Freeform’s Siren
Season 2, Episode 15: “Sacrifice”
Directed by Rachel Leiterman
Written by Liz Maccie

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “The Last Mermaid” – click here
* For a recap & review of the Season 2 finale, “New World Order” – click here
Outside the Naval lab, Xander (Ian Verdun) waits patiently. Inside, Ben (Alex Roe) is trying to convince Chris (Chad Rook) of his identity. His old buddy can’t remember him whatsoever. Commander Kyle (Michael J Rogers) finds them, urging the curious researcher to leave. There are memories surfacing in Chris of Bristol Cove. Cmdr. Kyle tells Ben they’re monitoring Chris’s significant memory loss and the siren song.

The mermaids have been mating and still “no baby.” Maddie (Fola Evans-Akingbola) comforts Ryn (Eline Powell), telling her humans also have problems conceiving children sometimes. The mermaid hears about IVF. Could be complicated. The military would likely get further involved. Unless there’s another place for her to undergo the process.

Helen (Rena Owen) is with Beth (Caroline Cave), learning more about the group and their semi-survivalist lifestyle. They’re prepared in case the worst happens. They’ve also had to live outside the system for years. Like Helen, they’ve self-diagnosed / self-prescribed because, if not, they’d be found out. That’s why it’s getting terribly worrisome the government knows more about the merpeople.
At his office, Ian (Luc Roderique) shows his editor footage of the mysterious figure— Ryn— during the attack on Clesco Oil. He confides his belief this figure is working with the U.S. military. They can clearly see this person’s “not natural,” but the editor says they’d need real evidence to pursue it further.
Real evidence would mean the mermaid herself. So, Ian goes looking for her. He runs into her in the street, where she’s looking for cell service. He helps her turn off an alarm. You can bet he did something else.

Ben and Xander take Chris home. Xan wonders if maybe Ben and Maddie both need the same treatments as their friend, to reverse the damage they’ve experienced from the siren song. Ben’s ridding his home of the tiny cameras, alerting the soldier charged with watching the feeds. Xan tries reaching Chris with memories of the night they saw the merpeople. It’s not pleasant. Calvin (Curtis Lum) and Xan take their friend to get a bite to eat, where he’s remembering seeing Ryn. The memories are flooding back, making it harder for Chris to cope. He later runs back to Cmdr. Kyle.

At home, Elaine (Sarah-Jane Redmond) and Ted (David Cubitt) realise she’s regaining feeling in her legs. A Navy doctor checks her out. Things are looking positive. More “stem cell treatments” will help. It’s a shock for Elaine. She’s starting to face a potential “life after” her condition.
The crew are going to need a donation from the new mate, to go along with Ryn’s eggs. That means someone needs to teach him how to masturbate. Nobody’s really willing, which leaves brave Helen to take care of the merman. Afterwards, the mate goes back to the ocean, and Ryn’s taken to the Naval lab. A few eggs are removed, beginning the fertilisation process. They soon confirm the embryos are ready.
And, yes, Ian put a tracker on Ryn’s cell, following them.

Tricky Ryn pretends to be in pain, giving Maddie and Ben time to steal the eggs before they’re headed home. Cmdr. Kyle makes Ben aware of Elaine’s situation, too. He mentions the need for more stem cells. Problem is, once the Navy know what the thrupple have done, there’ll be no more treatments. “This is what matters right now,” Ben tells Maddie. They go meet with Beth and the others. They hear about the process required for the mermaid to fully bear a child. Ryn must partly transform in order to be as strong as possible, a process called “shedding.”

Ted appears to be having siren song issues, no?
He goes to see Susan (Garcelle Beauvais). He mentions the night of his wife’s accident, when Susan sat and waited with him at the hospital. Susan claims he said they were drunk and fighting on the boat. Ted apparently saw a woman “under the water” who attacked him when he dove in for his wife.

“Trauma, sometimes—
twisting things in our brains.”

The extended merclan watch on while Ryn steps into a bathtub. They’ve got no idea journalist Ian’s watching on as the mermaid goes through the horribly painful process of becoming her true form, at least halfway. Her tail flops over the tub’s edge, shocking those who’ve never actually seen this up close.
Also, another woman, Meredith (Kiomi Pyke), is being implanted, too. Hmm.

There’s trouble when Bryan (Daniel Cudmore) turns up, angry Ben’s been included. Beth reveals, alongside Helen, her own Pownall lineage. Bryan and a few others defect from the group. Simultaneously, Ian sneaks into the room where a tranquillised Ryn lies near unconscious in bed. Then when the doc checks on her, she’s gone. The journalist is making a run for it with the mermaid.

Just getting CRAZY here near the end of Season 2.
“New World Order” is next. Should be a big, wild finale.