Freeform’s Siren
3×02: “Revelations”
Directed by Nick Copus
Written by Emily Whitesell

* For a recap & review of 3×01, “Borders” – click here
* For a recap & review of 3×03, “Survivor” – click here
Helen craves more time with Sarge after seeing him appear in her room. She dives under the water and heads below the waves until she finds his spirit. She touches hands with him, then Sarge signs a message to her. But what does it mean? Helen goes back to land with whatever Sarge is trying to tell her from beyond, and Ben turns up at her place looking for his phone. He sees there are messages sent from his phone, and Commander Kyle was supposedly meeting him at the docks. He rushes down to see blood and scratch marks on the wharf. Immediately, he goes to tell Maddie. He’s sure Tia killed the commander, and that the military will be looking for her.
Meanwhile, Helen goes to the library seeking info on signs and symbols, hoping she’ll be able to unlock Sarge’s message. She also runs into Ted doing his own research, looking strange and kinda cagey. He’s there looking at the Coast Guard report from the night of the accident when Elaine got injured. He’s seeking the exact coordinates, so Helen joins him. They find the coordinates are from Carson Sound, which has Helen curious. Because Carson Sound is where Ted’s ancestor’s ship went under in 1864, and the nearby cove is where the mermaids were massacred those many years ago.

Ryn hears about what Tia did and she tells her two lovers about how vast the mermaid population really is across the world. There are thousands of them, but because of the warming oceans things have gotten worse, resulting in problems between the population. Ryn says Tia wants to bring all the “warring tribes” together, which will help unite them and be better for all mermaids. Not to say Tia is a friend because she’s obviously willing to do things dangerously, and her actions may only have made things worse for the mermaids.
On the ocean, Calvin’s giving a mermaid tour, complete with “mermaid mojitos,” when someone sees one of the mythical creatures underwater. He tries to downplay it, but it’s more obvious again that Tia is bringing too much attention to her kind. Or, is it another one of the mermaids? On land, Ben and Maddie are attempting to help Ryn while simultaneously dealing with their awkward relationship troubles. They have no idea other mermaids are ashore once more, like Katrina, who Xander spots while working on his police training.
Ryn comes across Tia on the street where they start to have a conversation about human violence. They go back to the warehouse at the docks. Tai tells Ryn the military stole her song by doing surgery on her brain. They get interrupted when Katrina walks in, at first causing Tia to get aggressive. She tells Ryn about the plane Tia took down. Ryn leaves the two alone when she goes to get food. Might not be a good idea, given Tia spouts her anti-human rhetoric to Katrina. Oh, my. Will Katrina be led back to her “true colony,” or will she remain tenuously in Ryn’s corner? She surprisingly goes right back to Ryn, advising Tia must be killed. This prompts Ryn to chase Tia beneath the waves.

Everybody’s a bit worried about Ted. He isn’t sleeping, he’s drinking, and his obsession with what happened the night of the accident is driving him into a bad place. Ben’s running around looking for his father when Helen texts him about Ted. Seems that dad is going out to sea despite a rolling storm headed that way. Helen shows Ben everything about the Coast Guard report and Carson Sound, as well as the area’s history. Now the son is positive his dad may be off doing something ill-advised, sure that Ted saw something the night of the accident.
While Maddie is off having dinner and enjoying her time with Robb Wellens, things in Bristol Cove are getting wilder. Ted’s looking for any evidence there are creatures in the water, remembering all those mermaid legends from the history of Bristol Cove. He’s in a precarious spot when the boat’s sail knocks him overboard. Xander and Ben are off looking for him, trying to prevent tragedy when they find him. Ben dives in after his dad, and Ted sees Tia headed right for him. Lucky for them Ryn intercepts Tia, leaving the two mermaids in a knock down, drag ’em out underwater fight. Tia finds herself outnumbered when Ryn’s mermaid ladies come to help.

Ben and Xander are getting Ted settled when Helen calls about Ryn being badly injured. He goes to them and finds Ryn in brutal pain, along with Katrina, Eliza, and Cami. He sees Ryn’s injuries and she tells him how Tia is stronger than her or any other mermaid she’s ever seen. This has really changed things for all of them. There’s no telling how much trouble Tia will cause, neither is it clear how they’ll be able to defeat her, or if they even can before she causes too much irreparable chaos. On top of that, Ben has to figure out what to do with Ted now that his father’s gotten closer to the mermaid secrets. “They‘re real,” he tells Ted. And this REALLY changes the game. Also, when Helen shows the signs Sarge made for her to Eliza, she discovers he was telling her “war is coming.”
Another solid episode, giving Season 3 a real nice start.
Plenty of wild, wonderful, and weird mermaid things happening! Bring it on.

“Survivor” is next.