All jokes aside, Ben is really making questionable moral choices. Whether or not he’s making them for good reasons, he is still behaving in ways the people who are closest to him would disapprove of, which he knows or he wouldn’t be operating in secret. When his actions become common knowledge, he’ll have to reckon with the decisions he’s made and confront the people he’s hurt. A lot of people have been hurt directly, and indirectly, due to Ben’s actions. He’s done a lot to protect Ryn, but maybe not enough to also protect his neighbors and friends, like Xander.
Xander’s entire life was upended when mermaids became a regular presence in Bristol Cove, and he’s had to evolve to keep pace with the ever-growing threats to his people and his home. I said in my review last week, “It’s no wonder Xander felt compelled to apply for a job in law enforcement. Instead of trying to get people to treat mermaids with the proper level of fear, he’s empowering himself to be able to do what’s necessary whenever the threat reveals itself.” Xander reiterates this in his own words, telling Helen, “seems like I can better protect the people I love with a badge on my chest.”
Xander has been on both sides of the fight with merfolk, and he’s developed a more nuanced understanding of them. That said, he knows that Ryn and her clan are not the only ones out there, and he’s one of a few people who are aware of the potential danger. When he’s doing a ride along water patrol as a part of his officer training, they get a call about a disabled boat, and it happens to be Calvin’s. He immediately fears the worse, having just been warned about Tia. It turns out to be a minor thing, but his fear was real. That fear is justified, but now it’s a matter of how he copes with it, and whether he turns it into a weapon or a crutch.
Speaking of weapons, Cami is still more instinct than intellect, and she’s dangerous when she or her family are threatened. Helen admonishes her for killing Brian, which she seems to accept. Helen is only part mermaid —a descendant of Charles Pownall, whose love, then slaughter of mermaids is legendary in Bristol Cove— but her connection to Ryn’s people is undeniable. She is respected among Ryn’s clan, and even more so than Ben or Maddie, a true bridge between the water dwellers and people on land. Helen has been a strong supporting character since episode one, and has been integral to the story, and her wisdom and spirituality bring an excellent balance to Ben’s and Maddie’s youthful stubbornness and arrogance. It’s a pleasure to watch Helen explore and connect with the mermaid parts of herself.
But being part mermaid does not make one a mermaid, a lesson learned the hard way when Meredith gives birth to Ryn’s baby — the first mermaid born in many years, possibly decades based on how they age — and dies due the strain on her body. But she was mermaid enough to carry the baby to full term, and what that means for Ryn, and their entire species, and how that knowledge may be used, opens up a lot of storytelling possibilities for Siren.
