Mermaid mating season means Ryn must consider her responsibilities to her kind. The hybrids’ knowledge of pure blood merfolk being in town leads to them making contact with Levi. Ian is continuing to dig, sensing a bigger story behind the Klesco incident.

Having solved the immediate issue of the physical effects of Ben and Maddie’s relationship with Ryn last week with their visit to the healing cavern, Siren elects to focus on the emotional impact on several fronts this week.

First, there’s the fact that it’s now mermaid mating season, helpfully signalled by the fact that the merfolk start to glow, in a slightly Twilight-esque fashion, when it’s time to start making little mer-people. The concern as previously revealed to the audience is that there haven’t been any babies being born for a while, leading Ben and Maddie to suggest some testing be done by their friends at the military to ensure there isn’t a physical issue. On a more personal level, it means that Ben in particular has to deal with his own sense of ego – Ryn is aware of her duty to her kind, and decides she must return to the water with Levi so the two can mate and produce some full-blooded offspring.

The show deals with this tension very well. It would be easy to have Ben get all shouty, maybe even start competing with Levi. Instead, it just leaves it to certain looks and a general sense that Ben is struggling with the idea, even as he knows it’s the right thing. Maddie, interestingly, seems to have no such issue, perhaps because she’s already become used to the idea of sharing Ryn with a man (and indeed her man with Ryn).

Meanwhile, Rick’s sister is just fascinated by the idea of real mermaids being in town, even as Helen is increasingly terrified of her and the other hybrids as she becomes ever more convinced that they were responsible for the deaths of her parents. When Beth sees a chance to spirit away Levi to meet the others, she takes it leaving Helen, Ben, Maddie and Ryn to desperately search for him. When they find where the hybrids have taken him, things take a turn for the slightly odd, but it’s a parting revelation from one of the assembled hybrids that threatens to drive the biggest wedge of all between our central threesome. Turns out there are certain things Ben has never made clear to Ryn, and the sense of betrayal she has at that revelation means “throuples” counselling may be required moving forward.

And of course there’s Ian, still snooping, still making connections. He senses there’s a bigger story behind the Klesco disaster, and when local fishermen point him to Cal and Xander having been in the water nearby at the time, he pursues that lead like a good journalist should. The question remains, how far will Xander and Cal’s loyalty to their friends go when they’re backed against the wall?

Verdict: It’s all hotting up as we get closer to the end of this second season, and very obvious groundwork is being laid by the writers for a third. 8/10

Greg D. Smith