'Sirens': A study in class and bad parenting

This Julianne Moore-starrer series spins a gripping story around wealthy white women and their many wiles

- Somak Ghoshal

In Greek mythology, sirens were believed to be enchantresses, who, with their sinister gift of song, lured sailors to their doom. The idea finds a delicious, comic and dark reincarnation in the recent Netflix series, Sirens, starring Julianne Moore in the top billing.

Set in the filthy rich environs of New England, the show depicts the changing fortunes of Michaela Kell (Moore), the second wife of the hedge-fund billionaire Peter (Kevin Bacon). Right from the word go, there is a hint of Mrs. de Winters (from Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel Rebecca) about Michaela. The Rebecca angle gets subtly, but surely, played along the course of five tightly written episodes by Molly Smith Metzler, based on Elemeno Pea, her 2011 play.