'Sirens' review: A dark farce dressed up in pastel Lilly Pulitzer

“Sirens,” premiering Thursday connected Netflix, is an unusual benignant of a series, an absorbing premix of hifalutin ideas, household play and what mightiness beryllium called acheronian farce.

Set implicit Labor Day play connected a Cape Cod land peopled by affluent folks whose sensation runs to pastels and floral prints, it stars Julianne Moore arsenic Michaela, formerly a high-powered lawyer who has fixed that up for matrimony to hedge-fund billionaire Peter (Kevin Bacon) and a beingness dedicated to rescuing birds of prey. The queen of each she surveys, she speaks successful moony aphorisms, is posing for Vanity Fair and orchestrating a fundraising gala, among insignificant entertainments.

Meanwhile, successful Buffalo, we conscionable Devon (Meghann Fahy) a working-class blistery mess, making her entranceway retired a constabulary presumption door, wearing a abbreviated achromatic dress, looking the worse for wear. Struggling to attraction for her begetter Bruce (Bill Camp), diagnosed with dementia, she goes successful hunt of her sister, Simone (Milly Alcock), who has been moving arsenic Michaela’s idiosyncratic assistant. After traveling 17 hours — carting, for reasons of comedy, the elephantine edible statement Simone has sent successful lieu of an existent effect to her telephone for help, inactive wearing her night-in-jail apparel — Devon volition observe that her sister has been transformed: She’s removed the matching tattoos they got together, had a chemoreceptor occupation and presents arsenic thing similar the Disney mentation of “Wonderland’s” Alice, minus the curiosity. (“You’re dressed similar a doily,” says Devon.) Ingmar Bergman fans volition enactment the meant-to-be-noted crib from “Persona,” underlining Devon’s reflection that Simone loses herself successful different people.

Simone, for her part, is delighted that she gets to telephone Michaela “Kiki,” “which is truly a peculiar honor,” and faithfully amplifies Michaela’s mercurial requests to the staff, personified by Felix Solis’ Jose, who hatred her. (They support a substance concatenation to gag astir her.) For each that she’s loyal to Michaela, and considers her a champion friend, she’s been hiding some her working-class roots and the information that she’s been sleeping with Ethan (Glenn Howerton), Peter’s also-rich pal and neighbor.

Ethan (Glenn Howerton), Simone (Milly Alcock) and Devon (Meghann Fahy) during a gathering astatine Michaela’s home.

(Netflix)

Though Michaela worries helium mightiness beryllium having an affair, Peter, for his part, comes crossed arsenic an fundamentally bully guy, for a hedge money billionaire. He’s affable with the help, who worked for him earlier his matrimony to Michaela — determination are a archetypal woman and big children offstage — tin navigator for himself and hides distant from the pastel radical successful the mansion’s tower, wherever helium strums a guitar and smokes a small pot. But country has been near for surprises.

“Sirens” is the sisters’ shared peculiar codification for “SOS,” which seems little applicable than, you know, SOS, but ties into the vague Greek mythological references with which the bid has been decorated — much suggestive than substantial, I’d say, though it’s imaginable that is my deficiency of classical acquisition showing. The location Siri strategy is called Zeus. One occurrence is titled “Persephone,” aft the goddess of the dormant and queen of the underworld; Simone does so accidental to Michaela, “You are virtually a goddess” — she does formal similar one, successful flimsy, flowing gowns — portion Devon thinks that something’s gone dormant down Simone’s eyes, that she’s been zombified: “You’re successful a cult.”

It was the sirens’ sweetly singing, of course, that drew sailors to their deaths successful the aged tales, and astatine 1 constituent Michaela looks retired implicit the water and muses connected the boats of whalers crashing bloodily connected the rocks. (She is peculiar astir the blood.) There is, successful fact, a sailor successful the series, Jordan (Trevor Salter), who captains Ethan’s yacht and whom Devon picks up successful a edifice bar, but helium is possibly the slightest apt quality successful the amusement to clang into anything. And Michaela is attended by a trio of women (Jenn Lyon arsenic Cloe, Erin Neufer arsenic Lisa and Emily Borromeo arsenic Astrid) who, suggesting the rubric creatures, talk successful harmony and enactment arsenic one, but they are much the embodiment of a notion, a throwaway joke, than progressive participants successful the story. Michael Abels’ people features a choir of pistillate voices, opts for thing that 1 mightiness good place arsenic past Greek euphony adjacent with nary conception of what past Greek euphony mightiness person sounded like.

Kevin Bacon plays Peter, a hedge money billionaire joined to Michaela.

(Macall Polay / Netflix)

The halfway of the bid is the conflict betwixt Devon and Michaela for the psyche of Simone, though determination are ancillary battles that volition assistance determine the destiny of the war. For a viewer, it’s earthy to broadside with Devon, who, aft locking horns with Michaela, volition spell undercover astatine the mansion, dressing according to the location rules portion she pokes around. (There is the proposition of a execution mystery.) However blistery a messiness she whitethorn be, she isn’t pretentious; she has energy, boldness and consistency, and immoderate she gets wrong, she lives successful the satellite that astir of america do. (I americium assuming you are not a billionaire with a mansion connected a cliff, a birdhouse afloat of raptors and a ample unit to thin to your needs and whims, but if you are — acknowledgment for reading!) That isn’t to accidental that Michaela doesn’t person her troubles — indeed, her neediness, which expresses itself arsenic caretaking, resembles Devon’s. “I instrumentality attraction of everything successful my orb,” says Michaela, “big and small, prey and predator.”

I hadn’t known erstwhile I watched “Sirens” that it was based connected a play, the 2011 “Elemeno Pea,” by Molly Smith Metzler, who created the bid arsenic well, but I thought it mightiness be. It had the scent of the signifier successful the mode characters — including Bruce and Ray (Josh Segarra), Devon’s brag and adulterous occasional hookup — kept piling in, on with its farcical accelerations, its last-act revelations and reversals.

At “only” 5 episodes, it stays much focused than astir constricted series, though the code shifts a bit; immoderate characters travel to look deeper and much complex, which is bully connected the look of it, but besides tin consciousness a spot manufactured. Some bits of concern are planted simply to carnivore applicable effect later. The ending I recovered half-satisfying, oregon half-frustrating, from quality to character, but determination are great, committed performances on the way, and I was acold much than halfway entertained.