How Sirens Upends The Classic Tale of an Assistant's Revenge

Yahoo

24-05-2025

The stories differ, but there are two non-negotiables for films and series about bosses and assistants: killer dialogue and juicy plot twists. (Depending on your employment history, you might also count on PTSD.) From All About Eve to The Devil Wears Prada, the fraught relationship between employer and employee—with its potential for betrayal and triumph, vicious one-liners and personal growth—has been catnip for Hollywood. And Netflix limited series Sirens nestles comfortably in that rich tradition.
Adapted from her own play by Molly Smith Metzler (Maid), Sirens follows rough-around-the-edges Devon (Meghann Fahy), who shows up at her sister Simone's (Milly Alcock) workplace to confront her—except she finds Simone under the thrall of her boss, the wealthy, enigmatic Michaela (Julianne Moore), a bird-wielding socialite who seems to be one sheath dress away from becoming a cult leader. Sirens riffs on everything from mythology to the socio-economics of marriage, but nowhere is it smarter or more incisive than when Metzler is exploring the vagaries of the personal assistant dynamic between Michaela and Simone.
Their unsettling, co-dependent relationship (Michaela snuggles into bed with Simone after an anxious night; they go on runs together every day) is akin to watching a workplace version of Single White Female. 'There's a wonderful tradition of making those relationships really scary,' Metzler says. 'Let's be honest, they are scary because there's economics involved. Michaela and Simone present themselves as the dearest of friends, but when economics enters a relationship, it threads the whole thing with dread, but also with a little bit of fear. Someone has all the power, and it's akin to buying a friend.'
And while most films and shows slowly tease out one character's true intentions, Sirens continually upends its narrative with a series of reversals and revelations. Devon, Simone, and Michaela are never quite certain where they stand in relation to one another, and their relationships shift and evolve in unexpected ways over the course of five episodes.
Much of the show's success hinges on the ways in which it plays with our expectations. We've seen this story before, or so we think. This is Damages with a dash of Mad Men. But Metzler is precise with how she weaponizes our familiarity against us.
'I'm very drawn to subjects that are not what they seem,' she says. 'When you have a fast judgment about a character and then end up wrong, I love that. And the relationship between Michaela and Simone looks like one thing, but it turns out to be something very different. At the end, I think people will be like, 'Oh wait, it was there the whole time, but I didn't see it.''
Part of that slow tease of the truth is the ways in which Metzler shies away from the usual tropes of female rivalry. Unlike All About Eve, Sirens is not concerned with the idea of youth versus maturity. Nor is Metzler interested in the sexual competition of Working Girl. Instead, Sirens smartly places money at the center of its story.
'All the women in the show have a socioeconomic relationship with each other and with the men,' Metzler says. 'And that's a little bit what I'm making a social commentary about too, that there's a lot of buying in the show.'
Sirens also plays with ideas about class and trauma, allowing Simone the luxury of thinking that she can pretend her past never happened. Here again, Metzler is playing on our familiarity with stories revolving around reinvention via the workplace—but in Sirens, that has a much darker edge.
'Desperation is a dangerous currency,' Metzler says. 'Even if you end up in a fortuitous economic position, like working for someone like Michaela, who you are and who you've left behind is still there. You can't select all and delete your past. It's very much about class and trauma and how those things dance together, whether you like it or not.'
You Might Also Like
12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion
13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game