Lack of mermaid breeding success in the water leads to more than a few new problems for the residents of Bristol Cove. Ryn struggles to trust Ben in light of the revelation about his family history. Xander is increasingly worried about Nicole. Helen uncovers more of her family’s history.

Last week, Ryn finally found out the truth behind Ben’s family history, and its connection to her own kind’s tragic past. This week, she’s still struggling with exactly what that means, although in fairness she has other, more pressing concerns to deal with.

Those concerns revolve mainly around the lack of success she and the rest of her people are having at reproducing. It seems even her return to the water didn’t yield the results that she’d hoped, leading Ben to suggest that maybe – with the water apparently too polluted to allow the merpeople to reproduce – she should have a go on land. The arched eyebrow which greets this suggestion, together with the question ‘who did you have in mind?’ from the owner of said eyebrow, turns out to be only half-deserved.

Meanwhile, it’s not just Ryn who’s on the prowl for a suitable mating partner, as tow more of her people come ashore in search of suitable males. Cue much ‘fish out water’ hilarity as they wander into a bar looking for partners before Xander finds them and sighs at his life being turned upside down once again.

And Helen gets the twin shocks of the desecration of the graveyard and some further family history revelations, courtesy of Ted Pownall, to contend with. Seems like the fate of her parents might not have been as straightforward as she had imagined after all, and maybe she has more friends where she thought she had enemies, though at this point it’s still hard to tell.

Xander, when he isn’t herding mermaids, is desperately worried about Nicole, who’s stopped returning his calls. His first suspicion is that she had something to do with the grave robbing, but as time wears on with still no word, he begins to worry that something might be very wrong.

And Ben has struggles of his own – his argument with Ryn being just one part of that. The way in which the Siren song affects him has always been quite intense. It seems that this, combined with his quarrel with Ryn and her stories of how his Grandfather came to betray her people, has sent the poor man on a little bit of a mental health episode. There’s visions, weird hallucinations and a general feeling that for all Maddie’s protestations to Ryn that Ben can be trusted, that that might not be the case after all.

Verdict: Still producing constant twists and surprises, and digging deep into the character stuff as well. As good as ever. 8/10

Greg D. Smith