Netflix’s new drama series Sirens is an engaging, messy watch from start to finish, and it sets up complicated relationships between its characters. Sirens‘ cast is led by Julianne Moore, Meghann Fahy, and Milly Alcock as Michaela, Devon, and Simone, respectively. The series’ main characters are complicated and interesting from the outset, as the show certainly makes it clear that they are not perfect, with Devon suspecting Michaela of running a cult and expressing anger at her sister for not helping out with their father.
As Devon attempts to rescue Simone from Michaela’s clutches, their situation at Michaela and Peter Kell’s (Kevin Bacon) island home in Sirens becomes increasingly tense. Each of the characters is hiding their own secrets, with Simone’s past being chief among those. Simone’s new life with Michaela is completely separated from her past, and she makes efforts to pretend everything is perfect, leading to her desperate decision in Sirens‘ ending. When their father ends up at the Kells’ home, Sirens creates a surprising crossover between Simone’s father and her boss.
Bruce’s Dementia Made Him Believe Michaela Was His Late Wife & Another Random Woman
Simone’s Father Was Convinced He Knew Her Boss
When Ethan (Glenn Howerton) returns home to find Simone looking for him, he reveals that he flew to Buffalo to ask her father’s permission to marry her and ended up bringing Bruce (Bill Camp) back to Port Haven. Understandably, Simone is pretty freaked out by seeing her father for the first time in years and getting proposed to at the same moment, but the scene is made even stranger by Michaela entering the house a minute later. Ethan is still down on one knee when Michaela enters and Simone and Devon’s father, Bruce, begins speaking to her.
Sirens Official Trailer
Despite Bruce and Michaela seemingly never having met before, Bruce immediately turns to Michaela and starts speaking to her as if he knows her well. Shockingly, Bruce says “Oh my god, it’s really you. I knew it was you. I felt you coming in. You remember me?” as if the pair were old acquaintances. Michaela appears confused, but only for a moment, before introducing herself to Bruce, while he continues speaking to her as if she were his deceased wife. Bruce hugs Michaela, telling her he missed her and that she is more beautiful than ever.
Upon seeing Michaela for the first time, Bruce truly believed that she was the girls’ mother.
It quickly becomes clear to the other characters in the room that Bruce’s behavior is a result of his dementia. Upon seeing Michaela for the first time, Bruce truly believed that she was the girls’ mother. He makes comments about her beauty and about Simone and Devon. Later, Bruce also seems to think that Michaela is another woman entirely whom he had slept with in the past. Though it turns out that Michaela and Bruce had truly never met before, it seemed for a moment as though Sirens was hinting that they actually had a history.
Bruce Recognizing Michaela Seemed To Be Setting Up A Darker Twist
The Show Has Several Unexplained Supernatural Moments
Though viewers know from Sirens‘ first episode that Bruce has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, there is a brief moment where it does seem that Michaela and Bruce could have really known each other previously. The show shares very little about her personal history, other than that she grew up in a working-class family and earned a scholarship to Yale, like Simone, opening up a lot of possibilities. Likewise, the series has its share of unexplained moments that could have contributed to Bruce’s beliefs.
Throughout the series, Michaela, Simone, and Devon seem to have some sort of supernatural effect on the men around them. This is clear from Simone’s relationship with Ethan and her final decision to date Peter. Likewise, Sirens shows men quite literally following Devon around, even after she asks them to stop, and Michaela seems to have sway over everyone in her immediate orbit. As a result, it is not entirely impossible that part of what made Bruce feel that he knew Michaela was this same power.
Sirens blends the more comedic mythological moments with serious discussions of trauma and mental illness, and Bruce’s health is tragically a very serious conversation.
