Siren Review: The Lure (Season 1 Episode 1 & 2)

A new take on mermaids emerges from the depths of the sea on Siren Episode 1 and 2, “The Lure.”

Freeform’s newest series, Siren, begins its journey with the accidental capture of a mermaid during a storm at sea. From there, things take their own twists in an effort to do the right thing and get a lost mermaid back with her sister.

The first two episodes do a fantastic job of getting fans to fall for characters such as Xander and Ben. But, the real star of the show is Ryn, the mysterious mermaid on the hunt to bring her sister back to the ocean with her after she’s been captured by Navy Seals.

Ryn is alone, has no idea what anything is, and can barely communicate with humans, but that doesn’t stop her attempts to track down her sister no matter the circumstances.

Although mermaids are a well-known folklore creature, there aren’t many TV shows that cover the topic, which gives Siren an advantage because this is entirely like nothing we’ve seen before.

If mermaids are as intelligent as Ms. Hawkins says they are, I hope that sooner rather than later we get to see Ryn excel and begin to learn English so she can communicate with everyone.

There hasn’t been a whole lot of dialogue between Ryn and others, but I love that viewers already can get a sense of attachment to her character.

She’s a vicious mermaid who is causing trouble on land, but at the same time, she’s sacrificing her life to find her sister. It’s easy to feel sympathy for her because she has no idea what’s going on or how to fix the situation.

Ryn almost wholly dehydrated on the ground in order to find her sister. There’s loyalty, love, and a strong bond between them that automatically makes me root for her from the very beginning. Family is everything, and that value isn’t lost on mermaids.

I like the mystery shrouded around Ben and what his family did in the past in Bristol Cove. He’s the son who would rather spend his free time helping out injured animals instead of doing public appearances for the family clout.

Ben is already a favorite of mine based off of that adorable act and the fact that he finds out the truth about his family and drops everything to help Ryn out. He does not know Ryn, the only thing he knows is she’s a mermaid who almost killed him once, but that doesn’t stop him from jumping in the water after her on the fishing boat.

The boy has guts, but he clearly has some issues making the best judgment call on a moments notice.

I’m already in love with Xander’s character because I feel like he is a pure soul who is lost and all he wants is the truth. He doesn’t want to be lied to or to be spun a tale, he wants the cold hard facts and to figure out what happened to his friend, Chris.

Chris, the poor guy, is being kept sedated and under constant supervision in some secret abandoned hospital so that nobody figures out what happened to him. The confusing part is why did they not just heal him and let him go? Why the need to keep him sedated all of the time?

It’s not like the Navy would have to explain to Chris what happened. They easily could’ve fixed his wounds and then brought him back home and told him some lie about how he ended up with them. There has to be a specific reason why they are continuing to keep him there. Do they think there could be possible side effects from a mermaid bite?

If Chris can’t figure out a way to find out what’s going on, then there’s a possibility that he could never escape.

I look forward to seeing what the rest of this season has in store for us.

Other Thoughts:

• I enjoyed the bonding moment between Ryn and Maddie immensely.
• It’s evident that the guy watching Ryn’s sister has conflicts about what they’re doing. I hope we get to see him struggle with the guilt of it.
• The animation on Ryn’s transformation from human to mermaid is hands downs fantastic!

What did you think of this episode of Siren? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Siren airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Freeform.

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