SIREN – Season 1 Episode 10 – SPOILERS

Helen (Rena Owen) is the last surviving descendant of Charles Pownall and his significant mermaid. Helen explains this shortly before Donna is laid to rest in a well-hidden graveyard, alongside the rest of the aquatic side of the Pownall family. Helen says that she is one-eighth mermaid, and that would make her Charles’ great-granddaughter, so Pownall’s daughter and at least one of his grandchildren must be buried in that cemetery with Donna. There are four tombstones visible when we first see the place, so either there were siblings who did not reproduce, or some humans (possibly husbands or wives) are buried in that place as well.

It would be good to find out the actual names of at least some of the merfolk. Levi and Katrina are names used in the show’s credits, but those names seem too human. Neither Levi nor Katrina are ever referred to by name on the show. None of Pownall’s part-mermaid descendants are named either, and their tombstones have no decipherable inscriptions.

It turns out that Charles Pownall might not always have been such a bad guy. The child he had with the mermaid was born in transition so he took the baby to the Haida, who knew how to help. It seems that his mermaid left him for reasons completely unrelated to the child, and when she did (one might speculate) he was deprived of siren song and went mad. In the mid 1800s there was no way to record sound. Which brings us to the obsessed Dr. Decker, who kills himself by walking into the sea. Sure he wasn’t thinking straight, but why not ask Ryn (or get Ben to ask her) to sing into a microphone instead, so he could listen to the recording at will?

Siren song has a similar effect on Ben. On his boat far from land, he believes he hears Ryn’s call and dives into the water looking for her. Ryn swims out and saves him from drowning. (Another thing that has changed about Ryn is that, when in the water, she no longer sees humans as prey.)

Xander is something of a ladies’ man. In a previous episode, we learned that he once was involved with Maddie Bishop. This time it is revealed that he slept with Janine (Hannah Levien) before Calvin (Curtis Lum) got serious about her. Calvin finds out about this and is not happy. Then Janine tells him: “You’re not a teenager anymore. If you want to live with me, you’ve got to earn some money.” His first action after hearing this is to call a news outlet in Seattle, presumably to offer them a story about mermaids. (Decker’s suicide would lend some credence to such a tale, were Calvin to tell it.)

People in love often do things that are not in their own best interests, even without being exposed to addictive sound. If Curtis ever finds out about the effects of mermaid song, he might make an effort to record the sound, and exploit it commercially.

Heading into Season Two, Maddie and Ben are on a break. Ryn has gone to live with Helen to “make a new life”. The Town Council is threatening to fire Sheriff Bishop because of the recent crime wave. Ben is no longer working for his father’s company (at his dad’s suggestion). The navy is still out there somewhere with nefarious plans for capturing merfolk. And Maddie just got a call from her mother, who vanished nearly a year ago.

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NOTES

Tammy Gillis is Marie Anderson, wife of Dr. Adam Anderson, in VIOLENTIA (formerly “The Pinocchio Project”) a science fiction drama that becomes a discussion of the limits of free will as memory altering nanobots are applied to people’s brains. Dr. Anderson (David Lewis) is a pioneer in the field of nanotechnology, and is trying to cure memory-based cognitive disorders. After losing his funding, he is approached by Dr. Rachel Porter (Emily Holmes), and offered the chance to test his technology on a human subject. The film premiered in April at the Maryland International Film Festival. No word yet on a general release date. A trailer is available on YouTube.

Fola Evans-Akingbola (Maddie) will be Makayla in VS., a drama about a withdrawn foster-teen (Connor Swindells) who is on the brink of self-destruction, but finds his voice in the world of UK battle rap. VS. was directed by Ed Lily and filmed in London last year.

Ron Yuan (Decker) is Ahab in the science fiction thriller WHITE SPACE, an apparent retelling of Moby Dick set in 2150 on a deep space fishing vessel (?) that has been robbed by pirates during the season’s final harvest. With no cargo and few supplies left, the ship comes into contact with a giant, almost extinct creature. The captain becomes obsessed with the notion that this might be the same beast they had encountered before (with disastrous consequences). The Captain’s obsession endangers the ship and precipitates mutiny and betrayal. (Director Ken Locsmandi is the founder of Filmworks/FX, and created visual effects on The Matrix, The Cell, and Fight Club.)

Yuan will also be Sergeant Qiang, second in command of the Imperial Regiment, in Disney’s live action remake of MULAN, the tale of a young Chinese woman who disguises herself as a male warrior to save her father. MULAN has a scheduled release date of 27 March 2020.