May 27, 2025 • 65 mins
In this episode, we dive deep into Netflix’s latest fever dream, Sirens — a show that’s equal parts myth, mess, and mesmerizing. We yap about seductive creatures, crazy plot twists (aka no witches???), and the play by Molly Smith Metzler that started it all. From eerie vibes to unexpected emotional gut punches, we’re breaking down everything Sirens throws our way — oopsy doopsies included.
Series synopsis (from Wiki):
Devon is concerned about her sister Simone's creepy relationship with her new boss, billionaire Michaela, and decides it is time for an intervention.
BYR Average Rating: 8/10
No. of episodes: 5 (~5 hour runtime)
Platform: Netflix
Binge In Progress: Devil's Plan; Love, Death, and Robots; the first 4 seconds of Étoile, and Survivor 48 finale!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Fucking stupid fucking big chairs.
Hello fellow yappers, I'm Ruchi.And I'm Shalini and we're your
hosts. A binge, yap, repeat.
We're two best friends who spendan embarrassing amount of time
binge watching TV, and honestly,we just need to talk about it.
If you're here, we're guessing you do too.
(00:20):
Fair warning. This is a spoiler friendly zone.
We will be discussing lots of spoilers, so if you haven't
watched the show yet, hit pause,go binge, and come back when
you're ready to yap with us. And now it's yap time.
(00:51):
I want us to not have corporate voice.
How do we break out of corporatevoice this early in the morning?
Good morning. It's another episode of Morning
Brew, your favorite corporate podcast.
Today we're going to be talking about all of the hottest M&A's
(01:12):
that are happening. Oh, merchants and acquisition
actually MBA not knowing what M&A?
Yeah. Well, OK.
The only reason that I know thisis because a contestant on
Devil's Plan is a lawyer for M and A, He's Speaking of M&A.
(01:32):
This is a really side point. Speaking of M&A, did you
discover and the Capital One merged?
No, I know I have. Yeah, I'm a little worried.
I really love Discover. Oh, I remember in college your
Discover credit card was like a little cassette tape.
I still have that, like little cassette tape credit card.
(01:53):
So cute. Yeah.
Capital One could never. It's not cutie patootie enough.
Yeah, seriously. OK, before we kick off today's
episode on Sirens, yay. I have some oopsie doopsies
(02:13):
already from the last episode. I feel like it's too early.
It's like too early to be embarking.
Oh my God, I don't know how you wake up early.
I'm like, it's 9:00 AM for me and I'm like, it's the earliest
I've ever woken up in the morning ever.
(02:39):
Yes, listeners, for context, it is 7:00 AM where I am and it is
9:00 AM for Richie. But we have exactly the same
sleep schedule, so it's equally early for both of us.
I. Think I go to bed later than you
do. I think I've been going to bed
around like 12 or one sometimes.Oh yeah, that would be a little
(03:02):
later. OK, all right, so my my oopsie
doopsie is actually from last time's funsy onesie.
So it was not even episode related.
So what had happened was I gloated about how my Taylor and
Tyler theory was correct and that they maybe they hadn't like
(03:25):
broken up, broken up, but they were on very rocky terms before,
before the the Temptation Islands actually started
filming. And I had said that they talked
on vial files and that Taylor basically asked Tyler if they
wanted to like book flights together on the way back.
And he was like, I don't think we should do that.
So this time around that was from like some random article
(03:48):
that I read that I thought was summarizing the vial files
actually was not the case. So I actually watched the 1st 20
minutes of the Vial Files, whichis actually when Taylor and
Tyler were talking about all this stuff and they had said
that they didn't say anything about the flight back, but they
were basically saying how it wassuper rocky.
(04:10):
They were basically about to break up when they got the phone
call and they had both decided together to still go on the
show. So I think it was a little bit
still like cloud chasing, but onboth of their both of their
sides. And Tyler had said in the vile
(04:31):
files that he he wanted a careerin entertainment.
Exactly. And they were exactly.
And there were meaningful looks exchanged between Taylor and
Ashley as well during when he said that.
And then he was like, oh, what'sthat look about?
And then and then Taylor was like, you're cloud chasing, like
(04:52):
you've always been a cloud chaser, blah, blah, blah, Yeah.
OK, I would say you were correct.
You were still right that they were not broken up when they
signed up or whatever or like auditioned.
They were basically broken up when they got called to be on
the show and then they both mutually agreed to do it for
Instagram fame. The other thing is that they
(05:12):
were actually like in the Netflix database.
So they were, they were auditioning for another show and
then that show ended up being cut, but then they were in the
Netflix database for just, I don't know, hot couples, hot
dramatic couples database. And then like a year later,
after they auditioned, Netflix contacted them and was like, oh,
(05:33):
we're not going to do that show,but do you want to do this show
Temptation Island? And then they were like, well,
there were, I think the Netflix was like, oh, are you still
together? Do you want to do this show?
And then they were like, we're not not together.
Got a little Taylor Dakota situation.
Exactly. Exactly.
(05:55):
So then that's how they ended updoing it.
Got it. But yeah.
Okay, all right. Still vindication, I would say.
Vindication. Yes, OK.
And then I think we had in the last episode, we promised that
we would come back with the updated TikTok specific
rankings, so not the Instagram rankings, but TikTok and see if
(06:17):
there is any difference. So, Shirley, take it away.
All right, so first of all, everyone has basically 2 to 5X
the number of followers on TikTok than they do on
Instagram, which we mentioned last.
So Instagram following, we had Taylor in first place.
Taylor is still in first place on TikTok with 5.3 million
(06:38):
followers. I think she had 1.2 million on
Instagram. Yeah.
Then second on Instagram was Jen, but second on TikTok is
Michaela with 3,000,000. Interesting.
Wow. I know.
I guessed right. I had guessed Michaela for #2
(06:59):
OK, yeah, because they show, they show a lot of her skin care
journey. Oh yeah OK then third is Whitney
on TikTok with 2.4 million. I think Whitney was 7th, 2nd to
last on Instagram. Seven.
Yeah, Yeah, Whitney is not popular with the millennials.
(07:20):
Only Jen Z then we have Macy whowas also 4th in Instagram.
Then we have Jen at 2,000,000 followers so she fell from
second on Instagram to 5th on TikTok.
Wow. Then here's where it gets really
crazy. Demi is now ahead of Jessie on
(07:41):
TikTok. So Demi has 1.1 million and
Jessie has 1,000,000 followers. And then 8th is Layla with 537.3
Classic Layla and. Followers.
Classic Layla. Hmm, interesting.
Yeah, OK, 'cause I do know that.I think it was in the show that
(08:03):
they're like, oh, Demi is about to hit 1,000,000, right?
Oh, I don't remember that. I, I think he was Demi came over
to Jesse's house and then Jesse hugged her and was like, Oh my
God, you're about to hit 1,000,000.
Oh, or like Congrats on hitting 1,000,000.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, I know what scene you're
talking about, but I I still don't remember that line.
(08:26):
Yeah. I wonder what the rate of growth
is though because if Demi was about to hit 1 million or hit
1,000,000 in November, December and she's at 1.1 now and Jessie
is at 1,000,000, it could be that there is a higher rate of
(08:48):
growth for Jessie. Yeah, like she's on the up and
up and Demi's on the down and down.
Yeah, it's possible. Well, OK.
Good for Michaela, Good for Michaela.
Yeah, remember when she was likewhat my husband made in a year
(09:10):
is what I make from 1 brand deal.
Yes, yeah. How much do you think these
brand deals are? No.
I was thinking about that maybe like 80 KA 100K.
Dude, that's so much. I know, I know, that's crazy.
No wonder they all want to standmom talk even though the toxic
(09:31):
app. Oh, did you want to give an
update on on the actual season? Like there's a a new season
coming out? Yes, OK.
So I just saw that the show Secret Lives of Mormon Wise
after season 2 was renewed for 20 new episodes.
So only 10 are out right now. That means either we have 10
(09:53):
more coming this season or they're going to wait and post
the other 10 episodes as a season 3.
Like regardless of how season 2 does.
So they haven't announced anything.
But I did think it was interesting that at the end of
episode 10 they were showing clips of what's to come in the
future. I was like, oh, so they already
(10:13):
filmed it, but I just didn't think very much about it.
Yeah, I thought that, too. I was like, oh, they have
Jesse's husband crying. Oh, I guess they know what the
fallout is. Cool.
All right. Please God, give us a break.
Please we need. You guys, Secret Lives was so
(10:36):
stressful, like the entire process of of watching it,
recording it, editing it, publishing it was so stressful
for us. Jackie, it was all for you.
And Ariel? Oh yes.
(10:57):
I think, honestly, I think it was just because we were like
super busy with the badge. Yeah, yeah.
Imagine if we had all weekend. That would have been nothing.
Yeah. Four days to watch 10 hours of
TV. Dude, I was straight up like
watching. I was like, I need to cram this
into every free minute that I have in my life.
(11:17):
Like I had my, one of my meetings ended early and I had 7
minutes and I watched, I watchedSecret Lives in those seven
minutes. Oh.
My God. Just to get through it, I was
watching Secret Lives as I was brushing my that night.
Like I need to get, I need to finish this episode.
That reminds me, last summer I got into Love Island USA, I
(11:40):
think after the season had endedbut before the reunion was
airing. But I got so hooked on it and I
was so committed to finish the season before the reunion.
And that show is like 35 one hour plus long episodes.
And so I was, I was watching on my walks with my dog.
I was watching in the shower. I would like put my phone in my
(12:03):
shower caddy on the wall and watch it as I showered.
I was listening to it when I drove everywhere.
Like I was so committed to finishing it.
That's what I knew hosting this podcast wouldn't be that
difficult from a watching perspective.
True. OK, yes.
Which brings us to Sirens, whichcame out Thursday, May 22nd.
(12:27):
We are recording this Saturday, May 24th.
At the ass crack of dawn. I guess we should.
Let's get into it. Let's get into it already.
Already 15 minutes oops OK. Sirens is a dark comedy limited
series created by Molly Smith Metzler based on her 2011 play
(12:48):
LMNOPI Love that name. It premiered on Netflix on May
22nd, 2025. The premise of Sirens is Devin
is concerned about her sister Simone's unhealthy relationship
with her new boss Michaela. It stars Megan Fahey as Devin
DeWitt, Simone's older sister, Millie Alcock as Simone DeWitt,
(13:10):
Devin's younger sister and Michaela's personal assistant,
and Julianne Moore as Michaela or Kiki Kell, a billionaire and
Simone's boss. There's also some other famous
faces like Glenn Howerton from It's Always Sunny and Josh
Segara as Raymond Devin's on andoff boyfriend, also from Abbott
Elementary. And Bill Camp, who plays Simone,
(13:34):
Devin's dad, he was in the nightof.
He's been in a lot of other things, but he was in the night
of, which I talked about in the Deli Boys episode.
Whoa, fun fact. I didn't know that.
Yeah, I didn't recognize him. Cool.
I have a fun fact about Josh Segara.
He is from Longwood, FL, my hometown.
(13:54):
Whoa, shout out Longwood. Florida, my little hometown in
Seminole County, Florida. Wow, that's cool.
He went to Lake Brantley High School, which is actually pretty
close to my house, but I yeah, it's just.
A rival high school. Well, I just got a mad sense of
(14:15):
deja vu that we talked, that we were talking about Lake Brantley
High School in this podcast. This is crazy.
No, wow. It was crazy.
I think because I, I was about to say something like, I don't
think it was a very good high school.
And then I had this feeling thatI would look up Lake Brantley
High School and then see that there was actually like a pretty
high pregnancy rate. I am not going to look that up,
(14:39):
but it was public school, OK? All right, cool.
And Megan Fahey, who plays Devin, is, of course, Daphne
from White Lotus Season 2. Millie Alcock is, of course,
young Ranira in Hot D, or House of the Dragon.
(15:00):
I was like, huh, Yeah, it's kindof like Temptation Island, but
it's called Hot D. OK, so Shalini, you want to kick
us off with your insightful overall thoughts.
Oh, you happened me up too much.So overall, I enjoyed the
(15:20):
experience of watching this show.
I think from the moment it started, I was really intrigued
by what was going on. It kind of had like a Stepford
Wives kind of vibe to it. And I was trying to figure out
what this show was going to be like.
Is it going to be about this witch who can bewitch people
(15:42):
into following her or something?Or, you know, I, it was hard to
tell whether it was going to be like supernatural or fantasy or
whatever. And so I went through the whole
show thinking there's going to be this huge reveal about how
Michaela is a witch. And then it was like, oh, it was
all in everyone's head. And that's kind of the point.
So I ended up like, I was like, whoa, this is not what I thought
(16:03):
it was going to be, but I reallyliked it and now I kinda wanna
watch it again. Whoa, OK, I I feel very
similarly to you up until that last point.
I don't. I wanna watch it again.
But I agree with you. I was really waiting for
something supernatural to happen.
(16:26):
There was that whole bathtub scene with Michaela, and I was
like, oh, shit. Like, does she have fins or
something? Is it gonna.
Yeah, like, is what's gonna happen?
And then I was waiting and waiting and waiting until the
very end. And then like, nothing happened.
And then I was like, OK, is this, I guess this wasn't a
supernatural thing, but I agree.I mean, I really liked the
(16:48):
vibes. I think it was visually
stunning. I also binged it.
I was waiting to see what would happen next, what would happen
next, what would happen next. But I kind of felt myself being
like, oh, that's it in the end. But then I also didn't really
know what else to expect or like, yeah, yeah.
(17:11):
So I don't know, I think it was a little bit confusing.
I don't think I would watch it again.
Maybe if the Season 2 came out, I would watch it in the hopes of
something supernatural happening.
But yeah, nothing ever did. I think when the show finished,
I felt similarly to you. I was like, oh, that's it.
But then as I was thinking aboutit as I slept on it, because I
(17:34):
truly did fall asleep right after finishing the show last
night at 10:30 PM and it is now at 7:30 AM, now that I'm talking
about it, I really think that was the whole point, that you
think she has some sort of supernatural power over people,
but it's really just that she was his wife.
And when you're his wife, you dohave that kind of power, but
(17:56):
it's nothing to do with you. It's all to do with him.
So I think in that way, I reallylike that it ended up being no
superpower. And it was just the allure of
being the wife of Peter Kell, you know, And just that as a
statement on like women's power in high society is all derived
(18:17):
from who they're married to. And just when she holds that
position, everybody's. So, you know, they showed men
flocking to Devin when she had quote UN quote the power.
And they showed everyone bendingat the knee for Michaela.
But then when she's on the boat leaving the island, she's just a
(18:37):
regular woman and she has no power.
And it's like, oh, hey, hey, it was not a cult call.
It was just something she said once and people loved it.
So they just caught on. But what about, like, what about
people just running after Devin?Like, I thought that felt very
supernatural. And I felt like in that moment,
I don't think Devin really had any power.
(18:59):
Or are you saying that that was the point, that they were just
running after her? Because they didn't, I don't
know. They just wanted what they
wanted, I think. That was the point.
I think the point it was trying to tell is like, oh, when women
believe they have the power, they have the power after the
girls dressed up Devin, you know, those three women dressed
up Devin, and they were like, men will come flocking to you
(19:21):
now. And then it just manifested and
she was like, wait, what the fuck is going on?
Yeah, I don't know. I think that I think they were,
they were definitely trying to put some sort of supernatural
thing. But I think the take away from
it is that there is no magic about the women in this world.
He's like, also, I'm sure this happened so much like what
(19:42):
happened, what happened to Peter, what Peter did, which is,
Oh my gosh, I'm so drawn to thisother woman that's not my wife.
I'm going to leave my wife and capture the beauty of this new
woman I've discovered because it's so alluring and kind of
putting the onus of what he did on the woman.
No, you did that. Like, not that this woman is
(20:04):
like siren ING you to her. You just projected that power
onto her. And now you're blaming her for
like, ruining your life, you know?
Yeah, that's so true. Because I think they had that
whole conversation between Peterand Michaela about the kids,
right? Where Peter is like, oh, you
actively dissuaded me from having a relationship with your
(20:25):
kids. And she's like, I didn't do
that. You ignored your kids for 13
years and then put the blame on me.
I never said anything about that.
Right. Yeah, that's so true.
OK, Yeah, I, I agree with you. I I totally think that is the
point and that there is no power.
(20:46):
It is time for an oopsie doopsie, folks.
All right, so this oopsie doopsie is 2 instances of men
blaming the women in their livesfor their actions that we forgot
to cover. But I think it's actually very
important to mention because it ties into the whole theme of,
(21:09):
you know, the the idea of sirensbeing the cause of the problems
in men's lives when it's really just the men's actions
themselves. So the first one is Ray blaming
Devin about cheating on his wifeand going to that island when
he's in jail. And Devon comes to bail him out
(21:29):
and he's like, what am I even doing on this island, Devon?
And just kind of blames her for how he got into that situation.
But it was all his choice and his actions.
And the second example is Ethan blaming Simone for falling off
the Cliff and saying that she pushed him.
And he even went as far as to say that she had wings and he
(21:52):
saw her hovering over him. So I think that's another
example of, you know, Ethan justnot accepting that it was an
accident and just trying to an accident that he caused himself
and just trying to put the blameon this woman.
Yeah, so I know you did some research on the play.
(22:13):
LMNOP was curious to see what the takeaways were from that
play or how it was any differentfrom the TV show.
Yes, I did some reading about this play.
So Molly Smith Metzler, who wrote the play, also wrote this
show. And then just a little bit about
her. She also wrote Maid that show
(22:36):
with Margaret Qualey. I love that show.
Yeah, wow. And that show is also a Netflix
show. It's based on a book.
And it's about this young motherwho just left an abusive partner
situation and is trying to keep her daughter safe, trying to
make ends meet and just the story of her struggle.
(22:56):
That show's so beautiful. But unlike Maid, Molly Smith
Metzler did write the IP of Sirens.
But Maid is based on a book by someone else.
So I read this article in Variety about her take on the
show versus the play. And one really funny thing was
she was like, yeah, you know, with Maid, I really wanted to
(23:18):
honor the core material, and I just wanted to do it justice.
But with Sirens, it was my material, so I wasn't very
precious about it. I was like throw it all out.
Wait, OK, what does throw it allout mean?
What does she do? OK, the the core story is
similar, however, this play is 90 minutes long and only has
(23:42):
five characters in it, and it's in one room.
Oh wow. OK, very different.
Very different. So there's Simone, there's
Devin, there's Michaela. Can you guess who the other two
characters are? Peter.
Ray Nope. Dad, Nope.
(24:03):
Jose, yes. Jose and Ethan, Who's Simone's
boyfriend. Interesting.
OK, very. Good.
So I think so that in the original story is that Devin
visits Simone at this house on aweekend when Michaela and her
husband are supposed to be away on vacation.
(24:25):
But I I think it's that he decides to leave her and so she
comes home early. That's why she enters the house.
So I I don't know what how the plot plays out in that play, but
yeah, those are that's like the core difference.
One more oopsie doopsie for thisepisode.
(24:47):
This is also not a not quite an oopsie doopsie but just one
thing that I but realized later that I felt was remiss for not
mentioning in the original episode.
So at the very end of the play Simone severs her contract with
Michaela and leaves with Ethan to give up her dreams of being a
writer. So that's actually how the play
(25:09):
ends. She does not take over
Michaela's position as Peter Kells wife or anything because
obviously Peter is not a character in the show.
But I thought that the original story in the play, Simone
leaving to be with Ethan and basically accepting this new
life and giving up her dreams ofbeing a writer, was very
reminiscent of White Lotus season 1, in which Alexandria
(25:32):
Dadarios character Rachel spendsthe entire season conflicted
about wanting to continue being a writer.
But then her new husband, playedby Jake Lacey, is pressuring her
kind of to just quit because he can take care of them.
And in the end, at the very end of the season, that's basically
(25:55):
what she ends up doing. She just, you know, accepts that
this is her life now and stays with him.
So I thought that was an interesting parallel to White
Lotus, which we've mentioned in this episode quite a few times
as well. Also, in that Variety article I
was reading she some of the things that she kept.
One example is that Jose refers to Michaela as MI Amor.
(26:20):
Oh yeah, I didn't really get theMI Amor thing, was it?
It was just like my queen, like my love.
Yeah, I think it was. So it she says in that same
article. She's like, yeah, it's it's
meant to be a respect thing, butalso a tiny bit condescending.
And that, you know, ultimately Jose has way more power than
Peter's wife, whoever that is atthe time.
(26:43):
Like, he's been with Peter for along time.
So when he's saying MI Amor, it's, you know, yes, I serve you
in this moment. But like, we all know who's the
top dog around here. Jose Oh my God, Yeah.
Oh my gosh. Would Megan Fahey, like, licked
(27:03):
him? And he's like, I have a wife and
the kid he was. Like, oh, I'm, I'm sorry, it's
just a thing I do. I was like, what?
Excuse me? It makes sense though.
I mean like she literally gave that boat boy a blowjob so.
Yeah. Oh, we didn't talk about other
(27:24):
boat boy Morgan. Oh, Captain Morgan, Captain
Morgan. Such a cutie pie.
Such a cutie pie. I had a feeling she wasn't
going. She wasn't gonna go on the trip
with him. Yeah, I think it's tough to do
that when you have an ailing father.
Yeah, the only other thing I'll add is that the reason Peter is
(27:47):
not in the play is because he's supposed to play this powerful
figurehead that's always talked about but never actually shows
up. That's kind of the vibes that I
felt in the 1st one or two episodes, right?
Because Peter didn't come in until a little bit later in this
season. So yeah, OK, I can definitely
see that vibe. How interesting.
(28:08):
Right? Thank you so much for doing that
research. Do you do you think the themes
were still similar, like women kind of owning into their power
or their their power being blamed by men?
Yeah. We, we forgot to say that Kevin
Bacon is also in this. Right, Right.
(28:32):
Right. I guess this is similar.
The themes are class, family dynamics, ambition, regret, the
sacrifices people make for privilege and the choice of that
shape who we become. So maybe it has the same plot
but without that like siren element to it.
Because obviously sirens isn't asymbol in the play like it is in
(28:54):
the show. I also read in that same article
that when she was turning this play into a series, the symbol
of sirens just kind of came to her mid writing.
And so she initially was gonna have the girls text each other
(29:14):
the sirens emoji as their SOS. But then she was like sirens,
sirens. And then, you know, the the term
sirens as the Greek mythologicalcharacter kind of came to her
and she was like, oh, I can build something around this.
And then she changed the emoji to the word sirens and just had
(29:34):
it be a symbol throughout the show.
So I do think that aspect of it was a show thing and not a play.
OK, I would love to talk about this Greek mythology sirens
thing because I actually I learned some things when looking
this up. So I think we all know sirens.
It's basically like a Greek mythology figure.
(29:56):
It's a symbol of dangerous temptation embodied by women.
And it was first used in the Odyssey where basically these
these sirens are female human like beings with alluring voices
and they call out to these sailors and they try to like
bring the sailors down and shipwreck them, which also was a
(30:18):
line in the show, I think the dad, what's his name again?
Bruce. Oh, Bruce.
Yeah. Yeah, Bruce, the dad says
something about oh, like their mom, like she shipwrecked me or
something. I don't know if you caught that.
No, Oh my gosh, he totally did talk about her like a siren too.
(30:39):
Yes. Exactly.
Oh, actually, I think that's also very interesting.
Going back to your point of LMNOP, that that Peter Kell in
LMNOP was this figure that was talked about but never actually
present. Very similar to Andrea, the mom.
Yeah, talked about a lot, but she's never actually shown.
So. Yeah.
(30:59):
I mean because she killed herself.
Well, yeah, but they never even showed like flashbacks of her
like they showed the car. That's true that.
Is true, yeah. Anyway, yeah.
So going back to Sirens, they they first appeal appear in
Greek mythology. But one thing that I found which
is super interesting is that they were actually originally
shown as half woman, half bird. Yes.
(31:23):
Crazy. Yeah.
So that I guess that was, you know, along with the theme of
Michaela being obsessed about birds.
Totally, totally in Episode 2's title was Talons and it was all
about how she was sinking her talons into Simone and all of
this bird imagery. Yeah.
Although OK, go talking about the birds a little bit, that
(31:46):
whole Barnaby plot line had me really confused.
I was also super confused about that.
I I think maybe it was just a point about like, maybe This is
why we thought it was going to be supernatural because Barnaby
like slammed through the window and then she was super bloody
holding Barnaby. And I was like, what does this
(32:09):
mean? Like what is the satanic ritual
going on? What is this?
So I think that's probably why we thought that it was going to
be supernatural. But I agree, I feel like that
didn't really go anywhere. Yeah, maybe Barnaby is the
embodiment of men just always being called back to her or
(32:29):
something when she's in this power.
Oh yeah, maybe I could believe that.
Yeah, but anyway, I did think the bird thing was interesting
because I actually didn't clock that sirens were half women,
half bird. I thought they were half like
mermaids. Basically.
I thought they were half women, half fish.
(32:50):
But yeah, I found out that it was first in in Homer's Odyssey.
They didn't have any physical descriptions about sirens and it
was actually Apollonius of Rhodes who described the Sirens
as part woman and part bird. And that was in 3rd century BC.
And then by 7th century BC sirens were regularly depicted
(33:11):
in art as human headed birds. But then there's also art in
this. I think it's in the 8th century
BC where they are also like halfwomen mermaids type things.
So interesting. So, you know, Yeah, I think in
the Odyssey movie, they are depicted as mermaids or
(33:34):
something. They're like lounging across a
rock and singing their song and bringing the men into the
island. Or maybe I'm thinking of what's
that movie with George Clooney? Oh, brother, where art thou?
Have you heard of that movie? I've heard of it, but I have not
seen it. I did not know.
It's Clooney was in that yes, it's a George Clooney movie from
(33:55):
2000. That's a quote UN quote modern
retelling of the Odyssey. It's set in.
I don't know what what time period it's set in, but it's
kind of told us this like old Western where he and two friends
break out from prison and are trying to get home to his wife.
But in that they face the same similar obstacles to Odysseus
(34:17):
and the Odyssey. And one of them is like
nightclops. Yeah.
I think there is a one eyed man somewhere that like tries to
beat them up or something. And then they definitely do
stumble upon this area. I think I'm thinking of.
Oh, brother, where art thou? Not the Odyssey, where they
stumble upon this area that's like waterfalls and these women
just lounging across rocks and singing.
(34:38):
Yeah. Wow.
So I think that's what I also thought sirens were until I was
doing research for this episode.Mermaids, mermaid stuff.
Yeah. Yeah, I I never clocked sirens.
That would be like half birds, Ithink.
Probably because, well, man, nowI'm confused about which came
(34:59):
first, sirens or mermaids? Probably sirens at this point,
right? What came first, sirens or
mermaids? In terms of mythology, sirens
came first. The earliest depictions were
half bird, half woman. Over time during the medieval
period, images of sirens began to shift, some showing them with
(35:21):
fishtails, becoming more similarto the modern concept of
mermaids. Yeah, I think, yeah, that's what
I read on Wikipedia, lol. Did not, sorry.
Sorry. We're not getting a PhD in like
this stuff every time we do a podcast episode.
So there's got to be stuff that we get wrong.
(35:41):
And that's why we have our whoopsie doopsie segments.
It's all about learning. We got growth mindset.
Yeah, and you know what? Whoopsie, doopsies are my
favorite segment so I really hope we got stuff wrong so we
can then correct ourselves. Just wrong enough to induce
engagement. What's a nods am I?
(36:02):
Right. Oh, God.
Oh, yeah. OK, so one thing that confused
me, I thought there was going tobe a whole storyline about
Michaela actually being their mom.
So when Bruce and Michaela firstmeet, Bruce is like, oh, I've
met you before, I know you. I've seen you.
(36:25):
And then when they part ways after they first met, Michaela
says, oh, goodbye, Bruce. And I didn't remember if they
had actually introduced him as Bruce earlier in in that meeting
or if it was just, oh, she actually knew him.
And then when they were dancing together, she was basically
(36:46):
saying like basically pretendingto be who he thought she was,
which is Andrea, the mom. And I think by the end of that
conversation, I was like, oh, maybe they don't know each other
and they're just trying to connect with each other or she's
just trying to connect with him during his state of confusion.
(37:09):
But I mean, I think the the gap between those two scenes was
like 2 episodes or something. So for those two episodes I was
really confused as to like, whatif Michaela is actually Simone's
mom and maybe that's why Andrea tried to kill Simone?
I did not think that. But now that you're telling me
(37:35):
this theory, I think it would have been a really interesting
reveal because you know how theyintroduced the fact that Peter's
first wife's face was like dysmorphed by plastic surgery or
whatever? Because I was thinking Oh well
Devin would definitely know whather mom looks like cuz she was
old enough and even Simone was 7so she would probably recognize
(37:57):
her mom. But they already introduced
plastic surgery completely transforming people's faces and
like Simone fucking with her nose.
And So what if it was just revealed that Michaela
completely changed her face, changed her name and became this
billionaire's wife? Yeah, who knows?
That would have been fun. Yeah.
But I think that's why I felt kind of LED astray, which is why
(38:19):
by the end I was like, that's it.
Yeah, that's fair. I wanted to talk about, you
know, when they locked in on someone's face and had them
really, really zoomed in, everything behind them is
blurred. It's kind of this dull like.
(38:39):
Ethereal. Ethereal quality to it.
So I really liked that anytime Michaela had a conversation with
Simone, they would lock in like that.
And then sometimes when Michaelahad a conversation with Devin,
it would lock in like that. And then at the very end, it was
when Simone had a conversation with Peter that they locked in
(39:00):
like that. And I didn't realize until this
morning that was the show hinting that Simone was about to
take Michaela's place as the siren and just like, locking
people into herself. Yeah, true.
I I've got to say I was a littlesurprised by Simone's
(39:20):
willingness to be Peter Kell's wife because she broke up with
Ethan. When Ethan was proposing to her.
She was like you don't even knowme.
You don't actually know me. You only started to like me.
Actually you only started to like me more when you realized
that I was broken basically. And I know really fucked up
(39:42):
childhood. That was when you started to
love me more because then you thought that you could be this
like white knight savior type thing.
Isn't that what Peter is doing too?
Like why is she OK with Peter doing it and not Ethan I.
Think there's a reason she directly ran to Peter after her
dad basically said it's you and me now you know, that's when she
(40:03):
finally faced reality of like, wow, if I don't have this job or
if I don't have this family, I'mleft with nothing.
And so she was like, you know, even though I would, I would
like to not marry. Just some random rich guy.
But if the alternative is going home to my dad, Oh my God, I
would totally sacrifice everything to keep this life
(40:24):
that I've created for myself. So I think that's why they
showed her just literally sprinting away from her old life
back to the life that she already said no to to Ethan.
Yeah, it's not a cult, right? Like that's kind of what we
figured out in the end. It was just like a weird, it's
weird high society, which you could argue in some ways is
(40:46):
culty, but not a cult. Yeah, I think it wasn't a cult.
I think it was just how people act in high society.
I was also reading that Molly Smith Metzler introduced that
hey, hey thing because when she was, I mean, I think she was
talking about Nantucket or something.
When she was in Nantucket, she noticed that people were just
like picking up colloquialisms from each other.
(41:08):
And when someone said something interesting, other people would
just start saying that too. And that that's also what
happened with fashion and stuff.And so she just wanted to
introduce that concept of havinghaving one person say something.
Everyone catches on and it does end up sounding a little culty
and everyone's dressed in a similar way and acting a certain
way and yeah, it totally presents like a cult.
(41:32):
Interesting. OK, yeah.
What did you think about Chloe, Astrid.
And who's the third lady? I.
Don't even remember those 3. Ladies, women.
Yeah, They were also really interesting.
That's also what made me think that they were very supernatural
is because they all talked simultaneously.
(41:52):
They all were like, well, I was a nail tech in Florida and look
at me now. And so that also made me think
that something else was going on.
Yeah. That also wasn't really
explained. And they they also were high
society ladies that weren't a missus, something like we never
met their husbands and they weren't introduced as missus.
(42:15):
So and so, right. That's true, they only said
their first names but I thought it was implied that they were
also high society wives. Yeah, I think, I mean, I think
they are, but they also like never talked about their
husbands. So maybe that was the whole
point was was Michaela was was feeling this way about like all
(42:36):
I am, I'm just a missus, but I want to actually stand for
something. What does that mean?
Let me create an this like gardening club that turned into
this fundraising juggernaut so that we can separate ourselves
from this identity of just beinga missus so and so.
I actually love that theory. I hope that's true that she in
(43:02):
her, she was kind of like the kind of like a Robin Hood ask.
She was like, no, I think that'sthe wrong analogy.
But I guess what I'm trying to say is she once she was in this
position, she was like, let me bring other women up to this
position and like, give them real power.
Yeah, I like that. I hope that's true because she,
(43:22):
I mean, she's a very smart lady.Like, she's very well educated.
She was a really good lawyer. Not an M and a lawyer, though.
Wait, was she an M and a lawyer?I think she.
Might have been an M and a lawyer.
No, I think she. Legitimately was an M and a
lawyer because that that's what Peter said right.
Peter was like, oh, she was an attorney working on a merger.
(43:45):
Well, wow, that's funny. I wonder if she was on devil's
plan. What was I going to say?
Yeah, But I think I think that might be right though, because
like all of the three women, they did say that they came from
these like lower, like lower society.
(44:06):
Yeah, like blue collar type jobs.
And that's why when Megan, MeganFahey was like, what am I doing
in this dress? They were like, oh, you have to
own your power. Like I was a nail tech in
Florida. That's the only job I remember.
I'm sorry. She was like, I was a nail tech
in Florida. And so like, and here I am now.
So like you too can can own yourpower and be a part of this high
(44:28):
society, but you have to believein it or something Tinkerbell
style. Yeah, yeah, OK.
I really like that. I hope you like her character a
lot more. Yeah.
By the end I was like, oh wow, she wasn't the villain after
all. Yeah.
I yeah, This is why I really want to watch it again so I can
(44:50):
be like, OK, this wasn't magic. This is just her like trying to
be a good person. Yeah, And even at the end when
she was like, oh, I'm so hurt byyou because like, me and
Jocelyn, we weren't friends, butyou and I were friends.
And like, how could you do this to me?
Yeah, I mean, at that point, Simone hadn't really done
(45:10):
anything to her. That's true, but but still she
did. She did in the end, yeah.
A woman's instinct is always. Right.
True. What do you think the future
holds for Peter and Simone? Honestly, I want.
(45:31):
To say that it'll all turn out exactly like Peter and Michaela
turned out. She will feel like she's doing a
lot of good in the world by running this foundation,
etcetera. Maybe she'll start some new
things and then at some point she'll become old news to him.
He'll she'll hire an assistant or she'll hire a maid or a or a
(45:55):
chef or something that he ends up having like a special bond
with and then they'll turn into the new, the new missus.
Yeah, but at that point he'd be like 70 years old.
How old? Is I know, I know, I know.
I was trying to think, are they trying to show that he's way
older than Julianne Moore? Cuz they must be pretty similar
(46:17):
ages right? I think he was probably a little
older than her. I know I don't know real ages.
Yeah. I don't know if they talked
about an age gap or anything, but I would I would not be
surprised that they had some kind of like 10 year age gap.
OK, they actually only have a two year age gap.
Kevin Bacon is 66. Julianne Moore is 64.
(46:39):
Oh great, so if you just look super old then?
And Julianne Moore is a beautiful goddess, a siren, if
you will. Seriously, Dang, always wear a
sunscreen. Aging starts at 25.
Simone, you got one year. Is GRD 25?
(47:00):
I thought she was. I think they said she's 24 or
something or she was like at onepoint she said high school was.
7. Years ago, so then I added 7 to
17, but I guess we graduated quite.
Yeah, I added. 7 to 18. I was like, she's probably 25.
OK, OK. Yeah, cuz we, I, we technically
(47:21):
graduated at 17, but also I think we're young for our year.
Yeah, it's a little. Prodigy.
Just a little baby. Prodigies graduating high school
at 17. I'm a genius.
Secret lifestyle. Oh.
Oh, Speaking of cults, I did actually look up Nexium.
(47:43):
OK, Lily Rose. What an amazing character.
Love her. So.
Funny, Yeah, she she was great. So she was like, Oh yeah.
Like I was in Nexium. So I looked up Nexium and it's
apparently it was it was some kind of like MLM type thing that
(48:08):
was founded on personal growth and like owning your career and
owning your life. But what was really interesting
is that a lot of these like suitlike super rich and famous
people were in it. Yeah.
So let me see. Reported participants include
(48:32):
former Surgeon General Antonio Antonia Novello, Enron executive
Steven Cooper, Anna Christina Fox, the daughter of the former
Mexican president Vicente Fox, Richard Branson, actresses Linda
Evans, Grace Park and Nikki Klein.
(48:52):
Whoa. Grace Park, how'd you get in?
There, Grace Park. Wait, actually now I'm looking
at these these three actresses, Linda Evans, Grace Park and
Nikki Klein, and they look very,they seem very similar to those
three women. Astrid, Gloria, whoever it was.
No way. One.
(49:13):
Yeah. So I wonder if she was talking
about next Sam. And she's like, let's just make
these three people like cult members or something.
Whoa, I love that. I love that.
That's my theory and I'm stakingto it now that one of my
theories was proven correctly. I'm just like theory theory
(49:35):
theory throw. Them out.
Oh, I would love that. Oh my gosh, I hope that's true.
I hope it's true too. Oh, Speaking of age differences.
So at first I didn't think abouthow much older Glenn Howerton,
who plays Ethan was, then MillieAlcock who plays Simone.
(50:00):
But then I looked it up and theyhave a 24 year age difference.
Wait, how far? How old is Glenn Howerton
compared to Kevin? 4949, Yeah.
He looks great for 49. He does.
I also noticed that he plays kind of the same character.
You know what I mean? Dennis.
Dennis, yeah, he's very. He was rich, Dennis.
(50:23):
Yeah, here he was Rich Dennis, but he was still like the same
type of humor, you know? Yeah, totally Hope.
I was also really impressed by Megan Fahey because when she was
Daphne and the White Lotus, she was definitely like rich Bitch,
right? But in this show, I thought she
did a great job of being blue collar Megan Fahey.
(50:45):
Yes, yes. They tried really hard to make
her look crunchy. Yeah.
Yeah. They tried really hard.
I don't know if the look, I mean, she's just so beautiful.
Like it was very hard to make her look frumpy.
But yeah, I thought her acting was amazing and I really felt
like she was from Buffalo. Yeah, I felt that way too.
(51:07):
I wonder where is she actually from?
Megan Fahey, She's from Longmeadow, MA Sounds.
Pretty high society. And doesn't, I don't know,
actually, I was like, I wonder if Longmeadow, MA is like the
Buffalo of Massachusetts. Oh, I don't know.
(51:32):
I can't tell. Like what the culture of this
city is. You know what I mean?
Johnny Appleseed is from Longmeadow, MA.
Oh good. Oh, it's rich.
It's pretty, yeah. OK.
I just found the average income.Yep, I also read the average
income. I was like oh oh OK, shoot rich
(51:54):
as fuck. But yeah, I did think the
juxtaposition of Devin and Daphne is very interesting
because she played both so well.And Daphne, which is how I was
introduced to Megan Fahey, is like, she's so stylish and so.
(52:17):
She's. Very.
Yeah. So put together, I think she
would fit in really well at these high society parties.
I'm sure she had some sort of Lily Pulitzer outfit in the
White Lotus. So when she had to fit in, after
she agrees to like, try to try to fit in in Michaela's world, I
was like, it's my Daphne. That's my Daphne.
(52:39):
Yeah, exactly. When she wore her Easter egg
dress, I was like, Daphne would never first of all.
Daphne would have something way.More stylish, yeah, yeah.
But yeah, I was really impressedwith her cuz yeah, similar to
you, I also my introduction to Megan Fahey was Daphne and White
(53:02):
Lotus. And I also thought she was
super, incredibly gorgeous in White Lotus.
And they really, I thought it worked though, with what they
did in this show inside. Yeah.
Then we of course have Millie Alcock, who is Australian, but
her American accent in the show was so convincing, I didn't know
(53:26):
that. She was Australian.
Wow. She's Australian, plays a
British character in House of the Dragon.
Also never knew she was Australian except in the post
episode about the episode interviews.
And then in this show I kept forgetting that she's Australian
cuz her American accent. I don't think there was one time
where I was like, that's yeah, there's the accent.
(53:48):
I hear it. Yeah, wow.
I don't know that either. Well, I, I also had never seen
Millie Alcock in anything because.
Oh yeah, the dragon. So this is my first introduction
to her, but yeah, I I thought she was American.
Wow. Yeah.
So impressive and I saw an interview with her where she was
saying that as the episodes go on.
(54:08):
So she starts with this like really not valley girl cuz
that's West Coast, but this veryput on curated way of talking.
And then as the episodes go on, it kind of falls back into the
Buffalo way of talking. And so not only did she do a
convincing American accent, she played on that as the season
went on. So smart.
(54:30):
And then Glenn Howerton is just playing Dennis.
Every every show is like some form of Dennis.
Yeah. Man, wow, great.
OK, overall good show show we doratings.
I would rate this show probably an 8 out of 10.
Yeah, I loved. I thought all of the acting was
(54:52):
brilliant. The storyline was interesting.
The take away was so good. I thought.
And I love shows set in high society.
It just like it just fulfills something in my heart.
Just watching rich people have problems.
I saw on Instagram that was likesirens will fill the hole in
(55:12):
your heart left by White Lotus or something like that.
And it's so true. The music, yeah, I didn't talk
about this at all, but I thoughtthe music was very similar to
White Lotus music also, like thejust the vocal, like she just,
it's, it's some voice going likeso similar.
(55:37):
And it kind of leaves you with the sense of dread of something,
something bad is gonna happen, but you don't know what it is.
So, yeah, I thought it, it kind of fulfilled that same thing
that White Lotus does. Yeah.
I just, I love being in the world.
Loved actors. Yeah, I, I think I, I feel
similarly. I think I'll also give it an 8,
(55:59):
but I think I wanted, I mean, wetalked about the whole
supernatural confusion. I think that part I was a little
confused about and like that mayhave been the point, but also I
didn't get it. So I'm docking points for that.
That's fair, I do. Think they could have made it
(56:19):
clearer that, like, all the magic is gone now that she's out
of the picture. You know, it's like, oh, this
magic was all fake. But now that she's not Peter
Cull's wife anymore, no one brought it.
There's no magic, but then Simone has the magic.
Yeah. Yeah.
So I, I think Michaela's storyline I thought was pretty
clear that like, there was no magic this whole time.
(56:42):
And then when we see her on the boat, we're like, oh, she's like
a real person. She's just a person.
Yeah. Versus like Simone becomes this
ethereal figure. So, yeah, I, I thought it was, I
thought it was good. I really did like the
cinematography, the way that stuff came together.
But then there were just some parts here and there that I was
(57:04):
like, but why? So the Barnaby thing, that was a
little bit, but why? At one point I thought that
Julianne Moore was turning men into birds.
And just kidding. I'm captain.
Yeah. That could be.
It's like. Who is Barnaby?
Is the next bird gonna be Ethan?I Yeah, True.
(57:28):
OK. Also, I was just waiting for
someone to die, you know what I mean?
No, I was too. At the end of the show you're
like, wait, no one died? No one died.
Ray was found. Ethan was fine, Peter was fine.
Peter was fine. Yeah.
But maybe that's the point. It's like, yeah.
It's not that dramatic. Yeah, like take a step back.
(57:52):
It's chill. Yeah, it's chill.
Well, good morning. It is now 8.
AM now we can park. All right, should I stop?
(58:15):
Wait, wait, wait. Bitch in progress.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Let me see.
I feel like I haven't. Well, OK, I.
Finished. I finished.
Devil's Plan. I finished Love, Death and
Robots. Finish Sirens.
I started the first episode of at 12 at 12, but only like the
first four seconds to be honest.You.
(58:36):
Clicked Play and then clicked. I clicked play and then I got to
the dance scene and then I clicked Pause.
The little girls dance. Scene.
The scene after that the. Club.
Yeah. OK, Yeah.
I think the only thing I've watched besides Secret Lives of
(58:58):
Mormon Wives and Sirens in the last several days is I watched
the Survivor finale with my sister and I hadn't seen most of
the season, but I actually started crying during the
finale. Why there's this?
I don't know if she's Indian, but she's some sort of South
Asian girl. Her name is Camilla and she so
(59:22):
it was her versus this other girl, Eva at the fire.
They both had to make a fire. I don't know.
It's in, it's always in the finale of Survivor, but I don't
know if there's a name for that segment.
And they were competing against each other.
And Eva, I believe, is on the spectrum.
And she was getting really worked up about creating this
fire. And her fire was slowly going
(59:44):
down, even though she'd started a flame.
And she was getting really panicked and Camilla hadn't even
started her fire yet, but was reassuring Eva and was like,
don't worry, you're doing way better than I am as she was
trying to make her fire, which Ithought was so sweet.
And then Eva ends up winning. So Camilla's eliminated.
And then Jeff, the host is talking to Camilla about he was
(01:00:06):
like, you always talk about how you're so negative on yourself,
but like, you're you're. You know, you have so much
positivity flowing out of you. Like, you said that to Eva.
And then Camilla breaks down in tears and she's like, I am
really negative on myself, and Inever think I'm good enough.
But this being on Survivor has showed me my own strength and my
(01:00:26):
own power. And I was like, oh, my God,
Vanilla. Such a sweet soul.
Yeah. I.
Love that. And she has this like, really
sweet voice and it was just, I was so touched.
That reminds me of this devil's plan contestant who I also
started tearing up at. So when her name is Harin and
(01:00:49):
when she got eliminated, I was actually very happy because I
did not like her as a contestant.
But then in her like going out interview, her elimination
interview, she was like, I'm really proud of myself because
my whole life it's always been just about like what I need to
do. So I've always, I was only
allowed two hours of TVA week. And whenever I did watch TV, it
(01:01:13):
would be these these types of game shows where you had to
really use your brain and think and everything.
And so I was always doing homework, always studying,
always thinking and trying to beproductive.
And devil's plan was the first time that I really prioritized
what I wanted to do over what I should do.
And I was like, Oh my God, why did I root against you?
(01:01:38):
Oh, no. I was like, I felt so bad.
I was like, dude, I, I rooted for you to fail.
And now I feel like that. I don't know.
But yeah, I was, I, I also started tearing up during that
moment. Something about these reality
shows, I think they do make you feel.
They, they make you be in touch with like who you truly are.
(01:02:00):
They make you really understand that.
Yeah. Yeah, if you were ever on a
reality show, which one would itbe?
Oh easy, The Amazing Race with Jing Chen.
Oh my God, me too. I would be amazing race with
Izzy. Let's come meet.
Yeah, Jing and I've actually talked about signing up and
(01:02:21):
seeing what happens, but we needto figure out what our shtick
is, you know? Do you need a?
Shtick. I think so.
I don't know. It seems like Jinx done a lot of
research and how to get a cast. She's like, you gotta figure out
what our stick is. Yeah, I do feel like I think the
season of The Amazing Race that I saw, I think it was season 34,
(01:02:43):
it was based in Munich for the most part, or not for the most
part, but a lot of it was in Munich, which is.
Really interesting. Yeah.
Or like in Germany in general, Ithink because it was like soon
after the pandemic, so they didn't want to like, travel
around the world that much. Sense.
But then I was watching that andI was like, well, everyone, all
of these contestants have some kind of claim to fame for the
(01:03:06):
most part. So that's why I was like, what?
Do they even cast normal people anymore?
I think there are normal people on this season.
I don't think any of them have acrazy claim to fame. 1 is a
brother sister duo. Are you watching this?
No. Oh, OK.
One is a brother sister duo fromI think somewhere in South Bay.
(01:03:31):
Oh yeah. And they're just this like Asian
sibling pair. Oh, what's their shtick?
Well, maybe that's their siblings, I don't know.
Yeah, cuz they kind of look liketwins.
I don't know. Yeah, OK, I was going to say the
reason. The only, like, normal people
pairing that I saw were these two twins.
But there were two twins who hadfound each other like they were
(01:03:53):
adopted separately by two different families and they had
found each other way later in life.
And they decided to do amazing race together to, like, deepen
their bond. Yeah.
And they were identical twins. And I was like.
Crazy I was. Like if that's this, if that's
the stick that you need as a normal person, like.
(01:04:18):
That's one of snakes finding a long lost identical twins
symbol. Oh no.
We're fucked. We're fucked.
Cool. All right, All right.
Thanks for yapping with us, OK? Bye bye bye.
Thanks for yapping with us. If you loved this episode, have
(01:04:41):
some hot takes we missed, or if you've got a show you're dying
for us to binge next, follow us on socials we're at, Binge Yapp,
Repeat. Until next time, happy bingeing.
Fucking stupid fucking big chairs.
Hello fellow yappers, I'm Ruchi.And I'm Shalini and we're your
hosts. A binge, yap, repeat.
We're two best friends who spendan embarrassing amount of time
binge watching TV, and honestly,we just need to talk about it.
If you're here, we're guessing you do too.
(00:20):
Fair warning. This is a spoiler friendly zone.
We will be discussing lots of spoilers, so if you haven't
watched the show yet, hit pause,go binge, and come back when
you're ready to yap with us. And now it's yap time.
(00:51):
I want us to not have corporate voice.
How do we break out of corporatevoice this early in the morning?
Good morning. It's another episode of Morning
Brew, your favorite corporate podcast.
Today we're going to be talking about all of the hottest M&A's
(01:12):
that are happening. Oh, merchants and acquisition
actually MBA not knowing what M&A?
Yeah. Well, OK.
The only reason that I know thisis because a contestant on
Devil's Plan is a lawyer for M and A, He's Speaking of M&A.
(01:32):
This is a really side point. Speaking of M&A, did you
discover and the Capital One merged?
No, I know I have. Yeah, I'm a little worried.
I really love Discover. Oh, I remember in college your
Discover credit card was like a little cassette tape.
I still have that, like little cassette tape credit card.
(01:53):
So cute. Yeah.
Capital One could never. It's not cutie patootie enough.
Yeah, seriously. OK, before we kick off today's
episode on Sirens, yay. I have some oopsie doopsies
(02:13):
already from the last episode. I feel like it's too early.
It's like too early to be embarking.
Oh my God, I don't know how you wake up early.
I'm like, it's 9:00 AM for me and I'm like, it's the earliest
I've ever woken up in the morning ever.
(02:39):
Yes, listeners, for context, it is 7:00 AM where I am and it is
9:00 AM for Richie. But we have exactly the same
sleep schedule, so it's equally early for both of us.
I. Think I go to bed later than you
do. I think I've been going to bed
around like 12 or one sometimes.Oh yeah, that would be a little
(03:02):
later. OK, all right, so my my oopsie
doopsie is actually from last time's funsy onesie.
So it was not even episode related.
So what had happened was I gloated about how my Taylor and
Tyler theory was correct and that they maybe they hadn't like
(03:25):
broken up, broken up, but they were on very rocky terms before,
before the the Temptation Islands actually started
filming. And I had said that they talked
on vial files and that Taylor basically asked Tyler if they
wanted to like book flights together on the way back.
And he was like, I don't think we should do that.
So this time around that was from like some random article
(03:48):
that I read that I thought was summarizing the vial files
actually was not the case. So I actually watched the 1st 20
minutes of the Vial Files, whichis actually when Taylor and
Tyler were talking about all this stuff and they had said
that they didn't say anything about the flight back, but they
were basically saying how it wassuper rocky.
(04:10):
They were basically about to break up when they got the phone
call and they had both decided together to still go on the
show. So I think it was a little bit
still like cloud chasing, but onboth of their both of their
sides. And Tyler had said in the vile
(04:31):
files that he he wanted a careerin entertainment.
Exactly. And they were exactly.
And there were meaningful looks exchanged between Taylor and
Ashley as well during when he said that.
And then he was like, oh, what'sthat look about?
And then and then Taylor was like, you're cloud chasing, like
(04:52):
you've always been a cloud chaser, blah, blah, blah, Yeah.
OK, I would say you were correct.
You were still right that they were not broken up when they
signed up or whatever or like auditioned.
They were basically broken up when they got called to be on
the show and then they both mutually agreed to do it for
Instagram fame. The other thing is that they
(05:12):
were actually like in the Netflix database.
So they were, they were auditioning for another show and
then that show ended up being cut, but then they were in the
Netflix database for just, I don't know, hot couples, hot
dramatic couples database. And then like a year later,
after they auditioned, Netflix contacted them and was like, oh,
(05:33):
we're not going to do that show,but do you want to do this show
Temptation Island? And then they were like, well,
there were, I think the Netflix was like, oh, are you still
together? Do you want to do this show?
And then they were like, we're not not together.
Got a little Taylor Dakota situation.
Exactly. Exactly.
(05:55):
So then that's how they ended updoing it.
Got it. But yeah.
Okay, all right. Still vindication, I would say.
Vindication. Yes, OK.
And then I think we had in the last episode, we promised that
we would come back with the updated TikTok specific
rankings, so not the Instagram rankings, but TikTok and see if
(06:17):
there is any difference. So, Shirley, take it away.
All right, so first of all, everyone has basically 2 to 5X
the number of followers on TikTok than they do on
Instagram, which we mentioned last.
So Instagram following, we had Taylor in first place.
Taylor is still in first place on TikTok with 5.3 million
(06:38):
followers. I think she had 1.2 million on
Instagram. Yeah.
Then second on Instagram was Jen, but second on TikTok is
Michaela with 3,000,000. Interesting.
Wow. I know.
I guessed right. I had guessed Michaela for #2
(06:59):
OK, yeah, because they show, they show a lot of her skin care
journey. Oh yeah OK then third is Whitney
on TikTok with 2.4 million. I think Whitney was 7th, 2nd to
last on Instagram. Seven.
Yeah, Yeah, Whitney is not popular with the millennials.
(07:20):
Only Jen Z then we have Macy whowas also 4th in Instagram.
Then we have Jen at 2,000,000 followers so she fell from
second on Instagram to 5th on TikTok.
Wow. Then here's where it gets really
crazy. Demi is now ahead of Jessie on
(07:41):
TikTok. So Demi has 1.1 million and
Jessie has 1,000,000 followers. And then 8th is Layla with 537.3
Classic Layla and. Followers.
Classic Layla. Hmm, interesting.
Yeah, OK, 'cause I do know that.I think it was in the show that
(08:03):
they're like, oh, Demi is about to hit 1,000,000, right?
Oh, I don't remember that. I, I think he was Demi came over
to Jesse's house and then Jesse hugged her and was like, Oh my
God, you're about to hit 1,000,000.
Oh, or like Congrats on hitting 1,000,000.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, I know what scene you're
talking about, but I I still don't remember that line.
(08:26):
Yeah. I wonder what the rate of growth
is though because if Demi was about to hit 1 million or hit
1,000,000 in November, December and she's at 1.1 now and Jessie
is at 1,000,000, it could be that there is a higher rate of
(08:48):
growth for Jessie. Yeah, like she's on the up and
up and Demi's on the down and down.
Yeah, it's possible. Well, OK.
Good for Michaela, Good for Michaela.
Yeah, remember when she was likewhat my husband made in a year
(09:10):
is what I make from 1 brand deal.
Yes, yeah. How much do you think these
brand deals are? No.
I was thinking about that maybe like 80 KA 100K.
Dude, that's so much. I know, I know, that's crazy.
No wonder they all want to standmom talk even though the toxic
(09:31):
app. Oh, did you want to give an
update on on the actual season? Like there's a a new season
coming out? Yes, OK.
So I just saw that the show Secret Lives of Mormon Wise
after season 2 was renewed for 20 new episodes.
So only 10 are out right now. That means either we have 10
(09:53):
more coming this season or they're going to wait and post
the other 10 episodes as a season 3.
Like regardless of how season 2 does.
So they haven't announced anything.
But I did think it was interesting that at the end of
episode 10 they were showing clips of what's to come in the
future. I was like, oh, so they already
(10:13):
filmed it, but I just didn't think very much about it.
Yeah, I thought that, too. I was like, oh, they have
Jesse's husband crying. Oh, I guess they know what the
fallout is. Cool.
All right. Please God, give us a break.
Please we need. You guys, Secret Lives was so
(10:36):
stressful, like the entire process of of watching it,
recording it, editing it, publishing it was so stressful
for us. Jackie, it was all for you.
And Ariel? Oh yes.
(10:57):
I think, honestly, I think it was just because we were like
super busy with the badge. Yeah, yeah.
Imagine if we had all weekend. That would have been nothing.
Yeah. Four days to watch 10 hours of
TV. Dude, I was straight up like
watching. I was like, I need to cram this
into every free minute that I have in my life.
(11:17):
Like I had my, one of my meetings ended early and I had 7
minutes and I watched, I watchedSecret Lives in those seven
minutes. Oh.
My God. Just to get through it, I was
watching Secret Lives as I was brushing my that night.
Like I need to get, I need to finish this episode.
That reminds me, last summer I got into Love Island USA, I
(11:40):
think after the season had endedbut before the reunion was
airing. But I got so hooked on it and I
was so committed to finish the season before the reunion.
And that show is like 35 one hour plus long episodes.
And so I was, I was watching on my walks with my dog.
I was watching in the shower. I would like put my phone in my
(12:03):
shower caddy on the wall and watch it as I showered.
I was listening to it when I drove everywhere.
Like I was so committed to finishing it.
That's what I knew hosting this podcast wouldn't be that
difficult from a watching perspective.
True. OK, yes.
Which brings us to Sirens, whichcame out Thursday, May 22nd.
(12:27):
We are recording this Saturday, May 24th.
At the ass crack of dawn. I guess we should.
Let's get into it. Let's get into it already.
Already 15 minutes oops OK. Sirens is a dark comedy limited
series created by Molly Smith Metzler based on her 2011 play
(12:48):
LMNOPI Love that name. It premiered on Netflix on May
22nd, 2025. The premise of Sirens is Devin
is concerned about her sister Simone's unhealthy relationship
with her new boss Michaela. It stars Megan Fahey as Devin
DeWitt, Simone's older sister, Millie Alcock as Simone DeWitt,
(13:10):
Devin's younger sister and Michaela's personal assistant,
and Julianne Moore as Michaela or Kiki Kell, a billionaire and
Simone's boss. There's also some other famous
faces like Glenn Howerton from It's Always Sunny and Josh
Segara as Raymond Devin's on andoff boyfriend, also from Abbott
Elementary. And Bill Camp, who plays Simone,
(13:34):
Devin's dad, he was in the nightof.
He's been in a lot of other things, but he was in the night
of, which I talked about in the Deli Boys episode.
Whoa, fun fact. I didn't know that.
Yeah, I didn't recognize him. Cool.
I have a fun fact about Josh Segara.
He is from Longwood, FL, my hometown.
(13:54):
Whoa, shout out Longwood. Florida, my little hometown in
Seminole County, Florida. Wow, that's cool.
He went to Lake Brantley High School, which is actually pretty
close to my house, but I yeah, it's just.
A rival high school. Well, I just got a mad sense of
(14:15):
deja vu that we talked, that we were talking about Lake Brantley
High School in this podcast. This is crazy.
No, wow. It was crazy.
I think because I, I was about to say something like, I don't
think it was a very good high school.
And then I had this feeling thatI would look up Lake Brantley
High School and then see that there was actually like a pretty
high pregnancy rate. I am not going to look that up,
(14:39):
but it was public school, OK? All right, cool.
And Megan Fahey, who plays Devin, is, of course, Daphne
from White Lotus Season 2. Millie Alcock is, of course,
young Ranira in Hot D, or House of the Dragon.
(15:00):
I was like, huh, Yeah, it's kindof like Temptation Island, but
it's called Hot D. OK, so Shalini, you want to kick
us off with your insightful overall thoughts.
Oh, you happened me up too much.So overall, I enjoyed the
(15:20):
experience of watching this show.
I think from the moment it started, I was really intrigued
by what was going on. It kind of had like a Stepford
Wives kind of vibe to it. And I was trying to figure out
what this show was going to be like.
Is it going to be about this witch who can bewitch people
(15:42):
into following her or something?Or, you know, I, it was hard to
tell whether it was going to be like supernatural or fantasy or
whatever. And so I went through the whole
show thinking there's going to be this huge reveal about how
Michaela is a witch. And then it was like, oh, it was
all in everyone's head. And that's kind of the point.
So I ended up like, I was like, whoa, this is not what I thought
(16:03):
it was going to be, but I reallyliked it and now I kinda wanna
watch it again. Whoa, OK, I I feel very
similarly to you up until that last point.
I don't. I wanna watch it again.
But I agree with you. I was really waiting for
something supernatural to happen.
(16:26):
There was that whole bathtub scene with Michaela, and I was
like, oh, shit. Like, does she have fins or
something? Is it gonna.
Yeah, like, is what's gonna happen?
And then I was waiting and waiting and waiting until the
very end. And then like, nothing happened.
And then I was like, OK, is this, I guess this wasn't a
supernatural thing, but I agree.I mean, I really liked the
(16:48):
vibes. I think it was visually
stunning. I also binged it.
I was waiting to see what would happen next, what would happen
next, what would happen next. But I kind of felt myself being
like, oh, that's it in the end. But then I also didn't really
know what else to expect or like, yeah, yeah.
(17:11):
So I don't know, I think it was a little bit confusing.
I don't think I would watch it again.
Maybe if the Season 2 came out, I would watch it in the hopes of
something supernatural happening.
But yeah, nothing ever did. I think when the show finished,
I felt similarly to you. I was like, oh, that's it.
But then as I was thinking aboutit as I slept on it, because I
(17:34):
truly did fall asleep right after finishing the show last
night at 10:30 PM and it is now at 7:30 AM, now that I'm talking
about it, I really think that was the whole point, that you
think she has some sort of supernatural power over people,
but it's really just that she was his wife.
And when you're his wife, you dohave that kind of power, but
(17:56):
it's nothing to do with you. It's all to do with him.
So I think in that way, I reallylike that it ended up being no
superpower. And it was just the allure of
being the wife of Peter Kell, you know, And just that as a
statement on like women's power in high society is all derived
(18:17):
from who they're married to. And just when she holds that
position, everybody's. So, you know, they showed men
flocking to Devin when she had quote UN quote the power.
And they showed everyone bendingat the knee for Michaela.
But then when she's on the boat leaving the island, she's just a
(18:37):
regular woman and she has no power.
And it's like, oh, hey, hey, it was not a cult call.
It was just something she said once and people loved it.
So they just caught on. But what about, like, what about
people just running after Devin?Like, I thought that felt very
supernatural. And I felt like in that moment,
I don't think Devin really had any power.
(18:59):
Or are you saying that that was the point, that they were just
running after her? Because they didn't, I don't
know. They just wanted what they
wanted, I think. That was the point.
I think the point it was trying to tell is like, oh, when women
believe they have the power, they have the power after the
girls dressed up Devin, you know, those three women dressed
up Devin, and they were like, men will come flocking to you
(19:21):
now. And then it just manifested and
she was like, wait, what the fuck is going on?
Yeah, I don't know. I think that I think they were,
they were definitely trying to put some sort of supernatural
thing. But I think the take away from
it is that there is no magic about the women in this world.
He's like, also, I'm sure this happened so much like what
(19:42):
happened, what happened to Peter, what Peter did, which is,
Oh my gosh, I'm so drawn to thisother woman that's not my wife.
I'm going to leave my wife and capture the beauty of this new
woman I've discovered because it's so alluring and kind of
putting the onus of what he did on the woman.
No, you did that. Like, not that this woman is
(20:04):
like siren ING you to her. You just projected that power
onto her. And now you're blaming her for
like, ruining your life, you know?
Yeah, that's so true. Because I think they had that
whole conversation between Peterand Michaela about the kids,
right? Where Peter is like, oh, you
actively dissuaded me from having a relationship with your
(20:25):
kids. And she's like, I didn't do
that. You ignored your kids for 13
years and then put the blame on me.
I never said anything about that.
Right. Yeah, that's so true.
OK, Yeah, I, I agree with you. I I totally think that is the
point and that there is no power.
(20:46):
It is time for an oopsie doopsie, folks.
All right, so this oopsie doopsie is 2 instances of men
blaming the women in their livesfor their actions that we forgot
to cover. But I think it's actually very
important to mention because it ties into the whole theme of,
(21:09):
you know, the the idea of sirensbeing the cause of the problems
in men's lives when it's really just the men's actions
themselves. So the first one is Ray blaming
Devin about cheating on his wifeand going to that island when
he's in jail. And Devon comes to bail him out
(21:29):
and he's like, what am I even doing on this island, Devon?
And just kind of blames her for how he got into that situation.
But it was all his choice and his actions.
And the second example is Ethan blaming Simone for falling off
the Cliff and saying that she pushed him.
And he even went as far as to say that she had wings and he
(21:52):
saw her hovering over him. So I think that's another
example of, you know, Ethan justnot accepting that it was an
accident and just trying to an accident that he caused himself
and just trying to put the blameon this woman.
Yeah, so I know you did some research on the play.
(22:13):
LMNOP was curious to see what the takeaways were from that
play or how it was any differentfrom the TV show.
Yes, I did some reading about this play.
So Molly Smith Metzler, who wrote the play, also wrote this
show. And then just a little bit about
her. She also wrote Maid that show
(22:36):
with Margaret Qualey. I love that show.
Yeah, wow. And that show is also a Netflix
show. It's based on a book.
And it's about this young motherwho just left an abusive partner
situation and is trying to keep her daughter safe, trying to
make ends meet and just the story of her struggle.
(22:56):
That show's so beautiful. But unlike Maid, Molly Smith
Metzler did write the IP of Sirens.
But Maid is based on a book by someone else.
So I read this article in Variety about her take on the
show versus the play. And one really funny thing was
she was like, yeah, you know, with Maid, I really wanted to
(23:18):
honor the core material, and I just wanted to do it justice.
But with Sirens, it was my material, so I wasn't very
precious about it. I was like throw it all out.
Wait, OK, what does throw it allout mean?
What does she do? OK, the the core story is
similar, however, this play is 90 minutes long and only has
(23:42):
five characters in it, and it's in one room.
Oh wow. OK, very different.
Very different. So there's Simone, there's
Devin, there's Michaela. Can you guess who the other two
characters are? Peter.
Ray Nope. Dad, Nope.
(24:03):
Jose, yes. Jose and Ethan, Who's Simone's
boyfriend. Interesting.
OK, very. Good.
So I think so that in the original story is that Devin
visits Simone at this house on aweekend when Michaela and her
husband are supposed to be away on vacation.
(24:25):
But I I think it's that he decides to leave her and so she
comes home early. That's why she enters the house.
So I I don't know what how the plot plays out in that play, but
yeah, those are that's like the core difference.
One more oopsie doopsie for thisepisode.
(24:47):
This is also not a not quite an oopsie doopsie but just one
thing that I but realized later that I felt was remiss for not
mentioning in the original episode.
So at the very end of the play Simone severs her contract with
Michaela and leaves with Ethan to give up her dreams of being a
writer. So that's actually how the play
(25:09):
ends. She does not take over
Michaela's position as Peter Kells wife or anything because
obviously Peter is not a character in the show.
But I thought that the original story in the play, Simone
leaving to be with Ethan and basically accepting this new
life and giving up her dreams ofbeing a writer, was very
reminiscent of White Lotus season 1, in which Alexandria
(25:32):
Dadarios character Rachel spendsthe entire season conflicted
about wanting to continue being a writer.
But then her new husband, playedby Jake Lacey, is pressuring her
kind of to just quit because he can take care of them.
And in the end, at the very end of the season, that's basically
(25:55):
what she ends up doing. She just, you know, accepts that
this is her life now and stays with him.
So I thought that was an interesting parallel to White
Lotus, which we've mentioned in this episode quite a few times
as well. Also, in that Variety article I
was reading she some of the things that she kept.
One example is that Jose refers to Michaela as MI Amor.
(26:20):
Oh yeah, I didn't really get theMI Amor thing, was it?
It was just like my queen, like my love.
Yeah, I think it was. So it she says in that same
article. She's like, yeah, it's it's
meant to be a respect thing, butalso a tiny bit condescending.
And that, you know, ultimately Jose has way more power than
Peter's wife, whoever that is atthe time.
(26:43):
Like, he's been with Peter for along time.
So when he's saying MI Amor, it's, you know, yes, I serve you
in this moment. But like, we all know who's the
top dog around here. Jose Oh my God, Yeah.
Oh my gosh. Would Megan Fahey, like, licked
(27:03):
him? And he's like, I have a wife and
the kid he was. Like, oh, I'm, I'm sorry, it's
just a thing I do. I was like, what?
Excuse me? It makes sense though.
I mean like she literally gave that boat boy a blowjob so.
Yeah. Oh, we didn't talk about other
(27:24):
boat boy Morgan. Oh, Captain Morgan, Captain
Morgan. Such a cutie pie.
Such a cutie pie. I had a feeling she wasn't
going. She wasn't gonna go on the trip
with him. Yeah, I think it's tough to do
that when you have an ailing father.
Yeah, the only other thing I'll add is that the reason Peter is
(27:47):
not in the play is because he's supposed to play this powerful
figurehead that's always talked about but never actually shows
up. That's kind of the vibes that I
felt in the 1st one or two episodes, right?
Because Peter didn't come in until a little bit later in this
season. So yeah, OK, I can definitely
see that vibe. How interesting.
(28:08):
Right? Thank you so much for doing that
research. Do you do you think the themes
were still similar, like women kind of owning into their power
or their their power being blamed by men?
Yeah. We, we forgot to say that Kevin
Bacon is also in this. Right, Right.
(28:32):
Right. I guess this is similar.
The themes are class, family dynamics, ambition, regret, the
sacrifices people make for privilege and the choice of that
shape who we become. So maybe it has the same plot
but without that like siren element to it.
Because obviously sirens isn't asymbol in the play like it is in
(28:54):
the show. I also read in that same article
that when she was turning this play into a series, the symbol
of sirens just kind of came to her mid writing.
And so she initially was gonna have the girls text each other
(29:14):
the sirens emoji as their SOS. But then she was like sirens,
sirens. And then, you know, the the term
sirens as the Greek mythologicalcharacter kind of came to her
and she was like, oh, I can build something around this.
And then she changed the emoji to the word sirens and just had
(29:34):
it be a symbol throughout the show.
So I do think that aspect of it was a show thing and not a play.
OK, I would love to talk about this Greek mythology sirens
thing because I actually I learned some things when looking
this up. So I think we all know sirens.
It's basically like a Greek mythology figure.
(29:56):
It's a symbol of dangerous temptation embodied by women.
And it was first used in the Odyssey where basically these
these sirens are female human like beings with alluring voices
and they call out to these sailors and they try to like
bring the sailors down and shipwreck them, which also was a
(30:18):
line in the show, I think the dad, what's his name again?
Bruce. Oh, Bruce.
Yeah. Yeah, Bruce, the dad says
something about oh, like their mom, like she shipwrecked me or
something. I don't know if you caught that.
No, Oh my gosh, he totally did talk about her like a siren too.
(30:39):
Yes. Exactly.
Oh, actually, I think that's also very interesting.
Going back to your point of LMNOP, that that Peter Kell in
LMNOP was this figure that was talked about but never actually
present. Very similar to Andrea, the mom.
Yeah, talked about a lot, but she's never actually shown.
So. Yeah.
(30:59):
I mean because she killed herself.
Well, yeah, but they never even showed like flashbacks of her
like they showed the car. That's true that.
Is true, yeah. Anyway, yeah.
So going back to Sirens, they they first appeal appear in
Greek mythology. But one thing that I found which
is super interesting is that they were actually originally
shown as half woman, half bird. Yes.
(31:23):
Crazy. Yeah.
So that I guess that was, you know, along with the theme of
Michaela being obsessed about birds.
Totally, totally in Episode 2's title was Talons and it was all
about how she was sinking her talons into Simone and all of
this bird imagery. Yeah.
Although OK, go talking about the birds a little bit, that
(31:46):
whole Barnaby plot line had me really confused.
I was also super confused about that.
I I think maybe it was just a point about like, maybe This is
why we thought it was going to be supernatural because Barnaby
like slammed through the window and then she was super bloody
holding Barnaby. And I was like, what does this
(32:09):
mean? Like what is the satanic ritual
going on? What is this?
So I think that's probably why we thought that it was going to
be supernatural. But I agree, I feel like that
didn't really go anywhere. Yeah, maybe Barnaby is the
embodiment of men just always being called back to her or
(32:29):
something when she's in this power.
Oh yeah, maybe I could believe that.
Yeah, but anyway, I did think the bird thing was interesting
because I actually didn't clock that sirens were half women,
half bird. I thought they were half like
mermaids. Basically.
I thought they were half women, half fish.
(32:50):
But yeah, I found out that it was first in in Homer's Odyssey.
They didn't have any physical descriptions about sirens and it
was actually Apollonius of Rhodes who described the Sirens
as part woman and part bird. And that was in 3rd century BC.
And then by 7th century BC sirens were regularly depicted
(33:11):
in art as human headed birds. But then there's also art in
this. I think it's in the 8th century
BC where they are also like halfwomen mermaids type things.
So interesting. So, you know, Yeah, I think in
the Odyssey movie, they are depicted as mermaids or
(33:34):
something. They're like lounging across a
rock and singing their song and bringing the men into the
island. Or maybe I'm thinking of what's
that movie with George Clooney? Oh, brother, where art thou?
Have you heard of that movie? I've heard of it, but I have not
seen it. I did not know.
It's Clooney was in that yes, it's a George Clooney movie from
(33:55):
2000. That's a quote UN quote modern
retelling of the Odyssey. It's set in.
I don't know what what time period it's set in, but it's
kind of told us this like old Western where he and two friends
break out from prison and are trying to get home to his wife.
But in that they face the same similar obstacles to Odysseus
(34:17):
and the Odyssey. And one of them is like
nightclops. Yeah.
I think there is a one eyed man somewhere that like tries to
beat them up or something. And then they definitely do
stumble upon this area. I think I'm thinking of.
Oh, brother, where art thou? Not the Odyssey, where they
stumble upon this area that's like waterfalls and these women
just lounging across rocks and singing.
(34:38):
Yeah. Wow.
So I think that's what I also thought sirens were until I was
doing research for this episode.Mermaids, mermaid stuff.
Yeah. Yeah, I I never clocked sirens.
That would be like half birds, Ithink.
Probably because, well, man, nowI'm confused about which came
(34:59):
first, sirens or mermaids? Probably sirens at this point,
right? What came first, sirens or
mermaids? In terms of mythology, sirens
came first. The earliest depictions were
half bird, half woman. Over time during the medieval
period, images of sirens began to shift, some showing them with
(35:21):
fishtails, becoming more similarto the modern concept of
mermaids. Yeah, I think, yeah, that's what
I read on Wikipedia, lol. Did not, sorry.
Sorry. We're not getting a PhD in like
this stuff every time we do a podcast episode.
So there's got to be stuff that we get wrong.
(35:41):
And that's why we have our whoopsie doopsie segments.
It's all about learning. We got growth mindset.
Yeah, and you know what? Whoopsie, doopsies are my
favorite segment so I really hope we got stuff wrong so we
can then correct ourselves. Just wrong enough to induce
engagement. What's a nods am I?
(36:02):
Right. Oh, God.
Oh, yeah. OK, so one thing that confused
me, I thought there was going tobe a whole storyline about
Michaela actually being their mom.
So when Bruce and Michaela firstmeet, Bruce is like, oh, I've
met you before, I know you. I've seen you.
(36:25):
And then when they part ways after they first met, Michaela
says, oh, goodbye, Bruce. And I didn't remember if they
had actually introduced him as Bruce earlier in in that meeting
or if it was just, oh, she actually knew him.
And then when they were dancing together, she was basically
(36:46):
saying like basically pretendingto be who he thought she was,
which is Andrea, the mom. And I think by the end of that
conversation, I was like, oh, maybe they don't know each other
and they're just trying to connect with each other or she's
just trying to connect with him during his state of confusion.
(37:09):
But I mean, I think the the gap between those two scenes was
like 2 episodes or something. So for those two episodes I was
really confused as to like, whatif Michaela is actually Simone's
mom and maybe that's why Andrea tried to kill Simone?
I did not think that. But now that you're telling me
(37:35):
this theory, I think it would have been a really interesting
reveal because you know how theyintroduced the fact that Peter's
first wife's face was like dysmorphed by plastic surgery or
whatever? Because I was thinking Oh well
Devin would definitely know whather mom looks like cuz she was
old enough and even Simone was 7so she would probably recognize
(37:57):
her mom. But they already introduced
plastic surgery completely transforming people's faces and
like Simone fucking with her nose.
And So what if it was just revealed that Michaela
completely changed her face, changed her name and became this
billionaire's wife? Yeah, who knows?
That would have been fun. Yeah.
But I think that's why I felt kind of LED astray, which is why
(38:19):
by the end I was like, that's it.
Yeah, that's fair. I wanted to talk about, you
know, when they locked in on someone's face and had them
really, really zoomed in, everything behind them is
blurred. It's kind of this dull like.
(38:39):
Ethereal. Ethereal quality to it.
So I really liked that anytime Michaela had a conversation with
Simone, they would lock in like that.
And then sometimes when Michaelahad a conversation with Devin,
it would lock in like that. And then at the very end, it was
when Simone had a conversation with Peter that they locked in
(39:00):
like that. And I didn't realize until this
morning that was the show hinting that Simone was about to
take Michaela's place as the siren and just like, locking
people into herself. Yeah, true.
I I've got to say I was a littlesurprised by Simone's
(39:20):
willingness to be Peter Kell's wife because she broke up with
Ethan. When Ethan was proposing to her.
She was like you don't even knowme.
You don't actually know me. You only started to like me.
Actually you only started to like me more when you realized
that I was broken basically. And I know really fucked up
(39:42):
childhood. That was when you started to
love me more because then you thought that you could be this
like white knight savior type thing.
Isn't that what Peter is doing too?
Like why is she OK with Peter doing it and not Ethan I.
Think there's a reason she directly ran to Peter after her
dad basically said it's you and me now you know, that's when she
(40:03):
finally faced reality of like, wow, if I don't have this job or
if I don't have this family, I'mleft with nothing.
And so she was like, you know, even though I would, I would
like to not marry. Just some random rich guy.
But if the alternative is going home to my dad, Oh my God, I
would totally sacrifice everything to keep this life
(40:24):
that I've created for myself. So I think that's why they
showed her just literally sprinting away from her old life
back to the life that she already said no to to Ethan.
Yeah, it's not a cult, right? Like that's kind of what we
figured out in the end. It was just like a weird, it's
weird high society, which you could argue in some ways is
(40:46):
culty, but not a cult. Yeah, I think it wasn't a cult.
I think it was just how people act in high society.
I was also reading that Molly Smith Metzler introduced that
hey, hey thing because when she was, I mean, I think she was
talking about Nantucket or something.
When she was in Nantucket, she noticed that people were just
like picking up colloquialisms from each other.
(41:08):
And when someone said something interesting, other people would
just start saying that too. And that that's also what
happened with fashion and stuff.And so she just wanted to
introduce that concept of havinghaving one person say something.
Everyone catches on and it does end up sounding a little culty
and everyone's dressed in a similar way and acting a certain
way and yeah, it totally presents like a cult.
(41:32):
Interesting. OK, yeah.
What did you think about Chloe, Astrid.
And who's the third lady? I.
Don't even remember those 3. Ladies, women.
Yeah, They were also really interesting.
That's also what made me think that they were very supernatural
is because they all talked simultaneously.
(41:52):
They all were like, well, I was a nail tech in Florida and look
at me now. And so that also made me think
that something else was going on.
Yeah. That also wasn't really
explained. And they they also were high
society ladies that weren't a missus, something like we never
met their husbands and they weren't introduced as missus.
(42:15):
So and so, right. That's true, they only said
their first names but I thought it was implied that they were
also high society wives. Yeah, I think, I mean, I think
they are, but they also like never talked about their
husbands. So maybe that was the whole
point was was Michaela was was feeling this way about like all
(42:36):
I am, I'm just a missus, but I want to actually stand for
something. What does that mean?
Let me create an this like gardening club that turned into
this fundraising juggernaut so that we can separate ourselves
from this identity of just beinga missus so and so.
I actually love that theory. I hope that's true that she in
(43:02):
her, she was kind of like the kind of like a Robin Hood ask.
She was like, no, I think that'sthe wrong analogy.
But I guess what I'm trying to say is she once she was in this
position, she was like, let me bring other women up to this
position and like, give them real power.
Yeah, I like that. I hope that's true because she,
(43:22):
I mean, she's a very smart lady.Like, she's very well educated.
She was a really good lawyer. Not an M and a lawyer, though.
Wait, was she an M and a lawyer?I think she.
Might have been an M and a lawyer.
No, I think she. Legitimately was an M and a
lawyer because that that's what Peter said right.
Peter was like, oh, she was an attorney working on a merger.
(43:45):
Well, wow, that's funny. I wonder if she was on devil's
plan. What was I going to say?
Yeah, But I think I think that might be right though, because
like all of the three women, they did say that they came from
these like lower, like lower society.
(44:06):
Yeah, like blue collar type jobs.
And that's why when Megan, MeganFahey was like, what am I doing
in this dress? They were like, oh, you have to
own your power. Like I was a nail tech in
Florida. That's the only job I remember.
I'm sorry. She was like, I was a nail tech
in Florida. And so like, and here I am now.
So like you too can can own yourpower and be a part of this high
(44:28):
society, but you have to believein it or something Tinkerbell
style. Yeah, yeah, OK.
I really like that. I hope you like her character a
lot more. Yeah.
By the end I was like, oh wow, she wasn't the villain after
all. Yeah.
I yeah, This is why I really want to watch it again so I can
(44:50):
be like, OK, this wasn't magic. This is just her like trying to
be a good person. Yeah, And even at the end when
she was like, oh, I'm so hurt byyou because like, me and
Jocelyn, we weren't friends, butyou and I were friends.
And like, how could you do this to me?
Yeah, I mean, at that point, Simone hadn't really done
(45:10):
anything to her. That's true, but but still she
did. She did in the end, yeah.
A woman's instinct is always. Right.
True. What do you think the future
holds for Peter and Simone? Honestly, I want.
(45:31):
To say that it'll all turn out exactly like Peter and Michaela
turned out. She will feel like she's doing a
lot of good in the world by running this foundation,
etcetera. Maybe she'll start some new
things and then at some point she'll become old news to him.
He'll she'll hire an assistant or she'll hire a maid or a or a
(45:55):
chef or something that he ends up having like a special bond
with and then they'll turn into the new, the new missus.
Yeah, but at that point he'd be like 70 years old.
How old? Is I know, I know, I know.
I was trying to think, are they trying to show that he's way
older than Julianne Moore? Cuz they must be pretty similar
(46:17):
ages right? I think he was probably a little
older than her. I know I don't know real ages.
Yeah. I don't know if they talked
about an age gap or anything, but I would I would not be
surprised that they had some kind of like 10 year age gap.
OK, they actually only have a two year age gap.
Kevin Bacon is 66. Julianne Moore is 64.
(46:39):
Oh great, so if you just look super old then?
And Julianne Moore is a beautiful goddess, a siren, if
you will. Seriously, Dang, always wear a
sunscreen. Aging starts at 25.
Simone, you got one year. Is GRD 25?
(47:00):
I thought she was. I think they said she's 24 or
something or she was like at onepoint she said high school was.
7. Years ago, so then I added 7 to
17, but I guess we graduated quite.
Yeah, I added. 7 to 18. I was like, she's probably 25.
OK, OK. Yeah, cuz we, I, we technically
(47:21):
graduated at 17, but also I think we're young for our year.
Yeah, it's a little. Prodigy.
Just a little baby. Prodigies graduating high school
at 17. I'm a genius.
Secret lifestyle. Oh.
Oh, Speaking of cults, I did actually look up Nexium.
(47:43):
OK, Lily Rose. What an amazing character.
Love her. So.
Funny, Yeah, she she was great. So she was like, Oh yeah.
Like I was in Nexium. So I looked up Nexium and it's
apparently it was it was some kind of like MLM type thing that
(48:08):
was founded on personal growth and like owning your career and
owning your life. But what was really interesting
is that a lot of these like suitlike super rich and famous
people were in it. Yeah.
So let me see. Reported participants include
(48:32):
former Surgeon General Antonio Antonia Novello, Enron executive
Steven Cooper, Anna Christina Fox, the daughter of the former
Mexican president Vicente Fox, Richard Branson, actresses Linda
Evans, Grace Park and Nikki Klein.
(48:52):
Whoa. Grace Park, how'd you get in?
There, Grace Park. Wait, actually now I'm looking
at these these three actresses, Linda Evans, Grace Park and
Nikki Klein, and they look very,they seem very similar to those
three women. Astrid, Gloria, whoever it was.
No way. One.
(49:13):
Yeah. So I wonder if she was talking
about next Sam. And she's like, let's just make
these three people like cult members or something.
Whoa, I love that. I love that.
That's my theory and I'm stakingto it now that one of my
theories was proven correctly. I'm just like theory theory
(49:35):
theory throw. Them out.
Oh, I would love that. Oh my gosh, I hope that's true.
I hope it's true too. Oh, Speaking of age differences.
So at first I didn't think abouthow much older Glenn Howerton,
who plays Ethan was, then MillieAlcock who plays Simone.
(50:00):
But then I looked it up and theyhave a 24 year age difference.
Wait, how far? How old is Glenn Howerton
compared to Kevin? 4949, Yeah.
He looks great for 49. He does.
I also noticed that he plays kind of the same character.
You know what I mean? Dennis.
Dennis, yeah, he's very. He was rich, Dennis.
(50:23):
Yeah, here he was Rich Dennis, but he was still like the same
type of humor, you know? Yeah, totally Hope.
I was also really impressed by Megan Fahey because when she was
Daphne and the White Lotus, she was definitely like rich Bitch,
right? But in this show, I thought she
did a great job of being blue collar Megan Fahey.
(50:45):
Yes, yes. They tried really hard to make
her look crunchy. Yeah.
Yeah. They tried really hard.
I don't know if the look, I mean, she's just so beautiful.
Like it was very hard to make her look frumpy.
But yeah, I thought her acting was amazing and I really felt
like she was from Buffalo. Yeah, I felt that way too.
(51:07):
I wonder where is she actually from?
Megan Fahey, She's from Longmeadow, MA Sounds.
Pretty high society. And doesn't, I don't know,
actually, I was like, I wonder if Longmeadow, MA is like the
Buffalo of Massachusetts. Oh, I don't know.
(51:32):
I can't tell. Like what the culture of this
city is. You know what I mean?
Johnny Appleseed is from Longmeadow, MA.
Oh good. Oh, it's rich.
It's pretty, yeah. OK.
I just found the average income.Yep, I also read the average
income. I was like oh oh OK, shoot rich
(51:54):
as fuck. But yeah, I did think the
juxtaposition of Devin and Daphne is very interesting
because she played both so well.And Daphne, which is how I was
introduced to Megan Fahey, is like, she's so stylish and so.
(52:17):
She's. Very.
Yeah. So put together, I think she
would fit in really well at these high society parties.
I'm sure she had some sort of Lily Pulitzer outfit in the
White Lotus. So when she had to fit in, after
she agrees to like, try to try to fit in in Michaela's world, I
was like, it's my Daphne. That's my Daphne.
(52:39):
Yeah, exactly. When she wore her Easter egg
dress, I was like, Daphne would never first of all.
Daphne would have something way.More stylish, yeah, yeah.
But yeah, I was really impressedwith her cuz yeah, similar to
you, I also my introduction to Megan Fahey was Daphne and White
(53:02):
Lotus. And I also thought she was
super, incredibly gorgeous in White Lotus.
And they really, I thought it worked though, with what they
did in this show inside. Yeah.
Then we of course have Millie Alcock, who is Australian, but
her American accent in the show was so convincing, I didn't know
(53:26):
that. She was Australian.
Wow. She's Australian, plays a
British character in House of the Dragon.
Also never knew she was Australian except in the post
episode about the episode interviews.
And then in this show I kept forgetting that she's Australian
cuz her American accent. I don't think there was one time
where I was like, that's yeah, there's the accent.
(53:48):
I hear it. Yeah, wow.
I don't know that either. Well, I, I also had never seen
Millie Alcock in anything because.
Oh yeah, the dragon. So this is my first introduction
to her, but yeah, I I thought she was American.
Wow. Yeah.
So impressive and I saw an interview with her where she was
saying that as the episodes go on.
(54:08):
So she starts with this like really not valley girl cuz
that's West Coast, but this veryput on curated way of talking.
And then as the episodes go on, it kind of falls back into the
Buffalo way of talking. And so not only did she do a
convincing American accent, she played on that as the season
went on. So smart.
(54:30):
And then Glenn Howerton is just playing Dennis.
Every every show is like some form of Dennis.
Yeah. Man, wow, great.
OK, overall good show show we doratings.
I would rate this show probably an 8 out of 10.
Yeah, I loved. I thought all of the acting was
(54:52):
brilliant. The storyline was interesting.
The take away was so good. I thought.
And I love shows set in high society.
It just like it just fulfills something in my heart.
Just watching rich people have problems.
I saw on Instagram that was likesirens will fill the hole in
(55:12):
your heart left by White Lotus or something like that.
And it's so true. The music, yeah, I didn't talk
about this at all, but I thoughtthe music was very similar to
White Lotus music also, like thejust the vocal, like she just,
it's, it's some voice going likeso similar.
(55:37):
And it kind of leaves you with the sense of dread of something,
something bad is gonna happen, but you don't know what it is.
So, yeah, I thought it, it kind of fulfilled that same thing
that White Lotus does. Yeah.
I just, I love being in the world.
Loved actors. Yeah, I, I think I, I feel
similarly. I think I'll also give it an 8,
(55:59):
but I think I wanted, I mean, wetalked about the whole
supernatural confusion. I think that part I was a little
confused about and like that mayhave been the point, but also I
didn't get it. So I'm docking points for that.
That's fair, I do. Think they could have made it
(56:19):
clearer that, like, all the magic is gone now that she's out
of the picture. You know, it's like, oh, this
magic was all fake. But now that she's not Peter
Cull's wife anymore, no one brought it.
There's no magic, but then Simone has the magic.
Yeah. Yeah.
So I, I think Michaela's storyline I thought was pretty
clear that like, there was no magic this whole time.
(56:42):
And then when we see her on the boat, we're like, oh, she's like
a real person. She's just a person.
Yeah. Versus like Simone becomes this
ethereal figure. So, yeah, I, I thought it was, I
thought it was good. I really did like the
cinematography, the way that stuff came together.
But then there were just some parts here and there that I was
(57:04):
like, but why? So the Barnaby thing, that was a
little bit, but why? At one point I thought that
Julianne Moore was turning men into birds.
And just kidding. I'm captain.
Yeah. That could be.
It's like. Who is Barnaby?
Is the next bird gonna be Ethan?I Yeah, True.
(57:28):
OK. Also, I was just waiting for
someone to die, you know what I mean?
No, I was too. At the end of the show you're
like, wait, no one died? No one died.
Ray was found. Ethan was fine, Peter was fine.
Peter was fine. Yeah.
But maybe that's the point. It's like, yeah.
It's not that dramatic. Yeah, like take a step back.
(57:52):
It's chill. Yeah, it's chill.
Well, good morning. It is now 8.
AM now we can park. All right, should I stop?
(58:15):
Wait, wait, wait. Bitch in progress.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Let me see.
I feel like I haven't. Well, OK, I.
Finished. I finished.
Devil's Plan. I finished Love, Death and
Robots. Finish Sirens.
I started the first episode of at 12 at 12, but only like the
first four seconds to be honest.You.
(58:36):
Clicked Play and then clicked. I clicked play and then I got to
the dance scene and then I clicked Pause.
The little girls dance. Scene.
The scene after that the. Club.
Yeah. OK, Yeah.
I think the only thing I've watched besides Secret Lives of
(58:58):
Mormon Wives and Sirens in the last several days is I watched
the Survivor finale with my sister and I hadn't seen most of
the season, but I actually started crying during the
finale. Why there's this?
I don't know if she's Indian, but she's some sort of South
Asian girl. Her name is Camilla and she so
(59:22):
it was her versus this other girl, Eva at the fire.
They both had to make a fire. I don't know.
It's in, it's always in the finale of Survivor, but I don't
know if there's a name for that segment.
And they were competing against each other.
And Eva, I believe, is on the spectrum.
And she was getting really worked up about creating this
fire. And her fire was slowly going
(59:44):
down, even though she'd started a flame.
And she was getting really panicked and Camilla hadn't even
started her fire yet, but was reassuring Eva and was like,
don't worry, you're doing way better than I am as she was
trying to make her fire, which Ithought was so sweet.
And then Eva ends up winning. So Camilla's eliminated.
And then Jeff, the host is talking to Camilla about he was
(01:00:06):
like, you always talk about how you're so negative on yourself,
but like, you're you're. You know, you have so much
positivity flowing out of you. Like, you said that to Eva.
And then Camilla breaks down in tears and she's like, I am
really negative on myself, and Inever think I'm good enough.
But this being on Survivor has showed me my own strength and my
(01:00:26):
own power. And I was like, oh, my God,
Vanilla. Such a sweet soul.
Yeah. I.
Love that. And she has this like, really
sweet voice and it was just, I was so touched.
That reminds me of this devil's plan contestant who I also
started tearing up at. So when her name is Harin and
(01:00:49):
when she got eliminated, I was actually very happy because I
did not like her as a contestant.
But then in her like going out interview, her elimination
interview, she was like, I'm really proud of myself because
my whole life it's always been just about like what I need to
do. So I've always, I was only
allowed two hours of TVA week. And whenever I did watch TV, it
(01:01:13):
would be these these types of game shows where you had to
really use your brain and think and everything.
And so I was always doing homework, always studying,
always thinking and trying to beproductive.
And devil's plan was the first time that I really prioritized
what I wanted to do over what I should do.
And I was like, Oh my God, why did I root against you?
(01:01:38):
Oh, no. I was like, I felt so bad.
I was like, dude, I, I rooted for you to fail.
And now I feel like that. I don't know.
But yeah, I was, I, I also started tearing up during that
moment. Something about these reality
shows, I think they do make you feel.
They, they make you be in touch with like who you truly are.
(01:02:00):
They make you really understand that.
Yeah. Yeah, if you were ever on a
reality show, which one would itbe?
Oh easy, The Amazing Race with Jing Chen.
Oh my God, me too. I would be amazing race with
Izzy. Let's come meet.
Yeah, Jing and I've actually talked about signing up and
(01:02:21):
seeing what happens, but we needto figure out what our shtick
is, you know? Do you need a?
Shtick. I think so.
I don't know. It seems like Jinx done a lot of
research and how to get a cast. She's like, you gotta figure out
what our stick is. Yeah, I do feel like I think the
season of The Amazing Race that I saw, I think it was season 34,
(01:02:43):
it was based in Munich for the most part, or not for the most
part, but a lot of it was in Munich, which is.
Really interesting. Yeah.
Or like in Germany in general, Ithink because it was like soon
after the pandemic, so they didn't want to like, travel
around the world that much. Sense.
But then I was watching that andI was like, well, everyone, all
of these contestants have some kind of claim to fame for the
(01:03:06):
most part. So that's why I was like, what?
Do they even cast normal people anymore?
I think there are normal people on this season.
I don't think any of them have acrazy claim to fame. 1 is a
brother sister duo. Are you watching this?
No. Oh, OK.
One is a brother sister duo fromI think somewhere in South Bay.
(01:03:31):
Oh yeah. And they're just this like Asian
sibling pair. Oh, what's their shtick?
Well, maybe that's their siblings, I don't know.
Yeah, cuz they kind of look liketwins.
I don't know. Yeah, OK, I was going to say the
reason. The only, like, normal people
pairing that I saw were these two twins.
But there were two twins who hadfound each other like they were
(01:03:53):
adopted separately by two different families and they had
found each other way later in life.
And they decided to do amazing race together to, like, deepen
their bond. Yeah.
And they were identical twins. And I was like.
Crazy I was. Like if that's this, if that's
the stick that you need as a normal person, like.
(01:04:18):
That's one of snakes finding a long lost identical twins
symbol. Oh no.
We're fucked. We're fucked.
Cool. All right, All right.
Thanks for yapping with us, OK? Bye bye bye.
Thanks for yapping with us. If you loved this episode, have
(01:04:41):
some hot takes we missed, or if you've got a show you're dying
for us to binge next, follow us on socials we're at, Binge Yapp,
Repeat. Until next time, happy bingeing.
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