Siren – The Lure

By starrymag | April 5, 2018

By: Jessica Wolff

 

 

As Capt. Sean McClure (Brian Anthony Wilson) aims his gun at the incoming mermaid, Ben (Alex Roe) pushes his gun away. Xander McClure (Ian Verdun) asks what he’s doing, and Ben explains that they shouldn’t kill the mermaid. McClure suggests that Ben doesn’t want them to catch it, but Ben argues they should protect it. Xander accuses Ben of not wanting to get Chris Mueller (Chad Rook) back, and they hear a cry from underneath the boat. Ben jumps into the water and finds a noise-emitting device attached to the boat’s propellers. Ryn (Eline Powell) comes back onto land and sleeps in the middle of the forest.

 

Ben and Xander examine the device and speculate what its purpose is and why it was attached to the boat. Xander suggests that the military put it there and compliments Ben’s move to get the device. Ben explains that he wants to find Chris, but he feels differently about the mermaids. He opens the device and suggests that there is a camera and tracking device inside. Xander wants to use it to lure the military so they can lead them to Chris, but Ben argues that they could end up like Chris if they try that and that they should take their time.

 

The next morning, Ryn walks down the street naked and a mother shields her daughter from the sight of Ryn’s naked body. She grabs clothes off of a clothesline, but a trailer park mom (Tatyanna Forest) yells at her. Ryn grabs a metal pole and throws it at her before running away. She breaks into Ben’s house and then visits Maddie (Fola Evans-Akingbola) at the aquatic center. Maddie looks around when the sea lions start to roar, but Ryn disappears. Maddie’s Father (Gil Birmingham) investigates the crime scene of Donnie’s murder, and Deputy Clarence (Graeme Duffy) fills in details on the victim. Once Clarence suggests sexual assault may be involved, Deputy Marissa Staub (Tammy Gillis) remarks that Donnie got what he deserved, and Maddie’s father determines that the attacker must have been strong before noticing a toy helicopter sitting on the seat.

 

Helen (Rena Owen) notices Ryn walk into her shop and ushers her customer (Alex Lee) out of the store. She locks the door and asks Ryn why she’s there. Ryn hisses at Helen, and then uses a sculpture of two mermaids to communicate that she’s looking for Donna (Sibongile Mlambo). At the military facility, Aldon Decker (Ron Yuan) converses with Tanya (Ellen Ewusie) about their tests as Donna struggles in her tank. Ben steps out of the shower and Maddie asks where he’s been. He embraces her and recoils when she touches his scratches. Ben tells her that it’s not what she’s thinking, and tells her that he needs to show her something.

 

Xander returns home with the device and tells Calvin (Curtis Lum) what happened. Calvin gets upset that Ben is giving direction, and insists that he can’t be trusted. He uses Ben’s family to argue that Ben isn’t one of them. Ben shows Maddie the aquatic center footage of Ryn attacking him. Maddie is shocked, and apologizes for not believing him. Ben admits that it’s hard to believe the idea of mermaids being real.

 

Ryn picks up a copy of a Frozen picture book. She is startled by Helen and grabs her throat. Helen assures her that it’s just her and Ryn lets go, saying hello to her. Ryn shows her the picture book, pointing to the word sister on the cover. Helen realizes that Donna is Ryn’s sister. Helen gives her a new pair of clothes, and she puts them on. Ryn starts looking in her kitchen for food, but doesn’t like any of the options there. Helen promises to get her some food and tells her to stay there before locking her in the apartment.

 

Ben tells Maddie about the device he and Xander found. She can’t believe that the military is involved and asks if anyone else knows about this. Ben tells her about his conversation with Helen. Maddie asks if he talked to his father, Ted Pownall (David Cubitt), about it, but Ben admits he hasn’t. She warns him that they need to be careful, and he agrees. As Xander and Calvin argue about Ben, Ben visits Pownall at the docks. He asks about the true story behind Charles Pownall, promising to participate in more family events if he answers the question. Pownall tells him that Charles was mentally ill and believed in mermaids. He warns him that Helen isn’t reliable, and insists that’s all to the story.

 

Helen has the Goth checkout girl (Jaymee Mak) at the seafood store wrap up large quantities of several different varieties of seafood. When Xander and Calvin return home, they find that the device is gone and speculate that the military took it. At the military facility, Nurse Donna Stevenson (Veronika Hadrava) administers a drug to Chris as he wakes up and asks where he is. She leaves without saying a word and Chris goes back to sleep.

 

As Ben drives, Maddie questions why mermaids are appearing now. Ben speculates that something brought Ryn to the surface, and they bring the device to Helen.  Maddie calls Helen the town nut job, but Ben urges her not to say that in front of her. Helen tells them that the shop is closed, but Ben tells her that he has more questions. She is surprised that he told Maddie, but Ben insists they can trust her. Helen insists that nobody else can know, as she wants to prevent another mermaid massacre. Ben promises that they want to protect them too, but Helen lies that she’s told them everything she knows.

 

Ryn tries to open the door, but Helen lies that she’s not there. After Ryn flushes the toilet in curiosity, Helen lies that the building has plumbing issues. She tries to get them to leave, but Ben shows her the device and activates the noise-emitting function. Ryn hears the noise of Donna being tortured in the facility and screams before flipping a table across the room. Helen screams at them to turn it off and Ryn finds a way to open the door. Ryn calls out to her sister and grabs the device from Ben. She tries to open the device, and Ben confirms that the sound is coming from her sister. Helen assures her that Donna is not inside the device, and Ben turns it off.

 

Ryn struggles with the device and screams as water hits her arm, turning it scaly. She reverses the transformation, and Ben checks that she’s all right before assuring that they can help her. Ryn agrees, and Helen tells Maddie that mermaids are highly intelligent when Maddie is surprised that Ryn can understand him. Ben decides that they should start their search by talking to Xander about the night that Donna was taken. Ryn grabs the device and runs outside. Helen argues that she shouldn’t be outside, but Maddie insists they don’t have a choice. Helen tells Maddie to bring Ryn back there at night, as she will be safe there.

 

Decker walks towards Donna’s tank, and apologizes for the torture. Donna sings a song and Decker finds himself drawn closer. Maddie’s father interviews Donnie’s neighbor (Phillip Reed), who describes Donnie lifestyle. As he wraps up the questioning, the trailer park mom approaches him and reports Ryn’s earlier clothes stealing and metal pole throwing. He finds it suspicious and asks for details on Ryn’s appearance.

 

As Ben drives Maddie and Ryn, he gets a call from Xander telling him where to meet him. As they arrive, Ben tells Ryn that she has to stay in the car. Maddie offers to stay with her, and assures her that Ben will look for Donna. She assures Ben that she’ll be fine and Ben goes into the bar. Ryn grabs Maddie by the ponytail, sniffs her, and examines her hair and neck. She runs her fingers along Maddie’s chest tattoo of a raven feather, and Maddie explains the importance of it to her Native American father’s heritage and the legend around it. She tells her that the legend isn’t real, but points out other things that are real before telling Ryn that she’s real.

 

Ben asks Xander and Calvin about the night of Chris’ disappearance, and Xander answers his questions. Calvin asks why any of this is his business, and Xander tells him that the military stole the device. Xander suggests putting the footage from the boat online, but Ben admits that he stole the device. Calvin pushes him despite Ben’s insistence that he was trying to figure out what the device was. Calvin continues to fight Ben until some patrons pull him off. Ben insists he was trying to help, and tells Xander that he has the device outside.

 

Outside, Ben tells Maddie and Ryn that they have to give the device back and struggles to pull it away from Ryn. He insists that Donna isn’t inside the device, but Ryn continues to struggle. Ben explains that Xander can help them, and Ryn lets go of the device. He hands it back to Xander and apologizes before offering help with tracking the signal. Xander hands the device to Calvin and says hi to Maddie. She tells him that Ryn is a friend of hers, and Ben promises that he will work to find Chris. Meanwhile, Chris wakes up and spots a cell phone in the nurse’s back pocket.

 

As Ben and Maddie discuss where to start their search, Ryn is distracted by a homeless man staring at her. Ben tells her that they have to get her to Helen, and asks her what she will do when she finds her sister. After some confusion, Ryn confirms that she will go home once they are reunited. Decker watches Donna as she swims in her tank, and Ryn stands over Helen as she sleeps. Ryn sees the drawings of the previous mermaid massacre and grabs a knife.

 

Maddie admits that she’s drawn to Ryn, and Ben admits that he feels the same. Her father comes home and talks to the medical examiner on the phone about a blood sample at the crime scene that is of non-human blood. Maddie looks at the case file and sees that the wound on the victim matches the one on Ben. Ryn walks down the street with the knife in hand.