‘Sirens’ Review: Meghann Fahy Brings the Substance to Soapy Netflix Limited Series

“Sirens,” the third beach-set mystery in which Meghann Fahy has appeared in less than three years, falls somewhere between the cleverness and audacity of the first, HBO’s “White Lotus” Season 2, and cheesiness of the second, “The Perfect Couple” — although that Netflix show is clearly this one’s spiritual cousin.

But “Sirens,” a five-episode limited series adapted by Molly Smith Metzler from her 2011 play “Elemeno Pea,” is wholly distinct in its often seamless mix of humor, social commentary, woo-woo mysticism and genuine explorations of past trauma. Although this approach can result in tonal mishaps, it fascinates when it stays on point.

“Sirens” also gives Fahy her biggest character arc post-“Lotus” fame as show protagonist Devon, a caregiver and fast-food worker who rediscovers her inner strength after traveling from her hometown of Buffalo, N.Y, to a New England island to find her errant sister, Simone (Milly Alcock — young Rhaenyra from “House of the Dragon”).

After a shaky start — due more to the writing than her acting — Fahy finds her footing and becomes the show’s moral center. She even holds her own in freckled face-offs with Julianne Moore, who plays Michaela, the spiritually seeking, demanding billionaire’s wife for whom Simone works as a personal assistant. Fahy also shows a gift for straight-faced one-liners.

Simone split for college and never returned, leaving Devon to care for their alcoholic, now Alzheimer’s patient dad (a charismatic if appropriately unsteady Bill Camp). When Simone sends an edible arrangement in lieu of offering help, Devon is livid. Recently released from jail on a DUI charge, Devon is attempting to stay sober but still lights cigs in no-smoking areas because, you know, down with the man.

If you can suspend disbelief long enough to buy the smooth-skinned Fahy as a hard-partying survivor of 30 years of Buffalo winters, Devon’s long journey by bus, ferry and foot — all while hoisting a giant bouquet of cantaloupe and honeydew slices she plans to shove in her sister’s face — offers some chuckles. But the first episode pushes Devon’s verbal and physical vulgarity too far. She doesn’t seem like a rebel. She seems gross.

But by the time Devon encounters the Lilly Pulitzer florals and salmon chinos of Michaela’s preppy island world, you buy her as the edgy outsider. Her agitation contrasts with the purposeful placidity Moore brings to Michaela, who rarely needs to raise her voice because she has other people do all the work.

Affecting a similarly calm demeanor, Simone passes Michaela’s crazy demands on to the estate’s staff members, who blame the messenger. A running gag where staff talk trash about Simone on a group text never stops being funny. The chain is especially active as Michaela and her laconic, pothead husband Peter (Kevin Bacon) prepare for a long weekend that includes a charity gala and a Vanity Fair photo shoot — story details eerily similar to “The Perfect Couple.”

Simone tries not to seem rattled when Devon arrives and disrupts the air of calm efficiency and hero-worship her job as Michaela’s assistant demands. Alcock, who is Australian, nails both an American accent and special mix of subservience and superiority specific to employees of the rich or famous. But Simone is also clearly afraid of what Devon might do or say.

Aware of the fragility of her position, Simone is already hiding her affair with Peter’s best friend, Ethan (Glenn Howerton), from Michaela. Although you can take Alcock out of the castle, you obviously cannot keep the creepy-uncle types away.

But savvy Devon quickly ascertains that the most predatory force in her sister’s life is Michaela, who makes her assistant run with her every morning, send “sexts” to Peter on her behalf and tend to her every small worry. Peter and Simone indulge Michaela’s love of raptors, for whom Michaela built a sanctuary and holds formal funerals. Michaela also controls the diets of family and staff, banning carbs from the premises.

Convinced Michaela is a cult leader, and armed with tips from a local former NXIVM member (a funny Catherine Cohen), Devon vows to remove her sister from Michaela’s clutches. Once she learns Michaela is Peter’s second wife, and that the first wife was Shelly Miscavige’d, Devon embarks on some very unsubtle detective work.

When she confronts Michaela and Peter, they remain calm, assured and close-mouthed, in the manner of old money. Michaela responds more favorably when Devon appeals to her maternal instincts, by talking about the childhood trauma Devon and Simone experienced.

Michaela can seem like a ridiculous figure. But only when Moore allows it. Although Moore obviously consented to wearing a flowing gown while carrying a large bird of prey and staring at co-stars with a dark arts-dabbling intensity, she never goes full Kidman. More specifically, she’s never as icy as Nicole Kidman’s matriarch in “Perfect Couple” nor as eccentric as her spiritual guru in “Nine Perfect Strangers.”

Moore always grounds Michaela in authentic emotion; her character seems to care deeply about her husband, Simone, and even holds a grudging affection for Devon. Were it not for Moore’s performance providing a throughline, this series’ tonal shifts from serious explorations of the sisters’ heinous childhoods to worries about whether last-minute gala guests can be outfitted in black tie would be more jarring. But Michaela’s emotional and logistical intelligence seem to spring from the same, not unkind instinct to keep things running smoothly.

But Devon seems to possess the only truly reliable moral compass among the main characters as the series heads towards its shockingly conventional soap opera ending. The climax is such a copout that it makes you want to ascribe deeper meaning to it. But what it signals most clearly is a dearth of ideas.

“Sirens” premieres Thursday, May 22, on Netflix.

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