'Sirens' dark comedy mini-series on Netflix

[quote]The series is an adaptation of Molly Smith Metzler's play Elemeno Pea

When I was little I thought the alphabet went elemeno P, like it was some kind of special P.

One review of the play -

The point of "Elemeno Pea" is as muddled as the name. Does playwright Molly Smith Metzler simply want to ridicule shallow rich people -- which is awfully easy when they're presented as stereotypes we've seen a million times -- or to ultimately say we shouldn't judge others based on our perceptions? It may be the latter, but clarity is lacking.

Seriously?

At least it's not another superhero movie.

r2 Interesting. She might have clarified it a bit more for the show after she had read those play reviews (she's the showrunner). They call the show "incisive" in the PR release, which implies it has something original to say. We'll see.

r3 We're all mostly watching it for the "lavish beach estate" part, let's be real. Same reason DL watched Kidman's The Perfect Couple, even though it was as mid as they come.

Trailer.

Glowing review from The Guardian. It's just five episodes, I'll give it a go.

Fire stars from the Guardian:

New York Times

USA Today.

I thought it was a Stepford Wives remake.

Two episodes in it is intriguing and better than the very generic Perfect Couple (though the role of Julianne Moore is a very Nicole Kidman one). It is a bit difficult to classify so far, genre wise. It can go in different directions.

Kevin Bacon still does it for me though.

All three of the women leads are very good.

Meghan Fahy usually plays a rich or professional-type woman and she's having a blast in this, with trashy dry hair and ant-doody cheap mascara on her eyes.

Is it sirens like alarms?

Damn, Julianne and Kevin both look great in this.

Trevor Salter: hot Asian dude alert!

For standard Frau fare, it's surprisingly loaded with F-bombs. And "Wet Ass Pussy" gets a workout in one sequence.

The sisters should have dumped the dad. It was very foolish for the older sister to have her life revolve around the dad. Actions have consequences. Dad was a life-long fuckup and didn’t deserve to have anyone take care of him.

This show was extremely weird. Are we supposed to conclude there’s something “off” about Kevin Bacon’s character that he keeps choosing these very damaged women?

Just finished watching it. I loved it so much! Funny, smart and vastly entertaining. What the similar series with Nicole Kidman tried to do last year but fell short. It’s an absolute hoot.

Yep, I burned through the five episodes. Preposterous, but highly entertaining, and great acting all around. Julianne was FAB.

Loved it! Five episodes was perfect, anything more would have felt like a chore. Ending was pretty satisfying, but weirdly solemn and low energy compared to the rest of the season. There were so many scenes that made me want to see the original play. Sirens is a way better title though, I don't know what Elemeno Pea could be referring to.

I loved the lightest of magical realism touches, we never really knew whether Michaela had supernatural powers. Only at the very end is it revealed that no, all her power comes from the social status and the prestige, and has now passed onto Simone.

My only issue: that entirely CG house was abominable. They really couldn't scout a single suitable location for the establishing shots?

Lauren Weedman was awesome as usual, while Jenn Lyon was criminally underutilised. If you've seen Dead Boy Detectives or English Teacher, you know exactly what that bitch can do. Never really thought much of Meghann Fahy, but I've changed my stance now, she's great!

I need Josh Segarra and Trevor Salter inside me, deeply. Both at the same time, obviously.

The house exterior belongs to a McMansion on the North Shore of Long Island (standing in for Nantucket). The interior was a sound stage. The design of the inside seemed to be purposely hideous (all that teal trim!)

Did they reuse sets and locations from The Perfect Couple? Both series even have at least one cast member in common. They're too damn similar. It's like the fucking belt scene from The Devil Wears Prada.

The Perfect Couple was actually shot in Nantucket. As stated upthread Sirens was totally shot in NY.

Saw it yesterday. Julianne is wonderfully menacing. Kevin Bacon phoned it in, and that Milly Alcock was awful. She is very un appealing. It had some hilarious moments, and was light and well done and entertaining. I think it took place in Rhode Island.

Meghann Fahey was very good. Really. And the household staff. Hilarious. it was a fun series.

It was mid

I watched it and absolutely loved it, very well done. Meghan Fahy is so good and so beautiful- she’s on such an upward trajectory. I hope they do another season.

As for hot guys - I never understood the appeal of Kevin Bacon. He’s craggy-faced. I’d say the boat Captain was the hottest guy.

Meghann Fahey is a really good actress.

Dishy, escapist fun, I’m loving it.

I didnt like it. The cast is good but the writing was bad.

It was a bit of a meandering mess.

Molly Alcock has a cute figure but the teeth and hair are awful. That pee yellow hair color drove me nuts.

And the set design was so cheap! All that teal was certainly a choice.

Sirens is one of those series that makes me mad for having wasted my time watching it. And yet I did. The supporting cast held it together.

Meh. Started out promisingly but got more ridiculous with each episode. Julianne and Meghann were terrific, but the writing was extremely uneven.

My father also had dementia; certainly there were good days and bad days, but Meghann's father would swing from totally lucid to totally gaga depending on the scene, which was completely unbelievable, especially when he was dispensing "sage" wisdom.

I love Josh Segarra, but I'm not sure why his character was in this at all.

And as someone above mentioned, the green screen work was really terrible and distracting at times. The scene where the two sisters were in the hospital waiting room looked like a videogame.

[quote]I love Josh Segarra, but I'm not sure why his character was in this at all.

Plot device because someone had to take care of the dad. The audience would never forgive Devon for leaving her demented father behind to go play rich in a mansion somewhere.

[quote]And as someone above mentioned, the green screen work was really terrible and distracting at times. The scene where the two sisters were in the hospital waiting room looked like a videogame.

I mentioned that and I still refuse to believe that was a real house. I understand it looks off because they cranked the vibrancy all the way up to eleven to emphasise the magical element of it all, but many of those trees were clearly CG. As was the exterior of the house. Just look at those damn roof shingles in the hydrangea scene in the premiere!

This was absolute shit.

I agree that Lauren Weedman was terrific as always. I also agree with R22 about the touches of magical realism. I kept wondering throughout if the central women would turn out to have magical powers, or if it was just the power of the pussy, money and charm that made people do what they wanted.

I love how they commented on Lauren Weedman's Bell's palsy in the show itself. Happened on Hacks as well not even a month ago. That thing's a bitch when you work in a business that sells your face, so I liked that they addressed it and we could all move on.

I started to like it but this went off rails by the end. The tone was all over the place, slapstick comedy one scene, high drama the next, characters bonding one second and hating each other the next.

The actors saved it but very midding, incoherent series.

Weirdest show I have seen in ages. Still digesting it.

Highlight for me. Jenn Lyon saying was previously a nail technician in Florida. (Claws).

I'm happy to see Buffalo, NY getting some flowers in a big time series. Well, if dandelions count.

I have to agree with R40. By the last episode, I was exhausted and confused and didn't really care what happened to any of them.

Most of the cast is what kept me watching - they were all very good in their roles, given what they had to work with. The only one I didn't like was Molly Alcock , who looks like a 15 year old trying to help her mommy throw a party. She didn't come across as one of 'the adults in the room' to me, in any scene. She looked like she was home on summer vacation from prep school.

I was also annoyed with the way they were saying 'quahogs'. As a native RIer, the way Kevin Bacon was saying it is not how you say the word.

I thought the 'island' was supposed to be Block Island, but I guess it was supposed to be Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket (probably the latter), since the cars had MA plates on them.

Kevin Bacon should have run off with the other sister

Was the cook the same character from Looking or was it just a coincidence the actress was the same?

This was enjoyable. Very soapy and all the better for it.

R46, Weedman played "Doris" in Looking and "Patrice" in Sirens. So I don't think she was intended to be the same character.

Oh that poor birdie in the first episode.

That Devon girl is so skeevy.