SIREN – Season 1 Episode 3 – SPOILERS ⁓

Held captive by the American Navy, Chris Mueller (Chad Rook) manages to send Xander (Ian Verdun) a text using a phone he stole from Nurse Stevenson (Veronika Hadrava). Xander calls the number back and discovers the nurse lives on Dora Avenue in Bremerton, Washington. He and Calvin (Curtis Lum) stake out her home, and follow her to the naval facility where Chris is being held. (There are several naval facilities in the Bremerton area.) When they approach the entrance, they are chased away by armed guards who probably get the license number of their vehicle. Unsure of what to do next, Xander and Curtis resturn to Stevenson’s house and keep watch. Meanwhile, the navy has identified Ben Pownall as the guy who took their mermaid lure.

Injections of DNA from Ryn’s sister cure paralysis in mice. Admiral Harrison (Anthony Harrison) is pleased with the results and insists the experiments continue, despite the concerns of Aldon Decker (Robert Yuan) abut the condition of the captive mermaid.

At the marina in Bristol Cove, Ben (Alex Roe) gives Ryn (Eline Powell) a physical examination and we learn that she weighs 196.6 pounds (89.2 kilograms) with her clothes on. Eline Powell weighs 56 kilograms, which means Ryn has 1.56 times the body density of a comparably sized human. Ryn aces an intelligence test, then becomes curious about Ben, and tries to explore him in the same way she explored Maddie in Episode Two. When she tries to kiss Ben, he pulls away.

Though she does not seem in an excited state, Ryn’s heartbeat is rapid, indicating that her metabolism is as well. This is confirmed after she accepts an invitation to a party from Jerry (David Kaye), a volunteer at the marina. At the party. Ryn chuggs two beers in rapid succession without noticeable effect on her sobriety.

Ben Pownall’s parents, Ted (David Cubitt) and Elaine (Sarah-Jane Redmond) have a breakfast conversation.

ELAINE: “I was thinking of doing my benefit for the clinic on Tuesday the following week.”
TED: “Sounds fine.”
ELAINE: “Are you sure? That’s usually your night out.”
TED: “That why you picked it? Yeah, I can make it work.”
ELAINE: “You must have a very understanding girlfriend.”
TED: “All the women in my life are gems, right Syl?”

Sylvia (Sarah Hayward) smiles. Syl is the Pownall’s maid, and is serving breakfast. Elaine worries about Ben, because he never calls. Ted tells her about Ben visiting him at the office and asking questions about the ‘family lore’.

ELAINE: “I hope you didn’t tell him your family was batshit crazy.”
TED: “Of course I did. Take a look around, honey. It’s no secret.”

Later at the office, Ted has a conversation with his other son Doug (Andrew Jenkins). We learn that Doug wants to bring Ben into the firm as an Environmental Advisor. Ted likes the idea. “He’s never gonna play the role you play,” Ted tells Doug, “but it’ll make your mother happy.”

Doug approaches Ben with the offer at Jerry’s party. Then several things happen. Ryn falls into the motel swimming pool and does not change form. (Only salt water makes her do that.) Maddie’s stepfather Sheriff Bishop (Gil Birmingham), shows up looking for Ryn in connection with the death of Donnie (Toby Levins) (see episode one). Maddie (Fola Evans-Akingbola), who is pretty sure that Ryn is responsible for that, ducks into one of the motel rooms with Ryn until the cops leave. Ryn notices that Maddie seems afraid of her, and is surprised. Maddie tries to explain the concept of trust to the mermaid, and seems to succeed, because later that night, Ryn crawls into bed with Ben and Maddie and sleeps between them.

In an interview with Just Jared Jr, Eline Powell was asked if she actually believes in mermaids. “I don’t know if they would be the way we imagine it,” she explained, “but there is a hint of this — the way species evolve on the water — a lot of mammals have very similar traits, and it’s because the water forces them to look a certain way. Has there ever been a branch of the human species that have gone in there and ended up looking more aquatic than we can imagine? Why not? The sea wipes out so much evidence of those things, especially if they went deep.”

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All 36 episodes of SIREN can be streamed on Hulu.

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**– Revised. Originally published on 9 April 2018