony Harrison) that his research vessel has been tracking the creatures for a while. “We had a report six weeks ago,” he says. “Japanese fishermen claimed they saw a sea creature off the Kuril Islands. Then some carcasses washed ashore in Alaska with strange bite marks all over them. Five days ago our research vessel picked up unidentified frequencies coming from the Bering Strait.”
The next morning, Ben goes with Xander on expedition to find another mermaid. The episode ends with Captain McClure (Xander’s father) aiming a harpoon at something in the sea.
Mermaid Specifications
SIREN’s diagram of the mermaid anatomy, does not specify if the creatures are warm-blooded. If Ryn is mammalian, as she appears to be, it seems likely that her species began on land, as dolphins did. (The last cold-blooded mammal — Myotragus balearicus — died out 3000 years ago.) The show’s mermaids have gills, and lack insulating fat.
Ryn’s fins, claws, scales, and gills disappear when she is out of the water. After those things retract, she has legs like a human, and her skin looks like human skin. It takes her a while to become accustomed to having legs, which in her aquatic state are concealed inside her tail.
Siren’s merfolk are:
- Capable of emitting a captivating singing voice that lures anyone who hears it toward the singer.
- Able to take on an ordinary human appearance through a painful metamorphosis to blend in with modern society and avoid detection for varying lengths of time on land.
- Can survive and adapt to underwater environments including enduring high water pressure and extreme water temperatures.
- Able to swim at extremely high rates of speed with minimal restriction from water resistance.
Some of these abilities are demonstrated and explained in later episodes.
Alex Roe told Katie Krause of Entertainment Tonight that Ryn is “a little more animalistic than the ‘Little Mermaid’, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she isn’t as lovely”. “Our mermaid,” he continues, “sings this kind of quite creepy song and from then it kind of gets into your head and it messes around with your feelings and emotions and thoughts, and I think during a lot of the series, he [Ben] thinks that he’s doing things for a good reason and I think slowly realizes that maybe she’s inside his head…There’s a romance, but it’s dark.”
** — Revised. Published on 1 April 2018