Siren episode 7 review: Ian Verdun shines as Xander faces tragedy

After destroying their food sources, the government has their siren lures in the water and they are ready to start dragging the ocean to capture as many of them as they can. Decker tried to make the call to stop them, but it was too late and the boat was already on the water. We know that Ryn and Donna are not the only sirens out there, but how big is the population? The bigger issue that Ryn has right now is that before she could get back into the water with Donna she was brought in by the police.

Ryn in custody

We knew it was only a matter of time before the police got their hands on Ryn – that’s what happens when you go around killing people (even bad people). Ryn being questioned by Maddie’s father went about as well as we expected: Every question she was asked about the man she murdered was answered honestly. He doesn’t believe that Ryn killed her attacker alone and asks who helped her and because she doesn’t exactly understand the question she says Ben and Maddie helped her. Maddie is brought into the station to answer to her father and you can see the hurt in his eyes when he realizes that his daughter has been lying to him. When they question Ryn about Donna’s whereabouts she tells them that Donna went back to the water to stop the bad people on the boats. Maddie knows Ben has gone out into the water and knows that it’s time to come clean to her dad about Ryn being a siren. He of course doesn’t believe Maddie, but after pouring salt water on Ryn’s hand and watching it morph, he’s convinced and let’s Ryn go telling the rest of his department that she was with Maddie during the time of the murder.

Who’s hunting who?

After seeing Donna jump off the dock and swim away to go stop the siren poaching boats Xander finally knows that he’s not crazy and with time running out, the boys all gear up to get out on the ocean and find her. They know that the government has a boat out there and lures ready to start capturing as many sirens as possible, but do these guys have enough power to stop what’s happening? Their plan is to follow quietly behind the nets and cut them free before they have a chance to haul anyone up, but in doing so Xander plans to capture himself a mermaid as well.

When they reach the coordinates they don’t find any nets, but instead a dark and abandoned boat. When they board the boat they find all the containers empty and blood everywhere – no bodies, just blood. This feels like it would be a good time for Ben to come clean about what he knows about sirens and their predatory instinct, but he stays quiet as they search the boat. During their search they find a spear that looks like it’s made out of coral… is this a siren weapon? Do sirens even need weapons since we’ve know they are capable or ripping a head off a shark? This is enough for Ben to pull the cord on this mission and hustles everyone back on to their own boat to get out of there in one piece.

Xander’s heartbreak

We were hoping that Xander’s boat was going to be far enough out of the sirens trap, but it didn’t quite work out after we saw the sirens knock out the boat’s power. This is the stuff nightmares are made of! Watching the crew stumble around in the dark, trying to figure out how to get the boat powered on while at the same time preparing to fight something they know nothing about was terrifying. The ocean is the siren’s playground and they are the intruders, but with Donna’s knowledge they were able to get the upper hand. The sirens take their moment and start hurdling spears at them right before we see our very first merman jump on the boat and try to kill Ben. They are able to subdue the merman, but it doesn’t last before he breaks free and sheds his fin. This is bad news, especially for Xander’s father who is killed by this merman before he returns to the sea. Ian Verdun gave a beautiful, and heart-wrenching performance tonight as Xander watched his father die and knew that he couldn’t do anything to save him.

We did get a chance to see Donna again, when she appeared on the boat and started singing to Chris. We thought that because Chris had helped Donna in the past that she may not want to kill him, but she is still on her soapbox of all humans must die and tries to lure him to his death. Calvin and Ben are able to rescue him and knock Donna back in the water, and the guys are able to get back to land… only less one crew member.

Related – Check out what’s coming up on episode 8 of Siren!

CarterMatt Verdict

One of the things that hooked us into Siren in the first place (yes that pun was intentional) was the beautifully creepy atmosphere that this show has created around a mythology that is usually portrayed in a softer lens. These sirens are lethal, strong, and incredibly smart and the highlight of tonight’s episode was the heart pounding scenes with Ben, Xander and the crew on the boat as they tried to navigate the darkness against a predator that they really can’t win against in that environment. Add to that the gripping performance from Verdun and this was one of our favorite episodes of the season.

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