Freeform’s Siren
Season 2, Episode 1: “The Arrival”
Directed by Matt Hastings
Written by Emily Whitesell

* For a recap & review of the Season 1 finale, “Aftermath” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “The Wolf at the Door” – click here
We catch up with Ryn (Eline Powell) below the waves. She comes upon a dead, floating mermaid. Not long after a huge wave comes pushing through the bay. Ryn’s in pain. A sonic blast? Is someone trying to rid the place of mermaids?
Jump back a day earlier.
Ben Pownall (Alex Roe) is rock climbing when he’s struck with the after effects of the siren song. He can’t keep Ryn from his mind, so much so he takes a little fall, beating his shoulder against a rock wall. His pal Dr. Abbott (Patrick Gallagher) worries about him, recently having found him passed out drunk at the dock. Obviously Ben is suffering. In the woods, Ryn feels she’s being tracked. She discovers Xander McClure (Ian Verdun) following her. He tries to explain why he attacked her sister, but she doesn’t want excuses. They go visit her sister’s grave and Ryn tells him: “In the ocean, we move forward— always.” Elsewhere, Maddie Bishop (Fola Evans-Akingbola) is waiting at the bus stop for the arrival of her mother, Susan (Garcelle Beauvais). Things are certainly awkward. At least they’re together again.
Sheriff Dale Bishop (Gil Birmingham) is headed to the medical examiner’s officer to check on Decker’s corpse. He’s told the military whisked the body off before anybody could look at it. Aside from M.E. Wanda, who got into the autopsy before they got there and found something “a little strange.” There was odd brain damage she’d never seen. The siren’s song DEFINITELY ate his brain. Is Ben at the same risk? Can he stop it?
Things between Ben and Maddie aren’t well. They’re likewise not great between Xander and Maddie. She’s angry at him for killing Ryn’s sister. Nevertheless, there’s history between them since they were little kids, and the group are all friends, even if right now they’re divided. But for now, there’s a distance between them. At the Marine Research Centre, Xander and Maddie are shocked when the sea lions suddenly begin acting aggressive. Across town, Ryn’s helping Helen Hawkins (Rena Owen) when the mermaid feels something weird, like the ground is vibrating beneath her and not Helen.
Ben, Maddie, and Sheriff Bishop are called to a scene on the beach where Ryn is waiting. Several beached whales are dead. Ryn knows there’s something out there driving things from the sea. She wants to go back into the ocean, so, the next morning, Maddie and Ben fix her with a tracker before she heads below the surface and takes full mermaid form once more.
And we come back to the moment earlier, when the sonic wave hits Ryn. She’s pulled in a current. Ben and Maddie follow the tracker to shore, heading back onto land looking for her. They find her in the woods, human again, and in rough shape. She tells them of the noise, how it pained. Ben knows the oil company are “looking for a place to drill” using sonic cannons. Not far off are other mermaids, dead and dying. Ryn finds Levi (Sedale Threatt Jr.) in a terrible state, and they’ve got to try and help him. Ben does his thing, extracting fluid from around the lungs to get Levi healthy again.

“Many things can go wrong when changing”

Deputy Marissa Straub (Tammy Gillis) has slowly been brought into the fold by Sheriff Bishop, though she doesn’t know everything just yet. When Dale heads off to take care of some business, he leaves her in charge. He tells her should anything wild happen to call him. When she asks what could happen, he tells her she’ll understand. Father Gore wonders if Deputy Straub’s going to have a rude awakening. Hopefully not.
At Helen’s place she finds four merpeople standing over her when she wakes, as well as the mermaid leader we’ve seen before, Katrina (Aylya Marzolf). They were “forced out” of the ocean by the sonic cannons. We see the merpeople touch Ryn, feeling her, like they’re making sure she’s real, having thought her dead. One of the mermaids happens to be Ryn’s niece, as well. Katrina, as leader, reluctantly asks Ryn to help, and our mermaid agrees. For the moment, Ben uses a Pownall Seafood van to transport his merfriends somewhere they can hide out until the situation’s safer. He takes them to an old family cabin, where Helen watches over them closely.
Poor Xander’s not having any luck in any area of his life. He meets a new lady named Nicole at the bar. They start chatting, which leads to a bit of flirting. Soon he’s calling her and they get closer gradually. Too bad she’s working for the military, tracking Decker and everything surrounding him. Yikes!
Such a great opener for Season 2. The first season was a huge surprise for Father Gore, and this new set of episodes is starting off strong. Lots to look forward to in these various plots. “The Wolf at the Door” is next time.