TELEVISION EPISODE REVIEW: Siren S1 Ep 4 "On The Road"

Every town has a story. Every tale has a believer. Beneath the surface the truth is hiding under the skin.

Siren
Airdate April 12, 2018 Freeform Thursdays 8 pm
Created by Eric Wald and Dean White
Production Company Freeform

What You Should Know:

Ben and Maddie continued their search for Ryn’s sister who is being held captive at a Naval Facility. Sheriff Bishop searches for Donnie’s murderer with the help of a police sketch. Ryn attended a pool party.

What You’ll Find Out:

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

At the Naval facility, Ryn’s sister is screaming in agony as the humans stick huge needles in her neck to withdraw more fluids. She breaks free of their hold and suddenly turns on the white coats. The noise and screams awaken Chris in his room. People flee in terror, an alarm is sounded and Chris rips the tubes from his arms and runs out of the room. Military guards with their rifles drawn enter the building.

Chris holds his abdomen in pain as the loudspeaker announces a security breach in the Med Lab and a Stage One lock down. Chris discovers Ryn’s sister, frightened and now wearing blue scrubs and walking on two legs. They escape to outside where Chris grabs keys from the Mermaid’s scrubs and the pair get inside a car. Chris uses the ID card attached to the Mermaid’s scrubs to open the security gate and drive off.

Xander and Calvin are still parked outside Donna Stevenson’s house. They plan to make Donna take them to Chris.

Ben and Maddie are showering together and getting very romantic when they find Ryn watching them. Ben gets a call from Xander and decides to meet him. He and Maddie are afraid to bring Ryn because where they’re going is away from the water and Ryn’s skin is looking bad.

Ben’s brother, Doug, runs into the Sheriff at the Anchor. Doug is asked if he’s seen the girl on the phone the Sheriff is holds up. Doug tells him he saw the girl at the motel party with Maddie.

Ben and Maddie are worried about how long Ryn’s been out of the water. Helen Hawkins tells them the stories are they can stay on land longer and longer each time they come out of the water. Still, Ryn wants to wait for her sister.

Chris has been driving all night. He tries to talk to the Mermaid who he is calling Donna because of the ID card. He tells her he had a nurse named Donna, not knowing the Mermaid killed Donna and took her clothes.

Aldon Decker looks upon the lab in shambles. He’s told there were no survivors.

Helen tends to Ryn’s skin with a salve she says is an old family recipe. Ryn lifts Helen’s pant leg and sees some scabs and sores on her leg. Helen tells her “They call it an auto-immune response. That’s the word they use when they don’t understand what something is”. She asks Ryn why she and her sister came so close to to the surface. Ryn responds “Food”.

Decker comes across Donna’s bloodied body. Close to it lays a Mermaid tail skin.

Ben and Maddie wake up Xander and Calvin who were asleep in their car outside Donna Stevenson’s home after waiting for her all night. The four of them go inside Donna’s house after Ben picks the lock. They start going through her things looking for clues to where they might find Chris until some men arrive. They hurriedly duck outside and hide. The men take some things and leave, making the group think something has happened to Donna Stevenson.

Aldon Decker reviews video surveillance footage of what happened in the lab. He watches the Mermaid rise out of the tank, killing everyone in the lab. He switches to another camera’s footage and sees the Mermaid walking through the complex, running into Donna Stevenson and killing her.

Then the outdoor camera reveals she is being led out of the building by Chris, wearing Donna’s clothes and escaping in a car using Donna’s card key ID. Decker concludes that while they were studying the Mermaid, she was studying them!

Chris is still driving with Ryn’s sister. His abdominal wound is bleeding. He takes Donna’s phone out of the pocket of her scrubs the Mermaid is wearing but he can’t get a signal to make a call.

Ryn is looking bad but still refuses to leave without her sister. Miss Hawkins learns Ryn blames herself for her sister’s capture because it was Ryn’s idea to come close to the shore. Helen calls Ben.

Chris stops at a rest stop to look at a map. Donna, as he has been calling the Mermaid. wanders off looking for water.

Decker answers to Admiral Harrison for what happened. The Admiral fears that since they know now that the Mermaids can change form, there may be any number living among them.

Driving down the road, Chris sees “Donna” and tells her to get in the car.

Ben and Maddie have brought Ryn to the Marine Center. Maddie’s dad arrives and shows her the sketch of Ryn and asks about her but Maddie denies knowing her which arouses some suspicion in the Sheriff. Ben is trying to reason with Ryn to return to the water before she dies. She finally agrees to go.

Xander and Calvin get a call from Chris. They race off to meet up with him. Ben gives Ryn a necklace and tells her there’s a tracking device in it so they can know where she is. Ben gets a text from Xander about finding Chris. Chris arrives at the rendezvous where Ben, Maddie, and Ryn are waiting.

Ryn sees her sister walk off. Xander arrives and takes Chris for help. Ryn finally reunites with her sister who carries the dying Ryn into the water where Ryn can heal. The two of them swim off.

Ben and the others ask Dr. Abbott to help Chris. While he is recovering, Ben and Xander see a news report on TV that firefighters are trying to control a massive blaze at the former Larson Lake Fish Hatchery building…the two immediately think someone is doing some cleanup.

That night, Aldon Decker finds the car Chris stole…Donna Stevenson’s car…with blood inside.

Ben and Maddie track the Mermaids till they are too far out and the signal is lost. Aldon watches out over the waters while below the waves the Mermaids are swimming home.

What This Means For The Future:

This episode nicely brings to a close the first arc of the show. A great improvement over the previous episode and once more displays the potential of the series. Aldon Decker, who came across as a caring scientist trying to follow orders but watching out for the well being of the captive Mermaid, may have his own agenda he’s following and might not be a friend to the creatures at all. The lack of food will certainly bring Ryn back to seek Ben’s help but it may actually be Ben’s family that is at the heart of the food shortage

Rating: 9.5/10