Freeform’s Siren
3×08: “‘Til Death Do Us Part”
Directed by Bola Ogun
Written by Heather Thomason

* For a recap & review of 3×07, “Northern Exposure” – click here
* For a recap & review of 3×09, “A Voice in the Dark” – click here
In Ukraine, an office building hears the siren song come through the speakers. Suddenly people are falling over, their noses bleeding and their heads pounding painfully. Tia’s plan has already begun.
It’s only going to get worse from here, the first casualties in the coming war.

Ben and Ryn are having rougher sex now that he’s become part mermaid. She finds it like “mating in the water,” and he’s into it, too. There are many benefits, from the physical and psychological to the sexual. Ben only continues to inject himself, but will there be any unwanted side effects? Can a human simply transform into part mermaid by injecting stem cells? Ben wants to stay below the water as long as possible now, and it feels like there may be some danger in it that neither he nor Ryn are capable of predicting. Meanwhile, Xander shows Ben and Ryn what he found tracking the shipwrecks heading north. He suggests they should bring the military in, yet Ben knows the military aren’t there to help. He thinks “the enemy of my enemy” is a good bet. Even Ryn is on board. The military suggest Tia’s a Russian operative, after busting into the Naval Lab to get info about their studies on Ryn. Hmm. Not good— Tia’s trying to get rid of the antidote for the siren song.
Tia and Hunter are in Russia regrouping. They want to find allies around the world. They see a report from Ukraine about the siren song, and we now realise that Tia didn’t do that. The Russians have weaponised her song for their own benefits, using it on the Ukrainians in a violent display of power. Will Tia now utilise this info to her benefit, as well? Yeah, more than likely.

Ryn’s going into the ocean so she can locate the sonic cannon previously used by the oil company, which disrupted the mermaids and even led to some of their deaths. It’s a dangerous mission with Tia out there, yet it’s something they need if they’re hoping to prevent a potential massacre when Tia attacks. Thankfully, Tia’s across the world meeting her human friend that helped her escape from Russia. She finds him in a hotel restaurant, giving him the keycard to her room. She uses him to find out more about the Russian siren song weapon, then she kills him and gets access to it.
Back in Bristol Cove, Ryn can’t dislodge the cannon from where it’s lodged on the ocean floor. Something shows up on the sonar while she’s down there, so Ben hops into the water to try and help. It’s only another sea creature, though. Ben swims down further to help Ryn pull the cannon up while Maddie sees he hasn’t taken a tank with him, unaware of all the new changes in his biology. On land, Xander gets a call from his old pal Chris who’s being let out of his lab rat environment at the Naval Lab. He’s not so thrilled when he’s taken to get Chris and he’s locked into the room with him. Not particularly a positive sign. Xander fast becomes paranoid. He also notices Chris is very far from his old self. He then sees the door’s not actually locked, kinda like a security placebo.

When Ben gets back on the boat he starts suffering from an almost seizure-like agony. His body’s in a liminal state, somewhere between human and mermaid. His torso opens in a set of gills briefly. His hands start to change from fingers into webbed claw-like hands. Maddie’s terrified, pleading with him to toss out his experiments. Then she gets a bit angry with Ryn, blaming her. “You have to stop,” Maddie tells them adamantly. Ben’s not sold on giving it up. But Ryn decides that she would stay on land to remain with Ben, and her child could be with them one day. So he tosses out his experiment.

“If only I could sing to you”

Xander gets Chris out of the Naval Lab. He’s able to sneak some of Donna out, too. He took more of the evidence from the mermaid graveyard, taking it all back to Helen, who’s touched that her “lower life form” friend has done such a thing for her. Perhaps she’ll be able to finally help Donna rest, and free herself from the haunting she’s experienced. She takes Ryn and Cami to the beach where they’re able to say a proper goodbye to their sister and mother respectively.
Afterwards, Cami carries her mother’s corpse into the water with her.

Calvin and Janine’s wedding is ready to rock. Xander is running the show, and also fielding an potential calls about Tia’s army migrating— the cannon’s prepared to blast off when/if necessary, too. Chris is spruced up and back to normal after all this time, attending the wedding. Helen seems to feel strange about him. She wonders if Chris “broke free” from Donna’s song when the mermaid was laid to rest. Janine soon walks down the aisle and the ceremony’s underway. The wedding has Ben and Ryn both thinking all kinds of things about their relationship, what it’s done to others, what it’s done to them. Suddenly they’re not as lovey dovey. They have to confront the hardest truths about their love. And now, in their own way, they get engaged.

It isn’t all sunshine and lollipops unfortunately.
Xander gets a call during the reception, hearing the siren song, and passes out.

“‘Til death do us part”

God, I love this show. So much action and sci-fi, even some horror.
Most of all, Siren has a huge, huge beating heart.

“A Voice in the Dark” is next.