December 29, 2025 • 36 mins
This summer we are curating your Lowbrow podcast playlist bringing you the insanely popular and always funny - brutally honest reviews from our friends on The Spill. Enjoy!
Sirens, starring Meghann Fahy, Milly Alcock, and Julianne Moore, has been one of the most-watched TV shows in Australia for the past week, so now it’s time for a brutally honest (and very emotional) review.
From where the story began, how it was adapted for Netflix, and what the cast really went through bringing this story to life on screen (let's just say the main actress lost some toe nails) we’re here to talk through all the behind the scenes stories that will change the way you see Sirens.
We also need to talk about those glaring plot holes in the series, the unexpected scene that gave us chills, Kevin Bacon's villain story, and then unpack exactly what happened in that surprise finale scene, along with why the show needs to come back for a second season.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
So you're listening to a Muma Mia podcast. Mama Mea
acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters that this
podcast is recorded on Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's Laura Brodneck here, host of our pop culture and
entertainment podcast The Spill, and this summer we're curating your
lowbrow playlist, bringing you our brutally honest reviews from the
top TV shows of the year, to the biggest movies
of twenty twenty five, and some of the classics that
shaped us. Every episode is giving you the Spills, completely
(00:39):
unfiltered and real takes. So your summer listening is sorted.
And if you're looking for more to listen to, every
Mumma Mea podcast is curating your summer listening right across
our network. From pop culture to beauty to powerful interviews,
there is something for everyone. Just follow the link in
our show notes from Mamma Mia. Welcome to This Spill,
(01:05):
your daily pop culture fixed. I'm Laura Brodneck and I'm
Cassne look At and welcome to a very special episode
The Spilled. Oh this is the first time we've done
this together because this is a brutally honest review and
it's a brutally honest review of a show that we
know you've all watched. It's been number one in Australia
on Netflix for weeks now. It's very buzzy. It's Sirens
(01:26):
on Netflix.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Now. We did do a weekend watch on this and
this was one of the ones that I was talking
about and I loved it, finished it very very quickly,
so we have a lot to talk about. Yeah, and
it's definitely one of those shows that is perfect for
a brutally honest review exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And if you're new here or you've just, I don't know,
had Anesia or something and you've forgotten. Anesia was always
a big thing in Soapropera's as a kid, so I
always have that front of mine when thinking about life's
big problems. So really honest reviews is where we go
through a TV show or movie, whatever's really buzzy that
everyone's talking about, and we go through the characters, the
plot points, what we loved, what we hated, little secret
(02:05):
behind the scenes things that you might not be aware of.
But we also go very deep into the ending. So
just to note, there will be quite a few spoilers.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
This is this is a spoiler filled episode. Yes, okay,
so Siren, So okay, what we're gonna do is I'm
gonna start off with I'm going to tell you the cast, yes,
and we're going to just talk a bit about the characters.
So first of all, we've got Meghan Faiye as Devon Duatt,
and she is sort of our key character. She kind
of plays she's an alcoholic, she's kind of down in
(02:35):
the dubson a lot. She works like a flufful restaurant.
But she's kind of our key character. You would know
her from like Lotos obviously. Then we've got Millie Alcock
who is Simone DeWitt and she is Devon's sister, So
Simone and Devon's sisters. Simone is Mikayla's personal assistant, so
she is the one that is living on this island.
(02:55):
Mikayla is played by Julianne Moore who we loved, also
known as Kiki, So she's the billionaire. She's Simone's boss.
It kind of the series starts says that kind of
beaning this cult like feeling, and she is the one
who rules them all to use a bit of a
Lord of the Rings preference, and she's a former lawyer.
But the reason she's so wealthy is because she married
(03:18):
Kevin Bacon's character Peter Kel, and he kind of comes
from old money CEO of Kel Securities, and they own
this massive property. They've got all this stuff. Everything is
done and the show kind of plays on over the
course of like a weekend. It's over the course of
a weekend, like.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
A long weekend. It's like Labor Day and Labor.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Day weekend, and Labor Day in America is like this
big deal, like don't wear white after Labor Day. Like
I never really understood that. I don't know. I think
it's that's a rabbit hole we don't need to go down.
But basically it's set on this island, set over a weekend.
The first episode is kind of really culty. It feels
very like almost white loadus see Big Little Liesy, which
(04:04):
is what I said it now sort of weekend watch.
But it's based on a play, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Syence is created by Molly Smith Meltzer, and she's you know,
she wrote the show. She's the creator, executive producer. It's
basically her baby and Sirens on Netflix is actually based
on her twenty eleven play Elementop and the story pretty
much follows the TV show, except that in the stage play,
I believe that Devon's character just comes to visit her
(04:29):
sister and it doesn't have as kind of much the
dark intrigue that we see in the Netflix series. Do
you know what I love about this though, is Molly
Smith Meltzer has created this play twoy and eleven and
it wasn't like it was a massive run on Broadway
or anything.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
This play was in like some small towns. She's now
created it into this hit Netflix TV show, so like Bravo,
because she really nailed it this series. Is I really
enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, I loved it as well. And I feel like
you can tell when something's been adapted from a play
rather than a book or like an old movie or something,
because the dialogue is so and obviously with a play,
especially like a small play like this, Apparently they only
had one set for the play, so it's only in
the guest house, and it's people coming in and out
of the guest house, so the dialogue has to carry
the entire story. And I think that's why the dialogue
(05:19):
in the show is so snappy and smart and emotive,
and there's not a lot of big stunts or there's
a lot of big set pieces, and it's not overly physical.
It's basically just the dialogue back and forth.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I kind of want to start with like the relationship
between the sister, yeah, which.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Is so beautifully set up in the first episode. So
you have Devn's character. And I kind of love this
for Megan Fahi because we first got to know her
as Sutton in The Bold Type and she's a fashion girl,
she's glam, she's gorgeous, and then we got to know
her again and White Lotus playing Daphne, where she's glam
and gorgeous, and then in the movie horror movie Drop,
(05:53):
she is most of the time just wearing a velvet jumpsuit,
so she's all glam and beautiful on mat So this
is the first time we've seen her be like the
bad girl, wrong side of the tracks, messed up kind
of character.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I think she does a really nuanced job of playing
because she is playing an alcoholic but in a very
and I'm going to use quotes here, a quote unquote
functional alcoholic way, and that's kind of a really big
part of her story. Is like she's kind of at
home with her father who's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He's
(06:26):
deteriorating quick quickly. She's using that as a way to help,
you know, soothe herself. Her sister was you know, basically
the reason that Simone left this family and hasn't spoken
to her father in ten years is because of the
way her mother died, and so the relationship between the
(06:49):
sisters is tense, but there's also Devon being almost replacing
that motherly role, but Simone dealing with her trauma in
a very different way by kind of wanting to detach
herself from it exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
And it's such an interesting set up of this dynamic
because you sort of see Devin this messed up well.
And then she comes home and there's the edible fruit
basket on the front steps of this like sort of
dark and dingy suburban home they're living in, and she
just snaps and decides to travel like nearly twenty four
hours to where someone's working. And I think when you
kind of get the idea of that this is more
(07:24):
a dark comedy than a mystery, is that first scene
on the fairy. You know she's going over, she's got
the fruit basket, and the guy who works on the
fairy says to her like you can't smoke, and she's like, well,
I'm going to have to put something in my mouth
and goes in the back and gives him a blue job.
But I think that's what you know, this is going
to be a special show.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
That was a great line, great line, and then she
is kind of this like care free chick and the
first few episodes. I think initially when you go into this,
you're like, this is about a coult. This is about
getting a girl out of a colt. But it becomes
something very very different to that, because I thought when
(08:02):
I first started watching it, I was like, this is
going to be like a very formula, like this person's evil.
Like I wasn't expect the way that it started to
pan out, and it happens quite slowly considering it's only
a five part series.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, I mean I wonder if that's because, like it
was obviously a certain thing when it was a stage play,
and then I think she sold it in a time
where people really want these kind of mystery box TV shows,
which I think when you go into Sirens, you think
it's that classic mystery box there's going to be like
the whole point of the show is to unravel like
who is the murderer, who is the dead body, and
(08:38):
something we've seen happen with shows like White Lotus. But
the more you watch Sirens, you're like, oh, it's not
supposed about the mystery. They've used that as like a
marketing hook. It's not supposed to be about who's evil
and who's the it's who's done something.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
It's meant to be a character study. Well, because in
like the third episode, and this is again we're only
like halfway through the third episode, Simone has this dream about,
you know, her boyfriend being impaled on these sticks and
then she runs and the whole first like I would say,
two and a half three episodes, is all about it's
really setting you up for Mikayla. Kiki is a murderer.
(09:12):
This is a cult, and all of these women are
like there is some special power. You know. The scene
where she like she gets like knocked out and then
she like kind of comes to it's like welcome, We're
gonna take you shopping.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, that's an It's really like all these mister x
through it, and they really set that up. When Devon
first arrives at this like palatial mansion.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I know.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
I so this one we talked about previously, but the
VISal comedy there from Meghan Fayhe is incredible. When she's
like that scene of her like stumbling down with this
fruit basket that's now in tatters and like lying on
the ground and drinking out of the hose, and when
she and Simone have their first meeting and just they
really hold the camera there for a long time with
these two sisters because I think they're trying to show you, like,
(09:53):
like how different their worlds are. Because Devin looks like
a mess, but she looked like a mess we first
got to meet her, and she's also slumped over her
shoulders a hunch. It's such a different way for Meghan
Fayhey to stand. And then Millie Oldcock's character Simone is
like so pristine, looks like a Stepford wife steps and
why and like she's holding her shoulders back and she's
and her arms are so rigid by her side, and
(10:15):
they just like they look like two completely different beings
who shouldn't even know each other. So the fact that
their sisters really sets up the kind of the drama
from that, and.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
We kind of get in those first couple of episodes,
this really wounded bird and is you from Simone, which
shifts so drastically as the show progresses. This is this
is my sister. I didn't know you existed, trust me,
so and are very close? And why didn't she tell
me about you? Where are your tattoos? I remove them?
(10:46):
Are imagine sister tattoo? Keithy said trashy MIKAELA bitch has
her talent so deep in your brainy that you can't
even tell you're in trouble. This is the happiest I've
ever been. Well, you've got to get out of here.
Let's talk a little b about Kevin Bacon.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yes, because you know, a good show always has Kevin Bacon.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
I love Kevin Baker.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, he's good guy, plays the same character and everything.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
But no, but I think he's good in this so,
I mean initially again, he's kind of it seems like
he is just going along for the ride, like he's
the one that he doesn't really like what Julianne Moore,
what Kiky's doing. He's not really into the whole vibe
of it. He's like smoking joints up in his little house.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Even though it's his home and his friends, his life,
and his every staff, his.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Key, very key, his staff. There is this whole thing
that like he's the chill one, and then that sort
of starts to like shift and change. And for me,
the moment that I realized that there was going to
be something different with Kevin Bacon was when they went
(12:00):
clamming and then he kind of sense his sexual tension
between him and Simon. That was the moment for me
where I was like, something's off with this.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, well that's the thing is like it's always the
classic kind of oh, I'm a good guy. I'm like
the you know, I'm one with my staff and the
people and stuff. And they do kind of set him
up from the beginning like he's cheating on her, and
you do think that that's a pretty expected thing from
a storyline like that, especially knowing how these two characters
got together that started cheating. And then obviously the reveal
goes on that he's visiting his family, so they sort
(12:31):
of try and circumvent that whole thing of like him
being the good guy. And then you know, when we
talk about the ending, we'll get into that because at
the end of the day, he does come across as
the villain to an extent.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
One hundred percent, but the way it's been set up
is that he's just like this easy going dude. Yeah,
there is something really interesting about it when you know
they're talking about the brain up, and you know, the
only way that Julianne Moore can get out with any money,
Kiki can get out with any money is if there
is cheating involved. So there's almost this point where it's
(13:02):
like she's like, I kind of want him to be
cheating on me, and I need to find evidence of it.
And then there's the clamming thing and he kisses her,
and that's for me when it all shifted. Oh really,
that's when I was like, Kiki's protecting herself. She's trying
to find a way out without being Yes, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
I got in a different way where she was so
kind of like wanting to stay in this marriage, but
she she was so aware that she had got him
in this way of like him cheating with her first,
so she's so aware of him cheating and kind of
ruining this perfect life on the outside they've created. And
then I thought it was in the prenup. It was
like she only gets money if they had children, but
she never had children, so she's really got no safety
(13:45):
net without him. But it's so funny because that obviously
comes later in the show. In the first part of
the show, you'll really led to believe that she is
this cult leader and actually, this is what kind of
this was kind of one of the bad parts of
the show. I thought they were so wanting to lean
into this idea of like, did she murder his ex wife?
Is she a cult leader? Does she have like magical
mind control powers? Is she drugging people? Is this like
(14:06):
an offshoot of Nine Perfect Strangers. There are some things
that are like a little bit unexplained in terms of like.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, I think that the one Meghan Vey wakes up
in the car. Yeah, and then like when she's kind
of hypnotized. Because if you don't know what the mythology
of a siren is, which I'm sure you would, it's
it's they are like mermaid like creatures that sing to
sailors basically to lure them to their deaths. You know that,
is that the mythology of a siren. So even the
(14:34):
title of the show is implicating the insinuating that these
women have this kind of power over men, and there
is that scene when they're all getting dressed up and
it's like, well, you look into your power and they're
all talking at the same time, and you know, I
used to be a nail tech, but now I've got
this rich husband. So it's almost like this cult of
(14:57):
finding a rich husband.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, exactly, And it's that a whole thing of like
that play on Sirens is like almost quite literal in
a way. That's interesting because at first you meant to
think that Kiki is like that traditional siren and she's
got this control over her husband to lure him away
from his wife, and she's got control over everyone who's
in the house, and she uses it on Devon's character
and kind of like almost has like memory loss. But
(15:19):
mostly you're meant to think that she has it over Simon.
And I think the way that they said their relationship
is interesting because you're meant to think that they have
this inappropriate relationship and like not sexual. I mean maybe
some people thought that. I guess the whole idea is
that you're not meant to know that it was almost
like this kind of like she had the power over
her that she had like forsaken her family and like
mistaken her life, and you think that there's something more
(15:41):
sinister happening behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah, and I think it was that, you know that.
I think it was one of the first episodes when
they like sleeping in the bed together.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah, that was a weird moment.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
No, But I mean, on reflection, I think I understand
where that all came from. But basically we're kind of
talking about like a very close relationship between a boss
and her pa. Yeah, knew.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
What was weirder than the bed scene was the first
moment I was like, what is this show? Is when
they were going into the party and Kiki goes, how's
my breath? And Smo goes, it's perfect, how's my breath?
And She's like, oh, not great, take my gum and
she pulled the gum. Kiki pulls the gum out of
her mouth and puts in Simone's mouth and Simone chooses it,
and I'm like, why is that the dirtiest thing I've
ever seen?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
I know, you're a bit of a gem.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I would have died.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I mean, I definitely wouldn't do something like that.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
But that's a very intimate theory that usually only like
people in like a sexual relationship, and I wouldn't do
that with my husband, yeah, because don't share gum.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I don't gum with hair.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I don't know what married people do, but I just
know your gum back. But it's a very intimate thing,
like even best friends wouldn't do that, let alone. I
have it in my kids half masticated food. I mean
that's just survival, right, Yeah, that's different. So that's okay,
we'll give that a pass. And also the fact that
she did that, Simon doesn't even flinch. She actually looks grateful.
It's almost like a mother bird. It's like the symbolism
of like a mother bird feed and Simone looking at
(16:58):
her with like love, like thank you for taking care
of me. And that was the first moment in the
pilot where I was like, oh, something is really weird
with this show.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Okay, but what about so I kind of picked up
on Kevin Bacon bit like kind of shady, yeah, and
I started to feel but I didn't start to feel
any empathy for Kiki until like almost like the last episode.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, it's different because for so long there she does
feel like the manipulator and you never feel maybe other
people did, but I never feel really kind of empathy
for her throughout the show, maybe because she always looks
like so unflappable and everything is perfect, and she's this
kind of crazy person, and I think all of your empathy,
it's like it changes during the show. Like the first
part of the show, all your empathy goes to Devin,
(17:40):
because she's obviously in a terrible place where she's battling alcoholism.
She's looking after her father who has dementia and is
like losing all his memories and having to be a carer.
She's lost her sister who she gave up her life
to look after. And she also has this kind of
interesting situation where she's replaced alcohol because she's trying to
be sober. She's replaced it with intimacy and sex with Mex,
(18:02):
which keeps then manifesting in like these different ways where
in the first half it's almost like she's the siren
in a way too, because she's luring like her ex
boyfriend who she's hooking up with her boss, like luring
him away from his wife to do her bidding. And
then she goes into the hotel and she lures like
the guy who is the captain of the ship and
they and again.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Not so subtle like linked to a siren because captains
of boats exactly, sailors were the ones that got Lord
Gar because then if they got they were sung. They
lured to the rocks and then there were chips would
crash and then they would all exactly. So it's that idea.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
It's very literal the manipulation of men. And even when
she's in the guest house and she goes to have
a drink and you see her battling, and then she
goes out and finds the gardener and hooks up with him,
and it's almost like, and I kind of wish that
storyline had come to an end or ahead or something
not that expected that she would be like, Oh, I'm
so cute of my sex a diction. Now I'm like, yeah,
a better person.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
There's definitely a couple of threads that I think could
still be explored. Yeah, as we move through the episode,
we've everything is kind of building up to this garlict
to her eyes, and at the gala dinner, everybody's like
things start to kind of really go awry. Yes, Kiki
has this photo of Simone and Kevin Bacon also I'm
(19:23):
never gonna call him just Kevin. He's Kevin Bacon always.
There's a photo of him, and she puts it, you know,
in a safe and she's like, this is my security. Yes,
and then there's like all this stuff. She fires Simone.
Simone gets kicked off. She's like devastated leading up to
this girl. Everybody gets kicked out, and then Kevin Bacon
(19:48):
figures all of this out. Yeah, comes and it's kind
of bad.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah. The Simone character is really interesting because I guess
she she's the one really who's holding in maybe more
secrets than the others because Devon's like all out on
the table. She said everything, like she says, everything comes
into her head. So she's never hiding anything really except
from herself turmoil. And then Julianne Moore's character Kiki, like
you're meant to think that she's hiding something, but as
the show goes along, you're like, I don't know. Everyone
(20:12):
in this place knows her entire backstory. There's no kind
of mystery there. But it's really Simone's character that has
been again almost a siren of like she calls everyone
in to like not just manipulate, but like take care
of her wounded bird. Yeah, the whole wounded bird. And
like we see little dead birds in this, so it's
like as he takes in these wounded birds, she also
takes in Simone, and you kind of see Simone's story
(20:34):
change in this really interesting way, and you see all
the lies she's told about, like her mother being First
of all, she's saying her mother died in.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
A car accident.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
To find out this horrific thing of her mother tried
to kill herself, well did kill herself, but had her
in the car and all the stuff that happens. And
I think it's such an interesting performance from Millie ol'cock,
who is an Australian actress who first rose to prominence
in that show with Tim Minton upright, She's so good
in that, and then went to be on House of
the Dragon and she's also starring a Supergirl soon and
(21:02):
I think it's kind of interesting. I was watching a
whole bunch of interviews with Millie and I thought it
so interesting that she said this is the first time
she's ever really lost herself in a character, and that
it kind of rebuilt her confidence as an actress because
when she was on House of the Dragon on her
first few days of filming that show. She's this young
Australian actress who's all of a sudden on like the
(21:23):
biggest TV show in the world, and she thought she
was doing a good job. And then she said one
of the higher ups came over to her and pulled
her aside during filming and said, don't worry, We're going
to get you an acting coach, and just kind of, well, God,
that makes you feel so sick, right, and just like
imagine also like you're already filming, like how would you
then go on? And like, do you know what I
wish she did go on?
Speaker 1 (21:43):
I think that all of the performances are really nuanced,
which is really nice. And as it progresses, it's not
like big twist, but there is you start to see
these flickers, these little injections of a change is in
character exactly. And again for me with Kiki, it kind
of started around, it didn't really show itself right until
(22:06):
the end. But there was this moment when Simon and
Devon's dad comes and he's got dementia and he kind
of thinks that Kiki is his ex wife who kills
himself and they're dancing together, and it's this kind of
you don't know whether like I actually had this weird
(22:26):
thought where I was like, oh, is she actually the mother?
Oh my god, I thought that too. Was she actually
the mom? Or is she remembering that he was the mom?
And the whole secret is that she never died and
she had like this health face. Anyway, I don't know
where my head.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
You know why this is because why we went that
way is because we can't just watch a TV show anymore.
We're so looking for plot twists. Yeah, and mystery that
whole mystery box TV element, and you're like, wait a second,
So she's just a confused rich woman. That can't be
the twist.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
No, I was like, she just had like some like
like has run away and the girls are actually her daughters,
And this is like, Yeah, I had this weird.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Me too, because when I wrote some great fan fiction
it was very like a very split sack.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I kind of started to realize it was because he
obviously had dementia. But I saw this again that it's
in the nuance of Julianne Moore's performance of vulnerability because
she couldn't have her own children. She was saying, I
tribe any times, and we kept losing them, and I
was like, huh, there's something here, like you aren't you
(23:28):
aren't evil.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah, you're just Yeah, we're looking for a villain. It's weird.
There's not really even Kevin Bacon, I think.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
The villain.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Yeah, I mean he's just an entitled white man who needs,
always needs a younger woman to look after him as
the vibe. And then I thought, also interesting, as we
go through the show, like everyone, like obviously, Devon has
a bit of a physical transformation where she starts becoming
a bit more of that. Well, initially she does it
to go under cover like that kind of becomes like
a step Ford wife, but then at the end of
the show she's almost settled into that world where she's
(23:58):
trying to get back to the person she was, and
then you see you sort of Juliane Moore's character also
go through like a bit of a physical transformation when
she has her wealth taken away from her. But I
thought Milli Olco character like Simon, also goes through one
because her physicality is so interesting. It's so rigid throughout
the show, and then as her trauma keeps coming out,
you can see she gets loose with how she moves,
(24:20):
and then every time they do those big scenes of
her running down the beach, Like there's so many scenes
where she's running and crying and that's meant to kind
of almost jolt you out of the story from the filmmakers. Yeah,
apparently they film that so many times that she ripped
her toenails off, so now she has no toenails.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So just think of that.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
I rewatched that, Laura. I was like, no, I just
wanted people to know what the woman went throughails.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Oh my god, and she's got to be a supergirl.
That's too much for one human. But I thought it
was really interesting again, so so nuanced and really lovely,
lovely acting where she kind of her sisters like going,
I need to get you out of here. I need
to get you out of here, and she's going, I've
spotted my chance.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah exactly, I've.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Found my inn and the shoulders go up. The next
goes on and she kind of morphs, she morphs into
the Siren. For me, the best part of it, my
favorite favorite bit is like one of the final scenes
where it's Julianne Moore and Meghan Fayye on the boat.
(25:28):
They sitting next to each other. It's Devin and Kiki
and they're talking. Everything stripped back and it's like, you know,
I survived many years until I became the monster. Devin goes,
You're not a monster here he goes, and neither is she.
And I thought that was like they were molded. It's
(25:48):
like you live long enough to go from being the
hero to the villain, and that is kind of where
I see maybe this potential for a season two. So
I don't know if I've gone off on a complete thing,
but for me, that was like a really key scene,
Like I really took a lot from that particular.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Saying, oh yeah, I'm And the ending is by like
today's normal TV standards of people wanting like a big
shoot out at the end or a huge twist or
a dead body, like when the rich neighbor who wants
to marry snow and the creepy old guy falls off
the cliff. You're like, okay, here's our murder. This is
what like me And Faihi even says now that she
only stars and shows and movies that have a beach
and a body, and yeah, that's a good niche to
be in right now, because that's what we want, and
(26:30):
then you keep waiting for this murder mystery or this
cult It never eventuates, and what eventuates is more of
this character study, which shouldn't be shocking, but it feels
shocking in today's time.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I think it actually surprised me in a really nice way.
I think I actually preferred the show because it doesn't
become this classic cult story, which I love, like a
mother cult story. I did want to hold a little
Colt Sockos like my old time favor is like a
lover of cult love, like hearing about it all. But
what the show does do is create nuance and when
(27:04):
to walk away from someone. Because Devon eventually does have
to walk away from a sister. She's like, I, as
hard as I can, You've chosen your path. And Simone
isn't this little wounded bird. She is capable of making
her decisions. And the decision she makes is to take
on this rich man and become the mother of the household,
(27:27):
like the leader of the household.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yes, the main terms of the household. Yeah, and yeah,
that that's an interesting ending because you have all these
little bombs going off quickly, and up until that moment,
I will say I feel like the storyline was going
around a little bit in circles.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I was like, okay, it's like this conversation that we've
been having.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
The bits, we're getting into the end now because we did.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Because that's not that's no I know, it's the show itself.
It is not a linear thing.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
So much going around and then all of a sudden
you're coming back like in the last episode, and it's
going back to season one one, like it's back and forth.
And so as much as I did love all the
little kind of out the side stories, devon being in
the drunk tank was my favorite because the girl who
was in there with her calling her Kevin. I was like,
I'm sorry, why is this the funniest scene in the
whole show? So you have all these little side vintage.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
There's like a lot of side questions. It does really
like throw you. But the crux of it for me
and I think it makes it so much more Again,
I think this comes from the fact that it was
it came from a play.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yes, play is a.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Really well known for being a little bit more. I'm
going to use the word nuanced again because I don't
actually have thesaurus with me, and I can't find another
word for it. It works. It is really like these
characters really are very complex, and maybe there is no
Gordon Evil, even though Kevin Bacon turns out to be
a complete f wik And but yeah, I feel like
(28:46):
that you know she's not You're not a monster like that.
I love that so much that that Julianne Moore stripped
back and it's like you're not a monster.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, Like I actually really loved that, And I feel
like that a lot of these little bombshells that come
in here, and she is so good, so powerful, and
after going around in circles for a little bit, then
all of a sudden, we have all these little shells
that come out in like a very quick amount of time.
So we have that scene where Devon's and the Gala
and she's like, I know you killed his ex wife,
and you have that reveal from Juliana Moure being like
(29:19):
she's disfigured and she lives alone. The interesting thing is
if you watch that scene back, I think the first
time you're watching it and you're really centered on Devin
and Kekey, as you should because they're having this big reveal,
but as if you watch it back a second time,
and you see everyone in the background who's at the
gala reacting. They look a little shocked by the yelling,
but when she talks of the ex wife, they all
(29:39):
kind of look down. And it's what people have been
doing all the way through the show. But because our
minds are so attuned to murder, we keep thinking everyone's
looking down because they know she's murdered, But they're actually
looking down because I know that not only is she
kind of living this isolated life, she's been shunned by
this fancy society, and that to them is worse than
being murdered. They're like, oh god, she should have been murdered.
Now she's living alone.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Like, I know what could be worse?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I know that bombshell.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
And then we have like the big reveal of Samoon
in that beautiful blue dress. Yeah, sorry, she looks so
I was stunning in that. That was a like, I
know it's not really there is quite a lot of
fashion in this, yeah, but that fashion is good. That blue,
this like gorgeous silk gown. Again, like the ocean. I'm
thinking the ocean.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And also the idea the way it's cut in the
Fall of the Silk is like that very old school mythology,
like Greek mythology. With gown, we've got a Grecian like kind,
which is where so much of this is coming from.
And I think what's interesting too, is that Millie o'clock
and Meghan Faikey said that they filmed the first couple
of episodes and they didn't actually know what was going
to happen until they had filmed most of the show.
(30:43):
So Millie's saying all the way through, she doesn't know
what's happening to Simone. Obviously she didn't see elementop either,
so she doesn't know where Simone's gonna end up. So
she said it was quite shocking for her when she
realized where the character was going and the fact that
she was going to have this big plot twist. And
but the thing is, I don't I'm interested in your
thoughts on this. I think you can watch it and
think that she planned and manipulated that situation. Whereas where
(31:06):
she's telling Devin about it, she was like, and then
he was on the each I went to walk away
and he stopped me, and it's like her eyes glaze
over and she's transferred the adoration she had for Kiki
over to Kevin Bacon. So she didn't plan it. She
just is so desperate for someone to take care of her.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I think she didn't plan it, but then I think
she saw the opportunity and took her.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Oh yeah yeah, and then was like, let me help you,
ausked key.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Yeah. So it's like when she, like I think, once
she sort of realizes, ah, this is my way back again.
That's another traumal response. And I agree with you. Yeah, like, Okay,
Keikey's not gonna take care of me, but this guy
might even though.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
A dunk you when you start to look old exactly well,
I meanly she's in an early twenties there, so she's
got a way to go. But yeah, it's the transference
of adoration. And I think also that's why when when
you see Devon hearing what Simone's saying and now we're
together and all the stuff, you see Devon's face just
for and you see them realization, man can fay her
face acting out of this world.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Nuance so much yours.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
It's like that scene from the finale of Whitelaw where
she plays Daphne, where you see this moment where she
realizes that her husband and her new friend cheated on her,
and she calculates in this one second of what she's
going to do, and it's a slight turn of her face.
She does it again here where she's like, Oh, I
came to save you from a cult, but now that
I know that you're just so lost that you throw
on yourself with this man, I just have to let
(32:28):
you go because I can't save you from I'll save
you from danger, but I can't save you from this
hopelessness you're stuck in. Yeah, And I think otherwise she
would never have left her there. That's why she leaves.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
So then we've got the final scene. Simone's on the
cliff in that beautiful blue gown, and you know, I
know that we talked a lot about like this just
being a limited series, and again, based off lay, it
should just be one series. I do, however, think there
is room for a season two depending on how well
this does. Yeah, I mean, look, it's done very well.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
And I also think like at first it was kind
of marketing almost just like kind of like shlocky Netflix drama,
and like there's definitely moments of that, but I think
especially the end scene where you see like especially got
going back to your favorite moment of them on the
boat and that moment from Julianne Moore's character Kiki, and
also that she's stripped away. She doesn't have the beautiful
hair and makeup.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
She's like jewels.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
She's not wearing the jewel tones or the neutrals. She
just looks like someone who had to like jump on
a barge and make her way in the world. And
she's so kind of dressed down, but she gives this
beautiful performance. I feel like that's I can just imagine
Julian more reading the script and that being the scene
that said I'm gonna take this. It's like how Meryl
Streep only said yes to doing The Devil Wears Prada
(33:38):
when she read the scene of her in the hotel
room with no makeup. She's like, She's like, unless you
have that scene, all of the big, beautiful, glamorous, etherel
scenes don't make sense. And I feel like that's why
julian would have taken this and resonated so well with people.
I feel like, I know when I first watched it,
I was like, no, no, that's good, what and done?
It's fine. But I also think that I mean, I
would love to see if we can, like have if
(33:59):
we can continue our fan fiction that we both had
from the start of this where we were concocting all
these side plots in our heads.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Okay, because you saw how excited the staff were when
they knew Simon was leading.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Yeah, yeah, my babe. Route text about her is the
funniest thing.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
This is the thing. This is the thing. Like I think, yes,
it would be fine if it was just one season
that the story could happily end there. However, honestly, honestly,
I really feel like there are so many places that
this could go. There could be a little bit more
about Devon finding herself, working through her trauma, a little
bit more the dementia, maybe finding a little bit more clarity,
(34:34):
looking maybe at Kiki finding herself again as a lawyer
because she was a lawyer, perhaps maybe taking legal action,
trying to find some finding herself again rather than just
being the wife of a rich man. And then there's
also like the way that the new mistress of the house,
(34:55):
how does Simone take over this island? Is she going
to get pregnant, I'm going to have baby? Is there
so much there?
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I think Kiki comes back again without fan casting that
she has gone off become a very successful woman. She's
made all this money. She comes back and she like
buys half of the island or she buys the bird Sanctuary.
So then she and Kevin Bacon are trying to figure
out it's like a war of power there. And then
they're having a big event because it's Labor Day weekend,
but it's also the christening of simoone and Kevin Bacon's
(35:22):
baby with the christening party, and then Devin gets pulled
back because Kiki blackmails her and gets her to come
back to try and pull her sister out, and hilarity
and dramma in suit.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Yes, there's definitely room for it exactly, but we've done
the word in Spain. This is I really really loved
this show. Not what you expect, definitely not like a
classic cult thing you definitely there's so many little like
a couple of times where I was like, I would
like to see that fleshed out a little bit more.
But I really enjoyed that it was such a character
(35:54):
based and complex characters. They weren't one dimensional. All of
these characters have so much depth, layering, nuance.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yes, we love that Saren's on Netflix. What a fun time.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Thanks for listening to the Spill today. Don't forget to
follow the Spill on TikTok. The Spill is produced by
minisia Is Warren with sound production by Scott Stronik Momome
at Studios at Style, with furniture from Fenton and Fenton.
Visit Fenton and Fenton dot com dot au. We'll see
you back here in your podcast speed on Monday at
three pm. Bye bye, Blan
So you're listening to a Muma Mia podcast. Mama Mea
acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters that this
podcast is recorded on Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's Laura Brodneck here, host of our pop culture and
entertainment podcast The Spill, and this summer we're curating your
lowbrow playlist, bringing you our brutally honest reviews from the
top TV shows of the year, to the biggest movies
of twenty twenty five, and some of the classics that
shaped us. Every episode is giving you the Spills, completely
(00:39):
unfiltered and real takes. So your summer listening is sorted.
And if you're looking for more to listen to, every
Mumma Mea podcast is curating your summer listening right across
our network. From pop culture to beauty to powerful interviews,
there is something for everyone. Just follow the link in
our show notes from Mamma Mia. Welcome to This Spill,
(01:05):
your daily pop culture fixed. I'm Laura Brodneck and I'm
Cassne look At and welcome to a very special episode
The Spilled. Oh this is the first time we've done
this together because this is a brutally honest review and
it's a brutally honest review of a show that we
know you've all watched. It's been number one in Australia
on Netflix for weeks now. It's very buzzy. It's Sirens
(01:26):
on Netflix.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Now. We did do a weekend watch on this and
this was one of the ones that I was talking
about and I loved it, finished it very very quickly,
so we have a lot to talk about. Yeah, and
it's definitely one of those shows that is perfect for
a brutally honest review exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And if you're new here or you've just, I don't know,
had Anesia or something and you've forgotten. Anesia was always
a big thing in Soapropera's as a kid, so I
always have that front of mine when thinking about life's
big problems. So really honest reviews is where we go
through a TV show or movie, whatever's really buzzy that
everyone's talking about, and we go through the characters, the
plot points, what we loved, what we hated, little secret
(02:05):
behind the scenes things that you might not be aware of.
But we also go very deep into the ending. So
just to note, there will be quite a few spoilers.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
This is this is a spoiler filled episode. Yes, okay,
so Siren, So okay, what we're gonna do is I'm
gonna start off with I'm going to tell you the cast, yes,
and we're going to just talk a bit about the characters.
So first of all, we've got Meghan Faiye as Devon Duatt,
and she is sort of our key character. She kind
of plays she's an alcoholic, she's kind of down in
(02:35):
the dubson a lot. She works like a flufful restaurant.
But she's kind of our key character. You would know
her from like Lotos obviously. Then we've got Millie Alcock
who is Simone DeWitt and she is Devon's sister, So
Simone and Devon's sisters. Simone is Mikayla's personal assistant, so
she is the one that is living on this island.
(02:55):
Mikayla is played by Julianne Moore who we loved, also
known as Kiki, So she's the billionaire. She's Simone's boss.
It kind of the series starts says that kind of
beaning this cult like feeling, and she is the one
who rules them all to use a bit of a
Lord of the Rings preference, and she's a former lawyer.
But the reason she's so wealthy is because she married
(03:18):
Kevin Bacon's character Peter Kel, and he kind of comes
from old money CEO of Kel Securities, and they own
this massive property. They've got all this stuff. Everything is
done and the show kind of plays on over the
course of like a weekend. It's over the course of
a weekend, like.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
A long weekend. It's like Labor Day and Labor.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Day weekend, and Labor Day in America is like this
big deal, like don't wear white after Labor Day. Like
I never really understood that. I don't know. I think
it's that's a rabbit hole we don't need to go down.
But basically it's set on this island, set over a weekend.
The first episode is kind of really culty. It feels
very like almost white loadus see Big Little Liesy, which
(04:04):
is what I said it now sort of weekend watch.
But it's based on a play, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Syence is created by Molly Smith Meltzer, and she's you know,
she wrote the show. She's the creator, executive producer. It's
basically her baby and Sirens on Netflix is actually based
on her twenty eleven play Elementop and the story pretty
much follows the TV show, except that in the stage play,
I believe that Devon's character just comes to visit her
(04:29):
sister and it doesn't have as kind of much the
dark intrigue that we see in the Netflix series. Do
you know what I love about this though, is Molly
Smith Meltzer has created this play twoy and eleven and
it wasn't like it was a massive run on Broadway
or anything.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
This play was in like some small towns. She's now
created it into this hit Netflix TV show, so like Bravo,
because she really nailed it this series. Is I really
enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, I loved it as well. And I feel like
you can tell when something's been adapted from a play
rather than a book or like an old movie or something,
because the dialogue is so and obviously with a play,
especially like a small play like this, Apparently they only
had one set for the play, so it's only in
the guest house, and it's people coming in and out
of the guest house, so the dialogue has to carry
the entire story. And I think that's why the dialogue
(05:19):
in the show is so snappy and smart and emotive,
and there's not a lot of big stunts or there's
a lot of big set pieces, and it's not overly physical.
It's basically just the dialogue back and forth.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I kind of want to start with like the relationship
between the sister, yeah, which.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Is so beautifully set up in the first episode. So
you have Devn's character. And I kind of love this
for Megan Fahi because we first got to know her
as Sutton in The Bold Type and she's a fashion girl,
she's glam, she's gorgeous, and then we got to know
her again and White Lotus playing Daphne, where she's glam
and gorgeous, and then in the movie horror movie Drop,
(05:53):
she is most of the time just wearing a velvet jumpsuit,
so she's all glam and beautiful on mat So this
is the first time we've seen her be like the
bad girl, wrong side of the tracks, messed up kind
of character.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I think she does a really nuanced job of playing
because she is playing an alcoholic but in a very
and I'm going to use quotes here, a quote unquote
functional alcoholic way, and that's kind of a really big
part of her story. Is like she's kind of at
home with her father who's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He's
(06:26):
deteriorating quick quickly. She's using that as a way to help,
you know, soothe herself. Her sister was you know, basically
the reason that Simone left this family and hasn't spoken
to her father in ten years is because of the
way her mother died, and so the relationship between the
(06:49):
sisters is tense, but there's also Devon being almost replacing
that motherly role, but Simone dealing with her trauma in
a very different way by kind of wanting to detach
herself from it exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
And it's such an interesting set up of this dynamic
because you sort of see Devin this messed up well.
And then she comes home and there's the edible fruit
basket on the front steps of this like sort of
dark and dingy suburban home they're living in, and she
just snaps and decides to travel like nearly twenty four
hours to where someone's working. And I think when you
kind of get the idea of that this is more
(07:24):
a dark comedy than a mystery, is that first scene
on the fairy. You know she's going over, she's got
the fruit basket, and the guy who works on the
fairy says to her like you can't smoke, and she's like, well,
I'm going to have to put something in my mouth
and goes in the back and gives him a blue job.
But I think that's what you know, this is going
to be a special show.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
That was a great line, great line, and then she
is kind of this like care free chick and the
first few episodes. I think initially when you go into this,
you're like, this is about a coult. This is about
getting a girl out of a colt. But it becomes
something very very different to that, because I thought when
(08:02):
I first started watching it, I was like, this is
going to be like a very formula, like this person's evil.
Like I wasn't expect the way that it started to
pan out, and it happens quite slowly considering it's only
a five part series.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, I mean I wonder if that's because, like it
was obviously a certain thing when it was a stage play,
and then I think she sold it in a time
where people really want these kind of mystery box TV shows,
which I think when you go into Sirens, you think
it's that classic mystery box there's going to be like
the whole point of the show is to unravel like
who is the murderer, who is the dead body, and
(08:38):
something we've seen happen with shows like White Lotus. But
the more you watch Sirens, you're like, oh, it's not
supposed about the mystery. They've used that as like a
marketing hook. It's not supposed to be about who's evil
and who's the it's who's done something.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
It's meant to be a character study. Well, because in
like the third episode, and this is again we're only
like halfway through the third episode, Simone has this dream about,
you know, her boyfriend being impaled on these sticks and
then she runs and the whole first like I would say,
two and a half three episodes, is all about it's
really setting you up for Mikayla. Kiki is a murderer.
(09:12):
This is a cult, and all of these women are
like there is some special power. You know. The scene
where she like she gets like knocked out and then
she like kind of comes to it's like welcome, We're
gonna take you shopping.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, that's an It's really like all these mister x
through it, and they really set that up. When Devon
first arrives at this like palatial mansion.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I know.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
I so this one we talked about previously, but the
VISal comedy there from Meghan Fayhe is incredible. When she's
like that scene of her like stumbling down with this
fruit basket that's now in tatters and like lying on
the ground and drinking out of the hose, and when
she and Simone have their first meeting and just they
really hold the camera there for a long time with
these two sisters because I think they're trying to show you, like,
(09:53):
like how different their worlds are. Because Devin looks like
a mess, but she looked like a mess we first
got to meet her, and she's also slumped over her
shoulders a hunch. It's such a different way for Meghan
Fayhey to stand. And then Millie Oldcock's character Simone is
like so pristine, looks like a Stepford wife steps and
why and like she's holding her shoulders back and she's
and her arms are so rigid by her side, and
(10:15):
they just like they look like two completely different beings
who shouldn't even know each other. So the fact that
their sisters really sets up the kind of the drama
from that, and.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
We kind of get in those first couple of episodes,
this really wounded bird and is you from Simone, which
shifts so drastically as the show progresses. This is this
is my sister. I didn't know you existed, trust me,
so and are very close? And why didn't she tell
me about you? Where are your tattoos? I remove them?
(10:46):
Are imagine sister tattoo? Keithy said trashy MIKAELA bitch has
her talent so deep in your brainy that you can't
even tell you're in trouble. This is the happiest I've
ever been. Well, you've got to get out of here.
Let's talk a little b about Kevin Bacon.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yes, because you know, a good show always has Kevin Bacon.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
I love Kevin Baker.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, he's good guy, plays the same character and everything.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
But no, but I think he's good in this so,
I mean initially again, he's kind of it seems like
he is just going along for the ride, like he's
the one that he doesn't really like what Julianne Moore,
what Kiky's doing. He's not really into the whole vibe
of it. He's like smoking joints up in his little house.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Even though it's his home and his friends, his life,
and his every staff, his.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Key, very key, his staff. There is this whole thing
that like he's the chill one, and then that sort
of starts to like shift and change. And for me,
the moment that I realized that there was going to
be something different with Kevin Bacon was when they went
(12:00):
clamming and then he kind of sense his sexual tension
between him and Simon. That was the moment for me
where I was like, something's off with this.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, well that's the thing is like it's always the
classic kind of oh, I'm a good guy. I'm like
the you know, I'm one with my staff and the
people and stuff. And they do kind of set him
up from the beginning like he's cheating on her, and
you do think that that's a pretty expected thing from
a storyline like that, especially knowing how these two characters
got together that started cheating. And then obviously the reveal
goes on that he's visiting his family, so they sort
(12:31):
of try and circumvent that whole thing of like him
being the good guy. And then you know, when we
talk about the ending, we'll get into that because at
the end of the day, he does come across as
the villain to an extent.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
One hundred percent, but the way it's been set up
is that he's just like this easy going dude. Yeah,
there is something really interesting about it when you know
they're talking about the brain up, and you know, the
only way that Julianne Moore can get out with any money,
Kiki can get out with any money is if there
is cheating involved. So there's almost this point where it's
(13:02):
like she's like, I kind of want him to be
cheating on me, and I need to find evidence of it.
And then there's the clamming thing and he kisses her,
and that's for me when it all shifted. Oh really,
that's when I was like, Kiki's protecting herself. She's trying
to find a way out without being Yes, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
I got in a different way where she was so
kind of like wanting to stay in this marriage, but
she she was so aware that she had got him
in this way of like him cheating with her first,
so she's so aware of him cheating and kind of
ruining this perfect life on the outside they've created. And
then I thought it was in the prenup. It was
like she only gets money if they had children, but
she never had children, so she's really got no safety
(13:45):
net without him. But it's so funny because that obviously
comes later in the show. In the first part of
the show, you'll really led to believe that she is
this cult leader and actually, this is what kind of
this was kind of one of the bad parts of
the show. I thought they were so wanting to lean
into this idea of like, did she murder his ex wife?
Is she a cult leader? Does she have like magical
mind control powers? Is she drugging people? Is this like
(14:06):
an offshoot of Nine Perfect Strangers. There are some things
that are like a little bit unexplained in terms of like.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, I think that the one Meghan Vey wakes up
in the car. Yeah, and then like when she's kind
of hypnotized. Because if you don't know what the mythology
of a siren is, which I'm sure you would, it's
it's they are like mermaid like creatures that sing to
sailors basically to lure them to their deaths. You know that,
is that the mythology of a siren. So even the
(14:34):
title of the show is implicating the insinuating that these
women have this kind of power over men, and there
is that scene when they're all getting dressed up and
it's like, well, you look into your power and they're
all talking at the same time, and you know, I
used to be a nail tech, but now I've got
this rich husband. So it's almost like this cult of
(14:57):
finding a rich husband.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, exactly, And it's that a whole thing of like
that play on Sirens is like almost quite literal in
a way. That's interesting because at first you meant to
think that Kiki is like that traditional siren and she's
got this control over her husband to lure him away
from his wife, and she's got control over everyone who's
in the house, and she uses it on Devon's character
and kind of like almost has like memory loss. But
(15:19):
mostly you're meant to think that she has it over Simon.
And I think the way that they said their relationship
is interesting because you're meant to think that they have
this inappropriate relationship and like not sexual. I mean maybe
some people thought that. I guess the whole idea is
that you're not meant to know that it was almost
like this kind of like she had the power over
her that she had like forsaken her family and like
mistaken her life, and you think that there's something more
(15:41):
sinister happening behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah, and I think it was that, you know that.
I think it was one of the first episodes when
they like sleeping in the bed together.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah, that was a weird moment.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
No, But I mean, on reflection, I think I understand
where that all came from. But basically we're kind of
talking about like a very close relationship between a boss
and her pa. Yeah, knew.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
What was weirder than the bed scene was the first
moment I was like, what is this show? Is when
they were going into the party and Kiki goes, how's
my breath? And Smo goes, it's perfect, how's my breath?
And She's like, oh, not great, take my gum and
she pulled the gum. Kiki pulls the gum out of
her mouth and puts in Simone's mouth and Simone chooses it,
and I'm like, why is that the dirtiest thing I've
ever seen?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
I know, you're a bit of a gem.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I would have died.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I mean, I definitely wouldn't do something like that.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
But that's a very intimate theory that usually only like
people in like a sexual relationship, and I wouldn't do
that with my husband, yeah, because don't share gum.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I don't gum with hair.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I don't know what married people do, but I just
know your gum back. But it's a very intimate thing,
like even best friends wouldn't do that, let alone. I
have it in my kids half masticated food. I mean
that's just survival, right, Yeah, that's different. So that's okay,
we'll give that a pass. And also the fact that
she did that, Simon doesn't even flinch. She actually looks grateful.
It's almost like a mother bird. It's like the symbolism
of like a mother bird feed and Simone looking at
(16:58):
her with like love, like thank you for taking care
of me. And that was the first moment in the
pilot where I was like, oh, something is really weird
with this show.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Okay, but what about so I kind of picked up
on Kevin Bacon bit like kind of shady, yeah, and
I started to feel but I didn't start to feel
any empathy for Kiki until like almost like the last episode.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, it's different because for so long there she does
feel like the manipulator and you never feel maybe other
people did, but I never feel really kind of empathy
for her throughout the show, maybe because she always looks
like so unflappable and everything is perfect, and she's this
kind of crazy person, and I think all of your empathy,
it's like it changes during the show. Like the first
part of the show, all your empathy goes to Devin,
(17:40):
because she's obviously in a terrible place where she's battling alcoholism.
She's looking after her father who has dementia and is
like losing all his memories and having to be a carer.
She's lost her sister who she gave up her life
to look after. And she also has this kind of
interesting situation where she's replaced alcohol because she's trying to
be sober. She's replaced it with intimacy and sex with Mex,
(18:02):
which keeps then manifesting in like these different ways where
in the first half it's almost like she's the siren
in a way too, because she's luring like her ex
boyfriend who she's hooking up with her boss, like luring
him away from his wife to do her bidding. And
then she goes into the hotel and she lures like
the guy who is the captain of the ship and
they and again.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Not so subtle like linked to a siren because captains
of boats exactly, sailors were the ones that got Lord
Gar because then if they got they were sung. They
lured to the rocks and then there were chips would
crash and then they would all exactly. So it's that idea.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
It's very literal the manipulation of men. And even when
she's in the guest house and she goes to have
a drink and you see her battling, and then she
goes out and finds the gardener and hooks up with him,
and it's almost like, and I kind of wish that
storyline had come to an end or ahead or something
not that expected that she would be like, Oh, I'm
so cute of my sex a diction. Now I'm like, yeah,
a better person.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
There's definitely a couple of threads that I think could
still be explored. Yeah, as we move through the episode,
we've everything is kind of building up to this garlict
to her eyes, and at the gala dinner, everybody's like
things start to kind of really go awry. Yes, Kiki
has this photo of Simone and Kevin Bacon also I'm
(19:23):
never gonna call him just Kevin. He's Kevin Bacon always.
There's a photo of him, and she puts it, you know,
in a safe and she's like, this is my security. Yes,
and then there's like all this stuff. She fires Simone.
Simone gets kicked off. She's like devastated leading up to
this girl. Everybody gets kicked out, and then Kevin Bacon
(19:48):
figures all of this out. Yeah, comes and it's kind
of bad.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah. The Simone character is really interesting because I guess
she she's the one really who's holding in maybe more
secrets than the others because Devon's like all out on
the table. She said everything, like she says, everything comes
into her head. So she's never hiding anything really except
from herself turmoil. And then Julianne Moore's character Kiki, like
you're meant to think that she's hiding something, but as
the show goes along, you're like, I don't know. Everyone
(20:12):
in this place knows her entire backstory. There's no kind
of mystery there. But it's really Simone's character that has
been again almost a siren of like she calls everyone
in to like not just manipulate, but like take care
of her wounded bird. Yeah, the whole wounded bird. And
like we see little dead birds in this, so it's
like as he takes in these wounded birds, she also
takes in Simone, and you kind of see Simone's story
(20:34):
change in this really interesting way, and you see all
the lies she's told about, like her mother being First
of all, she's saying her mother died in.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
A car accident.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
To find out this horrific thing of her mother tried
to kill herself, well did kill herself, but had her
in the car and all the stuff that happens. And
I think it's such an interesting performance from Millie ol'cock,
who is an Australian actress who first rose to prominence
in that show with Tim Minton upright, She's so good
in that, and then went to be on House of
the Dragon and she's also starring a Supergirl soon and
(21:02):
I think it's kind of interesting. I was watching a
whole bunch of interviews with Millie and I thought it
so interesting that she said this is the first time
she's ever really lost herself in a character, and that
it kind of rebuilt her confidence as an actress because
when she was on House of the Dragon on her
first few days of filming that show. She's this young
Australian actress who's all of a sudden on like the
(21:23):
biggest TV show in the world, and she thought she
was doing a good job. And then she said one
of the higher ups came over to her and pulled
her aside during filming and said, don't worry, We're going
to get you an acting coach, and just kind of, well, God,
that makes you feel so sick, right, and just like
imagine also like you're already filming, like how would you
then go on? And like, do you know what I
wish she did go on?
Speaker 1 (21:43):
I think that all of the performances are really nuanced,
which is really nice. And as it progresses, it's not
like big twist, but there is you start to see
these flickers, these little injections of a change is in
character exactly. And again for me with Kiki, it kind
of started around, it didn't really show itself right until
(22:06):
the end. But there was this moment when Simon and
Devon's dad comes and he's got dementia and he kind
of thinks that Kiki is his ex wife who kills
himself and they're dancing together, and it's this kind of
you don't know whether like I actually had this weird
(22:26):
thought where I was like, oh, is she actually the mother?
Oh my god, I thought that too. Was she actually
the mom? Or is she remembering that he was the mom?
And the whole secret is that she never died and
she had like this health face. Anyway, I don't know
where my head.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
You know why this is because why we went that
way is because we can't just watch a TV show anymore.
We're so looking for plot twists. Yeah, and mystery that
whole mystery box TV element, and you're like, wait a second,
So she's just a confused rich woman. That can't be
the twist.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
No, I was like, she just had like some like
like has run away and the girls are actually her daughters,
And this is like, Yeah, I had this weird.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Me too, because when I wrote some great fan fiction
it was very like a very split sack.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I kind of started to realize it was because he
obviously had dementia. But I saw this again that it's
in the nuance of Julianne Moore's performance of vulnerability because
she couldn't have her own children. She was saying, I
tribe any times, and we kept losing them, and I
was like, huh, there's something here, like you aren't you
(23:28):
aren't evil.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah, you're just Yeah, we're looking for a villain. It's weird.
There's not really even Kevin Bacon, I think.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
The villain.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Yeah, I mean he's just an entitled white man who needs,
always needs a younger woman to look after him as
the vibe. And then I thought, also interesting, as we
go through the show, like everyone, like obviously, Devon has
a bit of a physical transformation where she starts becoming
a bit more of that. Well, initially she does it
to go under cover like that kind of becomes like
a step Ford wife, but then at the end of
the show she's almost settled into that world where she's
(23:58):
trying to get back to the person she was, and
then you see you sort of Juliane Moore's character also
go through like a bit of a physical transformation when
she has her wealth taken away from her. But I
thought Milli Olco character like Simon, also goes through one
because her physicality is so interesting. It's so rigid throughout
the show, and then as her trauma keeps coming out,
you can see she gets loose with how she moves,
(24:20):
and then every time they do those big scenes of
her running down the beach, Like there's so many scenes
where she's running and crying and that's meant to kind
of almost jolt you out of the story from the filmmakers. Yeah,
apparently they film that so many times that she ripped
her toenails off, so now she has no toenails.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
So just think of that.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
I rewatched that, Laura. I was like, no, I just
wanted people to know what the woman went throughails.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Oh my god, and she's got to be a supergirl.
That's too much for one human. But I thought it
was really interesting again, so so nuanced and really lovely,
lovely acting where she kind of her sisters like going,
I need to get you out of here. I need
to get you out of here, and she's going, I've
spotted my chance.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah exactly, I've.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Found my inn and the shoulders go up. The next
goes on and she kind of morphs, she morphs into
the Siren. For me, the best part of it, my
favorite favorite bit is like one of the final scenes
where it's Julianne Moore and Meghan Fayye on the boat.
(25:28):
They sitting next to each other. It's Devin and Kiki
and they're talking. Everything stripped back and it's like, you know,
I survived many years until I became the monster. Devin goes,
You're not a monster here he goes, and neither is she.
And I thought that was like they were molded. It's
(25:48):
like you live long enough to go from being the
hero to the villain, and that is kind of where
I see maybe this potential for a season two. So
I don't know if I've gone off on a complete thing,
but for me, that was like a really key scene,
Like I really took a lot from that particular.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Saying, oh yeah, I'm And the ending is by like
today's normal TV standards of people wanting like a big
shoot out at the end or a huge twist or
a dead body, like when the rich neighbor who wants
to marry snow and the creepy old guy falls off
the cliff. You're like, okay, here's our murder. This is
what like me And Faihi even says now that she
only stars and shows and movies that have a beach
and a body, and yeah, that's a good niche to
be in right now, because that's what we want, and
(26:30):
then you keep waiting for this murder mystery or this
cult It never eventuates, and what eventuates is more of
this character study, which shouldn't be shocking, but it feels
shocking in today's time.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I think it actually surprised me in a really nice way.
I think I actually preferred the show because it doesn't
become this classic cult story, which I love, like a
mother cult story. I did want to hold a little
Colt Sockos like my old time favor is like a
lover of cult love, like hearing about it all. But
what the show does do is create nuance and when
(27:04):
to walk away from someone. Because Devon eventually does have
to walk away from a sister. She's like, I, as
hard as I can, You've chosen your path. And Simone
isn't this little wounded bird. She is capable of making
her decisions. And the decision she makes is to take
on this rich man and become the mother of the household,
(27:27):
like the leader of the household.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yes, the main terms of the household. Yeah, and yeah,
that that's an interesting ending because you have all these
little bombs going off quickly, and up until that moment,
I will say I feel like the storyline was going
around a little bit in circles.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I was like, okay, it's like this conversation that we've
been having.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
The bits, we're getting into the end now because we did.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Because that's not that's no I know, it's the show itself.
It is not a linear thing.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
So much going around and then all of a sudden
you're coming back like in the last episode, and it's
going back to season one one, like it's back and forth.
And so as much as I did love all the
little kind of out the side stories, devon being in
the drunk tank was my favorite because the girl who
was in there with her calling her Kevin. I was like,
I'm sorry, why is this the funniest scene in the
whole show? So you have all these little side vintage.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
There's like a lot of side questions. It does really
like throw you. But the crux of it for me
and I think it makes it so much more Again,
I think this comes from the fact that it was
it came from a play.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yes, play is a.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Really well known for being a little bit more. I'm
going to use the word nuanced again because I don't
actually have thesaurus with me, and I can't find another
word for it. It works. It is really like these
characters really are very complex, and maybe there is no
Gordon Evil, even though Kevin Bacon turns out to be
a complete f wik And but yeah, I feel like
(28:46):
that you know she's not You're not a monster like that.
I love that so much that that Julianne Moore stripped
back and it's like you're not a monster.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, Like I actually really loved that, And I feel
like that a lot of these little bombshells that come
in here, and she is so good, so powerful, and
after going around in circles for a little bit, then
all of a sudden, we have all these little shells
that come out in like a very quick amount of time.
So we have that scene where Devon's and the Gala
and she's like, I know you killed his ex wife,
and you have that reveal from Juliana Moure being like
(29:19):
she's disfigured and she lives alone. The interesting thing is
if you watch that scene back, I think the first
time you're watching it and you're really centered on Devin
and Kekey, as you should because they're having this big reveal,
but as if you watch it back a second time,
and you see everyone in the background who's at the
gala reacting. They look a little shocked by the yelling,
but when she talks of the ex wife, they all
(29:39):
kind of look down. And it's what people have been
doing all the way through the show. But because our
minds are so attuned to murder, we keep thinking everyone's
looking down because they know she's murdered, But they're actually
looking down because I know that not only is she
kind of living this isolated life, she's been shunned by
this fancy society, and that to them is worse than
being murdered. They're like, oh god, she should have been murdered.
Now she's living alone.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Like, I know what could be worse?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I know that bombshell.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
And then we have like the big reveal of Samoon
in that beautiful blue dress. Yeah, sorry, she looks so
I was stunning in that. That was a like, I
know it's not really there is quite a lot of
fashion in this, yeah, but that fashion is good. That blue,
this like gorgeous silk gown. Again, like the ocean. I'm
thinking the ocean.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And also the idea the way it's cut in the
Fall of the Silk is like that very old school mythology,
like Greek mythology. With gown, we've got a Grecian like kind,
which is where so much of this is coming from.
And I think what's interesting too, is that Millie o'clock
and Meghan Faikey said that they filmed the first couple
of episodes and they didn't actually know what was going
to happen until they had filmed most of the show.
(30:43):
So Millie's saying all the way through, she doesn't know
what's happening to Simone. Obviously she didn't see elementop either,
so she doesn't know where Simone's gonna end up. So
she said it was quite shocking for her when she
realized where the character was going and the fact that
she was going to have this big plot twist. And
but the thing is, I don't I'm interested in your
thoughts on this. I think you can watch it and
think that she planned and manipulated that situation. Whereas where
(31:06):
she's telling Devin about it, she was like, and then
he was on the each I went to walk away
and he stopped me, and it's like her eyes glaze
over and she's transferred the adoration she had for Kiki
over to Kevin Bacon. So she didn't plan it. She
just is so desperate for someone to take care of her.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I think she didn't plan it, but then I think
she saw the opportunity and took her.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Oh yeah yeah, and then was like, let me help you,
ausked key.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Yeah. So it's like when she, like I think, once
she sort of realizes, ah, this is my way back again.
That's another traumal response. And I agree with you. Yeah, like, Okay,
Keikey's not gonna take care of me, but this guy
might even though.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
A dunk you when you start to look old exactly well,
I meanly she's in an early twenties there, so she's
got a way to go. But yeah, it's the transference
of adoration. And I think also that's why when when
you see Devon hearing what Simone's saying and now we're
together and all the stuff, you see Devon's face just
for and you see them realization, man can fay her
face acting out of this world.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Nuance so much yours.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
It's like that scene from the finale of Whitelaw where
she plays Daphne, where you see this moment where she
realizes that her husband and her new friend cheated on her,
and she calculates in this one second of what she's
going to do, and it's a slight turn of her face.
She does it again here where she's like, Oh, I
came to save you from a cult, but now that
I know that you're just so lost that you throw
on yourself with this man, I just have to let
(32:28):
you go because I can't save you from I'll save
you from danger, but I can't save you from this
hopelessness you're stuck in. Yeah, And I think otherwise she
would never have left her there. That's why she leaves.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
So then we've got the final scene. Simone's on the
cliff in that beautiful blue gown, and you know, I
know that we talked a lot about like this just
being a limited series, and again, based off lay, it
should just be one series. I do, however, think there
is room for a season two depending on how well
this does. Yeah, I mean, look, it's done very well.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
And I also think like at first it was kind
of marketing almost just like kind of like shlocky Netflix drama,
and like there's definitely moments of that, but I think
especially the end scene where you see like especially got
going back to your favorite moment of them on the
boat and that moment from Julianne Moore's character Kiki, and
also that she's stripped away. She doesn't have the beautiful
hair and makeup.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
She's like jewels.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
She's not wearing the jewel tones or the neutrals. She
just looks like someone who had to like jump on
a barge and make her way in the world. And
she's so kind of dressed down, but she gives this
beautiful performance. I feel like that's I can just imagine
Julian more reading the script and that being the scene
that said I'm gonna take this. It's like how Meryl
Streep only said yes to doing The Devil Wears Prada
(33:38):
when she read the scene of her in the hotel
room with no makeup. She's like, She's like, unless you
have that scene, all of the big, beautiful, glamorous, etherel
scenes don't make sense. And I feel like that's why
julian would have taken this and resonated so well with people.
I feel like, I know when I first watched it,
I was like, no, no, that's good, what and done?
It's fine. But I also think that I mean, I
would love to see if we can, like have if
(33:59):
we can continue our fan fiction that we both had
from the start of this where we were concocting all
these side plots in our heads.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Okay, because you saw how excited the staff were when
they knew Simon was leading.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Yeah, yeah, my babe. Route text about her is the
funniest thing.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
This is the thing. This is the thing. Like I think, yes,
it would be fine if it was just one season
that the story could happily end there. However, honestly, honestly,
I really feel like there are so many places that
this could go. There could be a little bit more
about Devon finding herself, working through her trauma, a little
bit more the dementia, maybe finding a little bit more clarity,
(34:34):
looking maybe at Kiki finding herself again as a lawyer
because she was a lawyer, perhaps maybe taking legal action,
trying to find some finding herself again rather than just
being the wife of a rich man. And then there's
also like the way that the new mistress of the house,
(34:55):
how does Simone take over this island? Is she going
to get pregnant, I'm going to have baby? Is there
so much there?
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I think Kiki comes back again without fan casting that
she has gone off become a very successful woman. She's
made all this money. She comes back and she like
buys half of the island or she buys the bird Sanctuary.
So then she and Kevin Bacon are trying to figure
out it's like a war of power there. And then
they're having a big event because it's Labor Day weekend,
but it's also the christening of simoone and Kevin Bacon's
(35:22):
baby with the christening party, and then Devin gets pulled
back because Kiki blackmails her and gets her to come
back to try and pull her sister out, and hilarity
and dramma in suit.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Yes, there's definitely room for it exactly, but we've done
the word in Spain. This is I really really loved
this show. Not what you expect, definitely not like a
classic cult thing you definitely there's so many little like
a couple of times where I was like, I would
like to see that fleshed out a little bit more.
But I really enjoyed that it was such a character
(35:54):
based and complex characters. They weren't one dimensional. All of
these characters have so much depth, layering, nuance.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yes, we love that Saren's on Netflix. What a fun time.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Thanks for listening to the Spill today. Don't forget to
follow the Spill on TikTok. The Spill is produced by
minisia Is Warren with sound production by Scott Stronik Momome
at Studios at Style, with furniture from Fenton and Fenton.
Visit Fenton and Fenton dot com dot au. We'll see
you back here in your podcast speed on Monday at
three pm. Bye bye, Blan
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